Councillors of different political parties demanded Madurai Corporation authorities to deploy more field workers and supervisors in all the 100 wards as “works were unduly delayed”, at the council meeting held here on Monday.
Mayor Indrani Pon Vasanth presided over the meeting, in the presence of new Commissioner K.J. Praveen Kumar and Deputy Mayor T. Nagarajan. Madurai South MLA M. Boominathan was also present.
The Mayor allowed 40 councillors to air their grievances and complaints and ensured response from the heads of engineering, health and family welfare, revenue, and town and country planning departments.
Zonal chairpersons from the DMK complained of shortage and poor maintenance of vehicles. They accused the officials of not cooperating with elected representatives. Zone chairperson Saravana Bhuvaneshwari said stray dogs terrorised people in Sellur.
The meeting unanimously passed 17 resolutions. When answers given by some officials during question hour were not satisfactory, the Mayor appealed to the officials to keep the councillors informed of the works pending and completed.
Expressing concern over the officials’ “lackadaisical attitude”, Mr. Nagarajan of the CPI (M) said he had not received even one single response from the officials for his letters and petitions. “I was deeply disturbed by the passive role played by them. In the last 19 months, not even a single major work suggested to my ward has been done,” he said.
When an official said nine works were taken up in the Deputy Mayor’s ward, Mr. Nagarajan denied it.
AIADMK councillor Solai Raja said only Mullaperiyar Integrated Drinking Water Scheme could be a solution to the drinking water problem faced by the city. He said when Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru had said the project would be completed by November, at the present pace it might get dragged.
Power supply was disrupted when he was speaking, and Mr. Raja complained that it happened during the last time too. “When Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was claiming that Tamil Nadu is a power surplus State, in reality we are sitting in the dark,” he said.
Mr. Boominathan said the officials had not been cooperating and several works were pending in his Assembly constituency. He said, “People in my constituency were disappointed. The agitated residents sometimes squat before my vehicle. I too feel dejected, but hope that the Mayor would intervene and get the works completed,” he said.
The attitude of some officials affected the image of the government. “Don’t make me complain to higher-ups in the party and government,” he added.
The Mayor said the officials had done several major works and the government too had invested in a big way at Government Rajaji Hospital, which falls under Madurai South Assembly constituency.
