The Hindu - Tamil Nadu 01.08.2009
Councillors oppose move to collect money from public for UGD scheme
Staff Reporter
| Opposition councillors stage a walkout |
ERODE: Corporation Councillors from all parties, barring the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its ally Congress, staged a walkout opposing the move to collect money from public to execute the underground drainage (UGD) scheme.
No sooner the Council meeting began than the Councillors were up on their feet demanding the civic body to withdraw the subject tabled. Outside the Council hall, the councillors, led by AIADMK’s ‘Market’ N. Raja of Ward 17, said they opposed the move to collect deposit and tariff from the public.
The councillors wanted the Union and State governments to implement the project without any public contribution. Councillors from DMDK, MDMK and an Independent joined the walkout. The Corporation subject on the issue says it proposes to collect deposits ranging from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 18,000 and tariff from Rs. 70 to Rs. 250 for domestic consumers and deposits ranging from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 90,000 and tariff from Rs. 140 to Rs. 1,250 for other consumers on a sq.ft. basis.
The money the civic body collects, the resolution says, will from part of the Corporation’s Rs. 61.89 crore contribution, which is 29.58 per cent of the total project cost of Rs. 218.26 crore.
The civic body will collect the money, at least 90 per cent of it, while implementing the project to be used as part of the capital, says the terms and conditions of the agreement.
It will pay 9.5 per cent interest per annum, set quarterly and payable half-yearly, in 30 instalments for 20 years. It will not pay anything for the first five years, however.
Though the councillors, 11 of them, staged a walkout, the Council adopted the resolution after Mayor K. Kumar Murugesh gave an assurance that the Corporation would take it up with the Government while implementing the project.