The Hindu 12.03.2013
AMMA scheme for all wards
Mayor V.V. Rajan Chellappa has proposed Azhagia Madurai
Maanagar (AMMA) Thittam to be implemented in all the 100 wards of
Madurai Corporation with a one-time expenditure of Rs. 2 crore.
Under
the scheme, 600 workers would be employed to take care of the basic
services such as drinking water supply, underground drainage, removal of
garbage, mosquito eradication and other works in the wards. One ward
each in the four zones would be selected on a given day and 150
employees deployed there.
The workers would take up
works to plug leakage in pipelines, patch up work to fill potholes on
roads, construct damaged manholes, provide new water connections and
take up maintenance works in Corporation schools and hospital buildings.
Lacklustre
The
debate over the Madurai Corporation’s budget presented on Monday was
lacklustre. While the absence of any major new schemes could have been a
reason for the dull debate, it could also be that the councillors had
no time to prepare for the debate as the budget copies were handed down
at the last minute.
Budget copies are usually given four days in advance so that the councillors have the time to study its details.
The
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members raised the issue and staged a walkout
in protest. The lone Communist Party of India (Marxist) member, M.
Chellam, too raked up the issue. Except for S. D. Jeyabalan, who spoke
for a few minutes, councillors of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam, including zonal chairpersons and Standing Committee
chairpersons spoke, for a couple of minutes.
Ms.
Chellam asked the Mayor how she was expected to go through the details
and deliberate on the budget. The Mayor responded saying that the AIADMK
councillors were able to speak on it. He added that last year the
budget copies were distributed at the last minute at the council hall.
While
the AIADMK councillors welcomed the budget describing it as
development-oriented, the party member, Kannagi Baskaran, wondered how
the hike in the ward development fund to Rs. 10 lakh a year was going to
benefit the members when the Rs. 5 lakh announced last year had not
been disbursed.
The Mayor clarified that the fund
would not be given to the councillor directly. Councillors would have to
submit proposals for works to be taken up in their wards to the
prescribed amount.
Ms. Chellam wanted the Corporation
to start English medium schools to meet the growing aspirations of
parents. On the demand for the local body to start a college, Mr.
Chellappa said that the government had given permission to start only
self-financing colleges.
“Without aid towards salary
for the teaching and non-teaching staff, we cannot afford to have huge
recurring expenditure. We have land and can also invest on the building
infrastructure. But we can go ahead with the project only if we get aid
from the government,” he said.
The meeting came to an end before 12 noon as not many councillors volunteered to speak.
Commissioner R. Nanthagopal and Deputy Mayor R. Gopalakrishnan were present.
