The monsoon rains has played havoc with the lives of people in Coimbatore living in by-lanes and low lying areas. While many Wards have to put up with the lack of monsoon management of the Corporation, the 45 families living in the Kalathuvaikal Adi in Ward 74 put up more than needed as they live knee-deep water even inside their houses.

As many as 250 residents of the area are often forced to abandon their houses during rain as water always stagnates in the one-foot lane and even inside the houses.

S. Shankar Ganesh, a resident of the area near Chinthamani in Sungam, said that the people of the area had been living there for more than fifty years on a poramboke land. However, they enjoyed all the privileges like family ration card, Voter ID and Aadhar cards.

“Though we enjoy these privileges, out main grievance has not been addressed for the last 30 years,” he said.

According to Shankar Ganesh, a private party had bought a plot near their area and had raised a compound wall leaving only a foot distance between the houses and the wall. However, he alleged that the wall had been constructed on the poramboke land without getting proper permission from the District Administration.

“We even obtained an eviction order issued by the revenue officials, but the person concerned has not demolished the wall until now,” he said.

He added that the wall had been creating a huge problem for them by not allowing the rain water to flow away and thereby leading to flooding of the houses.

M. Mageshwari, another resident added that because of water stagnating in the area, the kids often got sick with viral infections. “Even now, some of the kids are admitted in the CMCH,” she lamented.

With health being a major issue as water stagnates even inside the houses, the residents also complained about the deteriorating condition of the house and compound walls that were submerged in water most of the time.

“The compound wall is damaged in many places and we also fear that the walls might collapse injuring people in the area. Since kids often play outside, we fear for their safety,” said S. Jayakumar, another resident.

Residents also suffer from poor sanitary facilities and access to potable water. When, Covai Post tried reaching the respective officials about the issue, they were not available for comment.