For the residents of Ward 69, removal of encroachments on channel, roads and improvement in basic services top the list of demands. The Ward extends from Puliakulam Road/Sowripalayam Road in the north to Trichy Road in the south and from Police Kandasamy Road in the west to Sanganoor Pallam in the east.
Most of the residents get water from the Puliakulam overhead tank. The Corporation supplies water once in five to six days and groundwater almost every day. But there is a shortage of the groundwater, particularly on Mashal Street and in Periyar Nagar, say residents.
On the solid waste management front, the Ward has got 28 permanent workers and 11 contract workers on rolls but on any given day the attendance is around 25 and this leads to shortage of workers and its impact on work is that the drains are not regularly cleaned, they add. One of the important demands is for eviction of encroachments on the channel that carries surplus water from the Valankulam tank. The encroachment continues right from Sungam Junction through Mashal Street, Mashal Layout till the channel’s disposal point on Sowripalayam Road.
Ward councillor J. Selvakumar says that the civic body is taking steps to provide alternative houses to the residents there and have the channel widened and deepened. He has sought funds from the Coimbatore South MLA. In Periyar Nagar, the residents want the Corporation to complete the underground drainage work by providing house service connection, says resident K. Jayaraman.
For residents on both sides of the Pankaja Mill Road, the Corporation will do well to provide a causeway or bridge across the Sanganoor Canal to connect Periyar Nagar to Vasantham Nagar so that they could easily reach Alvernia School, says N. Sathish of S. Ramasamy Nagar.
