Reconstruction of roads under way in Cuddalore

Reconstruction of roads under way in Cuddalore - The Hindu

Special Correspondent

CUDDALORE: The Cuddalore municipality has taken up the road relaying works in stretches, in all the 45 wards, according to N. Ravichandran, Municipal Commissioner.

The residents are concerned over the condition of roads that are fully damaged by heavy rains in the past three years. The roads are full of potholes, and hence, pose great inconvenience to the commuters.

The tarred surface has been fully eroded in many places and big stones are protruding out. The problem is compounded by the slow implementation of the underground drainage project.

The Commissioner said the reconstruction of roads had been taken up from the flood relief funds amounting to Rs. 2 crore provided by Collector Rajendra Ratnoo. After studying the condition of the roads in the entire municipal limits, the stretches that needed immediate attention were identified. These were mostly the major roads which carried heavy traffic. In all, 12 km length of roads would be re-laid with bitumen tar surface.

A few stretches at Reddichathram Street, Market Colony, Chinnaponnu Nagar, Pillaiyar Koil Street, Palla Street, Kodikkalkuppam, Kuttakara Cross Street, Vaithialingam Street and Seeman Thotal will get cement concrete pavement.

Care had been taken that the newly laid roads would not be dug again for giving household connections to the underground drainage system.

All these works would be completed in a month, Mr. Ravichandran said.

Cuddalore residents want drainage project speeded up

Cuddalore residents want drainage project speeded up - The Hindu

Special Correspondent

“Uncovered trenches have become accident spots”

— Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy

SOLUTION NOT IN SIGHT: The underground drainage work in Cuddalore town is going on a slow pace.

CUDDALORE: The slow progress on the underground drainage work in Cuddalore town is causing great inconvenience to the residents.

The uncovered trenches dug for laying the pipelines have become veritable accident spots, according to M.Marudhavanan, general secretary of the Federation of All Residents Welfare Associations.

Voicing concern over the delay in its implementation, he said only 60 per cent of work on the proposed 162 km pipeline was completed so far. Started on January 1, 2007 the project should have been completed by December 31, 2008, but still there were yawning gaps in its execution, he said.

Mr. Marudhavanan further said that the move to acquire 47 acres of land at Thevanampattinam for the erection of the sewage treatment plant too encountered a problem.

Therefore there was an apprehension that the sullage might be discharged into the Gedilam. He said even before the trenches were properly and firmly filled up there should not be any move to relay the roads, as it would result in wasteful expenditure.

Construction of small pits in the households for linking the underground drainage system was fraught with problems as in the event of blockade it would result in unhygienic condition.

He noted that if the authorities were insisting upon completion of all the four phases before making the system operational the project would take another three years to fructify.

General secretary of the Cuddalore District Consumer Protection Organisation M.Nizamuddin said lack of coordination among the departments was the primary reason for the delay and hoped the works would be expedited to alleviate the problems of the residents.
Resource crunch

Municipal Commissioner N.Ravichandran said owing to upgradation of sewage treatment technology the project cost would go up from Rs 40.40 crore to Rs 48 crore.

As per the original plan the cost would be shared by the Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project (Rs 10 crore), the Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Corporation (Rs 15.36 crore) and the local body as well as the residents (Rs 15.04 crore).

The civic body was yet to realise the tax arrears of Rs 18 crore and in such a piquant situation it would be a challenging task for it to mobilise necessary resources. Mr Ravichandran said he would soon meet Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi and seek financial assistance for the project.

Following a spate of representations District Collector Rajendra Ratnoo has initiated measures for better coordination among the departments.

Vilvanagar roads in bad shape

Despite being one the most infuential locality politically, roads in Vilva:nagar are in a very bad shape. Off course, at this point almost every single street in Cuddalore is unfit to use because of the underground drainage construction. But the roads in Vilva:nagar has always been worser than in other parts of the town.

Streets connecting Vilva:nagar with Iraajaambaal :nagar

Residents of the place use the road connecting Vilva:nagar Housing Broad apartments and Hospital Road as this road is unfit for vehicles. As is the case on any normal day, one can imagine the plight of these people on rainy days. I lost my hope and returned back home when I tried to go to interior of Vilva:nagar two months back when monsoon was at its peak. One could barely see anything in road during night (I am not sure if there are street lights, but definitely not enough in number).

Road connecting Vilva:nagar with Hospital Road

Garbage clearance is another thing to worry about. I wonder if municipal workers collect garbage from this place. Streets of Vilva:nagar are mini dump yards.

Garbage heap in Goavindhasaami :Nagar

Garbage heap and clogged drain water in Goavindhasaami :Nagar

No matter of how politically influential people are, and how important a locality is in deciding the electoral outcomes. If there are not going to fight for their needs nothing is going to change.

Underground drainage construction - Part 4

Rain makes project delay more painful - The Hindu

Special Correspondent
— Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy

Residents of Vallalar Nagar in Cuddalore sowing seeds on the muddy road that remains unattended by the civic body, on Tuesday.

CUDDALORE: The slow pace of the Rs 40.40-crore underground drainage project in Cuddalore town has posed a lot of hardship to the residents. The onset of monsoon has made the situation worse.

The roads on which the pipeline has been laid are in bad shape. Deep trenches that have been dug up pose threat to the people.

Pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheeler riders have complained that they fall into the trenches and get hurt often. Four-wheelers are not able to enter the streets and are forced to take a detour.

The rain in the last few days has made the streets slushy.
Mock operation

According to residents, several representations had been made to the authorities concerned to speed up the work but in vain.

Frustrated by the delay, the All India Agricultural Workers’ Union, led by district secretary T.Ravindran, carried out a mock sowing operation on the inundated streets at Vallalar Nagar.

The Tamil Nadu Retired Employees’ Association too condemned the “lethargic attitude” of the officials. Senior citizens were the worst-affected, it said.

The project was launched last year and was scheduled to be completed within one year.

When contacted, Commissioner of Cuddalore Municipality Liaqath Ahmed Papa said the delay was owing to adverse soil condition.

Contractors were finding it difficult to complete the task because of high water table, ie., even if the trenches were dug for a depth of three feet, they got filled in no time by groundwater. Hence, it had become difficult to bale out the water from the entire stretch.

Mr. Papa said it might take another six months to complete the project .

Underground drainage construction - Part 3

As I have written in Underground drainage construction - Part 2 road laying work precedes underground drainage construction work in many other parts of Cuddalore. This clearly reflects lack of coordination between the departments, if this is not a well played vicious game.

Underground drainage construction work in Bodi Chetty street

Around five months back (supposedly) State Highway Department laid roads in Bodi Chetty street which is now damaged in the underground drainage construction work as seen in the photograph above. A open sewage line was constructed just before laying the road. I wonder what would be the necessity for this open sewage line (rain water drain ? - if that is the case I still wonder how rain in the road will get into this - the concrete wall of the sewage line is well above the road level) while underground drainage system is coming up. Now for the houses to connect with underground drainage system, the concrete walls of this open sewage line will be broken apart. This is how the game is played!!

Drainage construction work in Cart street, where only a couple of months back black topped road was laid.

Underground drainage construction - Part 2

In some parts of the town like in Govindasamy Nagar, new road was laid just before the starting the underground drainage work. Like many, I believe this is not just a lack of coordination between the departments, but done intentionally to loot away the fund allocated by doing a poor quality work, which anyhow will be covered up once the drainage works begins.

In some streets like in Periyanayagi Amman Kovil Street, the road laying work has started before the pipe laying work for the underground drainage is complete. As a result the new road is damaged as the drainage work progresses. It has been more than five years since road was laid last time in this street. Can't they wait for a couple of months ? Isn't this intentional ??

Road laying work in Periyanayagi amman kovil street in Thirupadhiripuliyur

Underground drainage construction - Part 1

Most of the roads in Cuddalore are in bad shape owing to the underground drainage construction work progressing at snail's pace. Workers dug out pits and leave them uncovered for several weeks together before the next stage of work starts. They never bother to spread out the dug out sand after laying the pipes and construction man holes. As a result huge heaps of sand is accumulated on roads hindering the free flow of traffic.

Underground drainage work at Chinna Vaaniar street

Underground drainage construction series

I feel that it is impossible to capture everything that is going around in Cuddalore in the name of 'underground drainage construction' in a single article. So I will be writing a series of articles about the work in Cuddalore.

To my knowledge, irregularities and corruption behind this drainage work is not reported by other medias. So input from other sources are minimal.

It would be of great help if you can share about the irregularities and the politics behind the work in your locality. You can write your views as a comment or send a mail to cuddaloreonline [at] gmail [dot] com.

Un-planned drainage work troubles residents of Srinivasa Pillai Street

With the ongoing works for laying underground drainage going on in many parts of Cuddalore, the slow progress of the work is bringing much hardship to the residents of Srinivasa Pillai Street situated in Thirupadhiripuliyur.

Above is the rough map of the street which is situated near the Thirupadhiripuliyur Police station. For the residents of Srinivasa Pillai Street to move out, there are four exit points. With the drainage canal laying work being done in Bodi Chetty street and Sanjeevi Naidu street, the exit points 2, 3 and 4 are blocked and people find it difficult to move out only through the point 1. More than 5 weeks have passed since these ways were cut off for regular vehicular movement and the laying of culvert at these three points are yet to start.

This is the exit point 2, which connects to the Bodi Chetty street. The passage was disconnected 5 weeks back and the culvert construction is yet to start.
Elderly people and school children are the most affected and there has been many instances where children have fallen into this sewerage while crossing on the temporary narrow slab.
The exit points 3 & 4 have been disconnected for the past five weeks.

Underground Drainage work in Srinivasa Pillai Street

The work for under ground drainage at Srinivasa Pillai street was started four weeks back. So far the initial stage of constructing the manhole is completed for half of the street on the Northern side.
The mud taken out from these pits had not been cleared for the past four weeks and during rains it makes the little existing passage more slippery with two wheeler riders losing control and falling down and four wheelers getting struck up in the mud.

As the drainage is not being cleared in a regular manner for long time the level of drain water has come up resulting in sewage flowing into drainage line of one of the houses. The above picture shows mud removed from the sewerage by the resident.

A pit for constructing manhole was dug up and two cart loads of the mud dumped at this private place. Since it was not cleared and the place is needed for parking vehicles, the people themselves have taken the task of levelling the mud.

With the materials required for laying drainage pits lying haphazardly for more than a month, people are finding it difficult to use the road.

Timely intervention is needed for building these three culverts, removal of debris and moving out the mud promptly once it is dug up is highly required to avoid hindrance to the residents and users of the Srinvasa Pillai Street.