Faulty construction of drain troubles residents of Vadavalli

Works under way to correct the flow of water in the drain on Veerakeralam road in Coimbatore on Friday. Photo: K. Ananthan

In the drain that runs from north to south along the Vadavalli-Veerakeralam Road in Ward 19, the Coimbatore Corporation has dumped earth to the brim, resulting in stagnation of water.

Resident C. Valsala is the worst affected as the stagnant sewage is right front of her house and the shops that abuts it. It has been so ever since the Coimbatore Corporation began work around 10 days ago. With the covering slabs removed, she is forced to jump over the drain. She also has to live with the odour.

A few feet away, resident J. Jagadambal is marginally better in that she does not have to jump over the drain to reach the road. It runs along the western side of her house, away from the gate.

With no place for the sewage to flow, she has not washed clothes for the past two days. “I do not know how long I can continue like this,” she rues.

Reverse flow

The Corporation has dumped earth so that it can reverse the flow in the drain from south to north to link it to another drain in the neighbourhood, as it was not possible to take the sewage beyond the track where the Siruvani line passes by.

A Corporation officer and Ward 19 Councillor R. Mylsamy say that though another drain starts off south of the Siruvani track, around 25 m where this drain ends, the Corporation cannot connect the two because of the Siruvani main pipeline.

And, the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board will not allow the construction.

The present set up will result in stagnation of sewage in the area. Therefore the only option the civic body has is to reverse the flow to link this drain to another one. This stagnation the residents complain about is only temporary, they add.

No planning

Civic activists say that the Veerakeralam local body that constructed the drain has done so without planning. The Corporation, in to which the local body merged, should pull up the officials concerned as the additional Rs. 3 lakh it spends to reverse the flow is nothing but a waste of tax payers’ money.

Somebody has to accountable for this failure and those guilty must be taken to task, they demand.