The corporation had relaid a road without removing the borewell hand pump on Appasamy Street in ward 28. But, officials claimed that it was for saving the borewell and avoiding damage.
The road at Appasamy Street in Shevapet, where the road was damaged due to the implementation of underground drainage works, was relaid on Thursday night.
In the morning, residents found that the road was laid without removing the borewell hand pump from the street. They took a photo of the borewell and uploaded it on social media, and it went viral. Following this, on Friday, the corporation workers removed the borewell.
Workers installing a water tank after removing the hand pump on Saturday, | Photo Credit: E. LAKSHMI NARAYANAN
Speaking to The Hindu, R.P. Gopinath, a resident and State executive member of the BJP, said the incident is similar to what happened in Vellore corporation. Even after seeing that, Salem Corporation officials showed negligence in monitoring the situation.
The borewell hand pump was not functioning for years. Like action taken in the Vellore incident, action should be taken against the contractors and officials who failed to monitor this incident here, Mr. Gopinath added.
When contacted, Suramangalam zonal officials offered a different version about this issue. Suramangalam zone Assistant Commissioner Selvaraj said, “we had already planned to remove the borewell from the spot and replace it with a water tank. The borewell is functioning and it is not defunct as claimed in the social media posts.”
To safeguard the borewell from damage and to avert stones from entering into it, a road was laid by covering it. After laying the road, we removed the borewell hand pump, and now work has started to install a tank there, Mr. Selvaraj added.
