The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Will present grievances before CM: Minister

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

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Will present grievances before CM: Minister

By Our Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE, FEB.28. The Minister for Local Administration and Information and Publicity, K.P. Anbazhagan, visited a clutch of unapproved layouts in the city today, triggering a fresh wave of hope among the residents of nearly 500 such layouts that the Government will soon offer a lasting solution to their problems.

After discussions throughout the day with the Collector, S. Kosalaraman, the Mayor, T. Malaravan, officials and councillors of the Coimbatore Corporation and MLAs, the Minister told presspersons: "I was sent here by the Chief Minister to discuss the issue of unapproved layouts. I will submit the details of the discussions before her for a solution".

What lent hopes to the elected representatives and the people was the specific task assigned to the Minister- studying the problems of the unapproved layouts and presenting the ground-level situation to the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa.

One of the councillors who attended the meeting at the Corporation said that only unapproved layouts were discussed and nothing else - an agenda that infused a sense of confidence in them that a definite focus on the issue was taking shape.

Element of scepticism

At the same time, there was an element of scepticism among some of those who attended the meeting. "Nothing new was discussed. Only what was discussed repeatedly in the Council and at all-party meetings figured. We are in no position to predict with confidence what will happen," said a Councillor. Earlier in the day, the Minister visited 15 unapproved layouts spread over the four zones of the Corporation. He was confronted by aggrieved residents who complained of poor roads, streetlighting, lack of drinking water supply and drainage facility. He studied the condition of the roads and other amenities and assured them that their case would be presented before the Chief Minister.

The Opposition MLAs - V.K. Lakshmanan, S. Maheshwari (both Congress), K.C. Karunakaran (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and `Rohini' M.P. Krishnakumar (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) - pointed out that drinking water lines could be provided in the unapproved areas instead of the Corporation spending Rs.1 crore a month to provide water in lorries.

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