COIMBATORE: People of ward 87 in the South Zone of the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) voiced concerns after several residential areas in Kuniyamuthur were inundated by water from the Sengulam following the recent incessant rains. The civic body blamed encroachments and plans to conduct a survey to identify and raze illegal constructions blocking the water channel.
There are more than 70 houses in Vasantham Nagar, SNR Garden Extension, Brindavan Nagar and Semmozhi Nagar in Kuniyamuthur. “For the past three years, we have been suffering whenever it rains heavily as our houses get flooded by surplus water from Sengulam tank,” said Noushad, a resident from Vasantham Nagar in ward 87.
“A portion of Sengulam tank’s outer wall collapsed a few years ago. Due to this, whenever the city gets rainfall, the tank overflows and the water flows into our residential area. Despite complaining to officials over the years, none of them has taken action so far. On Sunday, things got worse. We were planning to stage a protest. But as the councillor and other officials arrived and started pumping out the water, we postponed it,” he added.
Ward 87 councillor P Babu told TNIE, “Surplus water from the Sengulam tank inundated several areas in my ward. Civic officials, including the corporation commissioner visited the place and we began pumping out the water with motors. As a permanent solution, we need to desilt the Rajavaikal channel and build stormwater drains.”
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Commissioner M Prathap said there are several numerous unapproved layouts and constructions in the ward. “There is no proper flow in the channel because of the unapproved and illegal constructions. We are going to conduct a survey to identify all illegal constructions and take out all the encroachments to avoid a similar situation in future,” he added.