MADURAI: The AIADMK cadres in large numbers staged a protest demanding a fair probe into the multi-crore property tax scam in Madurai Corporation at Palanganatham in Madurai on Wednesday.

They stressed expediting the investigation and punishing those found guilty.

Spearheading the protest, AIADMK MLA Sellur K Raju (Madurai West), charged that public money was swindled in the scam and slammed Madurai Corporation for administrative failures, rampant corruption, and lack of efficiency.

He said that residents are frustrated with the multiplying hygiene issues in the city as garbage remains uncollected. Pointing out that the Mullaperiyar drinking water project, which took off during the erstwhile AIADMK regime, to cater to the needs of households in the hundred wards of Madurai city, has been completed in haste under the ongoing DMK rule, he said the project did not serve its purpose with several households lacking access to potable water.

Referring to the Chief Minister MK Stalin's claim that the Mullaperiyar water is supplied to 2.57 lakh households during the inauguration of the drinking water project on December 7 in Madurai, Sellur Raju called it a false claim.

When PTR Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was the Finance Minister, he said lands would be acquired in two months for the expansion of Madurai airport to raise its standard on par with international standards, noted Sellur Raju. However, four and a half years have gone by, and there’s no headway, he said. The Madurai-Thoothukudi industrial corridor project has not materialised so far, he said.

Much to the agony, the metro rail project for Madurai was rejected by the Centre as the state government failed to prepare a detailed project report efficiently, he said, adding, moreover, the Tidel Park project, earlier estimated to be worth Rs 600 crore, has now shrunk by Rs 250 crore, and he wondered whether the project would come up in Madurai.