The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : No light at the end of the subway

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 29, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

No light at the end of the subway

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JULY 28. The vehicular subway on Harrington Road, Chetpet, may just see some more delays.

The project has been languishing for more than a year now. When completed, the project will help decongest Sterling Road, Nelson Manickam Road and McNichols Road.

The Chennai Corporation, which was to execute the remaining portions of the approach roads to the subway, recently wrote to the Railways to complete the job. The Deputy Mayor, `Karate' R. Thiagarajan, disclosed this at the Corporation council meeting today.

Later, senior officials said no bidders were willing to take up the work. "This was the third time we had set out the bids for the work. In the previous occasions, the bidders had quoted way above the estimates. But for the latest bid, there were no takers at all," an official said.

Reportedly, the high prices of cement and steel had forced contractors to quote high rates. The government rates for steel and cement did not tally with the market rates.

The project was the centre of attention recently when the Union Minister for Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, inspected the site.

Resolution

The Council hurriedly passed a resolution against the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief, M. Karunanidhi, for alleged violation of norms while inaugurating a Corporation school building in his constituency. The building was constructed using his constituency development fund.

The All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) councillors pressed for the resolution saying guidelines for conducting government functions were not followed during the July 16 inauguration. The names of local body representatives did not find a mention in the plaque that was unveiled.

Chaos prevails

The Congress councillor, S. Narayanan, who is also the Corporation Standing Committee (Education) chairman, said it was a "mistake" on part of the DMK not to mention his name.

The resolution was passed amid much chaos with the DMK and the AIADMK councillors wrangling over the issue.

The Deputy Mayor declared the resolution passed, without explaining the contents.

Later, the DMK claimed that the resolution was void as no one heard what it was all about.

Once again, resolutions were passed at the council meeting without any discussion.

The Deputy Mayor passed 53 resolutions, including one pertaining to levelling of ground at the Adyar Creek area for `Eco Park,' at one go. This is the fourth time this year that resolutions were passed without any discussion.

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