Throughout Kuniamuthur, the one entry that tops the residents' list of demands is drainage. It is followed by roads and drinking water.
The residents demand drainage because they have no place to let out the waste water, which, invariably stagnates on roads.
This damages the roads and poses civic problems, says A. Subramanian, a resident of Arasu Paniyalar Nagar.
Nowhere is this truer than in Muvendar Nagar. The residents have been waiting for drainage for long.
What has instead been delivered are promises, says K. Gunasekaran, president of the residents' welfare association.
His statement also holds good for the roads there. The residents have no good roads, either.
“Officials and elected representatives promised us roads and drains when rain water and overflowing water from the Kuniamuthur tank flooded the area in September-October last. But nothing much has come of those promises.”
That brings us to the next of the residents' grievances: closure or encroachment of canals that convey water from the Kuniamuthur tank to the Kurichi tank.
In all there were 11 canals – three major canals and eight minor ones. All those have been closed or encroached upon for one reason or the other, laments R.M. Kandasamy, also a Kuniamuthur resident.
So bad is the encroachment on the three major canals – the Cholan Nagar canal, the Arasu Paniyalar Nagar canal and Cauvery Street canal – that they have altogether disappeared. With the canals closed the Kuniamuthur tank waters inundate the locality, as it happened last monsoon.
“The area remained under water for over two months,” recalls S. Sellamuthur Gounder, a resident.
“Even the drinking water pipelines remained submerged. Mini bus services remained affected for the period,” complements A. Subramainian, a resident. The residents want the Coimbatore Corporation and the Public Works Department to remove encroachments and restore the canal, at least wherever possible.
In Cauvery Nagar the residents want the Coimbatore Corporation to clean the places where drinking water supply valves are installed. At least a dozen such valves are covered by sewage and in many areas sewage mixes with potable water.
The residents next demand is cleaning up the ‘Chinna Sudugadu'. The residents say the burial ground that has been in disuse for long is now a dump yard. To prevent the place from turning into garbage yard, the Corporation should develop a park there.
Mr. Subramanian says this has been the residents demand for long.
In Ward 93, near Nirmala Matha Convent Matriculation Higher Secondary School the sewage flows against the drain's designed direction. This is because of the faulty gradient, explains a resident.
The result the sewage stagnates near the school and overflows onto the plot abutting the school compound. The school authorities say they have raised the issue with the Corporation officials.
In neighbouring Edayarpalayam the residents complain about drinking water supply schedule. N. Senthilkumar, a resident of the Dalit colony, says that the Corporation has been supplying Aliyar water only once in 20 days and that too for only a couple of hours.
The residents are forced to go to neighbouring localities to fetch Siruvani water, which the area has been deprived of.
Officials in the Corporation say that they are aware of the problems in Kunaimuthur. For cleaning up the places where the drinking water valves have been fixed, they have drawn up a proposal.
They promise to lay the roads and take up drain construction at the earliest. As for repairing the drain with the faulty gradient near the school, the officials say work is on.
They also promise of an early solution for the irregular Aliyar supply.
