TIRUCHY: Amid the corporation drawing criticism for the pace of implementation of the underground drainage (UGD) connection project, residents on the city outskirts and the peripheries express displeasure at their localities not finding mention in the original UGD plan.
This means such areas would have to wait for a year before a separate project provides them with UGD connections. The corporation regards such localities not included by the town planners in the 2019 UGD plan as Phase IV of UGD work.
This means areas like Ganapathy Nagar, Keela Street, Renga Nagar and Ratna Nagar will be covered under Phase IV work, in which the corporation has set a target of covering about 140 km, taking more than a year for bringing in UGD connections.
This has irked residents like those in Vayalur Road as the corporation is likely to soon damage the portion between Ganapathy Nagar and Somarasampettai that was recently blacktopped by the state highways department to ensure UGD coverage in areas like Ganapathy Nagar and Nehruji Nagar.
The residents cite this an example of poor planning and wastage of government money in the name of UGD. "We don't know whom to blame. What justification can be made for the decision to dig a recently blacktopped road? All these could have been avoided had the corporation included the areas on the city outskirts in the 2019 UGD plan," said P Jyothivelan of Nehruji Nagar.
When enquired, senior civic body officials said that the then planners didn't consider the areas on the city outskirts in the 2019 UGD plan as there were several vacant plots in such localities during that time. Further, during that time there was no plan to expand the city limits. But in the later years, the corporation decided to include those areas, considering developments and future plans, officials said.