‘Makkalai Thedi’ camp today at Corp
The second camp under ‘Makkalai Thedi’, the Coimbatore Corporation’s special programme for provision of services and to redress grievances at the doorstep will be held for eight wards of the North Zone at C.M. Mandapam in Ganapathy on Friday.Mayor R. Venkatachalam said on Thursday that the camp would be held for Wards 1, 2, 3, 17, 18, 29, 70 and 72.“We have increased the number of wards from five (in the first camp held on January 10) to eight, so that we can hold the first phase for all the 72 wards by the end of March.“And, we hope to have three phases for every wards by the end of this year,” he said. The inaugural camp revealed good response from the people for the scheme. People should make use of this opportunity to avail themselves of various services provided by the Corporation.They must remember that in the earlier camp, those who submitted applications in the morning had their property assessed for tax and received orders for the release of drinking water connections by evning.The Mayor rejected the charge by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam councillor M. Natarajan that the offices of the Corporation would not function because of the new programme.
Recalling the councillor’s comment at the January 21 Council meeting that the programme was actually a “closing ceremony” of the Corporation, they Mayor said that the Corporation was only speeding up the services to the people through the special camps, apart from providing these through its routine functioning.“I had to explain this to him (Mr. Natarajan) when he questioned the need for this programme when many applications were pending in the Corporation,” Mr. Venkatachalam recalled.Declaring that there was no discrimination in the selection of wards, he pointed out that an AIADMK member was the councillor of Ward 1 that had been included in the second camp.“Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran is keen on implementing this programme that will reduce the burden on the four zone offices of the civic body,” he said.
The Mayor was also confident that the camps would eliminate touts who promised to obtain even birth and death certificates for extra sums. “People can make use of the camps instead of falling prey to the touts,” the Mayor said.Asked why the system could not be tightened at the Corporation offices itself to eliminate the tout menace, the Mayor admitted that they operated craftily, exploiting the procedural delay in the services.Full attendance of staff was ensured for the special camp. But, on normal working days at the offices, there was always the possibility of their going on leave.Any delay arising out of this was taken advantage of by the touts.But, the Corporation was doing its best to ensure that services were quick and people did not have to approach touts.
“We intend to provide a clean administration and the Makkalai Thedi camps are a step towards implementing the ‘outcome budget’ – one that will have schemes and services that can be done quickly and to the satisfaction of the people,” the Mayor said.Mr. Venkatachalam said joining orders for officials drafted for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission wing, would also be issued at the camp.
