Vadavalli and Veerakeralam, the two town panchayats that became a part of the Coimbatore Corporation, appear to be conjoined twins if the problems the area residents face are anything to go by.
Both the local bodies do not have proper drain facilities, the residents there get irregular water supply and the solid waste management there is poor. And, both the areas also suffer shortage of conservancy workers.
Irregular
The Siruvani water supply to the localities in Vadavalli is very irregular. The residents there get water once in 20 – 25 days.
The Bhavani water supply is bad, though not as bad as Siruvani supply. The residents get Bhavani water once in 12 days, says V. Mani, a resident.
The Corporation promised to improve the supply but it has done very little, he says and adds that the area was better of when it was a town panchayat because it was easy to get things done, says Mr. Mani, a two-time councillor of Vadavalli Town Panchayat.
Protest
Recently residents of Ward 16 and 17 staged a protest against the Corporation demanding regularity in water supply. The police along with the Corporation rushed to the spot to pacify the agitators, who left only after extracting an assurance from the officials that the water supply situation would improve. Mr. Mani says the residents are not asking for more – parity with the core city residents in supply of Siruvani water; but a weekly water supply. The next of Vadavalli residents' grievance is choked drain. The situation has turned worse after the State Highways Department expanded the Marudhamalai Road.
The sewage does not flow. It gets stagnated in front of commercial establishments on the road, thanks to discharge of solid waste/food waste from restaurants and eateries on the road, complains C. Ravi, owner of a textile shop.
Rain
During rains the situation turns worse as rain water pushes the sewage into shops and this happened during the recent rains, laments S. Annamalainathan, a jeweller.
The women who live off the Marudhamalai Road say that the stench is unbearable. They want the Corporation to provide a solution on a war footing. In neighbouring Veerakeralam, the residents echo similar grievance.
They say that their drains too are choked and the Corporation workers clean them once in a while.
The drain that runs along the Linganur Road is a case in point.
Shortage of workers is the reason, agrees Ward 18 Councillor G.J. Gunasundari. After Veerakeralam became a part of the Corporation, things have only turned for the worse as the number of conservancy workers has decreased by one.
What contributes to the choking of the drain is the absence of bin because the residents dump solid waste into drains, says Vijaya Meenakshi Ramesh, a resident of Alamelu Mangai Avenue.
The area is being ignored, in short.
The residents want the Corporation to provide amenities on a priority basis because both the localities are fast developing with a number of builders taking up big housing projects.
