A colony of nearly 100 mud houses at G.M. Nagar in the city was flooded because of heavy rain on Tuesday night, leaving cots, mattresses and utensils floating on knee-high water.
The residents swarmed around Mayor R. Venkatachalam, Deputy Mayor N. Karthik and Coimbatore Corporation officials on Wednesday morning with a litany of complaints over poor amenities, especially those that cause hardship to them during heavy rain.
Women residents complained that their children could not sleep as water level in the colony rose. “The main problem is the absence of storm water drains in the colony,” the Mayor said. “What adds to the problem is that a part of the houses of some people block natural drain routes to the nearby Rajavaikkal (a canal that runs through the south and eastern parts of the city),” he pointed out.
Mr. Karthik said unauthorised portions of some houses blocked the water from draining into the canal. “These are toilets or some rooms that extend beyond the extent of the land given by the Government. Many of these encroach upon the canal also,” he said.
The Mayor said the Corporation would bring this to the notice of the district administration, to have the encroachments on the water body removed.
“We must also provide storm water drains in this colony that has more than 40 roads, with at least 35 of them being bylanes. The houses here belong to poor families. These had been built on sites for which pattas were provided by the Government,” the Mayor said.
“The Corporation has included this colony in the second phase of the storm water drain scheme in the city that will be implemented under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. But, we need to have this done quickly,” the Mayor said.
Various other parts of the city, especially main roads, were inundated in the heavy rain that began around 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday. By 8 p.m., water stagnation turned many points on Avanashi Road unusable, once again pointing at poor storm water drainage.
Rain in the district till 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday: Chinnakallar 65 mm, Valparai PAP 58, Valparai Taluk 20, Coimbatore South 50, Coimbatore Airport 44, Sulur 36, Mettupalayam 31, Annur 27, Periyanaickenpalayam 26, Chincona 22, TNAU 21 and Pollachi 12 mm. The average rainfall recorded in the district was 33 mm.
