Chidambaram craves for accessible representative

CHENNAI: The Chidambaram Lok Sabha constituency spreads across Cuddalore, Ariyalur and Perambalur districts and the residents have a slew of demands from the new Member of Parliament.

Strongly urging for an accessible representative, there is also a demand for preserving the resources of the land and facilitating the people with better livelihood opportunities in agriculture, fishing and tourism sectors.

The three districts within the Chidambaram constituency besides being a part of protected agriculture zone, has several rich geographical features. Mangrove forest in Pichavaram, Veeranam Lake in Kattumannarkoil, Thillai Nataraja temple in Chidambaram and rich mineral deposits like limestone and sandstone in Ariyalur are to name a few.

As far as Chidambaram constituency is concerned, till the 2004 general elections, there were six assembly constituencies; Chidambaram, Bhuvanagiri, Kattumannarkoil, Mangalore, Kurinjipadi and Virddhachalam.

However, during the reorganisation of the constituencies in 2008, Mangalore, currently known as Tittagudi (reserved), Kurinjipadi and Virddhachalam were removed and added to Cuddalore parliamentary constituency.

Subsequently, Ariyalur, Jayankondam from Ariyalur district and Kunnam from Perambalur district were added as part of Chidambaram constituency. In the 16 Lok Sabha elections held so far, Congress and DMK have recorded a win five times each, PMK has won four times, AIADMK three times and VCK twice.

In the case of the current general election Thol Thirumavalavan, VCK chief and the sitting MP will be contesting in Chidambaram in alliance with DMK. AIADMK has fielded M Chandrakasan from its party, which has tied the alliance with DMDK. BJP has nominated former mayor P Karthiyayini in alliance with the PMK.

Chandrakasan, AIADMK party senior from Ariyalur, will be contesting in Chidambaram for the first time. Karthiyayini, the former Vellore mayor was associated with AIADMK earlier. Karthiyayini was also part of the BJP women’s wing who has been pitted against VCK chief for the first time.

Thirumavalavan lost the 2014 election to AIADMK’s M Chandrakasi by a margin of 1,28,495 votes. Though the popular Dalit leader managed to win the 2019 election, the victory margin was only a meagre 3,219 votes.

Despite this, the sitting MP’s chances of winning the current election is strong, at least in comparison to the other candidates. However, the public allege the VCK chief to be largely absent since winning the election in 2019 and urge for his strong participation if elected once again.

Speaking to DT Next, a Chidambaram based lawyer said, “Thirumavalavan being the party chief has come with its own disadvantages, as he had little to no time for its own constituency. Though most of the infrastructure implementation works by the sitting MP was initiated, it is still questionable if the needs of people from oppressed communities were addressed.”

Similarly, a Bhuvanagiri-based activist noted that the elected representatives both the present and former have hardly turned up after winning the elections.”

Some of the demands of the people in the constituency are; revoking the customary rights of Killai fishers in the reserve forest area, freedom to engage in fishing without the intervention of tourism and forest departments and improving the livelihood opportunities for fishers alongside engaging the locals in tourism-related activities.

Manimuthu, the member of fishermen welfare association said that due to unscientific expansion of mangroves by the forest department, the saline water oozing into fresh water has been destroying the crops. The Killai fishermen also highlighted shrimp farms and other units violating the Coastal Regulation Zone in Parangipettai.

Some of the other demands are; improving the facilities around Chidambaram Natarajar temple for pilgrims, desilting of Veeranam and Ponneri lakes, Railway Mail Service (RMS) , beatification of Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple in Ariyalur and opening new factories in Jayankondam.