TAMBARAM: Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin and the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration have been urged to look into provisions of by-laws based on which the monthly water tariff was determined in the Pallavaram Municipality and make them more user-friendly.

S. Narasimhan, Communist Party of India (Marxist) councillor (ward no. 40) has written to Mr. Stalin and senior officials at the Commissionerate pointing out the reported contradictions in the by-laws and the confusion created by them while the hike in the water charges were effected.

Implementation

Primarily, the manner in which the by-laws were implemented — resulting in the subsequent hike in monthly charges for Palar drinking water — was against the provisions of the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920.

Mr. Narasimhan made the appeal as confusion continued over collection of arrears for the monthly charges for three years between 2002 and 2005, though the local body gave its consent only this year.

While the residents were paying monthly charges of Rs. 25.50, the elected representatives in the local body gave their consent to the new rates at Rs. 50.50 in March this year.

The proposals for the hike in charges were initiated in 2002 and even then, provisions of the by-laws were not spelt out explicitly either to councillors or residents.

The by-laws were published in the Government gazette in December 2002 and should have come into force only three months later.

But they were implemented from the same month, Mr. Narasimhan said, adding such acts of the local body went clearly against the laid-down rules. Though the Municipality had given its consent for the hike in March this year, the State Government's insistence on collection of arrears for three years was not only unjust, but also against norms.

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