It is a battle between a ‘son of the soil' and an ‘outsider' in Tiruvottiyur Assembly constituency.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) candidate K. Kuppan is playing the ‘son of the soil' card against the sitting MLA and Fisheries Minister K.P.P. Samy of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the hotly contested Tiruvottiyur constituency.
Though both the candidates belong to the fishermen community, Mr. Kuppan, being a native of Tiruvottiyur, is canvassing for votes against Mr. Samy, whose father had settled in the area, focussing on unfulfilled promises, poor infrastructure facilities and the law and order scenario. While Mr. Kuppan's campaign in the constituency is low profile, Mr. Samy has adopted a high-profile campaign using large manpower and a posse of vehicles. Mr. Kuppan represented this constituency in the 10th Assembly during 1991-1996.
Ma. Ki. Ramanan, Tamil scholar and a resident of Village Street, Tiruvottiyur, said when it comes to basic infrastructure facilities including road, sewage and parks, Tiruvottiyur would be ranked last in the list. Citing the poor maintenance of the temple tank, he said the tank which could be used as a water recharging facility is a picture of neglect. Comparing the good income level of the people, he rued the absence of any park or good library facility, leave alone any book shops.
Several roads in the Tiruvottiyur area are in a pathetic condition with waste water overflowing on several roads in the locality. Being an industrial belt, the constituency suffers from heavy traffic congestion, narrow roads and heavy pollution.
R. Jayaraman, Chairman, Tiruvottiyur Municipality, said the widening of the Tiruvottiyur High Road has been postponed several times as Mr. Samy was preventing the widening work by giving tacit support to the business establishments affected by the road widening project. Moreover, the absence of subways and over bridges across the railway level crossings forces people to take a detour to reach Manali and other areas. He also complained that the Municipality was unable to undertake road relaying and repair works where sewage pipelines were installed, as the State government has not sanctioned any funds and have also disallowed the Municipality from executing road relaying works from the funds generated by the municipality.
Mullai Gnanasekar, Chairman, Manali Municipality, said that despite sending a proposal to the State government for underground drainage facility in Manali, a sanction was yet to be given. He also complained that the State government had failed to fulfil the promise of providing compensation and alternate sites to the farmers.The Tiruvottiyur constituency comprises Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Kathivakkam and Chinna Sekkadu. The total electoral population of the constituency as per the final poll published on January 10, 2011, is 2,08,194, which includes 1,05,504 men and 1,02,660 women and 30 others.
