The temple town of Kancheepuram, which was upgraded to a Corporation recently, will go to polls on Saturday.
The spotlight has been on the inadequate civic amenities.
The temple town remains ancient as far as civic amenities are concerned with the residents forced to put up with erratic drinking water supply, a crumbling underground drainage system, poor solid waste management, choked canals and heavy traffic on narrow roads.<SU>
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is upbeat about its prospects with the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin fulfilling one of his poll promises of upgrading the Kancheepuram municipality to a Corporation.
CM’s assurance
The Chief Minister has assured the people of redressing civic grievances if voted to power.
Vimaladevi, DMK candidate in Ward 2 and cousin of Kancheepuram MLA C.V.M.P. Ezhilarasan, said under the 10 years of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) rule from 2011 to 2021, very little attention was paid to improving the basic civic amenities in Kancheepuram.
Assuring people of setting right this situation, the DMK candidate said the condition of Sarvatheertham pond, which was renovated in 2009, has deteriorated. The pond would be deepened and a path paved for walkers.
She plans to open a mini library near the pond and take steps to improve drinking water supply along with getting pattas for residents who have not received it.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was in alliance with the AIADMK during the Assembly election, had decided to go it alone in the civic polls. It is giving a tough fight to the DMK and the AIADMK .
The BJP’s main poll plank is to reject both the Dravidian parties and a chance to the party for improving the civic amenities.<SU>
U. Jagadeesan, BJP candidate in Ward 19, said residents in his ward that includes Railway Road, Ambedkar Nagar, Pudupalayam Street, Chengalvarayan Othavadi Street, had been suffering because of inadequate amenities, mosquito menace, drinking water shortage, overflowing sewage caused by the rising height of the road, absence of proper stormwater drain network and poor maintenance of the waterbodies .
Faulting the two Dravidian parties for not taking any steps to revamp the underground drains built several years ago when the population of the town was below one lakh, Mr. Jagadeesan said the UGD was crumbling and sewage overflow is a common sight in several areas.
He said the Manjal Neer canal along with the stormwater drain network had become non-functional.
With the indiscriminate dumping of garbage, the condition of Manjal Neer canal had become worse than that of the Cooum river in Chennai.
Pointing out the Central allocation under the Smart City Mission for rejuvenating waterbodies and stormwater drain network, Mr. Jagadeesan said the party would try to get more funds sanctioned under the Smart City project.
Palar water
Social activist J. Ranganathan, a resident of Vaikunda Perumal Sannadhi Street in Ward 7, said at present the residents were supplied with water under the Thirupparkadal scheme.
He said the water from the Palar was supplied to Tambaram and Pallavaram and it should be extended to Kancheepuram also.
He wants the age-old markets, including the fish market, to be renovated with multi-level parking facility.
The residents of Kancheepuram have another important long-pending demand — traffic congestion in most of the arterial roads, particularly the Rajaveedhi Street. The temple town, which is famous for silk saris, has become a commercial hub. The town is badly in need of a systematic traffic management to decongest the roads.
The voters want the State government to run battery-operated vehicles for the benefit of devotees who visit various temples and also provide a direct MTC bus service to Chennai.
Also, starting of suburban train service till Tambaram is yet another long-felt need of the residents.
