Even a decade and half after becoming the city municipal corporation, Vellore struggles with old problems.
In a week’s time, voters in the fort town will elect their councillors for the Vellore Corporation. A total of 354 candidates are contesting for 58 wards in the 60-ward-civic body (two won unopposed), divided into four zones –Katpadi, Sathuvachari, Vellore fort and Shenbakkam.
Of the 4,41,255 voters in total, women exceed men. Key areas include Sathuvachari, Vallalar, Dharapadavedu, Shenbakkam, Allapuram, Fort, Kaspa, Vasanthapuram, Thiyagarajapuram, Thottapalayam, Saidapet, Thorapadi, Hazrath makkan, Otteri, Velapadi, Salavanpet, Rangapuram, Bagayam, Kazhinjur, Gandhi Nagar and Katpadi.
“Vellore is an arid neighbourhood. We depend on water, supplied by the local body. We are lucky if we get water supply from the Corporation once in 10 days,” said the 55-year-old A. Dinakaran, a resident of Kosapet. Like other residents in his neighbourhood, Mr. Dinakaran has been waiting for a few pots of water from the civic body for the last two weeks . The Corporation has been supplying water under the Cauvery Integrated Drinking Water Supply Scheme to households within its limits since 2015. Due to a heavy flood in November 2021, pipelines along the Palar were damaged, resulting in the interruption of water supply to these areas.
Another long-standing issue for residents is the heavy traffic on major routes within the Corporation such as Green Circle, Old bus terminus, Chittoor bus stand in Katpadi and Thorapadi near the Circuit House. The district police, led by SP S. Rajesh Kannan, have been re-arranging movement of traffic, especially during rush hours. However, they have only achieved partial success thus far. Traders and motorists said the slow progress of the existing infrastructure and civic works by the Corporation such as Smart City Project works and underground drainage works, has damaged most of the stretches in the city, forcing pedestrians and motorists to share narrow carriageways on these stretches.
Further, encroachments and illegal parking also occupy pedestrians’ space, causing traffic. For example, on an average, it takes at least 20 minutes for vehicles to cross the Green Circle in Vellore. Demolition of a portion of traffic islands around the Green Circle and ban of autorickshaws around the Old Bus Terminus were intended to regulate traffic in the city. Above all, the inordinate delay in the completion of the ₹1,000 crore Smart City Project by the Corporation, has affected the daily lives of residents especially in newly developed areas
The 16th century Granite fort in the town was also covered under the project for beautification. Started in 2019, it aims at providing widened stormwater drains, bitumen topped roads with tiled pathways for pedestrians, LED street lights and garbage bins. Sathuvachari and surrounding areas with 40 roads in Zone - 2 of the Corporation were taken up for the project as a model to replicate to other three zones once the project turns successful. However, the project is moving at a snail’s pace. Once a town panchayat, the Vellore Corporation became a municipality in 1866, and became a full-fledged corporation in August, 2008.
