TIRUCHY: Even as the Tiruchy city corporation claims to have completed about 85% of the ongoing underground drainage (UGD) work in the city, untreated sewage water flowing into the Uyyakondan canal from stormwater drains and buildings have raised concerns among residents, with many of them urging the civic body to take immediate action on buildings discharging wastewater into the branch canals of Uyyakondan.
About 90% of the UGD work is expected to be completed by September. Gopal Murugesan, a resident of Thennur, said, "It seems that the authorities concerned are not paying enough attention to the issue at hand. Otherwise, why have they not taken any action on buildings discharging wastewater into the Uyyakondan canal in Thennur and other areas where they claim to have completed the UGD work?," said Gopal Murugesan, a resident of Thennur.
Untreated sewage water flows into the Uyyakondan canal through stormwater drains in Anna Nagar, Alwarthoppu, Palakkarai, Beema Nagar and other areas. "When would authorities take measures to prevent the flow of drainage water into the canal? Would they have another project for it?,"" said N Sundar, a resident of Anna Nagar.
Senior officials said the completion of the UGD work would prevent the flow of sewage water into the canal. "By September, the UGD coverage in the city would reach 90%. From October, we would start the final phase work to identify areas that would not have received UGD connection. For instance, we started the UGD work in 2019.
During that time, we may not have sanctioned connection to certain empty plots. Now, those plots may have buildings and houses. Such areas would be covered in the final phase works. Apart from this, our team also conducted a survey in January and identified buildings discharging wastewater to the canal. All these including flow of untreated drainage water to the canal will stop between October and December," a senior corporation official explained.