Appeal To Shift Jail
Member of the District Planning Council (DPC) and Councillor of Coimbatore Corporation, V.K.S.K. Senthilkumar appealed to the DPC to take expeditious steps for shifting the sprawling Coimbatore Central Prison in the heart of the city to the outskirts. He made the appeal at a recent meeting of DPC held at the Collectorate which was presided by the District Panchayat Chairman, C.R. Ramachandran.Mr.Senthilkumar said that shifting of the central prison to outskirts such as Vellalore would help in decongesting the city since the sprawling prison premises could be put to better use. He also pointed out the shifting of the Chennai Central Prison to Puzhal recently. He also suggested that the Murugan theatre land near the Avanashi road fly-over could be turned into a multilevel parking or at least a parking lot demolishing the old unused structures so that the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department could earn some revenue. Mr.Senthilkumar also exhorted the DPC to strive for getting electric train service from Palakkad to Mettupalayam via Coimbatore and metro train service connecting Public transport Coimbatore with the rest of the suburbs and taluk headquarters to ease pressure on road traffic and to reduce accidents.
Such a public transportation system would help in saving travel costs and time, he pointed out. He also pleaded for de-silting of the Kothavadi lake in Kinathukadavu Panchayat Union for increasing the ground water table as done in the case of other water bodies in and around Coimbatore.
Mr.Senthilkumar exhorted the authorities to empower these committees for ensuring dynamic and vibrant planning and development rather than merely conducting elections to comply with the 74th Constitutional amendment. He also noted that a number of officials were not present at the meeting thus leaving many departments unrepresented.
