Tamil Nadu - Erode   

Open wells by roadsides pose threat to vehicles

R. Sundaram

Absence of a protective wall creates hazards for those unfamiliar with the area

LURKING MENACE: An open well on Surampatty Anaicut road poses danger to the public. — Photo: M. Govarthan

ERODE: Roadside open wells are creating lot of threat to vehicle drivers and pedestrians. Many people have lost their lives due to these dangerous wells.

Erode district is an agriculture district and in rural parts, most of the open wells that have copious amounts of water, exist on road margins.

There is often no parapet wall for such wells. Some days back, a 21-year-old young boy, Srinivas, while going on his motorcycle from Kalliampudur to Pudupalayam near Vellode, fell into the Velampalayam roadside open well with his motorcycle, and drowned.

The 70-feet-deep Velampalayam open well is located on the road margin, and contains 30 feet of water. No parapet wall had been constructed around the well.

Indication

There was no indication near the well and no board had been displayed about the open well. So people unfamiliar with the area, using vehicles like two-wheelers and four-wheelers are in danger of falling into the well.

In the same well two years ago, a moped rider fell in and died. At that time, villagers appealed to the collector, local panchayat, Public Works Department and Highways Department, for construction of a parapet wall around the well. But nothing was done and even a caution board was not displayed.

Similar roadside open wells are seen in many places.

Some years back at Mandhapuram near Vellakoil, more than 30 pilgrims travelling in a lorry, fell into a roadside well along with lorry. All the pilgrims died.

This was due to non-construction of parapet wall around the well.

In Erode Surampatty a big open well is located on the road margin, where the traffic is high. Hundreds of two-wheelers are crossing the area, but still no protective wall has been built around the well.

On almost all main roads leading to villages, such open wells exist on the road margins, creating severe threat to villagers.

The villagers said that some 30 or 40 years ago, people had dug such wells for irrigation and also to store rainwater that would percolate to nearby domestic wells.

Usually the wells would be dug in the middle of the village.

Later, roads came up near the wells, but those who constructed them often failed to protect the lives of people on the roads, by constructing protective parapet walls. The villagers appealed to the collector to instruct the Highways and local bodies to locate all such wells and construct parapet walls that were at least three or four feet high, in order to save lives.

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