'Rainwater Harvesting Scheme covers nearly 75 pc of buildings'

: An ambitious groundwater recharging initiative of the ruling AIADMK, Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) scheme has covered nearly 75 per cent of 40.99 lakh buildings and 40 per cent of water bodies in the state, the government said today.
"With this drive, 74.75 per cent of buildings and 40 per cent of ponds and tanks have been covered up to June 2014," S P Velumani, Minister for Municipal Administration and Water Supply, said.
Of 40.99 lakh buildings in corporations and municipalities, 30.64 lakh have been covered under RWH, besides 585 ponds and temple tanks, he informed the state Assembly.
Urban local bodies were taking steps to revive and rejuvenate RWH structures and to install new ones. During 2014-15, RWH structures will be taken up in the remaining buildings and 177 ponds and tanks, he said.

Velumani said that as part of plastic waste management, government was focussing on laying roads using plastic waste.
In the last three years, 136 metric tonnes of plastic waste has gone into laying of 324.16 km length of roads with a financial assistance of Rs 52.93 crore, he said.