Residents of Jeevarathinam Nagar in Adyar were shocked to find sewage in their drinking water sumps, after a private telecom company punctured the sewage pipeline on Tuesday night.
C.P. Satyajit, a resident of 1st Street, complained that the private telecom company was engaged in digging the road the last two days. “On Tuesday night, they broke the sewage pipeline, and silently, without reporting the issue to the authorities concerned, went away,” he charged.
Pipes damaged
Within a few minutes of the incident, a foul smell started emanating from the sump, and upon inspection, the sump had sewage stagnating, due to damage to the pipes.
The resident complained that Chennai Metrowater Supply and Sewerage Board was taking no action.
According to officials of Chennai Metrowater, the telecom service provider had sought permission from Greater Chennai Corporation and the police to install optical fibre cable network. They had dug up the road for a depth of 5 ft to install the cable, and had damaged the service connections to houses on the First Street of Jeevarathinam Nagar, Adyar.
“We were not informed about the work being taken up on Tuesday night. We have identified the issue and the pipeline will be restored by Wednesday night,” said an official.
Water supply and sewer pipelines run at a depth of 5-6 ft beneath the road surface, and digging without knowledge about the location of the pipeline has often led to such issues.