Across the Coimbatore North Assembly constituency that extends from Marudhamalai in the west to Ganapathy in the east, the uniform refrain of the voters is that the localities that fall within the constituency boundary have seen very little improvement in the past five years.
The first of the list of unfulfilled demands is traffic improvement measures. Voters say from Marudhamalai Road to Thadagam Road to NSR Road in Saibaba Colony to Sathyamangalam Road there has been hardly any step to ease traffic congestion, construct bus stand in Vadavalli or even provide bus shelter. Thadagam Road was the only exception as some widening did take place between Government College of Technology and Edayarpalayam.
Vadavalli resident S. Murali says that the State Government and Coimbatore Corporation promised a bus stand. But to date, there has been no development on the ground. Commuters continue to wait at the Edayarpalayam Road-Marudhamalai Road junction amid congestion to board buses.
Another issue that the Vadavalli and Veerakeralam residents talk about is absence of improvement in basic amenities, especially after the areas became part of the Coimbatore Corporation.
Vadavalli resident and Secretary, Coimbatore Consumer Cause, K. Kathirmathiyon says that when Vadavalli was under a town panchayat set up, the residents got water once in five days. Now, as part of the Coimbatore Corporation, the residents get water only once in 12 days.
On the east, in Sanganoor, Rathinapuri and Ganapathy – areas populated with micro, tiny and small enterprises – the issue continues to be traffic congestion. The frequent closing of the railway crossing in Avarampalayam is having a financial impact on the industries there. Drivers who ferry vehicles to supply raw materials and take finished goods are charging more citing the fact that they have to wait longer at the railway gate, says R. Somasundaram, who runs a workshop near the C.M. Kalyanamandapam.
On a macro level, the industries have been demanding reclassification of their units in the power tariff chart from the ‘3B’ category to ‘3A (1)’ so that the industries could turn viable. But that has not been happening, laments S. Ravikumar, president, Coimbatore and Tirupur District Micro and Cottage Entrepreneurs’ Association.
The Association’s other long-pending demand has been for an industrial estate. At present, the industries function amid houses. If a separate industrial estate or park is set up, they function at ease as common facilities could be made available to units that individually could not afford them.
Back to the civic issue front. One of the biggest issues that will weigh in on the minds of voters in Vadavalli and Veerakeralam is the difficulty in getting approval for additional construction, Mr. Kathirmathiyon says. “Despite having a local administration Minister, Coimbatore is the only city in Tamil Nadu, where added-area residents cannot get approval for additional construction. This is this government’s biggest failure.”
The other issues that the residents talk about are lack of underground drainage and storm water drainage facilities in the two added areas and failure to implement even one of the Rs. 1,000 crore plus schemes the Chief Minister had announced prior to the mayor by-election.
The incumbent from the constituency, T. Malaravan of the AIADMK says he has helped the Coimbatore North voters whatever they have asked for – be it roads, parks or other infrastructure facilities. Water supply is the one area where he thinks he could have done better.
