Three municipalities - Kodaikanal, Palani and Oddanchatram and 23 town panchayats - are going to urban local body polls on February 19 along with Dindigul Corporation.
Elections to the three municipalities assume significance as Kodaikanal is a star attraction for tourists while Palani is dear to devotees whereas Oddanchatram is a major vegetable trading centre.
According to V. Rajamanickam, who was the Municipal Chairman of Palani between 2006-2011, some good schemes devised then are still in cold storage. ‘When M.K. Stalin was the Local Administration Minister then, we made efforts to bring Palani under a list of 12 towns for implementing underground drainage scheme for which the Dandayuthapaniswamy Temple administration agreed to share 40% of the cost. But after all those efforts, those who were at the helm later did not do anything,” the CPI (M) functionary said.
But a modern bus stand was established with the temple authorities bearing half of the total cost of ₹ 6.60 crore.
Being one of the big revenue generating temples, the Palani temple administration must share the cost of big projects. When conducting big festivals also, the temple bears only a little towards providing civic amenities when there is a huge flow of devotees.
Water supply
Another sad affair is that a ₹ 22-crore scheme to bring water from seven-km away Palar dam, has been put into the backburner. Tenders were floated and a mammoth water tank was built for the scheme funded by JICA. “We made repeated representations to the district administration but to no avail, “Mr. Rajamanickam said.
Bad roads
An alternative arterial road to relieve pressure on Gandhi Road (the only east-west carriageway) must be laid. In the name of beautifying the town under a ₹58 crore scheme, all roads in the town have been decimated. Now, with erroneous gradient measure, rainwater is flowing the other way of the drainage channels. The new council must set right all these anomalies for the 33 wards in the municipality.
