Sivaganga Road caves in for the second time in a week

On April 19, a portion of the road at Melamadai junction had caved in after a leakage in a sewage pipe. 

On Tuesday night, the road again caved in at Gomathipuram junction, just 200 metres away from Melamadai junction. Soon, sewage started gushing out bringing traffic to a grinding halt. 

On information, traffic police rushed to the spot and set up barricades around the area. Corporation officials also came to the spot and stopped the leakage temporarily.

According to corporation officials, sewage was being pumped to a treatment plant at Sakkimangalam near Madurai through an eight-kilometre long pipeline. Weak points in the pipe line would have caused the road to cave in, they said. 

After the first incident on April 19, the officials had taken two days to identify the leak and repair it. However, the portion of the road has not been relaid. 

The officials said that both incidents were due to separate leaks in the pipeline, which would be repaired by Thursday and the road relaid by the state Highways Department, they added.