Undesilted Rettai Vaickal causes concern among residents

Residents in Tiruchi are concerned about delays in desilting Rettai Vaickal, leading to sewage issues and mosquito breeding.

The delay in desilting the Rettai Vaickal passing through wards 31, 17, and 18 in Tiruchi causes concern among residents. The problem has worsened due to incomplete underground sewers in the area. 

Rettai Vaickal used to be one of the important irrigation channels for farmers for so many years. But due to rapid urbanisation of Tiruchi, many of these channels have turned into clogged sewers due to undesilted sludge and dense overgrowth of water hyacinths and weeds. 

Residents in ward 31 complain that garbage collected from the residential areas is either burned along the concrete road or dumped into the canal, thus worsening the situation. 

“The canal is not cleaned completely. And due to this, spots where waste has been cleared from the channels are often left on the side of the narrow concrete roads. These pose a problem to the residents who sometimes walk barefoot. I recently hurt myself. We want the underground drainage sewers and the desilting of Rettai Vaickal to be completed as soon as possible,” said S. Moorthy, a resident. 

Though the road in Pillaiyar Koil street was dug up to lay underground sewage pipes, the work is yet to be completed fully, said residents from ward 31. 

Most households in Pookolli do not have bathrooms with underground sewers. In addition to them, the community toilets in Alanganathanpuram let wastewater into the canal, said residents.