With desilting works still under progress in the Sanganoor canal by the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC), residents of Gandhi Nagar in Ganapathy under Ward 29, requested the civic body to dispose of the desilted mud piled up close to the water body. They also sought the closing of the drains to control rodents and mosquito breeding in the area.
S. Shanavas (42), a tailor and resident of Gandhi Nagar said, “There is a culvert and channel of the Sanganoor Pallam flowing from Maniyakaranpalayam. The officials ordered clearing of the waste and desilting the water lines after a few local people submitted a petition to the Corporation, a few weeks ago. The collected waste has piled up beside the waterway. Many residents began dumping garbage in the area in front of a mosque. So, a covering net to prevent open littering was put up by the civic body, besides pasting a poster on cleanliness.”
“But, works have not been ongoing in the past few days. The snag is affecting the open sewage drains that are connected to the channel. Moreover, the muck has not been disposed of. One portion near the mosque was cleared on June 5. Other sections, especially the pile near the main channel has not been cleared,” he added.
Another resident of the area said, rats from the drain, that surface to scavenge the piled up wste, scurry around the culvert banks and dig the soil. “The open lines must be covered to stop this rodent menace. As the soil weakened, steep slopes formed on the bank, which is dangerous for pedestrians. A group of visitors to the mosque tended the soil and planted seeds, but none of them grew, since all the nutrients in the soil had eroded,” he added.
Assistant engineer of the ward L.S. Mahesh said desilting has been going on for 10 days, but halted as the workers need additional machinery to access tricky spots to unblock the culvert and channel.
“The machinery is unavailable at present due to maintenance works and is expected to arrive in the area in four days. The workers have been told to unclog, desilt and transport the waste to the waste transfer station. The muck in the area present now will be cleaned soon,” he added.
Segregation
The ward, with over 15,800 residents (as per 2017 records of the Corporation), has several retail outlets along Sathyamangalam Road.
Ward sanitary inspector V. Aravind said roughly the ward produces 600 tonnes of organic waste and a tonne of dry waste daily.
R. Namakodi (48), a mobile scrap dealer, said, people of residential locations such as Gandhi Nagar and Teachers Colony segregate waste. But a few, mainly in Vellai Thottam Annai Sathya Nagar in Ganapathy Housing Unit throw the garbage in the open if I take even one day off. They must be notified by the officials.”
The inspector replied that awareness on waste segregation has been raised among people and workers.
