Staging a walkout from the council meeting held at the Corporation office on Thursday, the AIADMK councillors demanded the civic authorities to desilt all the channels in the city on a war-footing.
Mayor Indrani Pon Vasanth presided over the monthly council meeting held at the “Anna Maaligai” in which Corporation Commissioner L. Madhubalan and Deputy Mayor T Nagarajan and other officials participated.
AIADMK leader Solai Raja rose up during the question hour and flayed the civic authorities for their nonchalant attitude. “I am not here to politicise. I am not interested in gaining mileage by charging the Mayor and the officials.. After witnessing two major floods in Chennai and in southern districts, it is high time, the authorities woke up and desilt at least the major channels without any lame excuse,” he urged.
Repeated pleas to the Commissioner to take up the work have failed to fetch any desired results, he charged. Later, the AIADMK members walked out of the meeting.
Intervening, Mr Madhubalan said that they were aware of the task. “Under the Corporation General Fund, such a mega work cannot be carried out. We will get the funds from the State and the job will be done. Currently, wherever, there are complaints of encroachment, the civic authorities are removing them,” he clarified.
Similar complaints of channels not being desilted in their respective wards echoed throughout the session from a majority of councillors.
Councillor K. Jeyachandran said that a private NGO which had secured the contract to sterilize stray dogs has been black listed in Tiruchi. He also alleged that the veterinarian of the trust was not listed under the government. “A veterinarian can sterilize up to 20 dogs per day. Then why has the trust only sterilized 3648 dogs this year?” he questioned. Responding to this, the Commissioner insisted that they would hold a discussion before taking any decision.
The DMK zone chairpersons led by Vasuki Sasikumar, Saravana Bhuvaneshwari and Pandeeswari urged the health officials to control dog menace, stray cattle menace and prevent mosquito breeding. City Health Officer (CHO) Vinoth Kumar explained the measures regarding sterilisation of dogs and the infrastructural difficulties.
Councillor M. Jeyaraman alleged that the electric crematorium were giving ashes of random dead bodies to deceased relatives. He said that a body took 24 hours to be completely burnt. But crematoriums that handle around 10 bodies everyday managed to return the ashes of the deceased within an hour. To this, the Mayor assured that inspections would be carried out and appropriate action would be taken on the perpetrators.
Councillors also alleged that roads around the city were severely damaged and need immediate repairs, in view of public safety. Officials assured that tender for road contracts have been floated and repair works would commence.
War of words
Two Councillors from the CPI (M) demanded exclusive appointment time for councillors with the officials. Narrating a bitter experience they had while seeking appointment with the Commissioner, they said that the issue had snowballed into a war of words between the top officer and the woman councillor. Intervening, the Mayor explained the difficulties in giving such exclusive appointments and said that the doors were always open and not just the Councillors, but even public or members of residents’ associations were welcome to meet her and the officials.
The councillors also claimed that garbage waste was not lifted in many wards regularly. As a result, unpleasant smell prevailed and posed threats of infectious diseases. When the CHO responded, the Councillors retorted saying that they were not interested in lame excuses and demanded swift action.
Cutting across party lines, the Councillors said that it was they who faced the public wrath. Targeting the officials, some DMK councillors even charged that they (officials) brought in bad name to the government. They also threatened that they would transfer the officials out of Madurai Corporation, if they failed to work.
A MDMK Councillor said that when Madurai was sanctioned huge funds under Smart City, street lights were not functioning even in stretches like West Masi and South Masi streets. He also urged to spruce up Netaji Road as drainage overflowed on the stretch, which was very close to the famous Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple.
Remembering Vijayakanth
Earlier, the Councillors stood for a minute in silence to mourn the death of DMDK leader Vijayakanth, who died in Chennai.
