Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Winds of change yet to blow

By K.V. Prasad

COIMBATORE, MARCH 24. Obscured by shrubs on 40 cents and lying ignored, a nearly 40-year-old stone tablet announcing a prestigious Rs.1-crore housing project symbolises lack of development in Kovaipudur, 14 km north of the city.

Located along the bypass road to Ukkadam, the tablet was unveiled on June 9, 1965, by the then president of the All India Congress Committee, K. Kamaraj, to inaugurate the Madras State Housing Board's Neighbourhood Project for this small township.

Along with him was another political heavyweight, R. Venkataraman, Minister for Industry and Housing. Nearly 40 years later, the residents continue to struggle for good roads, drainage and a bus stand.

As many as 4,500 houses came up on the 250 acres earmarked for the project.

But, the living conditions do not reflect appreciable improvement.

Like the stone tablet, Kovaipudur itself seems to slip into obscurity for want of development schemes.

`Abode of senior citizens'

Nestling in the breezy Palakkad Pass, it earned the sobriquet `abode of senior citizens'. But winds of change do not blow across this elite township, home to mostly retired armed services personnel and Government officials.

The problems are not restricted to the project area of the housing board. Layouts that sprang up subsequently also reel under poor facilities.

"The roads are miserable. The 100 Feet Road is a mess. Even in approved areas, motorable stretches are hard to find," says M.V. Nambi, a resident. "We have only a small bus shelter to make for a stand. A bus terminus can be built on nearby reserved sites. With the population having increased, it is time we had a reasonably good terminus."

Traffic block

The president of the Kovaipudur Residents' Welfare Association, V. Rajaiah, points at two expansive reserved sites in the `T' Block and suggests that the Kuniamuthur Municipality can build the terminus here.

"At present, the shelter is located dangerously close to an intersection and this causes traffic block," he says.

The post office that functions in a rented building is cramped. Senior citizens, who hold their pension account, do not have space to sit while waiting for their transactions to complete.

A land purchased by the Department of Posts in 1982 for building a post office lies in disuse.

Located across the road from the Tamil Nadu Special Police Battalion, it has been converted into a public toilet.

A rusted board with only the department's emblem stands proof of the land belonging to it.

There are not many complaints over water supply. The quantum provided to the municipality since 1994 is seen as too meagre to serve 21 wards in Kuniamuthur, of which Wards 12 and 13 make up Kovaipudur.

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