Councillors fume over delay in holding zonal meets

Trichy: Councillors in Trichy corporation are piqued by the non-resumption of zonal council meets in all five zones here despite the election model code of conduct lapsing weeks ago. The delay in providing delegated powers to Trichy corporation commissioner by municipal administration department was cited as the reason for this. Zonal meetings are a key procedure in addressing ward-level grievances.“Zonal committee meetings are crucial in using funds allocated for a councillor, about Rs 15 lakh per year. Several miscellaneous works are pending. We expected the meetings to resume in May, soon after the new govt took charge,” K Suresh, a CPI councillor from zone V, said.Without these meets chaired by the zonal chairperson and attended by all councillors in the zone, ward level works such as repairs to stormwater drains, drilling new borewells for drinking water, and putting up additional streetlights are not happening. Some wards in need of new drainage chambers and overhead drinking water tanks await the zonal council to pass resolutions to allocate funds and commence work. While project cost estimates exceeding Rs10 lakh per work are passed as a resolution at the monthly council meeting, miscellaneous work below that amount can be passed in the zonal committee.“We are taking risks by persuading the contractor to take up the work first and accept payment later, assuming that fund allocation will be made at least within a month,” another councillor from zone I said. Elected representatives said that the municipal administration department is yet to grant delegated power to the commissioner to permit resolutions to be passed in the zonal meets.The resolutions are reviewed by the corporation commissioner beforehand. “We have written to the municipal administration department to clear the administrative bottlenecks so that zonal council meetings resume. A meeting in this regard is scheduled for Saturday in Chennai. We are hopeful of a solution,” mayor Mu Anbalagan said.