The Sanganoor canal that once ran gloriously through Coimbatore, has stood witness to time, development and sadly, its own degradation. One such place where its plight has been reduced to what is often mistaken for an ordinary stream of sewage, is in Ward 46’s Rathinapuri, situated in the North Zone.
“The stench that comes from the canal is unbearable, especially when it gets windy,” said V. Chellamal, as she shooed away people who brought with them garbage bags to dispose of into the canal. “I try my best to stop them from throwing waste into the stream but fences need to be installed to solve the issue,” the four-decade-long resident of Sampath Nagar said.
When confronted, a few residents who dispose of waste into the canal nonchalantly said, “Everyone does it so we do it too. It is easier.” Some even come from different parts of the ward to fling waste into the canal. “We are trying our best to keep the area clean. But people don’t listen,” a conservancy worker in the region said.
A viable solution to this is to fence the bridges that stand atop the canal. “We have implemented this on the bridge in Sivananda Colony, and it has been effective,” said L. Meena, the Ward Councillor.
However, bridges in the inner lanes of the ward are narrow and cannot accommodate fences. “It will be difficult for larger vehicles to pass by. A total of 3 km of the canal has got retaining walls and bunds now. Once this region is covered, we will plan to expand the bridges and add fences,” said S. Saravanan, the ward’s Assistant Engineer.
While open dumping on road is a common occurrence in streets just outside Ward 46, lanes in the region are relatively cleaner, with residents saying that they are satisfied with the door-to-door waste collection done by conservancy workers, and the bin-free system introduced in the ward.
Apart from open drains and rampant mosquito menace that has been reported multiple times by residents here, concerns have been raised about leaking taps installed for the SUEZ 24x7 water supply system. “It is up to the residents to handle taps with care, but they don’t do it. We will soon be inspecting taps in the region to ensure that they function properly,” the Assistant Engineer said.
