The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Civic Council meet ends on a disappointing note

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Thursday, Dec 27, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Civic Council meet ends on a disappointing note

Staff Reporter

Chairman hopeful
of getting more funds for development works

TIRUPUR: It was a disappointment, the last meeting of the Tirupur Municipal Council on Wednesday. Tirupur Municipality will be upgraded as a Corporation on January 1.

Councillor after councillor spoke on the inordinate delay in executing development works in their respective wards and the dismal sanitary conditions in many parts of the town.

However, they exuded hope that the civic body’s elevation would improve things. Many cited lack of basic amenities in around 175 unapproved layouts across the town. Municipal Chairman K. Selvaraj said the local body had been facing fund crunch in executing development works such as construction of storm water drains, bridges, classrooms and other buildings, laying of roads and sinking of borewells.

Mr. Selvaraj promised the members of the council that the situation would improve with better tax collection next year and more financial assistance from the Centre and the State.

“We are aware that the municipality struggles for funds to carry out works. But what is more disheartening is slackness on the part of the officials in the engineering section. If they had worked efficiently many problems could have been sorted out,” said S. Murugasamy of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

Walkout

AIADMK councillors led by former vice-Chairman V. Radhakrishnan staged a walkout to protest against the general revision of property tax from April 1, 2008 in the local body. They said it would largely affect people. While AIADMK members pressed for passing a resolution against the proposed tax hike, Mr. Selvaraj rejected it and said it was a state-wide issue and the local body could not pass a resolution against the Government.

Communist Party of India (CPI) member M. Arunachalam and CPI (Marxist) councillors G. Savithri and G. Eswaramoorthy warned the local body against the hike.

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