One year completed for Coimbatore Corp

The Coimbatore Corporation has completed a year of its functioning with a new Mayor and a Council. A report card on the civic body’s performance under a new elected head and after a power shift last October presents a mixed picture.Councillors themselves admit that there is very little development on the ground, but a lot of it is already taking shape in the form of major infrastructure schemes. Lack of consensus in the Council, even among allies the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Communist parties, is said to be slowing down the process of revenue improvement and quick approval of schemes. Mayor R. Venkatachalam, however, claims everything is fine (see interview).

The Council’s make up itself presents an interesting picture. The Mayor belongs to the Congress that has only six councillors in the 72-member Council. Popular opinion among the Opposition parties is that the writ of the DMK runs in the Corporation as it gave the Mayor’s post to the Congress and also because it has the majority in the Council.In such a scenario, allies and rivals of both the Congress and the DMK say that the city has not improved to the extent it should have in the last one year. Leader of the Opposition and DMK member V.N. Udayakumar says that one year is too short to make a fair assessment as the city’s problems can have solutions only from major schemes. And, these cannot be implemented in just a year.

Quite expectedly, the DMK-Congress camp mentions schemes worth Rs. 3,186 crore that the Corporation is to implement under the Union Urban Development Ministry’s infrastructure development programme - Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Councillor P. Rajkumar says: “No one is against these development schemes for long-term solutions. But, day-to-day problems too demand the Corporation’s attention. The poor storm water drainage across the city shows that the attention is missing.”

Communist Party of India’s K. Purushothaman says: “We are only talking about JNNURM.Nothing is visible on the ground. There is a struggle to get the works done in wards as there is no harmony between the Corporation administration and the elected Council.”An area where the Corporation faces flak from the public is inadequate space for parking. Coimbatore Consumer Cause secretary K. Kathirmathiyon says: “This a problem created by the Corporation over many years of allowing building rule violation. With commercial buildings not providing the mandatory parking space, there is congestion on road.”

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