Temples in Vada Kanchi surrounded by uncleared garbage worry residents

From badly maintained roads to uncleared garbage surrounding temples to open drains and lack of proper drinking water facilities, locals here complain that the thousands of residents here have got nothing from their elected officials for years now.

Minjur panchayat has 18 wards where more than 25,000 people reside. According to local resident and social activist Gajendran, there are several issues faced by residents in all the 18 wards. “Most streets do not have adequate drinking water facility and the common taps on the streets are hardly being maintained. Street lights are completely absent in several areas and even those that are in place, do not work and haven’t been replaced for months,” he said.

Due to the lack of street lights, chain-snatching and waylaying has become more common on the roads and highways. Residents also complain that the Thiruvottiyur – Ponneri highway has become like an open sewer with drainage overflowing along the highway. “The smell is so bad that you can’t drive on the highway without blocking our nose,” said Selvam, from Padmavathy Nagar inMinjur.

He pointed out that two famous temples, the Varadaraja Perumal temple and Ekambaranathan temple, attracted a lot of pilgrims every year but no proper facilities were built for the devotees. “The area surrounding the temple is often overflowing with garbage,” he said.

Residents also complained that incidents of sewage mixing with drinking water was also reported frequently and that all their complaints have never got any favourable action from the authorities.

When contacted, additional director, Minjur Town Panchayat Kanagaraj said that they had received several complaints from various areas and were acting on it one at a time. “I have instructed the local Executive Officers to personally visit and solve the public problems. They will be done soon,” he said.

Officials also pointed out that absence of local body funds for the past several years were one of the reasons for so many pending issues.