Lack of civic amenities irks residents as urbanisation takes toll on constituency

It has a sizeable coastal belt stretching over 30 km, a large expanse of reserved forest areas, a few industrial parks, several well-known higher education institutions, and a substantial stretch of agricultural land spread over two revenue blocks. Yet, nearly half of its electorate reside along a 30-km stretch of highly urbanised ‘vertical villages’. The Thiruporur Assembly constituency — situated south of Chennai on the iconic IT Corridor along the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) — in Chengalpattu district, is indeed a study in dichotomy.

The expansion of Chennai’s IT Corridor over the past couple of decades has resulted in the mushrooming of large multi-storeyed apartments, extending well into the villages on either side of the road.

Nearly 45% of its 2,89,401 voters live in the 100-odd high-rise residential complexes in Navalur, Padur, Siruseri, Pudupakkam, Mambakkam, Kelambakkam, and other adjoining village panchayat areas. As demand for housing grew, these extended areas gradually came to be dotted with ‘sheltered communities’, with IT employees from within Chennai city limits moving there for affordability.

“The rental rates have nearly doubled in the past decade,” said K. Sivaraman, an advocate whose family has been residing in the temple town for generations. The surge in population has resulted in a strain on resources. “These urbanised areas do not have piped water supply. Each family shells out about ₹4,000-₹5,000 a month for maintenance costs, a large part of it going towards procuring tanker water,” he added.

In villages, including Illalur, Thaiyur, and Kolathur, many farmers have leased out their farm wells to private water supply agencies for extraction since returns from agriculture have been on the wane, he said. “The government hasn’t done much to improve the lot of the farmers; most of the government schemes haven’t reached them,” said Mr. Sivaraman, who is also an AIADMK functionary.

Vertical villages

The village panchayats also lacked the resources to invest in underground sewage treatment facility for the highly urbanised OMR stretch. The area had plenty of problems related to road infrastructure, streetlighting, and security. In came the Federation of OMR Residents Association (FOMRRA), born about a decade ago much out of necessity to address these day-to-day problems in innovative and sustainable ways, says Harsha Koda, design entrepreneur and co-founder of FOMRRA.

An experiment with collecting rain water in large underground sumps to be used by residents soon caught on, with about 20 apartment buildings implementing the system. The reliance on tanker supply eased a bit, but was not enough.

With the membership of over a hundred high-rise apartments in Thiruporur constituency, FOMRRA soon became a strong pressure group asking questions of government agencies. “We have about 1.3 lakh voters living in these ‘vertical villages’ within Thiruporur constituency. This is a cosmopolitan crowd where the conventional ‘freebies’ or caste equations do not work,” Mr. Koda said.

Political party representatives require to balance their manifestos to accommodate the demands of both these worlds, says Prabha Koda, coordinator of FOMRRA.

So, how does it influence the issues in other parts of the constituency? Ms. Koda says that a large number of people residing near the high-rise apartments eke out a living offering services to the residents of these apartments, from tanker water supply to housekeeping, plumbing, and electrical jobs. “The benefits will definitely flow to them as well, because the demands for basic amenities such as water and sanitation are the same,” she adds.

Civic Woes of Thiruporur Town

In Thiruporur town, traffic snarls are a common feature most days. The Kandaswamy Temple witnesses a surge of devotees, especially on auspicious days, and parking and other infrastructure often get clogged, says Mr. Sivaraman.

The Thiruporur District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate Court, curved out of Chengalpet District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate Court, was functioning out of a community hall for the past three years, he said. The sub-registrar’s office in Thiruporur has a fairly large building most of which is vacant, especially after new sub-registrar offices were set up in Navalur and Kelambakkam last year, Mr. Sivaraman maintained.

Fishermen’s Tale

A four-kilometre stretch of road connects Thiruporur to a Nemmeli, a fishing hamlet on the East Coast Road. The road is barely motorable as it has been dug up for laying water pipelines. The fishermen in Nemmeli face a very different set of problems. Fish catch, they say, is dwindling every passing day. “We go out to sea everyday but many days we return empty handed,” said P. Murthy, while tending to his net. “The desalination plant next door has affected the catch,” he says.

“We don’t go for any other work. This is our only means of livelihood,” maintains B. Rajaram. “We are getting our children educated so that they don’t have to come to this line of work, which is not profitable anymore,” he adds.

The fishermen had a message to the political parties: “We do not want anything for free. If at all, kindly make education and healthcare free and then watch the country progress.”

Caste and Voting

Historically, the AIADMK had a strong presence in the coastal belt since MGR’s times, but the electorate has now fragmented with relatively newer players such as the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) garnering votes, Mr. Rajaram said. The advent of actor Vijay-led Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) has had an appeal among the youth, he agrees.

In the rest of the constituency, caste equations are quite well laid out: while it has a sizeable Vanniyar population, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes also make up a considerable proportion of the population. It was a reserved constituency between 1977 and 2006. However, the urbanised part of the constituency could upset caste equations.

The last two elections were decided by slender margins. “This time, candidate selection will matter a lot,” observed Mr. Sivaraman.

Published – March 26, 2026 02:21 am IST