COIMBATORE: Residents of Mullai Nagar have been irked with the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) as the officials have not taken any action regarding the rainwater inundation in their area.
The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board has been carrying out the Underground Drainage (UGD) project works in various areas across the city including Kavundampalayam, Vadavalli, Thudiyalur, Vellakinar, Kurichi, and Kuniyamuthur among others on behalf of the CCMC, major roads in these areas are being dug up.
While in some places the dug-up roads have been closed with a concrete mixture as a temporary measure, the majority of the roads have been left in dilapidated condition for months. In such a situation, during monsoon, residents of Mullai Nagar at Kavundampalayam in Ward 17 of the West Zone in the city are not only left to commute through a bad patch of road but also wade through bad roads in which rainwater stagnates.
J Sebastian, a resident of Mullai Nagar, said, “The officials who had dug up the road for UGD works, left it open. So, we motorists are left with a mere 4-5 feet wide pathway for our daily commute. Now, as these pits along with the roads are filled with rainwater, many people are unaware of this, slip and fall. Also, the water has been stagnating for over three days and none of the civic body officials have turned up to solve the issue.
P Kalimuthu, another resident, told TNIE, “My son who used to travel this way to school on his bicycle, fell down and sustained injuries due to the stagnant water. Now, I am taking him to his school on my two-wheeler. As the path has become narrow after the digging, we are unable to travel by car. The officials must take immediate action in this regard.”
A CCMC engineer told TNIE, “After the recent rain, UGD construction works are not being carried out and only road restoration works are being done. The TWAD Board which is carrying out the project was also instructed only to carry out patchwork and fix the broken roads. We shall intimate the TWAD Board officials about the Mullai Nagar issue and ask them to address the problem at once.”
A TWAD Board official told TNIE that owing to the recent rain, they are unable to put the concrete mix on the broken stretch and instead would temporarily fix the problem by removing the sludge and putting a layer of gravel.