The Hindu       09.09.2016

Guidelines for appointing civic poll officers issued

The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission has issued guidelines that District Electoral Officers need to follow while appointing officers for the local body polls. Those involved in elections should not be part of the same local body, it said. In Municipal Corporations, those working in a zone should not be involved for electoral work in the same zone.

While choosing employees, those known to have associated with a political party or to the candidate should not be involved in electoral work. In case a relative of the employee was contesting, the employee should not be posted in the same local body.

Mostly those in essential services such as police, health, electricity, water supply, dairy farms have been exempted from being appointed as polling officers. One or more woman polling officer should be involved in booths, the poll commission stated.

The Hindu       09.09.2016  

43,145 civic projects implemented in five years, says Mayor

 Says over 471 bus routes and 33,000 interior roads received a makeover

MAKING A POINT:Mayor Saidai Duraisamy at the Corporation Council meeting on Thursday. —Photo: M. Prabhu

The Greater Chennai Corporation has reported a steep rise in the number of civic infrastructure projects it has undertaken in the past few years.

Responding to a query on civic development works at the last meeting of the AIADMK-led council, Mayor Saidai Duraisamy said the civic body had implemented 43,145 civic infrastructure works at Rs.3,455 crore in the past five years. The previous Corporation Council had implemented 9,576 civic works at Rs.1,665 crore.

Thanking Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for allocation of funds for key infrastructure projects in the city, Mr. Duraisamy said most of the roads received a makeover using mega city development mission funds.

Over 471 bus routes and 33,000 interior roads received a makeover at an estimated cost of Rs.2,600 crore. Roads in most of the added areas such as Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Valasaravakkam, Alandur, Perungudi and Sholinganallur were developed by the civic body.

Mr. Duraisamy spent the entire amount of Rs.10 crore under Mayor Special Development Fund for civic infrastructure improvement. As many as 57 works were taken up under the scheme.

Councillors in various parts of the city implemented 1,719 civic improvement works at Rs.124 crore in the past five years. Councillors in Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar zone implemented the highest number of works at Rs.13 crore.

MPs spent Rs.4.8 crore on 31 civic infrastructure works in the period 2011-2016 under Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme. MLAs spent Rs.10.17 crore on civic infrastructure development. Chennai Corporation Commissioner is the nodal officer for the implementation of infrastructure development schemes.