Coimbatore: DB Road at RS Puram has turned out to be a fine model for what a model road project shouldn’t be. Inaugurated on February 24 by municipal administration minister S P Velumani, the 1.8km stretch of DB Road that was converted into model road at a cost of Rs 24.71 crore has already reported an underground water pipeline leakage, damaging the road near Mahakaliamman temple.
The public, who were happy to see a road of international standards in the city, are now disappointed at the quality of work.
Muthu, a local resident, said, “The water pipeline was damaged three to four days ago, when the city corporation workers were carrying out some underground work on the adjacent street. As a result of continuous water leakage, a portion of the road has been damaged. We have informed the corporation about the damage and officials have stopped supplying water through the pipeline and placed barricades on the damaged road.”
When the model road work was on, he said, the corporation had assured them set up provisions to carry out repair works without digging the road.
Suresh, another resident, said they were happy when the corporation inaugurated the project. “Now, we are disappointed. We didn’t expect the road to get damaged so soon. This shows the (poor) quality of work.”
A source with the city corporation said the newly-laid pipeline hadn’t developed any leakage. According to him, it was one of the decades old pipelines that developed a crack, leading to water leakage. “We have been distributing water through both the old and new pipelines until recently. We have now decided not to use the damaged pipeline for water supply, as we don’t want to dig the road to repair it. Henceforth, water will be supplied only through the new pipeline.”
The civic body has, meanwhile, blocked the road from Post Office Junction to Arokiasamy Road Junction on a trial basis to see if it could make it a no parking zone permanently. The move hasn’t gone down well with the public.
Balraj, a commuter, said, “After two years, the road was relaid only recently. Without allowing us to enjoy the benefits of the new road, the civic body has blocked the stretch. If officials want to implement something new, they should run the trail on a road with less vehicle movement and not on DB Road, which is one of the congested stretches in the city.”