SALEM: Corruption in smart city and UGD work is likely to be subject of debate between AIADMK and DMK councillors in Salem City Municipal Corporation. DMK leaders levelled corruption charges against the AIADMK government while campaigning for the local body elections.
A senior DMK functionary told TNIE, " Corruption was rampant in SCMC during the AIADMK regime, especially in Smart City projects. Many senior officials of SCMC were also involved. When Palaniswami was Chief Minister, he sanctioned a huge sum for various infrastructure projects but Salem looks the same except for a few flyovers. During the campaign, we promised to hold an inquiry and Municipal Administration Minister K N Nehru said it will start soon."
V Deivalingam, DMK councillor in ward 9, said, "The SCMC changed contractors for Underground Drainage (UGD) work several times and increased the cost of the project but the work is yet to be completed. The SCMC also collected deposit money from the public for giving UGD connections. The corporation bought vehicles for removing garbage but they were not used properly. We will raise these issues in the council meeting and bring erring officials to book."
AIADMK Salem urban unit secretary G Venkatachalam said, "For the past five years officials were in charge of SCMC administration. Likewise, the DMK MP is chairman for Smart City projects undertaken in the city. If anything is wrong why have they not raised it in the past two years. We will train our councillors in answering DMK members. Our leader Edappadi K Palaniswami will guide us."