TIRUCHY: The corporation held a special grievance session, 'Makkalai thedi managaratchi,' in Srirangam on Wednesday. The meeting, started under the direction of Chief Minister MK Stalin, was aimed at addressing grievances and other applications from residents in a fast-track manner.
Minister KN Nehru, mayor Mu Anbalagan and senior corporation officials attended the meeting. The corporation received 274 petitions during the special session held at Srirangam for residents of Zone-I.
Though the meeting was scheduled from 9 am to 1 pm, it continued up to 3 pm as Anbalagan directed the corporation team to stop the session only after collecting petitions from all people coming to the venue. The mayor left the session only after receiving the last petition, and he also cleared 13 petitions on the spot. Officials said the mayor has directed the team to clear the remaining petitions and applications submitted by residents at the earliest.
"I came here to address the issue of drainage network in our area. Since the minister, mayor and other senior officials are attending this meeting, I hope the issue would get immediate attention. Such initiatives are a great relief for the common man as the administration is reaching out to the people to hear their complaints," said Narayan, a 90-year-old retired employee of TANGEDCO.
The city corporation had established help-desks at the meeting hall and officials from various departments were assigned issues raised by residents.
"I came here to address a corporation tax issue. The corporation should continue conducting this drive at various zones on a regular basis," said S Sabari, a resident.
Though the civic body had already announced that it would continue this meeting in other zones, some of the residents suggested a few changes to increase its outreach.
"Since they make an effort to clear petitions on the same day, it is a great relief for the residents. However, as per the current plan, these meetings would be held in the last week of a month for a specific zone. If there is a section for residents from other zones in such special meetings, the residents from other zones would also be able to file their petitions. Therefore, the corporation has to consider allotting a section for other zones at these zone-wise special meetings," said M Balamurugan, a resident of Thillai Nagar.