Vellore Corporation to complete pipeline work on Chennai – Bengaluru Highway

The Vellore Corporation has fast tracked its ongoing work to lay large underground pipelines on the service lane of Chennai – Bengaluru Highway (NH 48), maintained by NHAI, near Green Circle, a roundabout below the stretch in Vellore, to comple the work before Pongal 2026.

It comes in the wake of heavy traffic snarls on the service lane towards Old Town and near Green Circle during rush hour. Ambulances, school and college buses get stuck on the stretch due to a large trench dug up by the civic body for underground pipeline work for more than a fortnight. “The pipeline work near Green Circle is key to connect new pipelines from streets to the new Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). This work is the major remaining underground pipeline work under the project. The entire work will be completed by Pongal 2026,” R. Lakshmanan, Commissioner, Vellore Corporation, told The Hindu.

Corporation officials said that as the service lane and Green Circle witness huge traffic flow, the civic body is allowed to undertake pipeline work between 11 p.m and 3 a.m. Unlike other pipe laying work, these new pipes are laid at least nine metres in depth due to an existing underground drain of NHAI on the stretch. The pipeline work is being done to a distance of around 300 metres. As a result, the work was delayed.

At present, the 650 metres-long pipe-carrying bridge along Palar River will carry household drainage in 32 wards, mostly from Old Town areas to new STP at Viruthampattu near Katpadi. The bridge is being built at a height of 20 feet from the riverbed to prevent inundation during monsoon. The new STP has a capacity of 50 MLD.

The multi-crore project, which was rolled out in 2019, especially from its phase – II work onwards, comprises main sewer lines, pumping and lifting stations, and sewage treatment plants, covering all 60 wards that has around eight lakh residents within civic body limits.

Corporation officials said that of 900 stretches damaged due to underground pipeline work for the project, the civic body has laid 534 stretches within its limits at a cost of ₹ 46 crore, covering a distance of 52 km. Around 350 additional damaged streets have been identified for relay in the coming days. The civic body has sought ₹ 25 crore for the work from the State government.

Corporation officials said that at present, the civic body has around 81,000 connections within its limits. Once drainage work is completed, consumers will be asked to get individual house connections in January. By then, most of the damaged stretches will be re-laid.