A woman councillor of the Madurai Corporation has demanded an enquiry into the estimates prepared recently for laying new roads in the city.
She has expressed fears that crores of rupees of taxpayers’ money could go waste since the estimates have been prepared without proper inspection by assistant engineers and other staff who are concerned with roads.
Kannaki Baskaran, Works Committee Chairperson in Corporation and Councillor of Ward Number 80, has raised a question at the recent Council meeting when the table agenda/estimates came up for discussion.
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“I got information that the cost estimates prepared for new roads are wrong. How can you prepare estimates without inspecting a road and see whether it is necessary or not? Unless the road is damaged, why should we lay road in the same place again and again?” she asked.
Demanding Mayor V.V.Rajan Chellappa to order a probe into the matter, she told The Hindu on Sunday that 74 estimates were prepared for roads in 100 wards and approximately Rs.15 crore was to be spent by the civic body.
“Even though I am the Chairperson of the Works Committee, there is no information to me at all. Since my own party, the AIADMK, is at the helm, I have kept quiet for long, but it is time for the Mayor to take action because I suspect something is going wrong,” Ms.Baskaran said.
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She has requested the top brass of the Madurai Corporation to recheck and find out whether the estimates for roads were genuine or not so that “the funds being allotted by Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa to the Madurai Corporation do not go waste”.
“If the estimates are wrong, then the Mayor has to take stern action against the erring staff. But, before that, I am expecting an answer from the Mayor to the question raised by me,” the Councillor said.
Responding to her query, Mr.Rajan Chellappa claimed that the roads were inspected before preparing the estimates.