COIMBATORE: Lack of co-ordination between Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) and Suez Projects Private Limited, a company that is implementing a 24x7 drinking water supply scheme in the city, came to the fore on Tuesday at a meeting between the CCMC officials, councillors and the company.
While CCMC officials accused the company of not responding to their calls, councillors said they are receiving complaints about their quality of work.
During the meeting held in CCMC east zone office on Tuesday, councillors held Suez responsible for the bad roads. Ward 57 councillor B Shanthamani said Suez workers did not fill roads dug up to lay pipeline with wet mix as mandated by contract. "These people have been damaging roads for laying pipelines and don't respond to our calls to repair them." East zone chairperson Lakumi Ilanjelvi Karthik urged Suez to address issues raised by public without delay.
CCMC officials alleged that Suez has not been cooperating with them. CCMC officials alleged that Suez engineers do not respond to their complaints of broken pipelines and water leaks.
"We are unable to answer the people because of the irresponsible behaviour of Suez workers. They are not ready to answer our calls or address the issues that we point out. Taking weeks to fix the damaged pipeline and arrest the leakage is unacceptable" said one of the tap inspectors from East Zone.
Gopalakrishnan, Project Management Consultant engineer of Suez, refuted the cjarges. He said councillors and CCMC officials must encourage public to air grievances and complaints on the WhatsApp number 9865060708 or call 0422-6610000.
A heated exchange broke out between the Suez officials and the CCMC officials in which the former shouter against the councillors and the officials. When asked about the heated exchange at the meeting, Gopalakrishnan said he had issued public apology over the incident.
About the project
Suez Projects Private Limited is implementing a 24x7 water supply project in 60 wards of the city. The project cost is estimated ti be ₹646.71 crores and the maintenance and operation will be carried for 21 years at a cost of ₹2328.45 crores. The agreement was signed in 2018 and the work is to be completed in August 2023. But due to Covid-19 pandemic, the deadline has been extended to December 2024.