Councillors of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam staged a walkout from the corporation council meeting on Friday accusing the civic body of failing to take steps ahead of the monsoon to check the spread of diseases and prevent water stagnation in the city.
They expressed disappointment over the corporation’s failure to seek a substantial grant from the government for repairing the roads damaged in the rain in the city. The meeting saw the DMK councillors raising a slew of complaints over inundation of the houses and roads, poor sanitation, and spread of dengue, swine flu, and viral fever in the city.
Raising the issue, S. Kavitha, DMK councillor representing ward 41, alleged that her ward was the first and worst affected because of inundation as drains from Anbu Nagar and Krishnamurthy Nagar and the Kollankulam have been not cleared of silt ahead of the monsoon. Roads have suffered extensive damages and many people have been affected by fever.
Mayor A. Jaya, who was in the chair, directed the corporation engineers to write to the Public Works Department to take steps to remove the silt in the Kollakulam.
G. Sathyamurthy, her party colleague, said the city roads were full of potholes and they had not been repaired after rain. He demanded a white paper on the details of the number of persons affected by dengue in the city.
DMK councillor R. Saradha cited a case of H1N1 death in her ward and complained of poor sanitation.
City Health Officer M. Geetharani said 42 cases of dengue had been reported in the city since January this year. This included seven cases reported this month and only two persons were currently undergoing treatment in hospitals. The corporation had launched an extensive awareness programme and deployed about 1,820 workers to carry out door-to-door checks on mosquito breeding sources and clean up public places.
City Engineer (in-charge) S. Nagesh, in response to a question from M. Venkatraj, said the corporation had sent a report to the government on the rain damages and sought about Rs. 10.34 crore for repairing the damaged roads.
DMK floor leader T. Muthuselvam and others said the sum would hardly be adequate to repair a few arterial roads in the city. Commissioner M. Vijayalakshmi said the report was only an initial estimate and additional requirements would be conveyed to the government.
Mr. Muthuselvam said the corporation should seek at least Rs. 200 crore. If major drains had been cleared ahead of the monsoon, the roads in city would not have sustained such extensive damage. Expressing disappointment over the corporation’s failure to take up precautionary measures, Mr. Muthuselvam led a walk out by the party councillors.
Earlier, Deputy Mayor J. Srinivasan moved a resolution seeking the naming of a newly built conference hall in the corporation office after Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
