Apart from leaving some of the roads in tatters, the recent spell of showers has also left the underground sewer lines overflowing in many parts of the city over the past few days.
Motorists and pedestrians are often forced to wade through overflowing sewage on some of the arterial roads in the city, braving the stench and revulsion.
The city’s sewer network, which pumps about 56 million litres of sewage a day to the treatment plant at Panchapur, often runs into problems owing to clogging of the lines at different parts of the city.
Not a day passes without a few manholes being opened up to clear the blocks and Corporation sanitary workers could be seen engaged in clearing and repairing manholes.
The manholes along the McDonald’s Road near the Central Bus Stand are perennially overflowing despite repeated efforts by the Corporation to set right the problem.
Over the past few days, sewer lines along the Rockins Road that lead to the bus stand have also been overflowing.
With sewer lines overflowing all around the bus stand, visitors to the city are welcomed by the putrid stench.
Sewage overflowing on the roads is common sight in places such as the Madurai Road, Chathram Bus Stand, St. John’s Vestry Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School Junction, Thennur, Heber Road and other parts of the city.
“The problem has been persisting for long in many places and makes for a very poor image of the city. The civic body should come up with a comprehensive plan to find a permanent solution to the problem,” said R. Gopal, a city resident.
Full capacitySources in the Corporation say that the existing sewer system has reached its full capacity and attribute the frequent overflows to siltation apart from blockages caused by discharge of solid waste such as sanitary napkins, plastic waste and even broken crockery pieces.
Though the Corporation has asked hotels and apartments to build diaphragm chambers to filter out the solid wastes, the problem persists.
The civic body, the sources said, was working on a plan to carry out certain improvements in the existing sewer system as part of a new underground drainage scheme to be executed to cover the omitted areas in the city.
Detailed project reportThe detailed project report for the scheme, which could cover all the omitted areas in the city, is to be finalised over the next few days.
Improvements for the existing sewer network, including creating loop lines wherever necessary, would be incorporated in the new scheme.
This apart, the Corporation was also planning to acquire a machine to clean overflowing manholes, the sources added.
