For the more than 10,000 residents of Ward 2 of Thudiyalur, facilities like drinking water, proper sewage system, and street lights continue to remain distant dreams.

The ward gets drinking water only once in 15 days. The water is unusable because it is salty. P. Sundaran, a retired bus conductor, says, “We have been struggling for drinking water for many years. We are forced to buy water for money. It’s been three years now since we received drinking water on a regular basis. We have petitioned the counsellor many a times but there is no change.”

This is not the only problem the residents complain of. S. Thangamani, who runs her own mess, says, “There is no proper garbage disposal system. Local residents dump their garbage in front of the mess. They have converted a huge ground into a wastage dump. Municipality staff never comes to this place to clear the garbage. This causes dengue, swine flu, and typhoid. Authorities come and inspect this place but they never take any steps to clean the area. But they paste plenty of notices on the compound walls on how to prevent the malarial fevers. What they should be doing is cleaning up the area.”

Real estate broker Shanmugam says, “Street lights never work properly in this area, but the civic body has failed to take any efforts to solve this problem. It’s been three months now since the street lights worked. We have been complaining this but nobody hears us. If this continues, we have planned to buy a light and fix it.”

The residents of Thudiyalur also demand a children’s park, removal of stray dogs, closing of the wine shops located near schools and temples, and a proper underground drainage system.

In contrast, N. Annapoorani, the Counsellor of Thudiyalur Ward 2, says that she has resolved most of these issues after coming to power. In the past four years, during her tenure as the counsellor, the AIADMK government had sanctioned Rs.6 crores to solve the civic body issues. She has promised to look into the complaints