Water supply, stray dog menace dominate Council meeting

Need for additional tax collection centres, change in street light timings, libraries in all the 100 wards highlighted

Councillors wanted the Coimbatore Corporation to prevent dust flying on Sanganur Road. The Corporation is executing underground drainage work there. Photo: M. Periasamy

Improvement in water supply schemes, new borewells to offset loss in supply, measures to control stray dog menace, new street lights and patchworks on roads were some of the issues the Councillors raised at the Monday's Council meeting.

Borewells

Starting of the debate, A. Nandhakumar, Ward 52 Councillor from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, said that with summer only weeks away, borewells had started going dry, probably because of the fall in water level. This had impacted the water supply. The Corporation should offset the loss by digging new borewells.

In Vadavalli, Kalapatti and a few other areas, breakage or leakage in water pipelines affected supply, he said and referred to Vadavalli in particular. Residents there suffered irregular water supply for the past three months.

Responding to the complaints, Commissioner T.K. Ponnusamy said the Corporation received around 100 million litres a day from Pilloor alone. The increase in water quantity had led to reduction in water supply cycle. As for Vadavalli, the Corporation would be able to restore the supply in a week, he promised.

As Nandakumar complained that street lights were not glowing, many councillors, cutting across party lines, joined him in saying that the problem was spread across the city and was acute in the added areas. Ward 42 Councillor V. Ramamoorthy, CPM, said that the situation was so bad that the residents of Chinnavedampatty regretted they were better off by not being a part of the Coimbatore Corporation.

North Zone Chairman P. Rajkumar, who intervened, wanted to know how the civic body calculated the energy saved in street lights, given the power cut. The Corporation had contracted to an agency the task of reducing power consumption in street lights.

Mr. Ponnusamy said that during a study the Corporation carried out it was found that six to 10 per cent of the lights did not glow. It had identified the posts with faulty lights. The Corporation had also fined the contractor. As for calculating the power saved, he said that the Corporation discounted the power cut duration.

The next issue that saw the councillors unite was the damage caused to roads where underground drainage work was on. Councillors from Rathinapuri, Ganapathy and neighbouring areas said that the dust generated from loose earth on Sanganur Road was so bad that road users found it difficult to move forward whenever a heavy vehicle was ahead of them.

Ward 45 Councillor M. Gunasekaran, AIADMK, wanted the officials to instruct the contractor undertaking the work to spray water to prevent dust. Councillors from P.N. Pudur, Vadavalli and Veerakeralam pointed to similar problem on Marudhamalai Road.

The next issue the Councillors wanted a solution was in controlling stray dog menace. Councillors one after the other narrated incidents involving dog bites and chases. They wanted the Mayor to take a comprehensive effort to put an end to stray dog menace.

Mayor S. M. Velusamy said that he would take the Government's advice in devising an alternative solution.

The other highlights of the Council meeting include discussions related to having additional tax collection centres, change in streetlight timings, staff deployment for mass cleaning, libraries in all the 100 wards, new below poverty line list and reserve sites.