While the Corporation has named it as Ward 40, which is situated along the Vaigai river bank covering Ahimsapuram, Kattabomman Nagar and Sellur 50-ft Main Road, the people from this ward, however, call it as "Dengue producing ward".
From the way, the residents responded to The Hindu team, one can imagine their plight and the height of mosquito menace.
A walk along the Pandalkudi channel, which is being looked as a major culprit for breeding mosquitoes, would simply chase away a stranger from coming to this place again. Such is the unpleasant odour that is in the air.
Non-removal of waste and non-desilting of the channel over the years appeared to have resulted in a mini-Cooum, said D. Murugesan (73) of Jeeva street, who has been living here for over four decades.
“I have not seen any improvement or a solution to this menace. Only during the floods, I had seen the water flowing in the Pandalkudi channel...Rest of the time, it is just a space for dumping all kinds of waste," he claimed and blamed the officials squarely.
Another woman, working as a nurse in the Government Rajaji Hospital (requesting anonymity) said that while the PWD said that the channel was with the Corporation, the elected representatives (from the councillor to the minister referring to ‘Sellur’ K. Raju) have not addressed the issue effectively.
Representations to the then Mayor V.V. Rajan Chellappa by the residents too had not seen any progress, she lamented.
As the people were either uneducated or economically weaker, they were unable to even understand the consequences of the diseases like dengue among others. The officials were keen on passing the buck and not finding remedy, blamed Rajasekaran, a CPI (M) functionary in the ward.
Apart from the mosquito menace, the ward has many other problems revolving around them.
Since the majority of the population here were working as daily labourers in textile stores, they had no clue as to how to get rid of the menace and also not clear who would give them the basic amenities.
A first time councillor from the ruling party N. Arumugam, when contacted, said he had been fighting from day one, all for the public cause and waiting to see some improvement in the peoples’ standards of living.
Since a majority of the population relied on daily wage, I have succeeded in getting ration shops. In my ward, there are five ration shops. I ensure there are all essential commodities," he noted.
Apart from a few private schools, the Corporation middle school is a big attraction. Thanks to the support from philanthropists, the school has good strength. I am planning to enhance it to a higher secondary school level, Mr. Arumugam said.
While he admitted that the Pandalkudi channel is a big threat to the public hygiene, non-completion of Underground Drainage too had resulted in open drainage in many areas of the ward. In fact, many streets were poor in upkeep that it reflected bad on the Corporation officials.
Women on Jeeva street and 50-ft Main road thanked the councillor for getting them water pipeline sources from the Kulamangalam main pipeline. Yet another major acknowledgement from the residents was that they had received the freebies, including 'thaaliku thangam' and laptops for their children from the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's welfare scheme.
The ward certainly showed the official apathy as many amenities were not in place. The roads were not laid. The street lights were either not properly functioning or the lights not glowing on the main roads. The rise in crime, especially against women who passed through the roads were facing trouble from masked men, was worrying residents. TASMAC outlets in the ward were not at all welcome.
Despite all odds, it is likely that people may give another chance to the AIADMK as an aged person said that the Opposition was divided. Hence, Amma appeared to be the only choice. The freebies stand to gain and work in favour of the ruling party, but Corporation Commissioner Sandeep Nanduri is firm on solving the problems through the Smart City project.
In another 24 months, the city would witness improvement at a rapid pace. Wait and watch, he said.
