Mettur residents face water crisis

Salem: The sprawling Stanley reservoir in Mettur  in Salem district supplies water and resolves the water woes of 12 districts including the rice bowl of Thanjavur belt in Tamil Nadu. Yet, ironically, the people of Mettur constituency face a water crisis. The farmers in Mettur do not get adequate water for irrigating the crops and the local residents do not get hygienic drinking water.

“The water supplied in Mettur is polluted by untreated effluents from the factories. Officials remain apathetic to the pollution problem and the politicians  too are indifferent,” says Kavignar S.Thanigai of Puduchampalli village in Mettur Assembly constituency.

Around the Mettur reservoir, a high-stakes VIP electoral  war has unfolded as  the PMK president G.K.Mani, former AIADMK Minister S.Semmalai and DMDK rebel  MLA, S.R.Parthiban who has crossed over to the DMK camp are fiercely  slugging it out. In the constituency with dominant Vanniar voters, all the key parties have fielded a Vanniar to garner the votes of the intermediate caste.
And for all the three key candidates, it is an election which will decide their political destiny. For PMK’s G.K.Mani who lost the last election to Parthiban who contested as a DMDK candidate in AIADMK alliance, it is a chance to get even with his rival and re-establish his political relevance. As for Semmalai, who has remained in political  wilderness over the last few years  in the AIADMK , it is a
crucial election to regain his lost hold in the party.

And Parthiban, who revolted against his Captain Vijaykanth and jumped onto the DMK bandwagon, is going all out to retain the seat. Though 24 candidates are in the fray, Mettur is set for an intriguing  triangular VIP battle among the AIADMK, DMK and the PMK.

Nestled on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border, Mettur has many fume-spewing factories and rolling swathes of fields where tomatoes and the famous Kolathur chillies are grown.

The local residents complain that successive governments have done little to improve the infrastructure facilities in the constituency. “Farmers in Mettur are struggling without adequate water to irrigate their fields.The surplus waters from the Mettur should be channelised and supplied to the Mettur farms,” says social observer, R.Thambiah.

As the Mettur Assembly constituency falls within the Dharmapuri Parliamentary constituency, the voters are also upset with the sitting MP and PMK’s Chief Ministerial candidate Dr.Anbumani Ramadas.

As  many factories are facing closure, workers are losing their jobs and livelihood. A few workers have committed suicide too. Hundreds of labourers used to travel by the 7.30 a.m train to Salem for work. But the morning train has been rescheduled forcing the workers to go by buses at higher rates, complain labourers.

The farmers have been demanding storage facility for the chillies and tomatoes produced in Mettur region. None of these demands have been implemented for years now. Though Parthiban had staged protests in support of workers and farmers, the woes of the residents remain unaltered.