Charging that neither developmental works were taken up nor issues repeatedly flagged were resolved, AIADMK councillors staged a walkout from the council meeting held here on Tuesday.
AIADMK councillor (ward 64) M. Raja alleged that despite consistently raising the same, issues in his ward at every meeting, the authorities had not done anything.
“It seems like our petitions are never considered which we condemn. We demand the ward committees [regarding ward sabha] to be reconstituted with the original choice of members given by the councillors instead of the current ones,” he said.
He pointed out at the “favouritism” resolution pertaining to the promotions of Assistant Engineers and Junior Engineers, which, Mayor Indirani Ponvasanth, declared was cancelled.
When a few DMK councillors charged that the resolution was cancelled because of the Opposition party and wanted the council to pass it by majority, the Mayor clarified that it was cancelled only due to “administrative reasons.”
The meeting was co-chaired by Commissioner Simranjeet Singh Kahlon and Deputy Mayor T. Nagarajan.
Madurai South MLA M. Boominathan, who was also present, charged that the Corporation authorities must expedite works since they are half-completed across the 100 wards which overshadow the good work they carry out.
Zone II Chairperson A. Saravana Bhuvaneshwari produced pictures of damaged drinking water pipelines in four wards and sewage entering them via manholes. She urged officials to install covering pipes or lay a separate pipeline for drinking water.
She also raised the issues of stray pigs in wards 21, 22 and 23 – Thathaneri, Aruldosspuram and Aiyanar Koil. “It is high time the Corporation revived the contract of pig catchers to make streets safe again,” she said.
All things are not well in Zone I either, as Zone I Chairperson S. Vasuki noted that stray cows wander especially at night leading to many accidents. While CPI(M) councillor (ward 56) V. Jenniammal said that many rabid dogs have bitten commuters recently and urged the Corporation to solve the issue.
The Commissioner said that meetings had been held with owners of cattle. “Stringent action will be taken at the earliest,” he assured and directed Assistant City Health Officer S. Dinesh Kumar to discuss the issue with the Animal Welfare Board.
Speaking of lack of labourers, Ms. Bhuvaneshwari stated that for the 13,447 lights in Zone II, there were only six labourers. She sought recruitment of more labourers.
Zone V. Chairperson V. Suvitha sought regulation of disposing of huge amounts of waste collected at several wedding halls across her zone that are dumped on roadsides.
The Mayor said that ₹3 lakh has been allotted per ward under emergency fund while presenting the allocation of funds under Tamil Nadu Urban Road Infrastructure Fund among others.
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