In the run up to the local body elections around September-October 2016, Vadavalli residents were happy in that the Coimbatore Corporation addressed their long-pending demand for good roads.
The very same residents are now angry at what the Corporation is doing - digging up roads that it laid only six months ago. Periyar Nagar resident K. Kathirmathiyon says that digging up newly laid roads is unacceptable.
The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board is digging roads on behalf of the Corporation in Happy Garden, VKS Layout, Rajan Nagar, Masani Amman Layout, Marutham Nagar, Periyar Nagar, Muthammal Layout, Raj Avenue and a few other areas to augment drinking water supply.
One, it reflects poorly on the civic body’s planning efficiency and, two, how the civic body is wasting public money.
The dug roads are covered with loose earth. The result is that the roads turn slushy during rain, complains N. Chandrasekaran, a resident of Happy Garden.
With the onset of south-west monsoon, it is going to be increasingly difficult, he adds.
The move to dig roads within three months of black topping the surface shows poor planning, says T.N.G. Shankaran of Marutham Nagar Extension.
Sources in the TWAD say that road digging is to lay new pipelines and replace old ones wherever necessary to improve water supply to the area (Vadavalli) and also to Kavundampalayam and Veerakeralam under the Kavundampalayam-Vadavalli Combined Drinking Water Supply Scheme.
The TWAD has taken up the work at ₹108 crore to lay 317 km pipeline to improve the water supply from 11 to 23 million litres a day. It started the work in September last year and is expected to complete it by September 2018.
Corporation officials say that digging roads soon after rebuilding those has happened as TWAD has accelerated the pace of work.
