Haphazard planning may upset parties' plans in Sholinganallur

A jeep draped with marigold flowers, the 'two leaves' symbol and larger-than-life posters of J Jayalalithaa carries Leo N Sundaram, 61, the AIADMK candidate, through the streets of Sholinganallur. In an adjacent street, DMK's Aravind Ramesh is on his feet going house-to-house, assuring residents that their problems will be taken care of.

Sholinganallur

, TN's biggest constituency with more than six lakh voters, has witnessed a fair share of electoral action, but residents say it will take more than lip service and handshakes to win their votes.

Sholinganallur, located on the IT corridor, is home to a number of IT companies, including Polaris, Infosys, Wipro, Paypal and TCS. The population has grown rapidly in the last few years with employees and their families moving in. The area is dotted with restaurants, shops, hostels, large private hospitals, schools and colleges.

The unplanned development in Sholinganallur came to light during the floods in December 2015 when offices and homes were battered by the rain. "I couldn't get home for hours because our office was flooded. When I managed to get out of the building and reach home, I found my house flooded too," said Ravi Kumar, an IT professional.

While residents of Karapakkam recognised the efforts put in by AIADMK's Sundaram who helped with relief efforts, the negative sentiment towards the government in general may go against him, residents feel. "During the floods we understood how poor the drainage system is. Our focus will be to remove any blocks and have a strong drainage system," said Sundaram.

Access to piped drinking water is another major issue. Most houses are dependent on ground water or water tankers. For Suganthi Chikkannan who stays behind the Infosys office in Narayanaswamy Naicken street, these water-related matters has led to another is sue. "Sewage lorries and water tankers are always on parked on our road. It takes so much time to manoeuvre past the big vehicles and reach the main road," she said.

The sharp rise in the number of offices in Sholinganallur and the resultant increase in traffic is a big irritant. A resident of Perumbakkam, Sarvesh Sivan, wants the work on the overbridge near Medavakkam to be completed. DMK's Ramesh feels a bridge near Semmancheri is a necessity .Sundaram intends to build a flyover near Sholinganallur junction to ease traffic.