The Karimedu fish market has a special place for software engineer A. Jegadeesan, who has been residing in its neighbourhood for over 10 years.
He says the slush and stench of the market are an essential part of a fish purchase every weekend.
“How else will we have ‘meen kozhambu’ for lunch?” he asks.
He was one among many regulars to Karimedu on Sunday. There are hundreds of shops in the market which get a huge variety of fish from many places all through Saturday night. Vehicles – big and small goods carriers to tricycles and fish carts – transporting fish to the market and leaving after the purchase make this stretch of New Jail Road one busy, noisy and messy place.
If all this mayhem is not enough, the Corporation has added its bit, digging up the approach roads for laying underground drainage lines. The local body has been renovating UGD lines in several wards of zone 1, including Karimedu, Arasaradi and West Ponnagaram, for a long time and the completion is not in the near future, the residents and vendors say.
A senior official from the Central government, deputed to work with the Corporation for the completion of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission work, says the delay has been caused by unreliable contractors.
“We are laying a 19-km UGD line that begins at Mathi Theatre on AA Road and goes through Arapalayam and joins the pumping station near railway girder bridge. The line should eventually reach the sewage treatment plant in Sakkimangalam. This will serve the needs of Madurai till 2024,” he says.
Due to repeated delays, cancellation of contracts and delay in contractual payments, the work remained stalled for four years. The official says the ₹14.5-crore project has been revived. Though most wards near Central Madurai have UGD connections, they are old and defunct causing locks throughout the system. The renovations are expected to provide free flow to the sewage treatment plant. The work will also extend to South and East Veli streets and East Marret Street, the official says.
“The aim is to complete the work by March but nothing can be said at this point,” he adds.
The delay in re-laying roads creates problems for lorry drivers, says K. Faizal, a vendor. He says roads in the area are riddled with potholes, causing major problems to the residents as well. “We have asked the workers to fill the holes with sand but it is not an effective measure. The roads need to be laid again,” he says.
The official says that after earthwork is complete, the Corporation regularly refills the holes. “Since the depth of the line differs from one metre to four-and-a-half metres, the earth needs to settle down. If it rains, the mud will get packed. If it does not rain, we will use a water tanker to splash water and lay concrete over the road. The relaying process will take at least two months,” he says.
