Corporation should account for money spent: consumer forum

On August 21, Sunday, the Public Works Department demolished a portion of the causeway the Coimbatore Corporation had constructed across River Noyyal, between Nanjundapuram and Vellalore.

The action was taken on a Sunday because a case regarding failure to clear encroachments along the river was to come up for hearing before the Madras High Court in the next few days.

The PWD officials said that the Corporation did not have its consent to construct the causeway and therefore it was an encroachment. The Corporation that had spent close to Rs. 40 lakh said that it had sought permission for the causeway in February this year and had not received any till it took up the work around May.

The Corporation justified taking up the work saying that the people living on the northern and southern banks of the river needed to cross over with ease, as an over bridge work across the railway crossing in Podanur was under way and that the road had been blocked.

Notwithstanding the reasons the Corporation proffered, questions are being asked about spending public on a project that did not have approval in the first place.

Coimbatore Consumer Cause’s secretary K. Kathirmathiyon said that there was nothing wrong with the Corporation wanting to construct a causeway to provide easy access to the residents of the area, but what was objectionable was its failure to obtain permission from the PWD.

In the absence of the permission, the causeway had turned out to be an illegal structure and for spending public money for encroaching Noyyal, the Corporation needed to be accountable.

Mr. Kathirmathiyon, who has filed a petition before the court to clear the river of encroachments, said that the Corporation should fix responsibility on those who ill spent the public money. Sources in the civic body said that they were looking into the issue.

The civic body had constructed the causeway across Noyyal without permission from PWD