The Hindu        13.01.2011

All unauthorised hoardings in city will be removed: Mayor

Meet to discuss drinking water shortage planned

A meeting of the Kerala Water Authority officials and councillors will be held at the Council hall on January 17. Councillors will get a chance to raise their complaints at this meeting.

The meet will discuss the possible ways to find solutions to the shortage of drinking water in the city.

Answering the issue of unauthorised hoardings in the city, Mayor Tony Chammany said that all unauthorised hoardings and display boards in the city limits would be removed with immediate effect. The Town Planning Officer has been entrusted with this task.

The agency that was given contract for maintenance of the streetlights has made a default of Rs.18 lakh and the contract has been nullified. Tenders will be invited for new contract for a period of two months soon, he said.

Special numbers

The resolution to issue special numbers to those staying in puramboke land to issue electricity connection as part of complete electrification project of the State government caused much debate. Finally the resolution was passed after Mr. Chammany said that those eligible can apply along with the certificate issued by division councillor concerned.

N. Venugopal, M. Anil Kumar, K.V. Manoj, K.J. Sohan and Shyamala S. Prabhu were among those who participated in the discussions.

There were discussions about the outstanding dues to contractors.

To this, Mr. Chammany said that works were not executed during the tenures of previous councils according to estimated budget and implementation cost escalated many fold. This has led to the outstanding dues and a collective effort, instead of blaming each other, is required to improve the situation, the Mayor told the Council.

A meeting of the Urban Poverty Alleviation Department (UPAD) staff will be convened soon to discuss the implementation of various projects. Complaints about functioning of the Janaseva kendras will also be looked into.