The Hindu : Residents to campaign for `cent per cent turnout'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 02, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Residents to campaign for `cent per cent turnout'

By Karthik Subramanian

Chennai May 1. With the elected representatives and officials turning a blind eye to maintenance of the Virugambakkam canal for several years now, the local residents took a vow on Thursday to campaign for a `cent per cent voter turn out' in elections to send a clear message to political parties, that they cannot be taken for granted.

Through the novel initiative, the residents hope that the accountability of the Government machinery would improve and there would be a solution to their civic problems, which they say has lasted for nearly three decades now. The canal that has not been desilted for several years now also acts as a carrier for sewerage collected from illegal connections.

Representatives from the local welfare associations, who met under the aegis of Exnora International, alleged that there was a marked increase in Malarial and Filarial cases in the regions. Several persons were also suffering from urinary infections, as overflow of sewage into the houses was a common occurrence. Despite the scarcity of water, the residents also shuddered at the thought of rains, which invariably inundated the area heavily with a mixture of rainwater and sewage. The residents also squarely blamed the Metrowater for the problems as the government agency itself had connected its sewer lines into the canal. "Several representations had been made to the Metrowater officials in vain. The only solution would be to stop paying taxes to both Metrowater and Chennai Corporation as they are grossly negligent and carry on with their illegal ways", one of the participants said.

Multi-storeyed building

The residents also pointed a finger at the multi-storeyed building along the 100 feet road that, standing right on the canal and objecting to the flow of water to another reach in Ayanavaram, as the main reason for the collection of slurry along the canal. "Since a popular film personality is involved and a lot of political backing might be in question, none of the officials have bothered to question the construction. But why should several thousands of residents suffer for one individual", a senior citizen asked.

The campaign to ensure "100 per cent voter turn out" in Valasarawakkam area henceforth would be carried out by involving popular personalities and taking out door-to-door campaigns, Exnora International founder-president, M.B. Nirmal said. Former Chief Election Commissioner, T.N. Seshan will be taking part in one such programme soon, he added. Popular stage and film personality, S.Ve. Sheker, who interacted with the welfare association representatives, said they needed to persist with their campaign to succeed. The Government was spending several crores of rupees for conducting elections and it was imperative that every one exercised their democratic right, he added.

"Several educated persons seem to be taking pride in stating that they had not cast their vote. Some are also sarcastic that anyway somebody will cast their vote, and so why bother. The reasons why ineligible candidates are holding important posts is because the educated voter is not voting", Mr.Shekher said.

The welfare association representatives who spoke included S. Punita of Sayee Nagar Women's Exnora, Dhakshinamurthy of Kumaran Nagar Resident's Welfare Association, Kochu Kumar of Chinmaya Nagar Stage 2 Residents Association, Sivaramakrishnan of Chinmaya Nagar Stage 1 Residents Association, K.S.Ananthanarayanan and V.Ramaswami of Exnora Innovators Club of Virugambakkam.

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