The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Opposition stages walkout

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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Opposition stages walkout

Staff Reporter

Mayor adjourns Council meeting

UNITED WE PROTEST: Opposition councillors staging a sit-in in the Coimbatore Corporation Council on Monday to protest the delay in implementing privatised streetlight maintenance.- Photo:S.Siva Saravanan.

COIMBATORE: : Walkout and protest by the Opposition forced the Mayor, T. Malaravan, to adjourn the Corporation Council meeting on Monday. The Opposition came to the meeting in a combative mood, deploring inaction over a slew of resolutions approved by the Council. Its members had provided indications of the protest over last week and even vowed not to allow conduct of the meeting if the Mayor or officials did not give a concrete assurance on development works. The delay in issuing work orders to private firms for streetlight maintenance was the first among the issues to be raised in the Council as soon as the meeting began. The Leader of the Opposition, K.P. Jagannathan, asked why there was delay in beginning privatised maintenance of the 30,000 streetlights in the city. He regretted that at a time when work orders should have been issued to the contractors, all the files pertaining to the privatisation were with the Commissioner for Municipal Administration for scrutiny.

Deplored

Other members wondered why the files had to be taken away to Chennai after the contract had been awarded. R. Devaraj (CPI) lamented there was no solution to malfunctioning of streetlights since September 2004. "When we spend from our revenue (of the Corporation) why should we keep seeking permission from others (meaning higher officials in Chennai)."

The Congress member, `Colony' R. Venkatachalam, deplored the approach of the civic administration in dealing with this issue. The Opposition members warned the Mayor of the wrath of the people if amenities promised to them were not provided.

Rejecting charges of inaction, Mr. Malaravan pointed out that everything regarding streetlights was done as per the decisions arrived at in the Council. "But, when higher officials halted the process, what can we do," he asked. The Mayor said someone had alleged in a letter to the civic body that one of the contractors did not have the required experience certificate. That led to the Commissioner for Municipal Administration asking for the files. When the Mayor assured the members that the problem would be sorted out in two to three days, Mr. Devaraj said since the Commissioner had been shifted recently it would take time to apprise the person who took over the entire issue. "I am sure that this will take at least a month."

Opposition unconvinced

The councillors demanded that the Mayor provide a clear picture in the Council and then conduct the regular proceedings. Not convinced by his response, the Opposition staged a walkout. This time the Bharatiya Janata Party also joined it. After they left, members of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam sought to know from the Mayor what exactly led to the deadlock in the streetlights issue. A few minutes later, the DMK-led Opposition returned to the Council only to stage a sit-in to demand a convincing assurance that maintenance of streetlights would begin soon. Finding them in no mood to relent, the Mayor adjourned the meeting to a later date.

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