The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Communist parties plan five-day campaign against Coimbatore Corporation

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Communist parties plan five-day campaign against Coimbatore Corporation

Special Correspondent

Demanding the implementation of infrastructure development schemes

‘Corporation should call for fresh tenders for the two sewage treatment plants’
A demonstration involving more than 2,000 members of the public will be held on May 22

COIMBATORE: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) will go on a citywide campaign from May 18 to 22 to demand the implementation of infrastructure development schemes and to oppose faulty approach in carrying out any of the process pertaining to these.

The parties have indicated that they will target the Coimbatore Corporation on charges of corruption and irregularities in various areas of functioning and schemes.

District secretaries P.R. Natarajan (CPI-M) and R.A. Govindarajan (CPI) said in a recent joint statement that the campaign would present a nine-point charter of demands before the Corporation. It included the parties’ opposition to new tariffs such as fees for garbage collection and the use of underground drainage.

The campaign would also criticise the Corporation for increasing drinking water tariff and caution against raising Property Tax.

One of the major demands was that the Corporation should call for fresh tenders for the Rs.89 crore project for two sewage treatment plants (one each at Ukkadam and Nanjundapuram). The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the CPI (M) had alleged kickbacks in the awarding of contracts for establishing the plants.

The CPI (M) recently moved a petition in the Madras High Court against the Corporation on the tenders. Leader of the party in the Corporation Council C. Padmanabhan said on Tuesday that it was improper on the part of the Corporation to have laid the foundation for the project (on Sunday) without resolving this issue. It was wrong to begin the project when the court had been moved against it, he contended.

Mr. Padmanabhan said his party would appeal to the court to stay the project, as there was no sign of the Corporation acceding to the demands for re-tender.

CPI (M) legislator from Tirupur C. Govindaswamy might discuss this issue with Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin and refer to the Minister’s assurance earlier in the Assembly on ordering re-tender after finding out whether there had been any irregularities.

A demonstration involving more than 2,000 members of the public would be held on May 22 to condemn the approach of the Corporation to issues of concern.

The joint statement from the Communist parties said they would also demand that the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission schemes, including the one for houses for slum dwellers, should be implemented in a way that would benefit the people. It wanted more conservancy workers appointed and cautioned against privatising garbage removal.

Development works in newly regularised layouts and steps to check corruption in the Corporation were some of the other demands.

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