Heavy traffic congestion has become a common feature at Cuddalore town

Heavy traffic congestion has become a common feature

CUDDALORE:

        The entire stretch of the East Coast road passing through Cuddalore town, starting from Manjakuppam to Anna bridge has become a nightmare for motorists because of the heavy congestion during peak hours.

         As almost all the private and government schools, marriage halls, cinema houses and offices are concentrated in this area, the road traffic has become almost unmanageable. Traffic jams have become a common feature in Cuddalore. The digging of trenches for laying the pipeline and construction of manholes for the underground drainage project has been continuing from January 2007, thereby causing great inconvenience and immense hardships to the commuters.

At snail's pace

            Owing to burgeoning vehicle population and narrowing down of the main thoroughfares due to encroachments, the traffic on the Bharathi Road, the Nethaji Road and the Lawrence Road moves at snail's pace and it takes over 30 minutes to cover the distance of two km. in the mornings and evenings.

Caught in traffic snarls

          For executing the underground drainage project, parts of the Nethaji Road and the Kammiampet road too have been closed for traffic. Therefore, buses and heavy vehicles going to and coming from Puducherry invariably get caught in the traffic snarl. With the re-opening of schools and colleges on June 15, the traffic problem has become aggravated as many of the students depend on motorised vehicles. A crucial stretch of the Nethaji Road has been narrowed due to encroachment and this has been further constricted by the digging of trenches.

             Such undue delay not only gets on the nerves of the motorists but also commuters' schedules into disarray. There does not seem to be any worthwhile planning to ease congestion nor is there any proper traffic management. The residents and the public are of the opinion that certain drastic measures ought to be taken to widen the roads to facilitate free flow of traffic and to ensure rights of passage to the pedestrians. But the question is who will take resolute action in this regard and when.

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Dusty roads take a toll on health of road-users

The Collector office area in Cuddalore is enveloped by dust, thanks to poor condition of road.

CUDDALORE: 

             Unfinished roads in the heart of Cuddalore town pose a lot of hardship to users. The arterial roads connecting the Collector's office, a private college and the district police office are covered with loose soil. Whenever a vehicle passes through, it leaves behind a cloud of dust.

           As vehicles keep plying throughout the day, the dust hardly settles down. Such a situation not only affects visibility but also poses imminent threat of respiratory problems to road-users. College students who have to pass through these roads constantly cover their face and nose with handkerchief. The plight of two-wheeler riders is much worse as the dust hits their eyes.

         The ancient red colonial structure that houses the Collector's office and the district court is enveloped by dust. The trees on the roadside too bear the brunt as their soil-coated foliage has turned brown. There has been a long delay on the part of the authorities concerned in tar topping the road.

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Ancient Padaleeswarar temple all set for Maha Kumbabhishekam

Padaleeswarar temple getting ready for Kumbabhishekam on Wednesday

CUDDALORE: 

           The ancient Padaleeswarar temple, situated in the heart of the Cuddalore town, is all set for Maha Kumbabhishekam on January 26. It is one among the renowned 274 Siva temples whose history reportedly dates back to 2,000 years.

          The entire premises of the temple has been given a facelift at an estimated cost of Rs 1.25 crore, of which the share of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department, that is running the affairs of the temple, is hardly Rs 10 lakh. The HR & CE Department has undertaken to renovate and repaint only the Raja gopuram while the Sri Padaleeswarar Temple Worshippers' Association has taken care of all other works through donors.

        Association secretary V.Balu who has been closely supervising the works, told The Hindu that the kumbabhishekam was last performed nearly 14 years ago on March 26, 1997 It is being done under the guidance of Kannangudi Balamani Sivachariar, an authority on Agama Sastras. Mr Balu could not say whether any other worshippers' association had undertaken works of such magnitude elsewhere. The Association came into being with Dr K.Krishnamurthy as president, Mr Balu as Secretary and K.Karthikeyan as treasurer with the specific purpose of preparing a temple car as the original one was gutted in a fire accident over a century ago.

          The Association mobilized an amount of Rs 50 lakh out of which it carved out a new temple car by spending Rs 32 lakh. The remaining Rs 18 lakh had been set aside as a corpus to meet the expenditure of conducting the annual car festival that might run into Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh. Mr Balu said that emboldened by the temple car experiment, the Association had embarked upon the relatively un-charted territory of renovating the temple and organizing the kumbabhishekam and the works were going on smoothly.

          The 29 vimanams (top portions of the gopurams) in the temple were renovated and the 24-pillar mandapam had been beautified. The flooring of Sri Periyanayagi Amman temple and that of the Singapore mandapam (so named because it was built from the funds contributed by Singapore citizens) were elevated with granite slabs. All the sculptures and pillars were given a chemical wash to remove the oil smudges and metallic barricades had been put up in front of the sanctum sanctorum. The flag posts had been given a copper coating.

       Scores of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in glass domes light up the inside of the temple, perfectly matching the traditional lamps. While 40 of the existing Vahanams (mounts) were repaired and repainted, two new ones—Anna Vahanam and Rishaba vahanam—were made anew, thus taking the total number to 42. A separate ‘go shala' had been built in which at least a dozen cows were being fed. The compound wall of the temple pond ‘Siva kara theertham' had also been raised to protect its sanctity. The Maha Kumbabhishekam would be performed between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on January 26.

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River festival draws large turnout

CUDDALORE: 

         The annual ‘river festival' drew a large number of people to the banks of the Pennaiyar here on Wednesday.

          There was also a huge congregation of deities, carried on flower bedecked bullock-carts and tractor-trailers, taken from various temples across the district to the river front for “theerthavari” or in other words for sanctified bath. Hence, it was a fete combining the spiritual and natural aspects of life. In fact, the Pongal festivities culminated with the river-side event. S.Kamakoti (56), who has been in the habit of coming to the river along with his family members on the occasion, said that he imbibed the habit from his ancestors and was too happy to pass on the heritage to his successors.

            It was also an occasion for devotees to offer worship to various deities at once place. K.Thirumalai, a native of Cuddalore town, said that knowing the importance of the festival, the civic body should make advance preparations by keeping the river banks neat and tidy. Thorny outgrowths are a common sight and the civic body cared to clear them only a day prior to the festival. It would be better if permanent arrangements were made to keep the river banks at this point always clean.

        The lighting arrangement could also be improved and a small park could be set up to enable people to visit the place regularly, he said. The event also provided the avenue for the small vendors to make tidy profits through brisk business.

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Bad roads: activists, members of opposition parties observe fast

Members of the Opposition parties and residents observing hunger strike in Cuddalore on Monday. 

 

CUDDALORE: 

           The opposition parties, residents, social activists and vehicle operators observed fast in front of the Collectorate here on Monday condemning the slow progress in the execution of the underground drainage project and bad condition of roads all over the town.

            Presided by N.Thalavai Sundaram, former AIADMK Minister, district secretaries of the AIADMK M.C.Sampath, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam P.Sivakolundu, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam N.R.Ramalingam, Communist Party of India (Marxist) T.Arumugham and Communist Party of India M.Sekar participated in the protest. The speakers pointed out that the underground project was running behind schedule for over one year. Though it was scheduled to be brought into use by December 2009 so far, only 50 per cent of the works was completed.

             Moreover, the digging work done for laying the pipeline had damaged the entire network of roads in Cuddalore town. Most of these roads had become unfit for commutation and those who dared to drive on the pot-holed undulating surfaces were exposing themselves to grave risks. The recent spell of rain made the condition worse. The speaker further stated that the subway project at the level crossing on the Lawrence Road was yet to take off, even though the civic body had given its consent to it.

               They alleged that the authorities were paying scant regard to the quality of the roads and the hardships faced by the people. They had jointly organised a series of protests, including fast, to prompt the officials to act but in vain.

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