Facing councillors’ ire, Kancheepuram Mayor says don’t have PA or driver

CHENNAI: Facing pointed questions from opposition councillors and even ward members from her own party, the DMK, for the municipal corporation failing to control the spread of dengue, the Mayor of Kancheepuram passed the blame to the workers for not following her instructions.

At one point, Mayor Mahalakshmi Yuvaraj even lamented that she was working without a personal assistant or driver, leaving the council amused.

As soon as the meeting of the Kancheepuram municipal council chaired by Mayor Mahalakshmi commenced on Thursday, the councillors asked her why the corporation failed to take any action to prevent the spread of dengue fever.

Citing an example, they noted how dengue has been spreading rapidly in Pillayarpalayam in recent days and warned that if the corporation failed to understand the seriousness of the issue and take steps to address it, the viral fever would spread across the entire district.

Meanwhile, some councillors also said that garbage was not being collected properly by cleanliness workers. Instead of properly disposing off the waste, the corporation staff were burning them regularly on the lake beds, because of which people were suffering from breathing problems, eye irritation, and other issues.

According to them, the civic body has not taken any steps to deal with the garbage issue and dengue spread, and said appropriate measures should be taken at least now before any death happens because of dengue fever.

Facing criticisms one after the other, Mayor Mahalakshmi said during her speech that she did not even have a personal assistant or a driver, and that she was handling all the work in the office on her own. Even if she ordered the corporation officials to address the issues raised by the councillors, they were not doing their work properly, she alleged.