Four months after floods struck Chennai, Rajalakshmi is spending more than a lakh rupees to re-build her home in South Chennai's Ram Nagar, one of the badly affected areas.
Neck-deep sewage water that entered her house ruined everything she had. Her family later moved to their relative's home. They are now trying to start life afresh with what they could salvage from the floods. "We expect rains this year too... We've decided to live with whatever we managed to save".
Not far away, Ganesan has just got his car fixed after it was partially submerged in the flood waters.
Most homes and their belongings were not insured. The Tamil Nadu government offered a compensation of Rs 5,000 and some allege even that did not reach them. And that has become a poll issue now. M R Ganesan, a retired engineer, says, "When people come to capture our votes they will have to face our wrath.
S. Manjula, a Chennai resident says "We incurred a loss of more than a lakh, but the government gave only Rs 5000." Her neighbour Veera Raghavan adds he did not receive any compensation.
Gradual encroachment of water bodies and poor drainage catalysed the damage when the floods struck many blame the government for the crisis. Alleges Swaminathan, a chartered accountant, "They are not re-laying roads. Even after a little rain, water will come into our homes. No lessons have been learnt."
DMK Spokesperson Saravanan says, "Only in Jayalalithaa's R K Nagar constituency, the government has ensured compensation to all so she could contest there again." His AIADMK counterpart C R Saraswathi denies the allegation.
Chennai used to be the DMK's stronghold till 2006. 10 years later the party is hoping to reclaim it from the ruling AIADMK, thanks to what it calls the state government's mismanagement of the floods.
Heavy rains and floods for two consecutive weeks last year killed nearly 350 people in Tamil Nadu and caused widespread destruction.