Absence of local bodies takes a toll on Gaja relief

With more than 20,000 local body posts (village panchayats, town panchayats, panchayat union, municipalities and municipal corporations) lying vacant in the delta districts, which were hit hard by the cyclone, the State Government has lost the resource of elected local body heavyweights, who play a crucial role as mediators between the administration and the public.

“Several issues including court litigations have resulted in the elections being delayed. The absence of councillors and panchayat board members is being felt in the relief works. They are reliable when it comes to addressing public anger,” opined a senior government official now stationed in Nagapattinam district.

“Since the local body officials are not there, the ministers and MLAs have had to directly deal with the people,” said the official, who in the past has dealt with disasters like the 2004 tsunami and the Chennai floods.

“Though there are special officers, they are unable to handle the situation on ground,” he added.

Politicians blame each other for the delayed relief works but all of them agree that the absence of an elected council is certainly a setback in the Delta region.

“Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami is unable to enter the delta region and former councillors are remaining indoors as they do not have the responsibility to address public issues,” said former Chennai Mayor M Subramanian of the DMK.

“This is a constitutional crisis which has adversely affected the farmers and the public. Aspiring councillors make use of such opportunities, but the AIADMK cadre are not confident of winning the civic polls and hence choose to remain indoors,” he claimed.

The importance of the elected local body officials was stressed by Congress functionary and former Deputy Mayor of Chennai Karate R Thiagarajan who stated: “For every 1000 to 2000 voters, you will have an elected representative if the panchayat polls were held. These members know the people and their issues better than the deputed officers.”

When contacted, another former Chennai Mayor M Saidai Duraisamy said: “There is no doubt that the local bodies play a crucial role during disaster management. However, it was the DMK which stayed the local body polls through court. This is now affecting the ruling AIADMK.”