Elanjselvi Karthik, Councillor (Ward 56) said that she had been making representations to authorities concerned for more than a year to demolish the wall that collapsed on Thursday.
A year ago she raised the matter with the East Zone Chairman of the corporation during a ward committee meeting.
The casualties, and damages would have been severe had it been Friday, when more people used to come to the RTO office to register their vehicles, said local residents.
Manikandan, and Ravishankar who was injured in the accident used to sit on the roadside close to the wall every day to sell various application forms, and help people fill them.
Rekha (32), who was riding a two-wheeler on Cowley Brown Road at R.S. Puram was injured when a tree fell on her. She suffered a fracture on the right leg, and has been admitted to a private hospital. A car too was damaged in the accident.
“I came with my friend to register his motorbike, and we were standing near the wall when it collapsed,” said S. Aruljothi (41) an insurance agent. His motorbike was among the 21 two-wheelers that were damaged. “Let us hope that the wall would be demolished at least after this incident,” the Councillor told The Hindu on Thursday.
She said that the corporation officials and the Village Administrative Officer (VAO) told her that it was private property and they would not be able to do anything about it.
She added that the property ownership has changed several times due to which they were unable to make a representation to them about the wall.
The eastern side of the wall was weaker. “Since there is no activity in the close to 16 acres, it is now a home for snakes,” she said. She added that the walls have become weak as holes have been made on the walls.
Mayor
Coimbatore Mayor P. Rajkumar said that officials concerned have been asked to inspect the remaining portion of the wall that collapsed on Thursday. The land owner will be asked to demolish the weak portion immediately,” he said.
Mr. Rajkumar said that the corporation would take necessary steps to bring down all such weak walls if residents brought it up to the corporation’s notice. He said that steps are under way to educate people of the Siddhapudur housing unit to vacate their houses as the building has become old and weak.
New houses will be built for them, he said adding that arrangements will be made for the families till new buildings were completed.
Rainfall
With heavy rain continuing, Coimbatore district recorded a total rainfall of 428.30mm on Wednesday.
On Thursday, a tree got uprooted in the city, and the compound wall of a building collapsed in Peelamedu killing one person.
According to an official release from the Department of Revenue Administration, Disaster Management and Mitigation Department, the average rainfall in Coimbatore, as on 8am on Thursday, was 35.69mm.
Pollachi recorded the highest rainfall of 96mm followed by Perianaickenpalayam (64mm), the areas around Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (44.50mm), and Valparai (41mm).
Mettupalayam recorded 34.30mm, Cincona 27mm, and Coimbatore South 26.80mm. The Nilgiris district received a total of 520.40mm. The average rainfall in the district was 30.61.
The maximum rainfall of 62mm was recorded at Ketti. K. Bride recorded 56mm, followed by Coonoor (55.60mm), Geddai (48mm), Burliar (42mm), Emerald (38mm) and Avalance (37mm).
The heavy rain uprooted a couple of trees in the district. A tree fell near the Rose Garden around 4am on Thursday. Another tree got uprooted at Ambedkar Colony near Kotagiri on Wednesday night.
