Tambaram, considered a gateway to Chennai, is yet to witness the development promised to it by contestants of various elections over the years.
Besides the Tambaram municipality, areas that come under this Assembly segment include Sembakkam Municipality, Chitlapakkam, Madambakkam, Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai town panchayats and Mudichur, Agaram Then, Madurapakkam and Tiruvanchery village panchayats.
G. Raman, Perungalathur town panchayat councillor, said restoration of Palar water supply; desilting of major waterbodies in the Tambaram taluk and speeding up of work on the road overbridge near the Perungalathur railway station were among issues that had to be addressed.
He said that groundwater in most parts of Peerkankaranai was unfit for consumption and restoring water supply from the Palar river would help residents.
Provision of underground drainage for Madambakkam, Sembakkam, Chitlapakkam, Perungalathur and Peerkankaranai is another key issue.
“Access to basic amenities in some pockets of Peerkankaranai and Agaram is not satisfactory,” said C. Sathya, a resident of Vengambakkam.
R. Chinnathambi of Old Perungalathur said the bus terminus at Tambaram Sanatorium had not helped reduce traffic on Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road as the location seemed to be too far for Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) to operate its services.
The underground drainage facilities, planned in 2009, have not been implemented reportedly due to a deadlock between the Chennai Metrowater and contractors. This had led to the Tambaram municipality carrying additional burden, sources said. Finding sites for sewer pumping stations and removal of encroachments from sewage treatment plant sites were cited as reasons for the delay.
P. Viswanathan, convener, Chitlapakkam Residents Association Coordination Committee, said that all town panchayats under Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) and around Tambaram should be made a separate Municipal Corporation. He suggested the amalgamation of Chitlapakkam, Madambakkam and Sembakkam with the new Corporation.
“Extending the existing channel along Velachery Main Road and connecting the same to the water channel at the junction of Mahalakshmi Nagar would prevent flooding of residential areas of Chitlapakkam adjoining Selaiyur and Rajakilpakkam areas,” he said.
To improve water supply, Chitlapakkam should be included in the new water supply scheme to fetch water from the Chembarambakkam reservoir,” said L. Sundararaman of Chitlapakkam.
Operating small buses from Chitlapakkam Kulam should be considered and the construction of a check-dam across the Palar river to ensure water supply for the local bodies in the vicinity was another necessity, he said.
The constituency was created in 1977 and that year, Munu Adhi of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won. In the nine elections since 1977, the DMK has won six. The AIADMK won in 1984 and 2011 and the Congress, in 1991.
M.A. Vaidyalingam of DMK has won three times, including by a record margin of 1.13 lakh votes in 1996. For a long period, Tambaram had been the second largest constituency in Asia, next to Villivakkam, which shrunk too after the delimitation.
