After some rap on the knuckles, the Coimbatore Corporation has begun work to raise the level of manholes on the Puliakulam, Pankaja Mill and Nanjundapuram roads.
Officials in the Coimbatore Corporation say that they have contracted out the work on 18 manholes on the three roads for Rs. 9.90 lakh. The contractors have begun the work and will complete it in the next 10 days or so. The civic body was forced to do so as the Highways Department has been breathing down its neck as the delay in raising the manholes’ level impacted the road laying work.
They say that the manholes that are being worked on are on the old trunk main that carries sewage to the sewage farm in Nanjundapuram.
K. Kathirmathiyon, member, District Road Safety Committee, says that the civic body was forced to take up the work at the earliest because at the recent committee meeting a few days ago, the Highways Department said that it was unable to take up the road work due to the delay caused by the Corporation. This delay has created a situation where the western portion of the aforementioned three roads were in damaged condition due to the Corporation taking up the underground drainage work under the JNNURM scheme and the eastern side being no better due to the difference in levels between the roads and manholes.
The quality of roads on the eastern sides took further beating as traffic movement became completely one-sided (being moved from the western side to the eastern) due to the UGD work. As a result, the roads have been in a bad shape for over a year-and-half now, he says.
After it came to light that the Corporation delayed the manhole work, senior administration officials had to directly intervene in the matter, asking the civic body to take up the work at the earliest.
C.R. Rajkanth, a resident of Nanjundapuram, says that the residents of localities on both sides of the three roads have been petitioning authorities concerned to repair the roads but were given only reasons for delay.
The latest work by the civic body has rekindled the hope of better roads, he adds.
