“In my residence, if I switch on the air-conditioner, it gets off within two minutes. Such is the quality of power and I have never had the opportunity to use the gadget.” This is not a statement made by an ordinary resident, but an elected councillor of a ward in Madurai Corporation.
The woman councillor, Shanti Ramanathan, of Ward 3 representing the ruling AIADMK goes on to say: “Despite reminders and appeals sent to Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) authorities to install transformers in my ward in the last two years, nothing tangible had happened so far.”
From her confession on the quality of electricity, one can ascertain the power problem. Similar is the situation as far as the quality of drinking water, roads, street lights, underground drainage system and so on in the ward are concerned.
The ward which falls under zone I of Madurai Corporation has been included with the city from Anaiyur Municipality — where the round-type dwellings shown in the picture have been constructed to produce biogas from the collective waste, which now help only mosquitoes proliferate due to poor upkeep — after the expansion of the corporation limits.
The Madurai Corporation boasts of having 100 wards after roping in 28 wards, situated adjacent to the 72 old wards, which were earlier with municipalities and panchayats.
The ward has a combination of big and independent villas and a plenty of residential apartments.
There are private schools and those run by the Corporation in the ward.
The ward fetches close to Rs.90 lakh as property tax per annum from its tax payers. One may wonder and ask “whether the ward had got back its due from the Corporation and government for the taxes remitted?” The answer is no.
Poor infrastructureOther than drinking water, another major problem faced by the residents in the ward is bad roads. On many stretches in Muthamizh Nagar, Park Town, Anbu Nagar, Silayaneri, Chelliah Nagar and parts of Sanjeevi Nagar, the roads were laid at least a decade ago.
With extension colonies having come up rapidly, it is a Herculean task to use the roads. “A group of women from Silayaneri went to the Mayor’s office recently to submit a petition about the plight of their living condition,” the councillor said with anguish.
Though the former Corporation Commissioner, Nanthagopal, had approved laying of paver block road for the P and T Nagar bus stand at a cost of Rs.40 lakh, for reasons not known the proposal remains in cold storage.
Similarly, the absence of underground drainage (UGD) system in many localities in the ward is a major grievance of the residents.
Jawahar Suresh, an engineer and a resident of Kalai Nagar First Street, says: “Like Kalai Nagar, there are many colonies in the ward without UGD system…there is a serious threat to the eco-system. I hope the authorities accord top priority to this problem as many kinds of diseases threaten the common man.”
A senior Corporation official in zone I admits that frequent shuffle of officers has dampened the progress of planned projects. It has also delayed execution of small works and inspections as new officers have to learn the localities.
Similarly, the shortage of officers has compelled the Corporation to handle huge work load with available man power. This results in fatigue among the officials. Swift recruitment shall solve the problem, he adds.
Interestingly, the newly elected Lok Sabha MP R. Gopalakrishnan, also from the AIADMK, is a resident of this ward 3, Ms. Shanti says, adding she made use of the funds allocated by AIADMK MLA Tamilarasan for laying roads in her ward and hopes the MP will also extend funds from the MP-LAD Fund.
