Noisy scenes marred proceedings of the District Panchayat Council meeting here on Friday, following heated exchanges between the councillors of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the opposition parties, over the provision of civic amenities.
Councillors of the AIADMK, CPI (M), DMDK and MDMK staged a walk-out protesting the poor provision of civic facilities in their wards. The intermittent noisy scenes created such a panic at the council hall that the authorities summoned police personnel in anticipation of some emergency crisis.
It all started seconds after the Chairperson Sankeetha Vasanthakumar (DMK) was about to read out the couplet from ‘Tirukkural’ when A. Kanagaraj (Desiya Murpokku Dravidar Kazhagam), sporting a garland of PVC water-pipes and carrying a lantern, raised objection to what he called ‘poor provision of civic amenities to villages in the 19th ward in Manikandam block’.
He alleged that the District Panchayat Chairperson and the authorities resorted to step-motherly treatment in allotting funds to the wards for the provision of civic amenities. He also specifically called for expeditious implementation of the Combined Drinking Water supply scheme in Manikandam block.
R. Raja (CPI-M) representing Ward 17 in Tiruverumbur union and T.T. C.Cheran (MDMK) from Ward 19 pointed out that the power supply was erratic in their wards.
All efforts taken by Ms. Sankeetha Vasanthakumar and R. Ganesan, Secretary of the District Panchayat, to pacify the councillors to resume their seats proved a futile exercise. In the meanwhile, a few DMK councillors, including women, were up on their feet, raising counter-objections to the allegations.
The pandemonium assumed a more serious phase when one of the opposition councillors broke the lantern glass. Noisy scenes was witnessed when the DMK councillors Safiullah and P.R. Singaram picked up a quarrel with the opposition councillors. Even water bottles were seen thrown. The timely intervention by AIADMK councillor M.R. Rajmohan, prevented a crisis.
Later, the opposition councillors, including Mr. Rajmohan, Rajeswari Ravichandran, Lakshmi Thangavel, T. Rajathy and Kanchana Ilangovan (AIADMK) staged a walk-out. Using public address system, Mr. Kanagaraj and Mr.Raja wanted proper utilisation of the funds sanctioned to the District Panchayat and expeditious implementation of people-oriented schemes.
