This is street or hill???
Blue metal dumped on a road at Cooperative Colony in the city hampers movement of vehicles.Huge piles of blue metal meant for road re-laying seem to welcome one at the Co-operative Colony near the Perk’s School at Uppilipalayam in the city. Actually, they do not.Heaped or haphazardly spread on four cross roads, the stones lay siege to about 100 houses and are severely affecting pedestrian and vehicle movement.Lying idle in the middle of the road, blue metal topples motorcycle riders and cyclists and blocks cars and bigger vehicles from entering the colony or emerge from residences. For three weeks, the blue metal piles have restricted public movement because of a delay in the Coimbatore Corporation re-laying the road.Residents complain that their colony remains off-bounds to visitors because they have to park their vehicles on the main road and walk some distance.“We have heart patients living here. No ambulance can come in if there is any emergency,” says Surekha Shekhar, a resident.A walk through the cross roads is hardly a smooth affair. One encounters pits that are open or covered by stones. A misstep, especially on a stone, can give one a twisted ankle.On most portions of these 15 ft to 20 ft wide roads only two ft to four ft is available for driving. Only two-wheelers can use these stretches, residents point out.A Maruti car ventures into one of the roads. It climbs in and out of the pits and its wheels roll over the thick edges of blue metal heaps with some protest.
The driver’s choice is between these edges or an open storm water drain.Almost every house has a car and the vehicles are idling in the porch.They cannot be brought on to the streets, especially in pockets where a turning radius is almost non-existent because of the stone heaps.“We are totally cut off (from the main road),” laments Sulochana Shekhar, a retired college teacher.It has been an extremely frustrating period for the last three weeks because of severely curtailed movement.“An alternative road is so narrow that two vehicles from opposite ends cannot use it at the same time,” says Ms. Surekha Shekar.Residents allege that a stand-off between a Corporation engineer and a contractor had led to the dumping of the blue metal in the middle of the road and the work getting stalled.R. Ravindran, a resident, says he informed Deputy Mayor N. Karthik of the problem.“The Deputy Mayor promised a solution soon, but nothing has happened so far,” he said.
Co-operative Colony Residents’ Association secretary R. Palanisamy says local Corporation councillor (Ward 11) M. Krishnamoorthy had also been told of the plight of the residents. But, the ordeal continues.“Some Corporation officials say we have to put up with the inconvenience when a road is re-laid. What we say is do the work without any delay,” says Mr. Palanisamy.
