The Salem Corporation moved to a spacious three-flour new office in the city on Monday.

The new office has come up at an outlay of Rs. 13 crore, and has an underground car parking facility.

The
Salem Municipal Council was formed in 1866 and it was upgraded into
Corporation in 1994 and since then it continued to function in the old
building near the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College
Hospital.

With city limits getting extended, more officials and
staff were pressed into service, leading to space crunch in all the
departments in the existing building. Following this, the corporation
sought permission from the State Government for the construction of a
new office.

The late Jayalalithaa laid foundation stone for the construction of new office through video conferencing on December 30, 2013.

The
government sanctioned Rs. 5 crore under the Infrastructure Gap Filling
Fund in 2012-13 and the corporation chipped in Rs. 2 crore.

The work on the construction of the basement, ground floor and the first floor was completed in two years.

The
corporation once again submitted proposal for the construction of
second and third floor, following which the government again sanctioned
Rs. 5.13 crore under the Infrastructure Gap Filling Fund 2015-16.

The
Chief Minister declared open the new office during the MGR birth
centenary celebrations in the city on September 30 this year.

According
to corporation sources, the ground floor has been allotted for the
offices of different departments, while the offices of the Mayor, Deputy
Mayor, council hall will function on the first floor. The
Commissioner’s room is situated on the second floor, apart from the
gallery for the general public to view the proceedings of the council
meetings and press gallery. The third floor will too have different
departments.

A reverse osmosis drinking water has also been commissioned.

The
work of shifting the offices commenced on Thursday and the new
corporation office started functioning from the new premises in a
full-fledged manner from Monday.

The Salem Corporation accounted
for a population of 8.26 lakh and 60 wards spread over in four zones –
Suramangalam, Hasthampatti, Ammapet and Kondalampatti.