The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Opposition accuses Government of stifling dissent in Council

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 12, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Opposition accuses Government of stifling dissent in Council

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, APRIL 11. Opposition Councillors in the Chennai Corporation have accused the State Government of stifling their voices and eroding the powers of the elected Council.

Reacting to the tabling of a Bill in the State Legislature today, to limit Council meetings to once in three months, some Councillors said it could even lead to a slowing down of the civic administration.

P. V. Kalyanasundaram (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) said: "There are several important decisions that require the concurrence of the elected Council. By attempting to convene the Council meeting only once in three months, the Government is trying to ensure we do not even have a chance to debate on policy decisions. This will also lead to a freezing of administration."

Saidai P. Ravi (Congress) said the Corporation could as well send copies of the resolutions to the Councillors' homes. "The new move will only degrade the elected Council. As elected representatives, we have a right to express the views of the people in the Council. If we meet only once in three months, that opportunity will not arise enough number of times."

`Undermining powers'

P. S. S. Dhanushkodi (Bharatiya Janata Party) said the Government had been consistently undermining the powers of the Council. It had increased the financial powers of the Commissioner after reducing the financial powers of the Mayor; it had removed the powers to collect tax for hoardings and cable TV and transferred them to other departments; and it had also transferred several main roads to the Highways Department.

"Given the kind of treatment the Corporation has been getting in the last two years, this move is hardly surprising."

The AIADMK Councillors defended the Government proposal stating that it would not affect regular functioning.

The Deputy Mayor, R. Thiagarajan, said: "The public-Corporation interface will not be affected by the move. All important activities such as laying roads or collecting property tax will go on without a hitch. The Hyderabad Corporation meets only once in three months. Yet activities go on there without any problems. The apprehensions of the Opposition parties are unfounded."

The Town Planning Committee chairman, P. Vetrivel, said the Opposition Councillors were making a hue and cry because they would lose the chance to create problems during the meetings.

A ruling party councillor added that if the Opposition councillors needed to discuss important public issues, they could convene special meetings.

That would require the signatures of at least 31 councillors of the total strength of 155.

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