Tamil Nadu - Vellore   

Price rise, corruption leave people yearning for regime change

VELLORE: The indiscriminate mining of sand in the Palar river resulting in the depletion of the groundwater table and the acute drinking and irrigation water scarcity arising from it, the exorbitant rise in the prices of essential commodities, the agrarian crisis resulting from the shortage of agricultural labour owing to the freebies and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), frequent power cuts and corruption have made the people in most of the 13 Assembly Constituencies yearn for a regime change in Tamil Nadu.

Vellore district has 13 Assembly constituencies, as against 12 in the 2006 Assembly Elections, thanks to the abolition of two constituencies and the addition of three during the delimitation exercise between 2002 and 2007. Ten constituencies, namely, Tirupattur, Vaniyambadi, Gudiyatham (SC), Vellore, Katpadi, Anaicut, Arcot, Ranipet, Sholinghur and Arakkonam (SC) have been retained, while three new ones — Jolarpet, Ambur and Kilvaithinankuppam (K.V. Kuppam) — have been added. The constituencies of Natrampalli and Pernambut have been abolished. The areas coming under the Natrampalli constituency have been included in Jolarpet, while those under Pernambut have been annexed to Gudiyatham. The Ambur constituency has been formed after bifurcating Vaniyambadi, while K.V. Kuppam has been formed on bifurcation of Katpadi.

The indiscriminate and unchecked mining of sand in the Palar River have been the cause for the depletion of the groundwater table and the resultant scarcity of water both for irrigation and drinking purposes. Sand is being regularly mined from the Palar River in the Ranipet constituency, stored in places like Sumaithangi and sold to buyers in Chennai, said a voter in Ranipet.

In constituencies such as Katpadi, K.V. Kuppam, Ranipet, Arcot, Sholinghur, Arakkonam, Anaicut and Gudiyatham, people in the rural areas are greatly affected by price rise. “Except the price of rice which is given at Re.1 per kg through the public distribution system, the prices of most other essential commodities such as toor dhal and garlic have skyrocketed. Besides, we could not cultivate paddy on the banks of the Palar on account of the pollution of groundwater by tanneries and chemical units,” said a voter in a village in Ranipet constituency.

Another fact which emerged during interviews with cross-sections of the voters in all the constituencies was that they were not convinced with the freebies offered by the government. “Thousands of B.Ed. graduates remain unemployed throughout the State as the government has failed to recruit them as promised. Instead of giving freebies, why not give employment to the people so that they will have the capacity to meet their needs with their salary earnings,” asked a voter in Sholinghur.

While Law Minister Durai Murugan of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is pitted against S.R.K. Appu alias Radhakrishnan of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Katpadi, sitting MLA C. Gnanasekaran (Congress) is pitted against V.S. Vijay (AIADMK) and V. Arvinth Reddy (Bharatiya Janata Party) in Vellore. Sitting MLA R. Gandhi (DMK) is facing A. Mohammed Jhan of AIADMK in Ranipet. Sitting MLA K.L. Elavazagan of Pattali Makkal Katchi is pitted against R. Srinivasan of AIADMK in Arcot. In Sholinghur, there is a triangular fight among sitting MLA Arul Anbarasu of the Congress, A.M. Munirathinam, former MLA and Congress rebel candidate and P.R. Manohar of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK). In Arakkonam (SC), C. Chellapandian of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi is pitted against S. Ravi of the AIADMK. M. Kalaiarasan of the PMK locks horns with V.B. Velu of the DMDK in Anaicut, K. Seetharaman (DMK) with C.K. Thamizharasan (Republican Party of India contesting on AIADMK symbol) in K.V. Kuppam, and K. Lingamuthu (Communist Party of India) with K. Rajamarthandam (DMK) in Gudiyatham. J. Vijay Elanchezian (Congress), son of former Tirupattur MP A. Jayamohan is pitted against rebel Congress candidate E. Sampath contesting as Independent and A. Aslam Basha of Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (in alliance with AIADMK) in the new Ambur constituency. G. Ponnusamy of PMK is contesting against K.C. Veeramani (AIADMK) in the new Jolarpet constituency, while S. Rajendran (DMK) is testing his waters against K.G. Ramesh of AIADMK in Tirupattur.

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