CHENNAI: Varathan A, of Ragava Nager, Moovarasampet village panchayat, watched in distress as garbage piled up on nearby streets. Just 100m away from this scene is Kannan Nagar — which comes under Greater Chennai Corporation — where a conservancy lorry arrives daily to empty bins. Uncleared trash isn’t the only issue plaguing this village panchayat with about 20,000 residents on 95 streets. Moovarasampet lake, a key water source for the panchayat and nearby areas, is contaminated due to the lack of an underground drainage system in the panchayat.
“We haven’t had drinking water for three weeks as the panchayat does not have sufficient funds to repair the motor,” Varathan said.
The panchayat falls under Alandur assembly constituency, but for administrative purposes, it is covered under Pallavaram taluk of Chengalpet district. As per the new announcement, it will now be part of Tambaram corporation, a move that has raised hope among residents.
The panchayat is surrounded by Alandur zone and Sholinganallur zone and on the other side is Pallavaram municipality, all just 50m away and boasting of civic amenities. While this area seems to be from a different era in terms of amenities, it is better designed than nearby localities like Madipakkam, Puzhuthivakkam and Kannan Nagar, which are part of the Chennai corporation.
“It’s just so disappointing that even 50m away they have high mast street lights and underground drainage systems,” said Swaminathan Pandu Rangan, member of the Raghava Nagar house owner association.
For every civic complaint raised, the only reason cited is lack of funds, “We don’t have a single park or playgrounde. We too pay taxes and get Union government funds, but there is no development. Even the merger with Tambaram corporation is also not final as the St Thomas Mount Panchayat Union, under which 15 panchayats fall, hasn’t given its consent letter to the government yet,” said Suresh Sukumaran, secretary of Moovarasampet public welfare association.
Residents hope the merger will resolve all their problems. To bring uniform growth in all the areas under Tambaram corporation, they demanded that the government conduct the local body polls only after a proper delimitation exercise.
When contacted, panchayat officials told TOI said they hadn’t gotten funds from neither the state nor Centre for development work for the past four months. “We get just ₹2 lakh every month from tax and we use it to pay salaries. We haven’t been able to pay daily wagersemployed on contract basis,” said one official.
Alandur MLA T M Anbarasan told TOI he got the motor fixed on Tuesday and vowed to look into the other issues. “Once local body polls are held, the panchayat will get the required funds from the Centre. Moreover, after merging with Tamabaram corporation, all their civic woes would end,” he said
