The Alandur Assembly constituency, from where former Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran made his electoral debut 47 years ago, is again in focus as it has a by-election along with 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State later this month. The by-election was caused by the resignation of its incumbent MLA and veteran Panruti S. Ramachandran, elected on a Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) ticket in the 2011 Assembly polls. But he returned to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) recently.
The constituency has seen an increase in voter strength from 2.39 lakh in 2011 to 2.97 lakh now — 1.49 lakh male and 1.47 lakh female voters. The Assembly segment has St. Thomas Mount- cum-Pallavaram Cantonment Board, Gowl Bazaar and Moovarasampettai village panchayats of St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union. In addition, there are urban and rural pockets, including Manapakkam, Mugalivakkam, Mowlivakkam, Ayyappanthangal, Kolapakkam, Gerugambakkam, Kovur, Thandalam, Rendamkattalai, and Periyapanicheri, which form part of the Chennai Corporation.
Residents’ welfare associations’ representative, K.S. Raghavan said there was a visible improvement in the quality of roads laid as also water and power supply. However, others had concern over quality of roads in certain pockets and some areas were still untouched by public transport, including small buses. “Road-laying work on Sixth Main Road near Nanganallur Post Office and the approach roads from Nanganallur First Main Road, which started five months back, has come to a standstill now,” C. M. A. Raghu, a senior citizen pointed out.
In Mugalivakkam and Manapakkam, located close to the Adyar River, flooding is a common problem when the river swells after the shutters at Chembarambakkam Reservoir are opened during monsoon. Residents of Thiruvalluvar Nagar, Mugalivakkam in Ward No.156 of Chennai Corporation complained that during monsoon each year, excess water from Porur Lake inundates the residential localities for three months. “The monsoon failed last year; else it would have been a disaster. The government has promised an improvement, but problems still persist,” said R. Swamidurai of Mugalivakkam.
“The successful candidate has a huge task ahead in his hand, considering the enormous problems. Improvement works at the MTC depot at Adambakkam and terminus in Ayyappanthangal are incomplete and the surface becomes slushy during monsoon,” said K. Balaji of Thillaiganga Nagar. “Encroachment of lakes, absence of proper solid waste management practices and garbage burning near public places are among the problems that need to be addressed,” said M. Madhivannan, a resident of Gerugambakkam.
The Alandur constituency was formed in 1977 (it was earlier St. Thomas Mount from 1967) and in the nine elections so far, the AIADMK and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have won four times each. In 2011, Mr. Panruti Ramachandran defeated K. Gayathri Devi of the Congress by 5,754 votes. Now, AIADMK’s V. N. P. Venkatraman, Corporation’s 12th zone chairman and party’s town secretary, is pitted against former four-time Alandur Municipal Chairman R.S. Bharathi of the DMK. In the National Democratic Alliance, A. M. Kamaraja of the DMDK is making his electoral debut. The Congress has fielded Nanjil V. Eswara Prasad, a former municipal councillor. Completing the contest is Aam Aadmi Party’s Gnani Sankaran, a well known Tamil writer and activist, and the party is banking on the social-media savvy educated and employed volunteers.
