Residents seek relaying or at least repairing of roads damaged in underground drainage project

Residents from various wards of Tirunelveli Corporation submitted petition to Mayor G. Ramakrishnan on Tuesday seeking the immediate laying or at least repairing of the roads damaged during the ongoing second and third phases of the underground drainage project as rains have transformed the situation from bad to worse.

Led by their councillor Sundar, residents of ward 43 submitted a petition seeking immediate relaying of the road in Vasanthapuram Church Street and the neighbouring second street where the roads dug in June last for the underground drainage work were yet to be re-laid.

“Even though the underground drainage work has been completed in our area, the inexplicable delay by the Corporation in re-laying the road is causing hardship to the residents. Hence, the urban civic body should either repair the damaged road or lay concrete road in our area,” the petitioners said.

The residents of Thiruvalluvar Street in Tirunelveli Town said the sewage overflowing along this street from the underground drainage manholes due to blocks had created nauseating condition for the past several days. Even though a petition was submitted to the Corporation officials on November 27 last, the urban civic body did not take any step to clear the blocks in the underground drainage system and pump-out the stagnating sewage.

Since the insanitary condition prevailing in Thiruvalluvar Street was causing infections, the Corporation should act immediately to restore cleanliness, the residents said.

Residents of Nambirajapuram in Thatchanallur also submitted a petition with similar plea.

Another group of residents from Anna Nagar North under ward 18 submitted a petition seeking the re-laying of the road in their area. “Even though the underground drainage work was completed a year ago, the damaged roads were neither repaired nor re-laid. After the monsoon started, the situation in our area has become worse. Hence, the Corporation should make the damaged roads motorable,” said the petitioners.

On behalf of the Annai Velankanni Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association, its office-bearers submitted a petition against the Corporation’s alleged dumping of garbage near their houses while another petition was submitted by DMK councillor J. Pon Manickam of ward 42 to drain the stagnant sewage in a few streets of N.H. Colony and the Second Street of Perumalpuram.

Councillor M.S. Mohideen Abdul Khader of Indian Union Muslim League of ward 44 also submitted a petition with similar plea as sewage was stagnating along the streets of Bharathiyarpuram where roads have been dug for the underground drainage scheme.

The Aathi Thamizhar Munnetra Kazhagam members submitted a petition seeking re-laying of the damaged road leading to sanitary workers’ apartment in ward 6.