MADURAI: Drug menace was the most highlighted complaint raised by residents of Madurai corporation ward 76 at the area sabha meeting held in Thideer Nagar on Tuesday.
"Many youths from the area are addicted to alcohol and psychotropic drugs. They must be provided counselling and other steps must be taken to ensure that drugs are not accessible to these youth," said S A Umaiba, 42, a resident of the ward.
Twenty-two-year-old D Selvamani said even after completing a B.Com degree he was not able to get a job as he belonged to this area.
"During interviews, the company heady waitlist or reject me after indirectly deriding my area. The authorities should at least take steps to convert the paver block roads to tar roads. Often, stones from the paver block roads break and flow into the drains causing blockages," he added. The residents also lamented about sewage water often mixing with drinking water and leading to infections in children.
When asked about the issues raised, ward councillor Karthick said since all the roads were narrow, lorries with heavy equipment could not be brought in to drain out sewage from deep portions of the drainage tanks. "We have already raised this issue during the corporation council meetings," he said. Corporation commissioner Simran Jeet Singh Kahlon said he will take the necessary steps to sort out the drainage issues.
Meanwhile, AIADMK councillor and Opposition floor leader Solai M Raja along with 13 other AIADMK councillors boycotted the area sabha meeting that took place at the Madurai corporation office.
"Only five members from our side were chosen for the ward committee, and the remaining five members were filled with DMK party members. If persons from the DMK continue to dominate us and interrupt our work, we have no choice but to resign as councillors," he added.