Sankari constituency demands auto park, operational bus stand and solution to traffic congestion

The Sankari Assembly constituency, located 43 km from Salem, is known for lorry body workshops. It has seen the two Dravidian majors, DMK and AIADMK, lock horns in all the Assembly elections since 1977. The AIADMK has won eight times and the DMK five times. The Congress has won twice.

S. Bala, a resident of Sankari, said that more than 10,000 lorries enter Sankari every day resulting in peak hour traffic congestions. Vehicle movement is affected in Sankari town as the roads are narrow in many places. It is a long-pending demand of the lorry owners to develop an ‘auto nagar’ in Sankari. Political parties assured the same in 2021 but to no avail. Likewise, the newly-constructed bus stand is non-functional for many years, and lorries are being parked on its premises, he added.

According to Jayaprakash, a resident of Nattuvampalayam, vehicles pass a narrow railway underpass at Nattuvampalayam to proceed to Tiruchengode in Namakkal. People are affected by the traffic snarls at the underpass. Though political parties assured the voters of a flyover in the locality, it remains to be fulfilled.

A. Saravanan, a resident of Sankari, said that the ASI-maintained Sankari Fort, where Dheeran Chinnamalai was hanged by the British, and the Chennakesava Perumal Temple should get additional facilities and converted into tourist destinations.

Muniappan, a resident of Devannagoundanur, said that at Chinna Porappan Pallam that houses 70 families, there is no road facility despite the people demanding it for four decades. Now, they have decided to take up the task on their own.

Expecting a four-corner fight this time, former Omalur MLA S. Vetrivel from AIADMK, M. Manikandan from DMK, Nithya Arun from NTK and Senthilkumar from TVK are contesting in the Sankari Assembly constituency.