14.02.2025: Coimbatore: A small portion of the Pankaja Mill Road near Puliakulam caved in on Thursday night.
(Photo | Express)COIMBATORE: Officials with the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) began digging the Pankaja Mills Road near Gem Hospital in the central zone of the city without any prior intimation on Saturday. Traffic police who arrived at the scene rebuked CCMC officials for causing traffic congestion.
Being an important link road in the city, the Pankaja Mills Road was under the control of the State Highways Department. However, as they didn’t properly maintain the road, the civic body took up all the maintenance and repairs.
The road is filled with numerous potholes and patches due to poor maintenance. Few weeks ago, a small portion of the road on Pankaja Mills Road caved in. Nearby auto drivers and locals immediately placed barricades around the caved-in portion to prevent accidents and informed officials about it. CCMC officials visited the spot, inspected damages and repaired the broken water pipeline.
However, owing to subpar work, the damaged portion which was closed and freshly paved, caved in again, damaging the UGD pipeline on the spot. To repair this, CCMC officials began digging the road on Saturday, without intimating the public or obtaining permission from the police for traffic diversion. This brought traffic to a standstill and bus services to Ramanathapuram were affected.
When inquired, an official from the CCMC engineering wing said, “After the drinking water pipeline was restored, a UGD pipe also got damaged at the same spot. In order to fix this, we started digging. As traffic diversion was not necessary, we did not inform the police. However, after digging, we identified the damage was major. We then informed the police personnel who visited the spot. Vehicles have now been diverted via Sowripalayam Road. We shall repair the stretch in a few days.”