The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Tiruchi News : Commissioner allays apprehensions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Commissioner allays apprehensions

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI, FEB.28. Enumeration of property taken up in the city was intended to update Corporation records and did not have anything to do with property tax revision, the Corporation Commissioner, Harmander Singh, said.

The enumeration, being conducted since February 1 through National Service Scheme volunteers, has been taken up as per the Government's directions to create a computerised database of property.

Nearly 60 per cent of the exercise has been completed and residents should cooperate with the enumerators fully by providing the necessary details, he said speaking at a meeting of the Corporation Council chaired by the Deputy Mayor, M. Anbazhagan (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), here today.

This is the first council meeting chaired by Mr. Anbazhagan. As soon as the meeting began, the Mayor, Sarubala R. Tondaiman, announced that the Deputy Mayor would chair the meeting and left the council hall.

The Commissioner's clarification came in the wake of certain misgivings aired by a section of councillors over the enumeration process. The Bharatiya Janata Party councillor, Saravanan, urged the authorities to guard against people claiming ownership of property by producing bogus documents. Citing a few instances, he alleged that the problem of illegal patta transfers were creating a host of problems for revenue and civic authorities and there was a need to guard against incorrect data being fed into Corporation records, which could complicate matters.

`Shortage of sanitary staff'

Responding to complaints from the BJP councillors on the shortage of sanitary staff, Mr. Harmander Singh said that optimum use of available manpower was being made. He stated that the Corporation was planning to mechanise solid waste management in a few areas and decided to purchase garbage compactors. A comprehensive solid waste management plan was being worked out.

Earlier, BJP councillors, in a symbolic protest over shortage of sanitary staff in the K. Abishekapuram zone briefly "swept and cleaned" the Corporation premises before attending the meeting. Later, the council passed a resolution approving the shifting of its outstanding government loans to the tune of Rs.30 crores to the Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation in an attempt to take advantage of lower interest rates. Rescheduling of loans would save about Rs.22.27 crores over the next eight years, the resolution said.

AIADMK walkout

All the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam councillors, led by the party councillor and urban district secretary, Mariam Pitchai, staged a walkout from the meeting protesting the Deputy Mayor's intervention, in support of a DMK functionary, in an encroachment eviction drive taken up by revenue officials at Sengulam Colony in the city.

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