The temple town of Kancheepuram has a historic connection to the Dravidian movement, being the birthplace of DMK founder and first Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai’s. While the AIADMK has fielded alliance partner PMK’s candidate P. Magesh Kumar, the DMK has re-nominated its sitting MLA C.V.M.P. Ezhilarasan.
For a pilgrimage town which has several ancient Vaishnavite and Saivite temples drawing lots of visitors, the State administration has done little to promote spiritual tourism, residents said. After all these years, the State government is constructing a Yatri Nivas. Unlike Mamallapuram, the Tourism Department has not even printed a guide to promote the constituency’s many temples.
The traditional silk weaving industry, as famous as the ancient temples of Kancheepuram, has taken a big hit because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The livelihood of silk saree weavers, who flourished in the town, is now in the doldrums post-lockdown and the lack of any monetary support, similar to loan waivers announced for farmers.
Dip in demand
V. Ramalingam, 52, a saree weaver, comes from a family where two generations are involved in weaving. He said the pandemic-induced lockdown had resulted in the restriction of marriage celebrations, leading to a severe fall in demand for silk sarees. This has left the weavers without an income, pushing entire families into penury.
He pointed out that Pillayarpalayam, which was once the nerve centre for silk saree weaving and housed over 10,000 weavers, now has merely 3,000 living in the locality. Several traditional weaving families have moved out, seeking better job opportunities. Also, the State government has failed to complete the ₹100 crore weavers park project, for which Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami laid the foundation stone as early as 2017. At present, a big plaque with the name of the 75 acre park is the only sign of its existence.
The temple town’s other big issue is traffic congestion, caused by encroachments and poor management. The traffic scene in the entire locality resembles a gridlock of one-ways with vehicles piling up in all junctions and motorists flouting regulations.
S. Bhaskaran, a resident of Mandapam Street in Kancheepuram, said though the government had developed several Outer Ring Roads and linked them with the highways to Arcot, Vandavasi and Vellore, due to a lack of awareness, motorists were still using the interior roads of the town, causing traffic congestion. He also rued a lack of flyovers at important junctions to ease traffic snarls.
The residents also fault the district administration for failing to take steps to remove encroachments and renovate Vegavathi river, which flows through the town.
Despite constructing more than 2,000 flats for relocating encroachers, they had not been allotted to anyone, according to residents. Sitting MLA Mr. Ezhilarasan has, on his part, taken up several civic development works.
He said the construction of a trauma care centre, housing MRI, CT and ultrasound scan equipment at a cost of ₹51 lakh, in the Kancheepuram Government hospital was a major achievement.
Local amenities
The MLA said with local area development funds, he had installed modern bus shelters in over eight places, implemented the digging of 40 drinking borewells, renovated the dilapidated Arignar Anna Stadium, installed new benches and chairs at government schools, laid cement roads and commissioned reverse osmosis plants in hospitals and schools at a cost of around ₹30 lakh.
Among the projects which were put forward to the government but remain unfulfilled are checkdams on Palar river at Perumbakkam and Veppadu, and the extension of the Cauvery Integrated Water Scheme.
