Public in Coimbatore have little to cheer about the year gone by

Looking back at the past year, Coimbatoreans have little to cheer about 2012 as most promises of development have remained mere promises barring a few exceptions.

The year began in Coimbatore with protests and rallies condemning long hours of power outages (approximately eight hours every day) with industrial outftits, both big and small, coming out to the streets demanding power.

With the arrival of South West monsoons, wind energy provided some respite during summer months but the situation turned worse during the second half of the year with the city reeling under 14 hour powercuts. As we come to the end of the year, the industries out here are planning yet another massive protest on January 9, 2013 and and are sending telegrams to the power-ful people hoping for a better year ahead.

In many neighbourhoods, especiallyin and around Sai Baba Colony, roads dug out for the Underground Drainage Scheme (UGD) scheme that has been going on and on for several years now and has been mired in controversy, still remain pot-holed and bumpy.

Road accidents and crimes have been on the rise while traffic scenario across the city seems to have only worsened as thousands of new vehicles are introduced every day without any major road expansion efforts. The city police had come up with the Green Corridor Project of streamlining traffic management on Avinashi Road but, thanks to power outages, it has been only partialy effective. The second phase of the project to be implemented in Mettupalayam Road is on the cards.

After a gap of few years, Swine Flu has returned to Kovai and surrounding areas with a vengance claiming atleast a dozen lives this year while the number of patients who are testing positive for dengue continue to be on the rise. Corporation and health authorities have taken several measures to minimize the spread of the virus, but their strategy of not disclsoing actual numbers of victims to media seems to have been more successful than the rest.

On a positive note, the year saw justice delivered in the sensational Muskan – Rithik murder case with the only remaining accused Manoharan convicted of the heinous crime.  The Mettupalayam Road connecting the city with Ooty has finally become motorable and a pleasant drive for the most part, and the entertaintment starved youth of the city now have one more mall, the Fun Republic, to seek refuge in.