COIMBATORE: Heated exchanges took place between the commissioner of Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) and chairpersons of several committees during the monthly meeting on Monday after chairpersons accused officials of not informing them in advance about the topics that would be taken up for discussion.
During the meeting, Education, Parks and Playgrounds Committee Chairperson N Malathi and Finance and Taxation Committee Chairperson VB Mubasheera argued with CCMC Commissioner M Prathap alleging that they were not consulted regarding works related to their committees.
When a resolution allotting tender to a contractor for the maintenance of 25 parks in the east zone was tabled, Malathi condemned it and argued with the commissioner saying the subject was not placed before the committee in advance. Malathi said, “No subjects related to our departments are coming to the committee for our discussion. Without our consent, the officials directly present the matter before the council for approval. If officials are going to directly present the subject in the council, then what is the purpose of this committee?”
Mubasheera said, “Officials never discuss the works that need to be done with our committee. Instead, they directly carry out the work on their own without our consent. Also, if we are organising a committee meeting, none of the officials show up. This is strongly condemnable.”
Defending the officials, Prathap said, “The subjects sent to your committee are not passed on time and have been kept pending for several months due to which the development works are affected. So the subjects were directly presented in the council. And, when the officials showed up during the committee meetings, the chairpersons cancelled it twice due to various reasons. Similarly, our officials couldn’t attend your meetings the next time due to various reasons, including work.” Works Committee Chairperson Santhi Murugan and Health Committee Chairperson P Mariselvan also accused the Mayor and Commissioner of delay in signing the files given to them which the duo refused.
Mayor Kalpana Anandakumar said, “Hereafter, all subjects will first be presented before the respective committee for their approvals and then will be placed in the council for the final approval. However, all committees must conduct a meeting 10 days before the monthly council meeting, discuss the matter and give their consent. We shall directly present the subject in the council if the meetings are not held.” Prathap made it clear that hereafter, signatures of the mayor, commissioner, chairpersons and other higher officials on all files will have a date stamp also, in order to identify where and by whom the file is put up.