The Corporation Council meeting chaired by Mayor J. Ilamathi was held here on Friday.
Deputy Mayor S. Rajappa and Corporation Commissioner S. Sivasubramanian were also in attendance in which 78 resolutions were passed.
During the meeting that lasted over two hours, BJP Councillor of ward 14 G. Dhanapal highlighted the lack of standardised shelters at Kamaraj Bus Stand. “Major bus stands at cities like Coimbatore and Tirupur have fine bus shelters. We need to act before the rains kick in as passengers are already suffering without a proper place to wait,” he said.
Following suit, DMK Councillor of ward 12 C. Janakiraman called for desilting drainage channels across the 48 wards before the commencement of the rainy season.
Meanwhile, AIADMK Councillor of ward 4 C. S. Rajmohan pointed out that residents are against the idea of laying paver blocks because the whole structure gets disturbed when repair work is done.
As a counterpoint, DMK Councillor of ward 33 A. John Peter and a few councillors remarked that the concept was introduced during the AIADMK regime only. “There is nothing wrong in laying tar roads instead, because it benefits people ultimately,” said Mr Rajmohan.
While CPI(M) Councillor of ward 35 S. Jyoti Basu pointed out that the conservancy workers were not paid proper salaries. “The sanitary inspector in many instances has said that there are 12, even 16 workers who go on leave on a single day. How will they work if they are paid peanuts?,” he charged. He called for the contract company to pay the workers what is stated in the contract.
DMK Councillor, of ward 8, R. Anand suggested installing mobile toilets in the town like those kept in private hotels to which the Commissioner said the trial run can be taken up in the Councillor’s ward.
He also sought for joint action to be taken by the Corporation and Police to ease traffic congestion on Palani Road. “It is mostly caused due to the vehicles including ambulances parked in front of the many private hospitals on the stretch,” he said.
Mr Anand suggested that government officials should give permission for establishments to come up only if they have in-house parking facilities.
Congress Councillor of ward 21 J. Karthik called for action to ease the traffic congestion around Gandhi Vegetable Market.
Councillor R. Mohammed Ilias requested to expedite the road-laying works in many streets in his ward (26) as residents and commuters were affected and even accidents occur. He also requested to hold council meetings on days other than Friday as it hinders their prayer time.
Mr Basu pointed out the need for relaying roads in Ratna Nagar. “The issue has been highlighted in The Hindu as well,” he said to which the Commissioner said that the area has been inspected and steps would be taken to rectify it.
The councillors also urged the Corporation officials to make sure the meeting agenda reaches the councillors four days in advance instead of the previous day of the meeting.
