Along the Thadagam Road and Sundapalayam Road are pits
the Corporation has dug for executing the underground drainage (UGD)
work. The pits are of different age groups. Some pits are eight months
old; a few are younger at six months and then there are the newborn pits
that are at least a couple of months old.

M.S.
Velmurugan, a former Councillor and resident of the area, says that in
executing the the UGD work, the Corporation has not only left the work
incomplete but has also not closed the pits.

At every
Sundapalayam Road – P.M. Swamy Colony junction the Corporation has dug a
pit. Or, it has left open the manhole. Only at one or two junctions, it
has placed barricades. Others do not have one. In a few places, the
barricades it has placed have fallen into the pits to form part of the
waste.

Pedestrians and motorists too have fallen into the pits. It is a regular occurrence, says V. Venkatesan, a resident.

At
the Sundapalayam Road – P.M. Swamy Colony Fifth Street Junction, the
Corporation has reduced the 50-foot wide road to about five feet, thanks
again to UGD work. Holding together the earth at the five-foot stretch
is a concrete slab. Beneath the slab flows sewage carrying human waste.

S.
Ramakrishnan, a tea shop owner, says that the Corporation has abandoned
the stretch of the road in such precarious condition for the last six
months. During the period people have slipped, fallen into the pit and
suffered injuries.

The delay in executing the work
has resulted in the residents losing access to bus services. Mr.
Velmurugan says that majority of the residents of the roads, who come
from lower middle class families, are thoroughly dependent on the buses
to reach their work spots. Councillor representing the area Ward 21’s E.
Senthil says that he is too tired to talk of the issue as he has
complained about the delay at several zonal and Council meetings. “There
is not one occasion I have missed.”

There has been no response to his complaints and the work continues at snail’s pace, he rues.

Sources
in the Corporation say that the delay in executing the work is because
of the Siruvani pipeline running through the area. At many places the
Corporation has dug, it has encountered the water supply pipeline.