No civic polls till year end as govt extends tenure of special officers

Opposing the Bill tabled by Local Administration Minister SP Velumani, DMK member M Subramanian said the people are affected since elections to the civic bodies had not been held. The people had to approach the MLAs for everything and the government should hold the local body elections as early as possible, he said.

The government had no intention of holding the polls, he said and the Minister is only repeating that a case is pending in the Madras High Court and Supreme Court but not explaining the reasons for the delay in the case. Without elected representatives the drainage works, water supply and road works had been severely affected in the state, he said.

Explaining the reasons for extending the tenure, the Minister said the elections could not be held since a case has been pending in the Madras High Court and Supreme Court against the delimitation of local bodies.

Denying that the works in civic bodies had been affected, he said the special officers were functioning very well to ensure smooth functioning of the civic bodies.

He also blamed the DMK for the delay in holding the elections and said the case filed by the principal opposition party in the Madras High Court was the major reason for the stalling of the polls. The local body elections must have been held in October 2016 itself and this is the fourth extension of the tenure of special officers.

Local Administration Minister SP Velumani on Thursday denied that a private company would totally take control of drinking water supply in Coimbatore Corporation and clarified that works for laying pipelines and construction of water tanks alone had been given to the company.

A detailed project report had been prepared at an estimate of Rs 595 crore during the previous DMK government, but the funds were not sanctioned. Under the AIADMK rule in 2013, it was decided to carry out the project through the Union government’s Urban Development Department.

A private company Suez Projects Private Limited based in Haryana had been selected after due tender process. Works for laying water pipelines, water tanks, pumping stations, overhead tanks, a laboratory for drinking water testing, pipe connections to houses with water meters and chlorinators was awarded to it, he said.

It was decided that the same company would maintain the operations and maintenance of the drinking water infrastructure for 21 years and the Corporation would pay a total amount of Rs 2,961 crore. The maintenance expenses for the Corporation come to Rs 71.50 crore, while only Rs 55.69 crore is being given to the firm for the same works. The Corporation alone would collect the water taxes and only the reading of water meters would be carried out by the private company. The private firm would not fix or collect the water charges, he asserted.

The rights on the river water and wells had been given to the private firm, he said and added that there are no plans for issuing drinking water cards.

The same company was given the contract for the operation and maintenance of Chembarambakkam drinking water cleaning process during the DMK government, he added.