MADURAI
“Kannandendal is a large ward that covers a significant number of residential areas. However, many areas in the ward that was added to Madurai Corporation limits eight years back are in a pitiable condition as the local body has not kept its promise on development,” says S. Periyasamy, president, G.R. Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association.
Speaking to The Hindu , he says that many areas of ward 25, which became part of Madurai Corporation in 2011, still do not have access to water and drainage facilities. He alleges that the roads in G.R. Nagar, which forms a sizeable portion of the ward, were last laid in the late 1990s. “Every development that has taken place in recent times was possible only after residents mounted pressure on Corporation officials,” he says.
Ward 25 comprises several significant areas that come with similar sets of problems. G.R. Nagar, Santhanam Nagar, Ponvizha Nagar, Meenakshi Nagar, Surya Nagar, Selvi Nagar, Surveyor Colony, Pandian Nagar and Kannanendal all belong to this ward. Residents say that there is disparity in terms of development. While Surya Nagar, Surveyor Colony and Pandian Nagar have access to drinking water and drainage facility in most parts, Santhanam Nagar, G.R. Nagar and Ponvizha Nagar deal with bad roads.
N. Arumugam, president of the Residents’ Welfare Association in Santhanam Nagar, says that the area has survived without proper drainage facility for many years now. “I moved to the ward in 2009. At that point, the number of houses was only a few. With population influx, there is a serious need for an underground drainage system here. People often let the sewage into empty plots of land, causing diseases. We regularly pay UGD tax though,” he says. The problem also leads to the spread of mosquitoes.
The roads were laid much before Mr. Arumugam moved to the area and were already a little dilapidated. “Now it is worse,” he says. He adds that the only new roads laid in his area are from the Member of Legislative Assembly Constituency Development Fund. On days when the ride gets bumpy, the members of the association get together with bags of mud and attempt to level the roads. This, however, is not a permanent solution, they acknowledge.
M. Fathima Banu, a resident of Meenakshi Nagar, says that water supply to the ward is also problematic. Without Corporation pipes connected to their houses, they are heavily dependent on groundwater and private tankers because the Corporation does not supply water at frequent intervals.
“During the summer months of 2015 and 2016, the area faced a major problem. Each house spent at least ₹700 every week and this was a huge toll on our purse. It is only our right to expect the Corporation to provide access to basic facilities considering we have lived here for almost 10 years,” she says.
A senior Corporation official says that tenders have been floated to provide underground drainage connections in all added wards. The proposal has received the green signal from Commissioner S. Aneesh Sekhar and officials at the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration in Chennai, says a senior engineer.
He adds that it will take at least two years to complete. The civic body has attempted to lay metal roads in place of bitumen roads as a contingency plan in ward 25. “Water supply is being ensured during times of crunch. Cauvery water is supplied to through overhead tanks,” he says. The official says that they are attempting to ensure high standard of sanitation in the added wards to prevent the breaking out of diseases.
