Drinking water scarcity, accidents on highway are the burning problems of Kulithalai

Kulithalai faces urgent issues of drinking water scarcity and hazardous highway conditions, impacting residents' daily lives and elections.

Kulithalai, which holds historic significance being the first constituency from where the DMK patriarch and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi was elected, is primarily agrarian.

While Kulithalai and Krishnarayapuram panchayat unions are known for paddy and banana cultivation, Thogamalai panchayat union, which is drought prone, is arid in nature with poor assured irrigation system. While agriculture is the mainstay for most voters here, a section of them go for work in home textile manufacturing and bus body building units in Karur.

It enjoys the significance of electing Karunanidhi to the Madras State Assembly in 1957. The bridge across the Cauvery connecting Kulithalai with Musiri came into being about 50 years ago. Many voters still credit Karunanidhi for the construction of the bridge.

However, the ageing bridge has turned weak, complain the locals. Though the State government carried out repair a few years ago, the road users feel that it will serve the people only for a limited period. Sensing the importance of direct connection between Kulithalai and Musiri, the people had been demanding the elected representatives to build an alternative bridge.

Short supply of drinking water has emerged as a major election issue in the constituency. Though Kulithalai is on the banks of the Cauvery, the residents of most villages and towns of Kulithalai and Thogamalai panchayat unions are lobbying for Cauvery water. Whenever election is held for the State Assembly, the candidates of prominent parties invariably promise the voters of implementing a comprehensive combined drinking water sourcing from the Cauvery. However, it remains a promise.

“It is from the riverbed of the Cauvery from Kulithalai that water is supplied to lakhs of residents in other districts. But, except for a section of the people, most residents of the constituency are deprived of Cauvery water. It is unfortunate,” says V. Thiyagarajan, a resident of Kulithalai.