PUDUCHERRY: Roads laid barely a year ago in Puducherry town are now being cut open to construct sewer chambers and connect houses to the upgraded underground sewer network. The work has led to dust pollution, traffic congestion, and uneven road surfaces, with residents fearing that the patchwork repairs will deteriorate into potholes once the monsoon sets in.
Excavation is underway in several areas, including Kamatchiamman Koil Street, Shankardass Street, Sri Aurobindo Street, Swaraj Koil Street, Muthumariamman Koil Street and Savarirayalu Street. On Shankardass Street, a recently laid six-inch cement concrete road has been cut for the work.
According to officials, the 40-year-old underground sewer network, which frequently overflowed onto roads, was rehabilitated using trenchless technology. After robotic assessment of the pipelines, new pipes were inserted inside the existing network through sewer manholes, eliminating the need to cut roads along 37 km of the 46-km sewer system. The upgraded network is expected to remain functional for another three to four decades, besides preventing sewerage overflow. Even the Chennai municipal corporation inspected it for replication in Chennai.
However, residents question why the connections to houses were not integrated while laying the main sewer line before the roads were re-laid. This has resulted in not only constructing new chambers for connecting houses but also connecting chambers to sewer wells, in place of earlier direct connection to sewer wells.
Residents are sceptical about the narrower dimension of the sewer pipeline. They said it is likely that sewerage could overflow in places where the load is high. A resident of Kamatchiamman Koil Street expressed apprehension about potholes emerging, especially during the monsoon.
While authorities admit to missing out on house connections due to improper planning, they said that in several places, old connection chambers were found damaged and are being rebuilt.
Residents also complain that contractors often restore only small patches, leaving uneven surfaces, while some trenches are temporarily filled with loose earth. Mansee Pratap, a resident of Francois Martin Street, claims parts of their road have remained dug up for nearly a year, and no information about it is available in the public domain. In fact, a water line got damaged during the digging of the road, she said.
Repeated digging of newly laid roads reflected poor coordination among government departments, says Congress leader D. Pradish Irudayaraj. Underground works should be completed before laying cement or bituminous roads, he said. He urged the government to ensure better coordination among departments to prevent avoidable expenditure and repeated road cutting in future.
