Tue Jun 24 15:21:47 UTC 2025: Here’s a summary of the provided text, followed by a news article rewrite:

**Summary:**

Coimbatore’s Underground Drainage (UGD) project, initiated 40 years ago and expanded in 2009, faces significant delays and challenges. Despite investments and renewed efforts, residents experience damaged roads, open trenches, water pipeline damage, lack of sewer connections, and sewage backflow. The project’s execution is hampered by poor planning, lack of coordination, missing records of old pipelines, and field-level challenges. Completion is projected for September 2027, but the ongoing issues continue to plague the city.

**News Article:**

**Coimbatore’s Underground Drainage Project Mired in Delays, Leaving Residents Frustrated**

**COIMBATORE, June 24, 2025** – A decades-long effort to upgrade Coimbatore’s wastewater management system is plagued by delays and implementation issues, causing widespread frustration among residents. The Underground Drainage (UGD) project, first launched in 1983, aimed to create a comprehensive underground network connected to sewage treatment plants (STPs).

A renewed phase of the project, initiated in 2009 with an allocation of ₹69.65 crore, has faced significant setbacks. The East Zone chairman Ilakkumi Izhamselvi Karthik claims that work slowed after 2011. Pipelines have been laid in some areas without connecting house service connections, while other work remains incomplete. Legal hurdles have also stalled the development of planned STPs at Ondipudur and Nanjundapuram.

While the Coimbatore Corporation is currently executing a new phase to extend UGD coverage and install additional STPs with a contracted completion date of September 2027, residents report persistent problems. Damaged roads, open trenches, compromised utility lines, and sewage backflow have become commonplace.

J.M. Basha, president of the Srinivasa Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association, described the situation in Ward 13 as dire, with roads remaining damaged for over a year and repeated damage to drinking water pipelines. In Ward 92, residents complain of wastewater being discharged directly into storm drains due to a lack of proper sewer connections.

DMK Councillor A. Radhakrishnan highlighted the lack of records for old pipelines, leading to complications when connecting new households. He said, “Corporation officials have no records of the old pipeline network…When connections are given, some households face sewage reversal.”

The Coimbatore Corporation acknowledged the field-level challenges that hamper re-laying works. The prolonged execution timeline and lack of coordinated planning continue to undermine the project’s success and negatively impact the lives of Coimbatore residents.

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