Members raise a stink in corporation meet

As soon as the meeting began, the council thanked Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for allotting funds for Madurai Corporation and the police department. Soon after, councillors irrespective of their party alleged that the underground drainage had been a major cause of several problems in the city. 

The common complaint was that the drainage water gets mixed with the drinking water in many areas posing health risk to the residents. One of the councillors, Chellam, said that there was severe shortage of discrepancy workers in the corporation and owing to which the problems of the underground drainage network could not be addressed. She also questioned the Commissioner and the Mayor when the woes of residents would come to an end. 

Similarly, another councillor Kannagi Baskar claimed that in several areas the drainage canals remained open. In her ward, four such pits are not closed and Corporation should take steps to address it, she said.

Replying to councillors, Corporation Commissioner Sandeep Nanduri said that the state government had granted Rs 15 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) towards the completion of underground drainage network in Madurai Corporation. Once the ongoing works are completed in all the wards, all the problems would be sorted, said Sandeep Nanduri. 

Other councillors raised the issue of dilapidated buildings in Melavasal Corporation School and claimed that for the past five years the school buildings remained in dilapidated state. “The school enrolment had decreased drastically from more than 1,000 to just over 100 and mostly Dalit students were the ones to be affected,” said the councillors.