Vellore Corporation to have fixed number of workers for desilting during monsoon: Mayor

Vellore Corporation plans to increase sanitary workers for monsoon drain cleaning to prevent inundation in low-lying areas.

The Vellore Corporation will have a fixed number of sanitary workers for desilting storm water drains during monsoon to prevent inundation in the town especially low-lying areas, Mayor Sujatha Anandakumar said at the council meeting, held here on Wednesday.

Mayor Sujatha, who chaired the meeting, was responding to councillor K. Mamtha Kumar of Ward 28 on lack of adequate sanitary workers to desilt drains especially during rains. She said the Corporation would work out a plan to have a fixed number of conservancy workers to clean drains, at least in affected areas during monsoon. “The Corporation will keep at least 50 sanitary workers for desilting storm water drains alone during northeast monsoon. We will request the private contract agency to depute more workers for the purpose,” she said.

Explaining it further, Ms. Sujatha said that civic officials have been instructed not to issue no objection certificate (NOC) for road cutting works by other agencies including telecom, internet and Tamil Nadu Drainage and Sewage Board (TWAD) during monsoon because most of the stretches were not relaid due to ongoing underground drainage work. So, further digging of damaged stretches would only extend hardships faced by road users, she said.

Most of the councillors highlighted the official apathy in addressing residents’ complaints on basic amenities like irregular water supply, borewells repairs, incomplete underground sewage system and bad roads. They said the council meeting should be held monthly as against the existing practice of conducting it once in three or four months, as such an arrangement would allow them to air public grievances regularly.

“The Kangeyanallur Main Road near VIT in Katpadi has been dug up for bridge work for many months but the stretch has not been re-laid by the civic body. Every day, many students, office goers and farmers get hurt while using the potholed stretch,” said P. Ramesh, Ward 10 councillor.

Corporation Commissioner P. Janaki Raveendran said the Corporation had handed over the one kilometre stretch to State Highways for restoration work including blacktopping a month ago. He added the State Highways would be reminded to speed up its ongoing work on the stretch.

Ward members also highlighted irregular water supply, especially through new overhead tanks (OHTs), to key areas like Katpadi, Sathuvachari, Gandhi Nagar and Old Town. The irregular water supply is mainly due to delay by TWAD in completion of its testing of these new tanks and pipelines for any leakages. New tanks and pipelines were laid to provide uninterrupted water supply to tail-end areas of the civic body, Ms. Raveendran said.