The 14-km-long Girivalam path in Tiruvannamalai town will soon get additional reverse osmosis (R.O.) drinking water plants for pilgrims and foreign travellers.
The initiative comes after Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi highlighted the need to provide more basic amenities, especially washrooms and safe drinking water to those using the path by foot during his interaction with sadhus and spiritual heads in the temple town on August 10. “We are planning to have additional purified water plants for people who walk on the path to reduce the dependence on the existing water plants on the route,” K. Raghuraman, Assistant Divisional Engineer (ADE), State Highways, told The Hindu.
At present, the Girivalam path, which is maintained by the State Highways, has eight water plants supplying purified water. These plants were inaugurated by the Minister for Public Works and Highways, E.V. Velu, in November 2021. Each plant, which costs around ₹15 lakh, comprises chambers for collection of purified water and plain water. The purified chamber has a capacity of 1,000 litres. Except for two water plants, which get water from Sathanur dam, the rest have borewells near the facility to provide round-the-clock purified water.
