Kancheepuram stinking: Council meet ends in ruckus

CHENNAI: Tension prevailed at the Kancheepuram Corporation Council meeting on Thursday after the ruling and opposition councillors took the mayor and officials to task over poor sanitation, piled-up garbage, and the threat posed by the rising mosquito menace across the town.

As soon as the meeting — chaired by Mayor Mahalakshmi Yuvaraj of the DMK — commenced in the morning, the councillors from the AIADMK, PMK, BJP, and even ruling DMK benches, took to their feet over the civic body’s failure in maintaining cleanliness and providing basic amenities in many of the wards.

Opposition councillors said that garbage heaps are overflowing in almost every street and that corporation workers are not regular in collecting trash. “Drainage water is stagnating everywhere, and the mosquito menace has reached an unbearable level. The residents are at their wits’ end, and we are unable to face them,” said an AIADMK councillor angrily.

The members further claimed that only ruling party wards are provided with adequate manpower and garbage vehicles, while opposition wards are deliberately neglected. “Even the few workers assigned to our wards come late. They are not provided with proper vehicles and are forced to carry garbage on their heads,” rued another councillor.

Some of the DMK councillors then joined the tirade, stating that their wards too were facing similar sanitation issues. “Even though we raise the issue, the officials don't respond to our calls or take any action,” said one of the DMK members.

The protest soon turned unruly after the opposition members demanded a detailed report on the ward-wise deployment of cleanliness workers and garbage trucks. The ruling DMK members objected to this and asked officials not to heed the request. The heated verbal clash that followed forced the Mayor and the Corporation Commissioner to intervene and suspend the meeting, passing all 110 resolutions on the day's agenda without any further discussion.