Textool Road, near SIHS Colony, Ondipudur, that serves thousands of residents in more than 10 residential colonies is full of potholes. The recent rain has only worsened the road condition in that stones have come off the surface, making it all the more difficult for road users to drive and also to walk.
The road that the Coimbatore Corporation laid more than nine years ago is unfit for even walking, complains N. Kumaresan, a resident of Ellammal Layout.
Thousands of residents use the road to avoid the congested Trichy Road and also to reach Neelikonampalayam and Hope College.
After dusk, people avoid using the road because there are no street lights. The last time the street lights glowed were at least five years ago and this makes it difficult for women to use the road, he adds.
The nearby Irugur Road is slightly better in that the Corporation has repaired one part of the road but was delaying another part. The 1.40 km stretch of the road on the western side remains incomplete and that leaves the residents negotiating potholes and damaged stretches, rues V. Suresh, a regular road user from the area.
During heavy rain, the road turns a river carrying filth, as sewage carrying faeces from the nearby public toilet overflows, he adds.
The roads within residential localities are no better. The last time the Corporation repaired or relaid concrete roads in Adappakadu area was more than five years ago, is resident K. Mano’s grouse.
A. Sathishkumar, a Karumariamman Layout resident, says though the residents have knocked on the doors of Corporation officials they are yet to get relief.
The impact of the poor roads in the locality is that during emergencies the residents are unable to have ambulance or auto rickshaw or taxi at their door step. In Adappakadu, the residents had to carry an ill elderly woman to an auto rickshaw on the main road, he recalls.
N. Karthik, MLA representing the area, says he has so far sent seven representations to the Corporation officials but their response has been rather poor. It was only after his visit last week to the area and complaint thereafter that the Corporation removed a huge pile of garbage on Textool Road, he points out.
He has now submitted a list of roads to be repaired and relaid and the officials have promised him to initiate the work at the earliest. If they do not start work within a reasonable time, he will mobilise people to stage a protest, the MLA warns.
The Corporation officials say they have floated tenders to start work in the area that comes under Ward 59 and very soon the the civic body will be able to commence work.
