VELLORE: The Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA) has directed the Vellore Corporation to take measures to conduct regular standing committee meetings and also to fill vacant posts. Sources said that the local body received the communication from the CMA to facilitate the standing committees—health, education, estimation, appointment, town planning and taxation and accounts—conduct regular meetings.
On Friday, education and works committee convened a meeting and discussed various development works. It was the follow out of the news report ‘Development hits Roadblock, Graft Charges Rise in Corpn’ published in this column on September 13. The news report had exposed the non-functioning of standing committees and the poor administration. The defunct standing committees, poor administration and alleged high-handedness of persons holding top positions in the administration of Corporation, were hampering the developments of Fort City to the core.
A member of the health committee said, there is no meaning in the existence of the committees, which never met for a meeting till date adding, “The Mayor is taking the calls without consulting committees.” The report on September 8, ‘Over 2000 posts vacant in Corpn’, published in this column had revealed that 2,176 posts were still vacant in Vellore Corporation, which has impacted development works planned by the civic body.
The lack of personnel for these posts had further burdened the existing staff. The increase in workload has forced many civic officials work overtime and most of them were holding multiple posts. For instance, municipality engineer M Balasubramaniyan is holding additional charge of zone IV engineer, town planning officer M Kannan of the Corporation is also holding the post of zone II engineer.