Deputy Mayor Anjugam Bhoopathy’s plea for the conduct of public grievance meetings at Thanjavur Corporation has been approved at the council meeting held here on Monday.
It all began with a non-ruling party councillor expressing the difficulties faced by the elected members in bringing the problems faced by the residents to the notice of the Mayor, Commissioner and officials.
While Mayor S.Ramanathan and Commissioner K.Saravanakumar were about to counter the allegation, the Deputy Mayor stood up and endorsed the Opposition party councillor’s claim. She said that the elected representatives were finding it difficult to meet the Mayor and Commissioner on the same day while they arrived at the headquarters along with the public to highlight the grievances/complaints at the wards. In order to avoid such embarrassing situations, she pleaded that a public grievance meeting chaired by the Mayor and the Commissioner be conducted every week like in other civic bodies in the State.
Stumped by the sudden development, the Mayor after having a quick conversation with the Commissioner announced that it would not be possible to conduct such meetings every week but could be convened once a month.
Earlier, responding to a complaint from a councillor that the elected representatives were kept in dark about the tenders and tender opening dates, the Mayor said that hereafter intimation about the tender finalisation process would be given to the councillors through phone on the day of the opening of tenders.
The council meeting came to an end with endorsing 64 resolutions, including the resolution seeking the consent of the council for ₹ 12 lakh spent towards the interior and electrical works carried out at the Mayor’s chamber unanimously.
Other resolutions seeking the endorsement of the council towards the expenditures incurred for the purchase of 50,000 national flags and 20,000 PVC pipes, both at a cost of ₹ 15 per piece, for free distribution to the residents on the occasion of the Independence Day celebrations held this month.
While ₹ 8 lakh had been spent for the purchase of the national flags from Tiruppur, the PVC pipes were sourced from a local supplier at a total cost of ₹ 3.60 lakh, the resolutions added.
The council also passed a resolution on the construction of a centralised community kitchen at the Corporation Elementary School at the Cooperative Colony for implementing the morning breakfast scheme introduced by the Tamil Nadu government. While the estimated expenditure for this project had been pegged at ₹ 23.60 lakh, the lowest bid of ₹ 19.98 lakh given by an individual was accepted by the civic body and was endorsed by the council at the meeting held on Monday.
