MADURAI: Urging that no civic issues are being addressed properly by the Madurai city corporation, S Boomi, a BJP councillor, walked out of the council meeting held on Wednesday and staged a protest along with the party cadre outside the corporation building. The cadre raised slogans about the council's failure in addressing basic issues, including maintenance of public toilets and mosquito menace among others.
In a Q&A session held after Mayor V Indirani's speech, the zonal chairpersons raised queries about various civic issues, including a shortage of safety equipment for sanitation works. They pointed out that only a few workers were provided with safety gear such as reflector safety vests and laying of wet mix macadam to signal road damage.
One of the most common queries by council members from all zones during the meeting was the improper maintenance of battery vehicles in the city. Another query raised in the meeting was the need to appoint more male sanitation workers. "At present, there are more female sanitation workers in the city though there is a need for more male sanitation workers for carrying out heavy manual works," they added.
The zonal chairperson requested the council for extensive preparation for the next jallikattu event in Avaniyapuram next year. The councillors further raised issues, including animal menace, damaged roads and water issues. Madurai South constituency MLA M Boominathan urged the council to take action towards maintaining public toilets in the city.
Out of the 100 ward councillors, over 60 councillors spoke during the extended Q&A session, which lasted till 2 pm on Wednesday. The session was extended based on a query during the previous council meeting, which raised the concern of not allowing councillors to talk during the Q&A session.