The ruling party leaders could have forced the Collector to cancel the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA) meeting, which was scheduled for Saturday, said Madurai MP and DISHA Chairman Su. Venkatesan here on Saturday.
Along with co-chairman and Virudhunagar MP B. Manickam Tagore and Tirupparankundram MLA P. Saravanan, he told reporters that the meeting was cancelled as there were irregularities in implementing various Central government schemes.
A meeting was scheduled on Saturday after consulting committee members and Collector T. Anbalagan. A 126-page report with details of projects to be discussed during the meeting was given to members. But the Collector cancelled the meeting on Friday citing ‘administrative reasons.’
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‘The Collector, who is member-secretary of the DISHA, has no right to cancel or postpone the meeting without consulting the Chairman. It is against rules of DISHA and obstructed MPs to perform their duty,’ he said. A letter has been sent to the Collector seeking explanation.
Out of ₹ 110 crore allocated to Madurai district as a special fund for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, around ₹ 97 crore was earmarked for Tirumangalam constituency where Revenue Minister R.B. Udhayakumar is the MLA.
“Even during the last meeting, it was instructed to allocate work equally for all the 10 Assembly constituencies. We are speaking on behalf of Cooperation Minister Sellur K. Raju’s Madurai West constituency too,” he said.
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Mr. Tagore said it was planned to discuss Jal Shakti Abhiyan for the first time during the meeting. “Only if the meeting was held, we could review implementation of the scheme. The ruling party leaders have forced the Collector to cancel the meeting as they fear that irregularities in the implementation of the project would come out,” he said.
Dr. Saravanan said that many recent media reports showed that ruling party leaders were taking control of contracts for various projects with an aim to earn commissions.
The MPs said that the issue will be escalated in the Parliament.