One of the areas that the Coimbatore Corporation will be concentrating on is repair of damaged roads. Particularly those roads damaged because of the civic body taking up either underground drainage work or storm water drain work.
Mayor S.M. Velusamy has said that prior to the monsoon, the civic body would do its best to repair the damaged roads.
He said so at the last Council meeting on June 1 as a number of councillors representing wards in the core city area complained about contractors executing underground drainage work not repairing the roads.
The councillors said that the contractors delayed the work and also the re-laying of roads or did not level the roads after completion of work. Either way, the roads remained motorists unfriendly. This is nowhere truer than in Meena Estate, Avarampalayam, Bharathi Colony.
The Corporation has placed huge pipes on both sides of Nanjundapuram Road, indicating that it could start anytime the UGD or storm water drain work.
This has caused consternation among residents who fear that work if started as the monsoon nears would throw their life completely out of gear.
Ward 57 Councillor R. Marappan said roads in Murugan Nagar, Muthu Nagar and neighbouring areas were in bad shape because the underground drainage work remained incomplete.
He wanted Coimbatore Corporation to urge the contractor to complete the work at the earliest so that the civic body was able to ready the road for public use, at least prior to monsoon.
Ward 52 Councillor A. Nandhakumar brought to the notice of the Mayor and Commissioner T.K. Ponnusamy the plight of motorists driving on Sanganur Road. Ward 48 Councillor and Chairman, Finance Committee, R. Prabhakaran only seconded him.
The representation from many councillors in this regard, prompted Mayor Mr. Velusamy to issue a direction asking UGD contractors to not take up new work but focus on work at hand so as to expedite the underground drainage and road works.
He said that the priority would be to level the roads and then take up new roads so that city's road condition did not turn for worse during monsoon.
He also asked engineers to identify roads that were in bad condition, though the condition had nothing to do with the UGD work.
In asking the engineers to identify roads, he also instructed engineers – those looking after regular work and others in-charge of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission projects – to coordinate between themselves at the ward level.
The JNNURM staff should keep the regular engineers informed of the development in the work in the ward concerned.
