The Hindu 02.11.2009
Corpn. promises more development activities
Special Correspondent
| Rally by school and college students marks Local Bodies’ Day celebrations in city |
— Photo: M. Periasamy.
WITH A MESSAGE: Students taking out a rally in the city on Sunday with anti-plastics and energy conservation slogans as part of the Local Bodies’ Day celebrations organised by the Coimbatore Corporation.
COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation began the Local Bodies’ Day celebrations here on Sunday with a rally by school and college students to generate awareness on hygiene and promised that it would provide greater development in the city through various schemes whose implementation had already begun.
Presiding over the celebrations, Mayor R. Venkatachalam sought the support of the public to the schemes that were being implemented by the civic body.
He sought their co-operation to specific schemes such as the one for solid waste management.
Clean city
Stating that the Corporation wanted to ensure hygiene by creating a clean city, he highlighted the efforts taken by Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra in improving the working conditions and health of conservancy workers.
Apart from the special grievances redressal camps conducted in the zone offices last week in connection with the celebrations, a week-long camp would be conducted at these offices and the main office to redress the grievances of the public over various civic issues.
The Corporation received 364 petitions submitted during the camp last week and steps to solve the problems mentioned in these were announced on Sunday.
The Corporation Commissioner said a lot of works had been initiated to improve various facilities in the city.
“We have done well so far and let us do better,” he said while addressing the officials, staff and councillors of the civic body.
“Let us strive to implement all the development schemes,” he said.
Schemes
Listing some of the schemes introduced by the State Government, Deputy Mayor N. Karthik said the scheme for the regularisation of house sites in the unapproved layouts was a boon to the residents who had been languishing without basic amenities such as roads, streetlights, drinking water and sewerage lines.
South Zone Chairman P. Pynthamil said the works initiated by the Ministry of Local Administration over the last three years were more than the efforts made over the last 30 years for the development of the cities such as Coimbatore.
Efforts had been made in the last three years to bring the local body closer to the people. A proof of the Coimbatore Corporation’s focus on all-round development was manifest in the improvement made in its schools.
West Zone Chairman V.P. Selvaraj attributed the developments in cities and towns to the decision of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Government in 1996 to hold elections to local bodies.
Held after a gap of 13 years, the elections brought about the much-needed link between the people and the local bodies, he said.
East Zone Chairman S.N. Samy said though a lot of progress had been made, councillors had only 75 per cent satisfaction and it was only 50 per cent among the public.
Pledge
“Let us all take a pledge on this day to create a clean city. Despite rules, the drive against plastic bags is not successful to the desired level. Let us work to create a clean city that we can hand over to the next Council of the Corporation after two years,” he said.
During the function, 34 families were provided Rs.28,000 each to build houses under the Basic Services for the Urban Poor project.
A total of Rs.1.37 lakh was provided to 12 thrift societies, under the Swarna Jayanthi Shahari Rozgar Yojana scheme of the Central Government.
Prizes were given to 18 students of Corporation schools for winning the first three slots in various competitions held as part of the celebrations.
Culturals
The Local Body day was celebrated with grandeur in Tirupur on Sunday.
To mark the occasion, the Tirupur Corporation administration organised a rally as well as sports and cultural competitions.
Mayor K. Selvaraj, Deputy Mayor Senthil Kumar, Corporation Commissioner R. Jayalakshmi, City Health Officer K. R Jawaharlal, councillors and traders took part in the rally which started from Corporation office premises and culminated at Nanjappa Corporation Boys Higher Secondary School.
Official sources said that the rally was aimed at disseminating the role of Panchayat Raj institutions in the overall economic development and social justice in the country, to the general public.
The cultural competitions were held for both Corporation staff and for students of various schools run by the local bodies, while sports events had the participation of Corporation councillors, general public and staff of local bodies.
In a function held in the evening, Minister for Highways and Minor Ports M.P. Saminathan gave away prizes to the winners of the competitions.
