As an administrator, M.K. Stalin had made a name for himself acting as the Mayor of Chennai (1996-2001; 2001-02), the Local Administration Minister (2006-11) and Deputy Chief Minister (2009-11). Many fondly recall his stint as the Mayor in particular.
For many years, flyovers and bridges were constructed either by the Public Works Department or the National Highways. All that changed when Mr. Stalin was elected Mayor. He planned 10 flyovers to ease the flow of traffic in different parts of Chennai and completed work on nine of them during his first tenure. The Perambur flyover alone could not be constructed during that period due to problems in land acquisition; but it was subsequently completed during the next DMK regime (2006-11).
“The flyovers gave an impetus to infrastructure development in the city and eased congestion,” said former Mayor and DMK MLA Ma. Subramanian.
His father Karunanidhi would jokingly say that Stalin had decided to construct more flyovers because he was a victim of their absence. “As a child, he swallowed a safety pin which got struck in his throat. He was rushed to the hospital but was held up near Kodambakkam as the railway gates were closed. Probably this incident would have prompted him to construct more flyovers (so that people could travel quicker),” he would say.
The budget for the flyovers was ₹99.50 crore. But he completed the projects not only on time, but also at a much lower cost.
Singara Chennai
Garbage cleaning also got a fillip under his Mayorship when he unveiled the catchy slogan ‘Singara Chennai’. “He hired a private garbage cleaning agency, Onyx. Segregation of degradable and bio-nondegradable waste was also introduced,” said Mr. Subramanian .
Mr. Stalin also made efforts to improve the quality of education in Chennai Corporation Schools.
