Right on the middle of the Perur Main Road in Telugupalayam, between LIC Colony and S.J. Kalyana Mandapam, is a trench measuring over 25 m. The Corporation had dug the trench to lay pipeline to connect two underground drainage chambers. Neither the pipeline was laid nor the trench closed.
The work is part of the underground drainage work the civic body is executing with funds from the Central Government under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission project.
According to R. Manimohan, a regular user of the road, the Corporation dug the road more than two months ago and had still not made efforts to either close the trench or place warning signs. It was only on Friday that the Corporation placed a warning tape on the southern side of the trench.
But considering the length and the depth of the trench the warning tape was of no consequence, he said. The trench is more than 10-foot deep.
Corroborating his version, T.V. Gopi, a resident of Telugupalayam, said that the Corporation had not bothered to improve the road condition there.
Given the reduction in width of the driving space, road users moving from Perur to the city take the southern end of the trench — they drive on the right of the road, leaving little space for those proceeding to Perur.
Similarly, the Corporation had also not cared to close the pit it dug in Ashok Nagar to repair Siruvani pipeline. And that had been three weeks ago.
Shortage of pipeline
Ward 76 councillor N. Chinnadurai said that the contractor executing the work had not been able to close the trench because of the shortage of the pipeline connecting the two underground drainage chambers. Once the pipeline was available, the contractor would lay the same and close the trench.
He said that he would talk to the contractor and ensure that the work was completed at the earliest.
