The constituency of Coonoor is set to witness a close battle between former DMK Minister K. Ramachandran and AIADMK’s Nilgiris district secretary Kappachi D. Vinoth.
Mr. Ramachandran who successfully contested the seat in 2011 is being fielded against Mr. Vinoth after the DMK lost the last election in 2016 narrowly to the AIADMK’s A. Ramu by a difference of less than 4,000 votes. With the thinking being that the loss in 2016 was influenced by their choice of candidate, a non-Badaga, the party has opted for Mr. Ramachandran.
Most residents in the constituency are dependent on farming and find work as estate or plantation labourers. Aside from a lack of employment opportunities, voters have called attention to the need for upgrading the town’s ageing infrastructure, primarily the Coonoor bus stand and the government hospital.
S. Manogaran, a Coonoor-based activist and president of the Coonoor Consumer Protection Association, said that the need to upgrade the bus stand and the hospital is a long-standing demand for the town’s residents. “Both facilities simply do not have the required infrastructure, nor have they been modernised to support the number of people that use the services,” he said.
Lack of water, especially during the summer season, is another major issue for Coonoor residents, most of whom have to purchase water from private water suppliers during peak tourist season. “The town is still dependent on the Ralliah Dam for its drinking water supply. The water from this dam alone is inadequate to meet the requirement of the entire town,” said R. Ramesh, another resident.
While drinking water is a concern, the town’s perpetual problem of dealing with its sewage is not just for the Nilgiris but for surrounding districts of Coimbatore and Erode. “As the sewage from the town, as well as agricultural run-off is released directly into the Coonoor River, it is polluting the Bhavani River downstream. In the next decade, the problem is only going to become worse, and there needs to be a water treatment facility set up for the town,” said an ecologist from Coonoor.
