CHENNAI: Chennai corporation councillors raised concerns over the alleged lack of transparency in the execution of ‘Vada Chennai Valarchi Thittam’ initiative, during a council meeting held at Ripon Building on Wednesday.
Thiruvottriyur zone chairman T M Thaniarasu along with several councillors from the north Chennai region raised questions regarding the proposed and ongoing works under the project. “We have no idea about the projects proposed or undertaken. We need to be informed of the details as we have to face the public in a few months seeking votes for the Lok Sabha election,” he said.
Corporation Commissioner J Radhakrishnan clarified that the project is implemented by the state government and the corporation is just one of the beneficiaries. He assured that all councillors and chairman will be provided a comprehensive list of works.
Further, the meeting witnessed discussions on the alleged disparity in the Infrastructure Development Charges being levied by the metro water board for new connections.
Responding to the issue, Mayor R Priya assured to take up the issue with the metro water board.
On a separate note, Valasaravakkam zone chairman V Rajan said the inauguration of several health and wellness centres is getting delayed owing to the shortage of doctors. He also urged the corporation to regularise the jobs of sanitation workers in the city without waiting for related court cases to conclude.
Meanwhile, with a view to reduce its financial burden, the corporation has decided to outsource the maintenance work of playgrounds under its control through a fixed revenue-sharing model.
Under this new proposal, the maintenance of 32 tennis, 23 indoor badminton, 18 skating and two table tennis courts in addition to the newly-inaugurated five badminton and three skating courts will be outsourced. A resolution to open an online tender for this proposal has been passed.
Following opposition from the councillors, a proposal to call tenders for the maintenance of street lamp posts and operation of high-mast lights in 10 zones was withheld during the meeting.
A total of 34 resolutions were passed by the council on Wednesday.