The Hindu 10.11.2011
Ward panel chairman elections on November 20
Elections to the posts of chairman of 15 ward committees
of the Chennai Corporation will be held on November 20. The councillors
of each of the 15 zones will elect one person as chairman. Polls to
members of the standing committees would also be held the same day.
State
Election Commissioner S.Ayyar said elections for the posts of chairman
of the standing committees would be held on November 21. The Corporation
Commissioner would conduct the elections to the ward and standing
committees, whose members are councillors.
The civic
body has six standing committees dealing with specific subjects –
Education, Health, Taxation and Finances, Audit and Accounts, Town
Planning; and Works. The works committee decides on tenders to be
floated. The chairman of the taxation and finances committee presents
the budget.
Former Mayor M.Subramanian said that
normally elections for various committees should have been held within a
week after the local body elections. “The committees would meet and
decide upon subjects that are to be placed before the Council. The ward
committees would meet first and then the standing committees. There will
not be enough time to take up important subjects in the Council,” he
said.
Ward panels have powers to decide on projects
up to Rs.10 lakh and standing committees on works up to Rs.50 lakh. “The
delay in electing ward-level committees would impact implementation of
projects in the expanded areas. Residents in local bodies that have
merged with the Chennai Corporation lack basic infrastructure roads,
garbage disposal, street lights,” said M.Kishore, a resident of Wimco
Nagar in Tiruvottiyur.
