Area sabha meetings put off in several wards, including Mayor’s

Area Sabha meetings were not held as scheduled on Sunday in many of the Greater Chennai Corporation wards, including ward 74, which is represented by Mayor R. Priya. The meetings have been rescheduled.

According to an official in the Greater Chennai Corporation Council, the Mayor postponed the meeting in her ward to Wednesday as many residents had left the city for the weekend.

Ward 173 Councillor D. Subhashini said that apart from citing health reasons, some Corporation officials said they could not attend all meetings if they were held on the same day.

V. Anandam, Councillor for Ward 176 of the Adyar Zone (XIII), said the meeting in his area had to be postponed as he “had to attend a political function”.

Ward 123 Councillor M. Saraswathi said officials were busy, adding that several residents had left for their native place for a festival.

The meeting for ward 133 in T. Nagar had been rescheduled to Monday, Councillor K. Elumalai said.

Some members of the Corporation Council said a few meetings held on Sunday witnessed a poor turnout of residents.

V.S. Jayaraman, of the T. Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association, however, said an intimation must be sent to the locals well in advance with all the details for active participation.

Meanwhile, decisions on implementing door-to-door garbage collection, addressing dog and cattle issues, tackling water supply shortage, improving drinking water quality, repairing streetlights, and trimming tree branches were among the key concerns addressed during the area sabha meetings held in some wards on Sunday.

At a meeting headed by Councillor for Ward 12 V. Kaviganesan, after a detailed discussion on rampant open dumping of unsegregated and hazardous waste affecting people and conservancy workers, a unanimous decision for workers to collect waste from households at 8-8.30 a.m. daily was passed. “The collection process will be monitored,” Mr. Kaviganesan stated.

R. Kungumapriya, an assistant professor at Pachaiyappas College and a resident in Thiruvottiyur stated that officials of the education department must be present at the area sabhas.

In Ward 10, the meeting chaired by Councillor T.M. Thaniarasu focussed mainly on murky and smelly water supply from Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, dog menace and damaged silt catch pits.

Zone 10 (Ward Committee) Chairman and Ward 142 M. Krishna Moorthy said the had displayed the developments made since the previous meeting. “Road cuts made by several other service departments were also addressed. For each Ward, ₹10 lakh was allocated for rectifying these with contractors. Currently, ₹5 lakh has been released as the first phase for patching road cuts,” he said at the meet.

Published - September 15, 2024 11:53 pm IST