Older than the city that came around it, the Harbor constituency is a hub of trade and home to a metropolitan population. The narrow streets and lanes suggest that the constituency is dotted. With two major government medical college hospitals, health care requirements are accessible, but infrastructure improvements are very slow.
Large-scale commercial areas exist alongside residential areas. The pavement near the constituency is part of residents and civic problems. In places such as St. Xavier Street, families have lived along a mixed wall of Christian missionary schools for more than three decades.
The only improvement is that their balcony roofs have given way to the tarpaulin roofs. Women are the heads of most families here and have to provide for them as single mothers.
In 2011, Pala. AIADMK’s Karuppaiya was chosen. But the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa expelled her in 2016 for “anti-party activities” and has not had an active representative since then.
Traffic bottleneck
Traffic congestion is a major issue. Praveen Jain, a resident of Sowarpet, says that the Elephant Gate bridge has been closed for repair since 2016 and work is incomplete.
Hukmichand Shah, owner of an electrical goods shop in Soverkapet, says, “The area is the highest revenue generator, yet there is no proper parking facilities.” Cameras are installed in shops and the government also benefits from this, yet traders are neglected. ”
The streets are full of pits and garbage evacuation is poor. Electric wires are hung randomly and people are afraid to walk during the monsoon.
Mr. Shah wants an MLA who is associated with the Center. They have brought 937 amendments since GST came into force and we ordinary traders are not able to monitor them. We need someone who, as a business community, listens to our problems, ”he says.
Residents like Manoj, supervisor of a construction site along with the civic body, believe that the constituency has improved with e-toilets, street gardens and gyms.
S Murali, a tailor and Congress caretaker at Varda Muthiappan Street, says there is a need to improve the power supply network. “Each building has 10–15 AC units. Naturally, a transformer cannot carry the entire load, ”he says.
MLA PK Sekar Babu, who is seeking re-election, is aware of the problems. “All roads are narrow and the floating population is high. There is no place to build a parking lot. The amount of garbage is twice what you see in other constituencies as it is a business district. The drainage system is 60 years old and although we have expanded its capacity, it needs improvement, ”he says.
He says water has been supplied from the Kilpuk pumping station for the last 40 years, one of the reasons that the tail-end areas of the supply network are suffering.
The government has closed the Elephant Gate Bridge without preparing the results.
He, along with Chennai’s Central MP Dayanidhi Maran, had represented repeatedly for the state and union governments.
After constant pressure, the government has agreed to work on storm-water drains on the collapsed Wall Tax Road 10 years ago.
Although former Chief Minister Jayalalitha issued a GO to build a 230 KV station, the government did not take steps. “Next time, if the DMK regime comes, we will resolve people’s infrastructure issues,” he says.
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