coimbatore residents of sai nagar in podanur joined hands to protest against a private builder who attempted to let sewage water from an apartment complex into river noyyal on tuesday they managed to thwart the attempt by the builder to lay the pipelines for draining waste water into the river at least for now it is surprising that the corporation and the public works department officials have approved of this how can sewage water be released into the river asked nasser president of the association the builder claimed that the water would be treated before it was released into the river but residents were still apprehensive what if the system failed they askedresidents gathered outside the apartment complex and urged the builder to close the pits our houses are located next to the river and we have ensured that all 400 residents dont let out any pollutants into it now if a builder starts draining sewage into the river it will pollute the water body and cause health hazards said s sreeleka a residentpolice also intervened after the builder refused to close the pit and remove the pipelines why cant they come up with a technology to dispose the treated water there are three gardens inside the apartment complex the water could be used to maintain it the excess water could be stored in a tank and used for other apartments said doraisamy a resident umeshwari g another resident alleged that r v abode another apartment complex constructed by the same builder often let out sewage on to the roads a month ago she said that the water had entered their homessreelekha said that initially when the pits were being dug up the workers told them that it was for planting saplings later they told us that they were setting pipelines when we questioned the builder he acknowledged that both the pwd and corporation officials had taken a bribe of rs5lakh each to grant approval she saidthe managing director of sai amaranta rajashekar told toi that he had got permission from the pwd and the coimbatore corporation to set up these pipelines there are 120 houses in this apartment complex currently around 65000 litres of treated water is generated we will only let out the excess treated water into the river we have paid the department and acquired the permission he saidthe public works department engineer said that they had granted approval only on the condition that treated water was let into the river the city corporation has been letting sewage into the lakes and we have sent them several notices we always ensure that only treated water is let into the river he saidcorporation assistant engineer s r savitha who had granted permission said river noyyal falls under the purview of the pwd they granted the permission and we only issued a no objection certificate due to public opposition they have asked the builder to stop work if the association members submit a formal complaint we will take further