The Hindu       02.03.2011

City Corporation Council approves annual budget

UDF stages walkout over source of funds for Attukal township scheme

The City Corporation Council on Tuesday adopted the annual budget for the year 2011-'12 even as the Opposition UDF staged a walkout towards the end of the two-day discussion on the proposals.

Earlier during the discussions, councillors demanded a slab system to fix the licence fee for tuition centres on the basis of the student strength and income. Chairman of the welfare standing committee Palayam Rajan said it was unfair to levy the same fee from tuition centres with three or four students and those with hundreds of students on their rolls.

Kuravankonam ward member P. Syamkumar highlighted the delay in clearing online applications for building permit. Pointing out that touts had a free run in the town planning section, Mr. Rajan alleged a bid to sabotage the online system. He said a section of officials were hand in glove with middlemen. Several councillors complained that applications at zonal offices were often held up on the grounds of missing files.

Nettayam ward member M.R. Rajeev (BJP) said the conditions dictated by the Chennai-based company that was awarded the online system for issue of building permits were responsible for the mess. He called for a review of the agreement with the company.

Chairman of the works standing committee V.S. Padmakumar said efforts were on to make the online system transparent and ensure time-bound issue of permits. He proposed a three-pronged strategy focussing on elimination of touts, revising the city master plan and using satellite technology for mapping the city. Rounding off the debate on the issue, Mayor K. Chandrika said the e-governance system to be implemented in the Corporation would eliminate the problems associated with the online system for issue of building permits.

Ms. Chandrika told the council that the Revenue Department had agreed to release five acres of land at two locations for the Corporation to take up the construction of houses under the EMS mass housing scheme.

The meeting saw a concerted demand for stern action against road work contractors who failed to carry out the works awarded to them. BJP council party leader Ashok Kumar said councillors were finding it difficult to face the electorate in places where road works were getting inordinately delayed. UDF leader K. Maheswaran Nair called for blacklisting erring contractors. The Mayor directed councillors to submit complaints about contractors who failed to deliver in time.

An allegation by the UDF benches that the Kudumbasree Mission was heavily politicised led to a heated argument with the ruling front. The issue was triggered by Cheruvakkal ward councillor V.R. Sini who alleged that chairpersons of Kudumbasree Area Development Societies were riding roughshod over councillors in several places.

Mr. Maheswaran Nair said the Kudumbasree movement had come to be viewed as a political instrument of the CPI(M). The Mayor replied that the Kudumbasree set up was based on bylaws and office-bearers elected to positions. Members of the UDF staged a walkout over the Deputy Mayor's failure to clarify the source of funds for the Attukal township scheme.