Demands to rectify mistakes pertaining to implementation of AMRUT scheme and proper utilisation of contract company and conservancy workers topped the discussion during the Corporation Council meeting held here on Tuesday.
A. Saravana Bhuvaneswari, Zone-2 chairperson, speaking at the meeting, said that the pipeline installation works under the AMRUT scheme had been pending for several months.
“When enquired with the officials about the status of the project, they pointed out a delay in the approval from the government. When a meeting was held to review the works under the scheme and necessary instructions were given, why there was a delay,” she asked.
“Dengue breeding checkers (DBC) though being recorded to be working can nowhere be found in the wards,” she added.
Responding to her claims, the City Health Officer said that a total of 530 DBC workers, 110 workers per zone, were working.
“As and when an area requires fogging or other works related to contain the spread of mosquitoes, the workers were being utilised,” the official added.
J. Manickam, ward 24 councillor, questioned the rationale behind including permanent corporation workers in sanitation works assigned by the contract company ‘Our land.’
“When more than 600 contract workers are employed under the company in all the 100 zones, a total of about ₹100 crore is being allotted every month to pay them,” he added.
As the contract for sanitation works has been assigned to them, why should the permanent workers be involved in the same works, he asked.
Mr. Manickam said those permanent workers could be appointed to other jobs like school maintenance, security guards, operators, among others. “There is no logic in paying crores of rupees to a company and again using corporation workers for the same works,” he added.
V. Suvitha, zone 5 chairperson, sought compact bins in the areas surrounding Tirupparankundram area as more tourists and devotees visit the temple. “Due to unavailability of bins, garbage dumps were formed on roadsides and residential areas,” she added.
Also, she requested to provide a corporation building for shifting a library operating already in another building. “As more books are added to the library, the readership has increased. So, to expand it, a building by the corporation could help them,” she added.
Raising the issue of removal of eateries along the bypass road and providing livelihood to those people, many council members noted that they should be assisted by the corporation in finding an alternative location.
Some raised queries on the carts provided by the corporation.
Corporation Commissioner Chitra Vijayan said those with movable carts would not have a problem. “Only those who had fixed shops on the roadsides were removed from there. As the road is administered by National Highways, the encroachment removal drive was based on their request,” she noted.
But an alternative location near the bypass road could be found for them to set up their eateries, Ms. Vijayan added.
S. Baskaran, ward 52 councillor, complained to the officials for not rectifying the broken pipes on South Masi Street.
“It has been more than a year since he raised the complaint, but no action has been taken. Due to the issue, sludge water gets mixed with the drinking water,” he added.
He also requested the Commissioner to set up a feeding room in the area around Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple.
Ms. Vijayan said that if the temple authorities granted permission, they would find out ways to set up a feeding room.
As ward 71 councillor V. Muniyandi sought perusal and implementation of the government order mandating to change the street names with caste identification, commotion was witnessed in the hall as council members demanded the cancellation of the GO.
Mr. Muniyandi asked when the caste identities known to be identifying Scheduled Caste people were to be removed then what about the streets with names affixed with surnames identifying caste Hindu communities.
Opposing his view on the matter, a few council members asked him not to demand removal of those names as they were their original names and not an identification given to them.
Published – June 24, 2025 07:57 pm IST
