SHOWDOWN: DMK councillors walked out of the Trichy corporation council meeting on Sept 29
In Chennai, the TVK govt and the DMK council have been at loggerheads on several issues, one being that the govt had frozen the annual councillors fund of `60 lakh and `4 crore for the mayor.
When J Jayalalithaa was in office, local bodies represented by DMK ran smoothly,” says Trichy Mayor Mu Anbalagan. We are unhappy with the commissioner’s activities,” he says. “But it takes time and people suffer,” says K Suresh, a CPI councillor from Trichy corporation. TVK leaders say in some cases it was essential to scrutinise the tenders to prevent irregularities while in many instances, DMK mayors and councillors were deliberately delaying projects to bring “disrepute to the TVK govt”. “Only if local body elections are held and municipal corporations are retrieved from the clutches of DMK, they will progress,’’ said state public works department minister Aadhav Arjuna recently.
DMK went on a black-dress protest, and the mayor wrote to chief minister C Joseph Vijay seeking to release the funds. Mayors and councillors say it has never happened before in TN. When DMK was in power, civic bodies would have AIADMK councillors and vice versa. Now, TVK has no representation in councils barring a few from their allies — Congress, MDMK and VCK, while corporations are led by DMK mayors. Municipal commissioners, the executive heads of the local body, report to TVK-led govt and follow instructions from senior bureaucrats. “HR&CE minister S Ramesh held a meeting with officials in Trichy corporation without inviting councillors, the mayor or the deputy mayor. Councillors say officials withhold project updates and are evasive when questioned during council meetings. Salem mayor A Ramachandran, a DMK councillor, had sent a complaint against Salem corporation commissioner Lalitadiyta Neelam to chief minister C Joseph Vijay. “I have written to the President, Governor and chief minister seeking departmental action against the commissioner. Since the municipal administration department is handled by Vijay, officials say they tread carefully on floating tenders to ensure transparency. DMK is holding the civic bodies to ransom, say some ministers.