Two things could be said of the water tank, off Kalapatti Road in the Electrical and Electronics Industrial Estate – it is a wonder that the tank has not yet caved in and that this has something to do with the quality of construction.
The tank, build around three decades ago, rests precariously on four damaged pillars. Of the four, one is completely damaged in that rusted iron rods hold pieces of concrete that keep falling by the day. The tank has been so for quite sometime and in the past six months, it has been worse, says R. Soundaran, secretary, Electrical and Electronics Industrial Estate Entrepreneurs Association.
He says the Department of Industries of the Government of Tamil Nadu constructed the tank way back in the 1980s when it set up the industrial park. The tank, connected to a bore well, was supposed to meet the drinking water needs of the 26 industrial establishments in the park. And it did – for about a decade.
Since 1990s, the tank had not served any purpose. And the owners of the industries went in for water supplied by private water tankers.
It is not just the tank that is bad. The roads and other infrastructure are equally poor, says R. Surendran, president of the association. The reason has to do with the Department not handing over the assets to the local body for maintenance.
The industries at the industrial estate paid taxes first to the Kalapatti Town Panchayat and now to the Coimbatore Corporation, but do not get anything in return as the tank, roads and street lights are under the care of the Department. As a result, the estate is void of basic amenities. He says the industrialists tried to take up the issue with the Coimbatore Corporation with very little success. The Corporation officials cite the reason that the asset belonged to the Department of Industries and that they could do very little.
Mr. Surendran says that there is every possibility that the tank could collapse and fall on vehicles or workers who pass through the area. There are around 1,000 workers who work in the establishments there. He wants the Coimbatore Corporation to demolish the tank soon.
Ward 36 Councillor P. Raghupathy says that in public interest he has raised the issue with the officials concerned and they have promised to look into the issue.
