The Vellore Corporation is all set to carry out work on the underground drainage system (UGDS) on roads belonging to the  National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in the city.

A Corporation official said the first phase of the UGDS work in Vellore began towards the end of March, 2009. Around 75 per cent of the work had been completed. This included digging, laying of sewer lines and connecting the houses to the main sewage pipeline in the interior streets and closing manholes. The road restoration work on the interior streets is also nearing completion.

Under phase-I, 24 wards measuring about 5.5 sq km of the Vellore Corporation area was covered. The areas between Saidapet Murugan Temple and Long Bazaar was completed in package 1, and from the Vellore South Police Station up to Velapadi in package 2 were covered.

However, there was a delay in obtaining permission from the NHAI and National Highways (NH) to carry out the work on NHAI and NH roads in Vellore, the official said.

He said permission from NHAI was received last month and tenders were called for work on about 3 km on the Vellore-Arni Road, Anna Salai and Katpadi Road.  The estimated cost of the work on the NHAI roads is around Rs 4.07 crore and the work would be completed in a month, he said.

However, the Corporation was yet to get permission from the NH to carry out work on NH-46.