Aranthangi has the distinctive feature of being the only Assembly constituency in Pudukottai district to encompass coastal villages. Farming and fishing are the main source of livelihood for people in this constituency that has a 42-km-long coastline stretching from Kattumavadi to Enathi with 32 fishing villages in between. 

Acute drinking water shortage, “inadequate maintenance” of waterbodies and rural roads, absence of industries and big ticket investments, and lack of an integrated bus stand are among a slew of issues raised by the voters.

Several coastal villages in this Assembly segment, where fishermen depend on the sea for their livelihood, continue to reel under severe drinking water shortage. Most of the families are forced to buy water supplied through tankers. “We pay ₹10 for one pot of drinking water that is supplied through private mini freight carriers”, says Arumugam, a fisherman of Vadakku Ammapattinam village. 

No potable water

Water from the borewells in the village is saline and unfit for drinking and used for washing clothes and cleaning utensils.  Same is the case with Muthukuda - another coastal village. Fishermen of this village have to shell out ₹12 for every pot of drinking water supplied through a couple of tankers daily, says S. Karmegam, a resident of Muthukuda. 

The drinking water shortage has been persisting for over a decade In the coastal villages with the authorities yet to find a viable and long-standing solution to the problem. “What we require is a combined drinking water scheme for the coastal villages that would address the major issue of drinking water shortage,” says Mr. Karmegam.

Roads in the interior pockets of coastal villages such as Vadakku Ammapattinam and Muthukuda are damaged, requiring immediate steps to relay them, say fishermen. Barring Jagadapattinam and Kottaipattinam coastal villages where several fishermen operate with mechanised boats, the other villages have fishermen largely using country boats. 

Fishermen have been facing the challenge of depleting fish catch over the years. Big mechanised trawlers from Karaikal and other places venture into the Palk Bay region for fishing instead of resorting to multi-day deep-sea fishing which is posing problems for the local fishermen, says P. Balamurugan, a representative of the Visai Padagu Sangam, Jagadapattinam. Instances of arrest of fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and confiscation of their mechanised boats on charges of trespassing has remained a cause of concern for the fishermen of this constituency.

Farmers face problems in the absence of adequate rainfall, rapidly depleting groundwater table and inadequate maintenance of waterbodies which are in good numbers all over the constituency, says P. Chelladurai, a farmer of Aranthangi and the national organiser of the National Consortium of Coconut Stakeholders. 

“Waterbodies in the Embal Firca restored in 2020 have not been maintained over the past five years impacting farmers,” complains P. Perinbanathan, Lead Coordinator, Embal Development Group.  “Aranthangi has no industries. There has been no big investment here over the years making it industrially backward,” says Mr. Perinbanathan who has been consistently pressing the government for the establishment of a textile park at Embal which would generate employment to over 1,000 women. 

Aranthangi is yet to have an underground drainage system and the sewage water is being let into an open site. The existing bus stand at Aranthangi has no proper seating facility or rest rooms for travellers amid rise in operation of buses and travellers, says S. Muruganantham, a resident of Aranthangi. 

An integrated bus stand in Aranthangi with parking facility, commercial establishments, and markets to improve urban infrastructure is the need of the hour, says Mr. Perinbanathan.  Being a coastal constituency, residents have sought the establishment of a Fisheries College and Research Station and a Government Engineering College in Aranthangi to support the local needs in education and research. 

This time, the constituency is witnessing a keen fight between two national parties: the Congress and the BJP backed by the DMK and the AIADMK, respectively. 

The Congress has renominated its MLA T. Ramachandran for the third time in a row. Mr. Ramachandran, who lost the 2016 election and won in the 2021 poll, is the son of Aranthangi strongman and former TNCC president Su. Thirunavukkarasar who had won multiple times in the past as an AIADMK candidate from this constituency. The BJP’s nominee is Kavitha Srikanth, a native of Aranthangi and the party’s State women’s wing president. 

Both key contestants are aggressively campaigning on the ground seeking support from the electorate and banking on the alliance strength. The BJP, solidly backed by the AIADMK, is leaving no stone unturned with its national president Nitin Nabin campaigning in Aranthangi recently in support of the party nominee making it a gripping contest.