Hundreds of power looms rattle and hum throughout the day to make cotton lungis and sarees in this Assembly constituency that is home to the hill shrine of Sri Subramaniaswami in Tiruttani. They are part of a larger cluster of power looms spread across Arakkonam and Sholingur.
Over the last few years, the number of looms in Murugur, which is about 3 km from the heart of the town, has come down. “It was in 2000 that many weavers switched from handlooms to power looms. Since I’ve grown old, I prefer to get the thread and paavu from a company, stitch the lungi, and get paid ₹14 per metre as wages. I don’t have the strength to manufacture and sell them on my own. I don’t have the money to convert the loom into one for weaving saris either,” he said.
A local politician said apart from the 1,000 free units of electricity provided to each power loom, there was hardly any government scheme for the weavers here. “In Kancheepuram, there is a zari factory, and there are shops selling saris. Here, at the most, lorry drivers who need lungis visit the weaver’s houses, which serve as production centres, to buy the garment. The more enterprising among the weavers sell their products at nearby markets.”
In Tiruttani, the lives of the residents are intertwined with the temple. Jamuna, a tailor and single mother of three, who said it would be helpful for her if she got a sewing machine without the pedal, wanted the temple administration to designate a separate darshan time slot for the local residents.
Growing crowds
“After the pandemic, the temple has been getting lots of devotees. I would like to request a specific time slot for residents of Tiruttani, as is done at other temples.” She added that small ponds in residential areas such as Murugur should not be filled up.
Ravikanth, a devotee from Andhra Pradesh, said crowd management was quite poor in the temple. “The queues here are organised poorly. I visited the temple on an ordinary non-festival Thursday but the arrangements were unsatisfactory. It is lucky that there have been no stampedes. I visit Swamimalai once a year for a festival. The crowd is managed better there,” he said.
The town only has a couple of decent accommodations for visitors, which were only opened recently on National Highway 716. One can see devotees sleeping on roadsides in front of the entrance of the hill.
Work to lay a second access road to the temple is yet to be completed, with land acquisition still under way. Vehicle parking and traffic management are problems that need to be addressed, residents said.
Alongside weaving, farming is another major occupation in the Assembly constituency. Farmers grow paddy (three harvests), sugarcane, groundnuts, and millets in areas including Tiruttani and R.K. Pettai.
“Only in the last two years, after we established a farmer-producer organisation did were start growing millets. But we still do not have machinery to process the crop. We will be happy if the irrigation tanks are deepened so we need not depend on borewells. We need online facilities to market our produce,” said Venkatesan N., a farmer who is part of the Tiruttani Young Generation Farmer Producer Company Limited.
“All our directors are aged under 35. We are doing value addition to traditional rice varieties. We would like more training for young farmers,” he added.
The constituency, traditionally an AIADMK stronghold, saw the DMK winning the seat in 2021.
Other than Tiruttani, Pallipattu, and Podhanur are the major towns, and the constituency comprises Tiruttani, R.K. Pettai, Pallipattu, and portions of Thiruvalangadu.
Drinking water scheme
Former MLA P.M. Narasimhan said that during his term between 2016-21, he implemented a ₹149-crore drinking water scheme in the constituency and got a bypass laid at a cost of ₹34 crore.
“The people were suffering without the drinking water scheme. I also helped bring in town bus services,” he said.
Residents now demand better street lights, construction of a rail overbridge and the closure of a railway gate inside the town, speedy completion of work to construct drainage, and improvement in the management of municipal solid waste.
Published – March 23, 2026 01:02 am IST
