The Tiruchi Corporation Council has approved a proposal to rename the Royal Road and Lawsons Road stretch in the city after the late Major Saravanan, a Kargil war martyr who hailed from the city.
Major Saravanan, hailed as the ‘Hero of Batalik,' died in action during the Kargil war in 1999.
A request to rename the city roads in his honour was made by the Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association and it was also taken up by N.Siva, DMK Rajya Sabha MP. Mr.Siva, during the recent inauguration of the new integrated Collectorate building in the city, had appealed to the Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi to permit the renaming of the roads in memory of Major Saravanan.
The Chief Minister had then assured to consider the request favourably if the proposal was forwarded through proper channel.
The proposal was approved at an urgent meeting of the Corporation Council chaired by Mayor S.Sujatha on Thursday. The official resolution on the subject cited the Chief Minister's recent public assurance in this regard.
A formal proposal to rename the roads would be forwarded to the government for its approval.
The council also approved a resolution, with certain changes, for installing a statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at the traffic island near Mannarpuram in the city.
A request for permission to install the statue was made by M.O.Mathew.
However, the urban district Congress president and the Corporation zonal chairperson Jerome Arockiaraj insisted that any proposal on installing the statue of the party leader should be brought only with the approval of the district Congress Committee.
He found fault with the Mayor for not consulting him on the issue. Subsequently, the council agreed to approve the resolution with changes.
Later at an ordinary meeting that followed, Commissioner T.T.Balsamy informed the council that 60 new hand-held mosquito fogging machines have been acquired by the Corporation.
Each ward would get a machine and fogging operations would be continued on a rotational basis to cover all the wards in a cycle of six days.
His statement came in response to complaints from a section of councillors alleging that the anti-mosquito fogging operations being carried out now did not cover entire wards. Some also said that the fogging operations were turning ineffective as the mosquito have grown immune.
City Health Officer K.C.Cheran said bio-larvicide was being sprayed to prevent mosquito breeding.
