To ease traffic congestion on Sathyamanagalam Road and increase the flow of sewage in drains in the area, Coimbatore Corporation will in the next few days remove encroachments, Mayor S.M. Velusamy told journalists on Saturday.
For long, the Corporation has been trying to work on the Textool Bridge — Maniakarampalayam Road Junction stretch of the Sathyamangalam Road but it was unable to do much because the road belonged to the National Highways.
Left with little choice, the Corporation now planned to do what best it could: remove encroachments.
Once the encroachments were removed, it would ease the flow of traffic and also pave way for the civic body to construct drains.
And the drains would reduce problems related to inundation in Ganapathy.
North Zone Chairman P. Rajkumar said that the one-and-half-kilometre stretch was full of encroachments.
The worst-affected area was the place where the Velan Cinema once stood.
There the level of encroachment could be up to 10 feet.
Once the Corporation carried out the eviction drive, it would result in free movement of vehicles on the road, which had of late seen increase in traffic due the presence of information technology companies.
Many shopping complexes and a mall were being constructed, he said and added that the eviction drive should be carried out at the earliest.
If the Corporation were to also construct drains, it would prevent inundation in Ganapathy Pudur and old Ganapathy town, for the drains would easily carry the water to the natural drain just north of the Ganpathy bus stand.
At present, even the slightest of rains resulted in inundation in the two areas, both of which were thickly populated.
Mr. Rajkumar added that the demands for removing encroachments and constructing drains were at least three years old.
