The Coimbatore Corporation council meeting held on Thursday saw councillors vociferously expressing the problems in their wards.
Mayor Kalpana Anandakumar presided over the meeting. As many as 33 resolutions were taken into consideration, of which 32 got the approval of the council. Deputy Mayor R. Vetri Selvan introduced the first resolution to install a statue of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in Kuniyamuthur. The resolution was passed unanimously by the members of the council.
The resolution to collect deposit amount for underground drainage (UGD) in instalments based on the property tax assessment failed to get the council approval as the councillors argued that the amount was exorbitant and demanded to reduce it.
The council passed a resolution to recruit 180 more staff to facilitate the administration. This included three deputy commissioners and an assistant commissioner along with various postings in Health, Town Planning, and Administration departments. Corporation Deputy Commissioner M. Sharmila said the resolution would be forwarded to the State government through the Director of Municipal Administration to get the approval.
S. Meena Logu, Central Zone Chairman, said public toilets across the city had not been maintained well. She also urged the Corporation to do away with the old tenders and suggested for calling fresh tenders to maintain the toilets. “Through CSR funds, the Corporation should facilitate interested companies for infrastructure development and maintenance of Corporation schools,” she added.
“The water pipelines installed during the erstwhile AIADMK regime is a scam,” said R. Udhayakumar, ward 98 councillor. He also added that the pipeline laid at ₹416 crore through Pillayarpalayam to supply water to Kurichi-Kuniyamuthur areas was causing huge financial burden.
CPI(M)‘s V. Ramamoorthy said the water projects looked good on paper, but there were a lot of execution bottlenecks. Instead of directly connecting the water pipelines through a short route to a particular area, most of the projects were designed in such a way that it went around the maximum distance, he added.
Before the start of the council meeting, three councillors from All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) raised slogans against the Mayor. They staged a demonstration on the Town Hall premises. They questioned the way the Corporation funds were spent to furnish the offices of Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Zonal Chairpersons. AIADMK floor leader Prabhakaran also alleged that ₹1 crore was spent to paint the Mayor’s house.
