The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Uproar at Corporation Council meet

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Thursday, Jul 31, 2008
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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Uproar at Corporation Council meet

Staff Reporter

Despite several disagreements, 117 resolutions were passed at the session

— Photo: M. Karunakaran

Sparks fly: A heated session of the Corporation Council meeting on Wednesday .

Chennai: The Pattali Makkal Katchi members staged a walk-out at the Chennai Corporation Council meeting held on Wednesday.

As soon as the meeting began, the PMK, led by its floor leader M. Jayaraman, staged a walkout to protest the State police action against their party leader J. Guru in Kaduvetti. The PMK councillors returned to their seats after a few minutes.

The uproar at the beginning of the meeting continued as CPI (M) councillor Devaki raised an objections to Congress floor leader Saidai P. Ravi’s statement that congratulated the Congress’ trust vote win and made a reference to the nuclear energy deal.

Mayor M. Subramanian managed to calm the situation but the skirmishes continued throughout.

PMK councillor Jayaraman said that distribution of senior citizens’ monthly assistance of Rs.400 to new applicants had failed to take off. The Mayor said the issue would be discussed with the Chennai Collectorate. Mr. Jayaraman also called for a survey of senior citizens as the earlier survey was made in 2002.

CPI councillor S.Meena said the Swarna Jayanthi assistance scheme for employment in urban areas had not been clearly explained to councillors. Spelling out its terms clearly would help more beneficiaries in all the wards get assistance from the scheme, she said.

Councillors from parties other than the DMK also complained about the allotment of sanitary workers in various zones. About 2,025 sanitary workers were recently regularised and given appointments in various zones. Also, Corporation sanitary workers, employed in zones where waste is managed by private firm Neel Metal Fanalca, were shifted to other zones. Councillors requested that an adequate number of workers are made available to each zone.

Educational assistance

Despite several disagreements, the Council passed all 117 resolutions tabled at the meeting. The Mayor also announced a solatium of Rs. 50,000 for the kin of K. Vageesan, who was run over by a Corporation van on July 7.

Mr. Vageesan’s son, a primary school student, is being cared for by his grandparents as the mother had died some years ago. The grandparents met the Mayor on Tuesday at the weekly grievance redressal meeting.

The Mayor said the Corporation would make arrangements, with assistance from voluntary organisations, to meet the young boy’s educational expenses.

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