The Chennai Corporation has decided to initiate legal action against former deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.
The measure is being taken as Mr. Stalin allegedly made misleading statements about various civic projects during a protest meeting last week, said Mayor Saidai Duraisamy.
Releasing a white paper on Friday on the amount spent on civic projects, Mr. Duraisamy said both Mr. Stalin and another former mayor, M. Subramanian, did not seem to have a “basic understanding of local administration.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“They do not have political sagacity either,” he added. “How can they blame the Corporation for problems pertaining to Metrowater?” he asked.
DMK councillors led by Subhash Chandra Bose protested at these observations and shouted slogans against the local government.
Last week, Mr. Stalin had demanded a white paper on the amount spent by the Chennai Corporation on civic infrastructure development projects over the past 17 months. The DMK had then organised a protest rally against the civic administration near the district collectorate.
ADVERTISEMENT
At the protest meeting, Mr. Stalin urged the Corporation to release a list of roads re-laid and projects completed. He questioned Mayor Saidai Duraisamy’s claim of having spent Rs. 1,100 crore on road work.
“The Chennai Corporation had incurred an expenditure of only Rs. 534.01 crore on civic infrastructure development work during Mr. Stalin’s tenure as mayor from 1996-2001. During Mr. Subramanian’s tenure from 2007 to 2012, the civic body incurred an expenditure of Rs. 1,684.22 crore on such work. However, when the present council took charge, it allocated Rs. 3,189 core for civic work over the course of two years,” said Mr. Duraisamy.
He added that of this allocation, the State government gave Rs. 734 crore, which was the highest ever.
In protest, DMK councillors walked out of the council and reiterated the need for a list of civic works completed in the city so far.