TIRUCHI
Extension of the city’s underground drainage network to Shanmuga Nagar, M.M. Nagar, Uyyakondan Thirumalai and other residential colonies off the Vayalur Road has been the long pending demand of the residents.
According to a rough estimate, more that 5,000 households are in Uyyakondan Thirumalai, Shanmuga Nagar, Shanmuga Nagar Extension, M.M. Nagar, Renga Nagar, Selva Nagar and other residential colonies from Uyyakondan River to Rettaivaical on Vayalur Road.
Of them, Uyyakondan Thirumalai is the oldest habitation and exists for several decades. Shanmuga Nagar is the first residential colony promoted about 30 years ago. Other residential colonies sprang up subsequently due to rapid urbanisation. The expansion is still taking place on Vayalur Road.
Similarly, a number of apartments have also come up on either sides off the Vayalur Road. A few more apartments are also under construction.
Though many colonies are more than 20 to 25 years old, the residents rue that they have not been brought under the UGD network. The Tiruchi Corporation, which is implementing the phase -II UGD project in different parts of the city, included the residential colonies situated in the eastern bank of Uyyakondan river in the project. However, the colonies that came up in the western bank of the river have not been included.
In the absence of underground sewer lines, except a section of residents, who have septic tank on their premises, many residents let out the sewage and domestic waste in the open. Several others discharge the sewage effluents into the Uyyakondan River.
The Rettaivaical, Kathirikaivaical and one more irrigation canal flows across Renga Nagar, which are meant for carrying water for irrigation, have been literally converted as sewage canals. Some of the flat dwellers too let sewage water into the river.
“Our areas have been neglected for so long. We have been demanding extension of the sewer lines for years. But, it is yet to become a reality,” says C. Nagappan of Selva Nagar, a long-time resident since 1991.
He said that the river and irrigation canals had completely been polluted due to indiscriminate discharge of sewage. When most of left out wards and areas of the city had been included in the phase-II and phase-III UGD projects, it was unfortunate that several colonies on Vayalur Road were omitted.
When contacted, a senior official of the Corporation said that there were difficulties in carrying sewage pipes across the Uyyakondan River. It had actually forced the Corporation to omit a few areas in the UGD project. However, all options would be explored to bring the omitted areas under the sewer network soon, the official said.
