Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Opposition seeks higher allocation for roads

K.V. Prasad

Amount announced is paltry: Corporation councillors

COIMBATORE: The Opposition in the Coimbatore Corporation Council has called upon the Mayor, T. Malaravan, to increase the allocation for laying gravel-top roads in unapproved layouts to Rs. 2 crores.

The Mayor announced on Monday an allocation of Rs.50 lakhs. But the Opposition described it as paltry considering the number of layouts to be covered and the extent of work involved in each of them.

Though there were more than 400 layouts spread over all the 72 wards in the city, the Opposition said it sought laying of roads in 154 that were approved ones in erstwhile panchayats and municipalities and were merged with the city in 1981.

But, the allocation of Rs. 50 lakhs was still inadequate, the Opposition said in a letter to the Mayor on Thursday. "A truck load of mud costs more than Rs. 500. This itself points out how inadequate the allocation is," the Leader of the Opposition and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) member, K.P. Jagannathan, said after submitting the letter to the Mayor.

The memorandum, signed by the leaders of the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Congress and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) in the Council, said that only if Rs. 2 crores were sanctioned at least 50 per cent of the requirements in these layouts could be met.

It recalled that on November 10, a team from the Opposition had met the Chief Secretary and other high-level officials at Chennai and apprised them of the condition of the unapproved layouts, especially the havoc wrought by rain. The memorandum claimed that the Chief Secretary had understood the gravity of the situation and assured to consider the case of the layouts.

It also sought to draw the attention of the Mayor to the adjournment of the November 30 meeting of the Council over the hardship to the residents. The MDMK councillor, M. Krishnaswamy, explained how inadequate the funds were, citing the case of his ward (No. 72). "My ward has 53 unapproved layouts and it was estimated earlier that gravel roads for these areas will cost Rs. 33 lakhs. Now, the entire North Zone has been allocated only Rs. 18 lakhs. It will not meet our requirements."

It was, however, not clear whether the councillor was keen on having all these layouts covered or only those added to the Corporation in 1981.

But, he said that a majority of the unapproved layouts were in the North and East zones.

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