Give us prior notice before digging up roads, say Salem residents

Monday, 18 March 2013 05:18 administrator
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The Hindu                          18.03.2013

Give us prior notice before digging up roads, say Salem residents

Staff Reporter 

People inconvenienced because vehicular movement is hit.

The Convent Road in Mittapudur that was dug for laying water pipeline has caused hardship to the residents as the civic body carried out the work without prior notice, thereby affecting vehicular movement.

Residents in the area said that pipelines, each about 20 metre length, were stocked along the road on Saturday and two earthmovers began to dig up the road by afternoon.

Only after the work began, they realised that vehicular movement was not possible in the narrow road and demanded they could have been alerted about the work.

They added that mushrooming of houses in the area has led to frequent movement of the public, but the width of the road, that is less than 10 feet, was not extended and hence only pedestrians and two-wheelers can move.

A cab owner said that his vehicle was stationed in his residence could not be moved out due to the work and he could not pick up his customers.

“If we had been informed, I could have parked my vehicle somewhere else and carried out my business,” a frustrated owner added.

They also said that the roads were hurriedly closed after laying pipelines, resulting in potholes at many places making it dangerous even for pedestrians, during night hours.

Residents also demanded that the road be re-laid immediately before accidents occur. Corporation officials said that since the work was scheduled to be completed in a few days, the public was not informed.

Pit closed

They added that the pit was closed and re-laying would be carried out only after completing the under ground drainage work that would begin soon.

Residents in the area demanded that the civic body should assure that re-laying of roads would be done after completing the underground drainage work in time, as delay in executing the work would affect the movement of over 1,000 families in the area.

Civic body stacked water pipes on the road and began digging up the road using earthmovers.