TIRUPPUR: A new bitumen road was laid in SR Nagar in Andipalayam in Tiruppur city after two decades. S Balasubramanian (52), a resident of SR Nagar, said, “There are over 300 families in SR Nagar. I bought a piece of land measuring 4.5 cents in 1997. The area had mud roads then."
"After a period of time, with the rising population, residents demanded a bitumen road but the authorities didn’t respond. After retiring from Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) as general manager, I too submitted petitions to the local authorities, claiming that building of drainage system is delaying the project.”
Chandrasekaran, a civil engineer said, “In the 1980s, the entire place was filled with bushes and thorny shrubs. Later, land promoters developed layouts, but few people bought land. In the 1990s, construction of new houses began to rise. But, no roads were constructed in the 2000s. Two years ago, there was a proposal to construct a road, but it was dropped due to lack of funds and it was finally constructed.”
Explaining the delay, an official from Tiruppur City Corporation said, “SR Nagar falls under Zone 4 of the corporation. Earlier, the locality was attached to Palladam taluk, so the allocation of new projects and funds was a problem. Later, it was transferred to Tiruppur South Taluk. Besides, the old drainage system in SR Nagar had to be replaced with a new channel, but no funds were available. After the work was completed a few months ago, we immediately constructed the bitumen road. In a few days, all streets will have bitumen roads.”