BJP functionary petitions officials to locate borewell in Vellore

VELLORE: Corporation’s zone III assistant commissioner Sudha was in a spot when BJP district president of government relations wing VSC Venketesan petitioned the official on Wednesday to locate a borewell which went missing after the Ilango Street in the Corporation’s 46th ward at Salvanpet was re-laid. Sudha ordered the municipal ward engineer to inquire into the issue.

Speaking to DT Next, Venketesan said, “similar to corporation contractors laying a road without removing a condemned jeep at Sainathapuram in July and laying a cement road without removing a parked two-wheeler on BSS Koil Street a month ago have now allowed a Chennai-based contractor to lay a road over a borewell which was catering to residents of that area. I have asked the Corporation to deduct the amount for the borewell when the contractor’s bill was settled.”

Venketesan said he had appraised Chief Minister MK Stalin of the issue over instagram and had also petitioned Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru.

When the civic representative was contacted for her version, ward councillor A Malathi’s husband Arunagiri said, “the borewell was non-functional even before we were elected to the council. I made many attempts to retrieve it. Finally, we tried to retrieve the 350-ft borewell with the help of machinery which also failed.”

He claimed that the borewell was also not in working condition hence the contractor was allowed to lay the road.

Asked how locals managed for water, he said, “most houses have tap connections and hence it is not an issue now.” A few minutes later Arunagiri himself called up this reporter and elaborated, “how the locals would have allowed the road to be laid over a borewell to be pried out if it was functional? The owner of the house diagonally opposite to the borewell created the issue when we asked him to remove a plastic awning, which jutted nearly 8 feet into the road. We told him that he could re-fix it once the road was laid as otherwise it could be damaged by the road roller. The owner took the matter to Venketesan, who is now making a controversy out of a non-issue.”