COIMBATORE: Drinking water has been wasted by flowing into the drainage for the past 10 days. Neither the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) nor the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board officials have fixed the broken pipeline near the GN Mills Junction in the city.
Meanwhile, the TWAD Board and the highways department have been playing the blame game over digging the road pipeline restoration.
The TWAD Board officials have been criticized for their shoddy work installing pipelines for drinking water and for the Underground Drainage Projects executed on behalf of the CCMC.
Several months ago, the TWAD Board officials installed drinking water pipelines on the GN Mills-KNG Pudur Road as part of the Pillur Scheme 3 project. The 3.7 km stretch is a major link located in Ward 15 of the North zone, connecting the Thadagam-Anaikatti State Highways Road with the Mettupalayam Road. The TWAD Board worked on the road after obtaining the necessary highway department permission.
Despite finishing the work several months ago, the officials are yet to repair a majority of the damages that were caused on that stretch angering both the locals and motorists. In this situation, a small portion of the road near GN Mills-KNG Pudur Road junction got damaged over a week ago.
M V Ganesh Kumar, a local activist from the area said, “Water has been wasted for a week and flowing into the drainage.
Despite intimating the officials about the damage, none of them had visited the spot to carry out repair work. The CCMC is blaming the TWAD Board and the board is blaming the highways department over the delay in repairing it. All three departments are playing the blame game without addressing the issue.”
A senior official from the TWAD Board told TNIE, “Our officials have been carrying out the water flow test at the newly installed pipelines in Subramaniyampalayam. So, during the tests, one of the pipelines might have been damaged. I shall instruct the concerned officials to immediately take care of the leakage. To dig the highway road for repair works, the concerned department needs to provide permission. However, as they delay in giving a nod, we are unable to proceed.”
Meanwhile, the State Highways Department divisional engineer (DE) of Coimbatore, Gnanamurthy told TNIE that no officials from the TWAD Board had approached for permission and he would immediately give approval if they put forth a request.