The Kovai Kulangal Pathukappu Amaippu has urged the Coimbatore Corporation to immediate prevent discharge of untreated sewage into the Noyyal river at the Puttuvikki bridge near Ukkadam, alleging that the problem persists despite directions issued by civic authorities.

The organisation alleged that untreated sewage from the city’s underground drainage system is released directly into the river at Puttuvikki bridge. Garbage and poultry waste are dumped into the river and thick vegetation and thorny bushes have overgrown along its banks. Discharge of sewage into the river has resulted in foul smell, causing inconvenience to people crossing the bridge, it said in a press release.

Following complaints, Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner Katta Ravi Teja inspected the Puttuvikki bridge area and found sewage being discharged into the Noyyal through an outlet pipeline. During the inspection, officials explained that sewage from Selvapuram and adjoining localities was intended to be conveyed to the Ukkadam sewage treatment plant through a pumping station equipped with two motors. However, sewage was found entering the river.

The Commissioner directed the engineering wing to operate both the motors, route the sewage into the treatment plant, get the waste accumulated beneath the bridge removed and the vegetation along the river stretch cleared.

Officials said a ₹107-crore proposal for the construction of two sewage treatment plants with a capacity of four million litres a day (MLD) each, along with two diversion channels linking nearby sewage treatment plants, was submitted under the Noyyal River restoration project. The proposal was currently under scrutiny by KfW Development Bank, they said.