The wait is at least one-and-half years old — for a motorable road and resumption of bus service. To date, the wait continues for the residents of a host of residential colonies on both sides of the Thayir Itteri Road in Ward 44 of the Coimbatore Corporation.
The Corporation dug the road first to take up construction of the underground drainage chambers, then pipes, then house service connection pipes, then storm drainage, which is not complete, and now water supply line, says S. Gokul Raj, a resident.
The repeated digging has left the surface with potholes, undulations and a minimum motorable space, where lorries, small goods carriers, cars, school vans and two-wheelers are forced to compete for space, says S. Viswanathan, another resident of the area.
Once the digging started the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation withdrew the buses plying on route umbers 43 ad 2C. Buses on the two routes went via the Thayir Itteri Road, says S. Ramakrishnan, president, Manis Nagar Residents' Welfare Association.
When it rains, it becomes difficult to use the road because water covers the potholes making it difficult for the road users to negotiate the surface.
There have also been instances of vehicles getting stuck in the slush.
Pipelines
There were also a few occasions when lorries got stuck as the earth caved in at the place where the Corporation had laid the underground drainage pipelines, says Mr. Raj.
Mr. Ramakrishnan says that the residents did petition the authorities concerned but solution was yet to come by. The first petition was a year ago and the next one a few months ago.
He says that the road serves houses, apartments and also a number of industries as it connects the Nallampalayam Road with Sanganoor Road. It is also thickly populated. Considering the facts, the Corporation should repair the road at the earliest.
Ward Councillor ‘Venthamarai’ S. Balu says that the road is on the list of those the Corporation will take up for repair once the tender work for repairing roads for Rs. 52 crore is complete.
It is only a matter of time, he adds.