COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) and officials of a private firm (Suez) have made Uppara Street and UTG Lane in Sukrawarpettai non-motorable by digging up the narrow stretch on one side for installing a pipeline and filling the debris on the other. As the officials dug up the roads without proper intimation, the residents were affected.
The roads in Uppara Street and UTG Lane in Ward 81 of the central zone of the city are very narrow allowing only two-wheelers to commute on them. While a major portion of the stretch is cement road, the remaining is tar road. In this situation, Suez which has been carrying out 24x7 water supply works on behalf of the CCMC has been working at a snail’s pace. The works have also been continuing for several years now.
With the UTG Lane that was dug out for pipeline works several years ago remaining unattended, the officials have now begun digging the nearby Uppara Street for the 24x7 water supply project work. This has enraged the residents in that area.
P Kaushik, a resident, said, “For over two years the road conditions have been worse here in our area. People here are frustrated over the lethargic work carried out by officials. That said, we had to pay our taxes. Will the government stop collecting the taxes until they fix these bad roads?” he questioned.
R Senthil Kumar, another resident told TNIE, “Despite being a narrow stretch, officials dig the roads out and leave it unattended for several weeks. At the end of the day, we are the ones who suffer by not being able to even walk on these roads. The higher officials do not bother to come and look at what’s happening in our areas. Rather, they concentrate only on big areas.”
When TNIE inquired about it, blaming the officials from Suez for the delay in repairing the road CCMC officials said that they were not responding properly even to the CCMC about the progress made in the works.
An official from Suez told TNIE, “We have started restoring the broken roads in Ward 81 now and we are taking up the works on one road at a time. All the damaged portions will be repaired soon in a month. Regarding Uppara Street, we just started digging it for pipeline installation. We shall try and finish the work within two to three weeks provided no UGD pipelines or EB cables are hindering the progress.”