THOOTHUKUDI: Councillors of AIADMK, CPIM, CPI and Congress staged a walkout during the corporation council meeting on Friday, condemning the rapid hike of water consumption charges and user charges for underground drainage (UGD) connections. Mayor Jegan Periyasamy chaired the monthly meeting along with Deputy Mayor Jenitta Selvaraj and Commissioner L Madhubalan.
Speaking on the occasion, Jegan said that several parks are under illegal encroachment, hence councillors must support the civic body to recover them to use them for various public purposes. The mayor informed that nearly 80 sites allocated for parks, play area and grounds, worth Rs 75 crore have been recovered from encroachers.
After recovering, the park sites will be converted into small forests, children parks, turfs, libraries or used for other public purposes, he added. The corporation has identified 206 sites for parks. Two turfs have been planned at Sundaravelpuram and Muniasamy Nagar, he said.
Meanwhile, Despite opposition from DMK's allied parties Congress, CPM and CPI, resolutions such as the restructuring of deposits for water supply service connections and underground drainage service connections based on the plinth area of the house were passed.
A toal of five AIADMK councillors, three Congress councillors, a CPM councillor and a CPI councillor staged a walkout. They demanded the charges be levied based on usage, instead of plinth area of the houses.
Manthiramoorthi, a resident, said, "Increasing taxes would affect the public who are yet to recover from the crises brought by the flood." Chandrabose, a resident, said, "The particular resolution regarding hike of deposits and charges for water consumption and UGD is in English, we seek a Tamil translation."
The mayor said that the AIADMK councillors and others were wrong to walk out as the scheme was brought in during the AIADMK regime, but they feared implementing the hikes due to elections.
"The demand for metering the use of water connection and UGD may be adverse to the public," he said.