TIRUCHY: From behind the sizzling pan at her modest roadside vada shop along the old Palpannai stretch of National Highway 67, S Janaki has learned to read the road by sound alone. A sudden screech of brakes, the stomach-churning thud of impact, rapid murmur of a gathering crowd — she rarely needs to look up. “I have seen accidents happen right in front of my eyes. Even deaths,” the 56-year-old says, glancing at the traffic inching past. “Every day there is congestion. One mistake, and it turns fatal.”
Her words echo a long-standing demand that has come to define the electoral mood in Thiruverumbur, a demand for a service road between Ariyamangalam and Thuvakudi, a 14-km stretch pending for over a decade. This had forced even the DMK’s alliance partners, like the CPM, to stage a week-long protest.
Data accessed through RTI, cited by S Sakthivel of the Federation for Retrieval of Trichy Palpannai–Thuvakudi Service Road, showed that over 400 people died between 2009 and 2022 on this stretch. “This is not just a road project anymore. It is about saving lives,” he says. Residents say there has been little progress in the past five years, despite Rs 84.5 crore being allocated for land acquisition.
As Assembly election approaches, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi is seeking a hat-trick win from the constituency, setting up a contest mounted on development claims on one side and unresolved civic issues on the other.
AIADMK candidate P Kumar has placed the service road issue at the centre of his campaign, distributing pamphlets across the constituency accusing the minister of failing to deliver on repeated assurances. “The service road was promised in two previous elections, but there has been no progress,” he says.
Kumar, a two-time MP from Tiruchy Parliamentary constituency, is pitted against Poyyamozhi for the second time after his defeat in 2021 against him. Despite being a minister, Poyyamozhi has not been able to ensure execution of key projects, he adds.
DMK functionaries, however, point to procedural delays, including land acquisition and coordination with the National Highways Authority of India, as reasons for the project not taking off so far, and maintain that efforts are ongoing.
A third-generation leader from the family of DMK stalwart Anbil Dharmalingam and son of the late DMK MLA Anbil Poyyamozhi, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi first won the seat in 2016 and retained it in 2021 by a margin of nearly 50,000 votes.
Thiruverumbur is unique in that it spans numerous corporation areas, municipalities and panchayats, making governance here a mix of urban pressures and rural needs. Spread along the Cauvery’s southern bank, the constituency thrives on agriculture and industry. Public sector units such as BHEL, the Ordnance Factory and the Golden Rock Railway Workshop employ thousands, with ancillary industries supporting many more.
Over the past five years, the minister has highlighted a range of projects across sectors, including a government model school at Thuvakudi aimed at preparing students for national-level entrance examinations, an Olympic-size stadium and overall projects worth Rs 1,000 crore to his constituency.
One of the more visible interventions has been the bio-mining of legacy waste at the Ariyamangalam dumpyard. While residents acknowledge that long-piled garbage is being cleared in phases, concerns persist over the next phase of development.
The opposition has also flagged this issue. Kumar says residents were apprehensive that the site could once again turn into a waste handling zone, raising questions about long-term planning.
Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) candidate Jallikattu Rajesh, meanwhile, has attempted to bring focus back to education infrastructure, alleging gaps despite the constituency being represented by the school education minister. “There are only a few higher secondary schools, and many lack basic facilities,” he said during a campaign in Suriyur.
The contest is further shaped by shifting political equations, including the entry of former DMK functionary Navalpattu Vijay (Vijayakumar), now in TVK. The caste factor would also play a role as all four contestants in DMK, AIADMK, NTK and TVK belong to the Mukkulathor community.
With strong organisational structure of the AIADMK, Kumar may get support from their community voters while the two others are likely to get their shares from their community.
Beyond these, residents point to a list of pending demands easing congestion in the Palpannai area, constructing a bridge linking Vengur and Lalgudi, completing the semi-ring road and improving local infrastructure.
Still, it is the highway stretch that keeps coming up in conversations. “This road connects several districts. But for years, nothing has changed expect huge shopping complexes making the stretch even more complicated,” says Sakthivel.