COIMBATORE: Commotion and heated arguments between AIADMK and DMK councillors marked the first meeting of the Corporation council on Monday. Mayor Kalpana Anandakumar presided over the meeting with CCMC Commissioner Raja Gopal Sunkara, Deputy Mayor R Vetriselvan and Deputy Commissioner Dr M Sharmila attending it.
East Zone chairperson Lakumi Ilanjelvi Karthik welcomed the councillors and listed out issues that needed the immediate attention of the council. Criticising the AIADMK government, she said it failed to carry out development works in the city and urged council to sanction funds for the Underground drainage system and other projects.
Pointing out that more than 100 Semmozhi parks were opened across the city, she said not even a single park was maintained properly over the years. “Although the parks were built during the DMK period, they were built using taxpayers’ money. UGD works have been going on for a long time and are still not implemented which is one of the main reasons for people’s suffering,” she added.
Central zone chairperson Meena Loganathan said, “The sewer network is clogged and people are unable to walk on the roads during rains. CCMC must desilt drainages across the city on a war footing. All residents pay the same taxes but they don’t get the same water. Some receive water weekly once and some receive it only once in 20 days. Also, low-lying areas get more water than others. These issues must be sorted out immediately.”
She urged the CCMC to buy additional motors to pump more water from the Pillur reservoir this summer as the Pillur scheme water is being used to compensate for the water supply shortage in Siruvani scheme water areas. She also suggested procuring large capacity dump trucks instead of the mini trucks for each of the 100 wards in the CCMC and directly transporting them to the Vellore dump yard in order to save fuel and collect more waste at a single time.
AIADMK councillor R Prabhakaran of ward 47 interrupted on multiple occasions, which created a commotion. The DMK councillors had a heated exchange with Prabhakaran after the latter accused the State government of failing to maintain parks in the past 10 months. All three AIADMK councillors walked out of the meeting. Later, Prabhakaran was suspended by the Mayor for the next two meetings for interrupting and creating a commotion.
Chairpersons of other zones and councillors of several wards spoke on the issues in their respective areas and demanded the council take necessary action. Finance & Taxation Committee chairperson VB Mubasheera asked the councillors to educate people on the reasons for the tax hike and demanded for a new council hall as the strength has been increased to 100.