The Coimbatore Corporation has constructed storm water drain (SWD) on the eastern side of the Mettupalayam Road under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission project but that will not prevent the road from getting flooded, said Ward 5 councillor K. Mahesh Kumar.
He represents a few localities in Kavundampalayam, one of the flooding-prone areas.
The Corporation ought to replace the drain on the western side of the road, right from Subramaniampalayam to the Sanganoor Road Junction, for that would solve the problem.
The councillor said that his rationale for demanding a new SWD on the western side was that given the current situation, a half-an-hour’s drizzle was enough to send waters gushing from Subramaniampalayam to localities south.
The residents of Ganesh Nagar, Cheran Nagar, Balan Nagar, Kavundampalayam, Peons’ Colony, Gandhi Nagar and a few other localities would suffer, said M. Rajendran, Ward 9 councillor and former chairman of the erstwhile Kavundampalayam Municipality.
The existing drain that was constructed sometime a little more than a decade ago was totally inadequate to carry the rain water to the Sanganoor Pallam. The drain overflows, pushing water onto the road. And that would leave pedestrians wading through knee-deep water, said Mr. Kumar.
He wanted the Corporation to demolish the existing drain and construct a fresh one to prevent flooding. It could take up the construction of the drain with the unutilised funds it had got under the JNNURM project, he suggested.
Mr. Rajendran said that the original plan was to construct the drain on both sides of Mettupalayam Road, but the Corporation could not take it up because it, in association with the Tamil Nadu Housing Board and the National Highways, could not clear the encroachments in time.
If the Corporation had gone ahead and removed the encroachments, by this time the city would have had a drain on the western side of the road as well and that would have left the Kavundampalayam residents happy.
Official sources said that the Corporation would take up the project soon.
If it was not in a position to divert the unutilised JNNURM funds, it would include the work in the scope of SWD project to be taken up for added areas.
