Coimbatore Corporation councillors belonging to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Communist Party of India, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam staged a demonstration on Monday at Ammankulam, where a multi-storeyed tenement under construction for slum dwellers sank on Sunday.
The councillors demanded that all the tenements being built now should be demolished immediately because the two incidents of sinking (on April 3 and April 18) only pointed out that the buildings were not safe for living.
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Leader of the AIADMK in the Corporation Council and former North Zone Chairman of the Corporation P. Rajkumar said: “We demand a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the incidents of sinking because we suspect irregularities in the project in terms of the quality of construction.”
The Opposition was firm that the Central Government should depute a monitoring authority to Coimbatore to oversee the implementation of the Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) under which individual houses and multi-storeyed tenements were being constructed for slum dwellers.
The BSUP scheme was among the many infrastructure projects being implemented under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. “As the Central Government meets 50 per cent of the project cost, it should go in for direct monitoring,” Mr. Rajkumar said.
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Communist Party of India (Marxist) district secretary U.K. Vellingiri said in a statement that further construction at Ammankulam should be done only after ascertaining the quality of the buildings and the soil.