COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation will open two special counters on August 1 in each of the four zonal offices as part of the part of the process for regularisation of unapproved layouts that is to begin immediately. The Government has given time till December-end.

Announcing this at the Council meeting on Friday, the Corporation Commissioner, P. Muthuveeran, allayed fears among councillors of any delay from now in providing basic amenities in the layouts such as roads, streetlights, drainage and drinking water supply.

Councillors pointed out that though some of the residents in the unapproved layouts had paid a certain percent of the development charges and obtained water supply connections, many areas were without water lines. The Commissioner said that the works to be taken up would include those for these areas also.

Even in the case of the new scheme, the councillors wanted to know whether the Corporation had initiated the procedure of identifying the areas where the works had to be done.

The Commissioner said: "I had asked them to prepare a list of layouts that had paid the charges earlier. Almost 75 per cent of the work is over. The list will be complete in a day or two."

On apprehensions of works getting disrupted owing to the condition that the plot owners should pay the fee, the Commissioner said main supply lines for drinking water would be laid soon.

C. Padmanabhan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said people would be only too willing to pay such an affordable fee but the works must not be delayed. The Commissioner said he had asked the officials to begin the process without raising doubts over various components of the scheme. The Leader of the Opposition, K.P. Jagannathan and the other Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam councillors distributed sweets in the Council to hail the scheme even as the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) councillors objected to some of the conditions for approval of layouts.

The Mayor In-Charge, K. Raghupathy, said an all-party meeting would be held on August 3 to discuss the scheme.

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