Opposition slams civic budget, demand proper water supply

TRICHY: Two members of the Trichy corporation council - T Muthuselvam of the DMK and N Kathiravan of the MDMK - refused to come out of the council hall after the discussion over the budget proposal was over and protested in the afternoon demanding immediate water supply to their wards 39 and 40 respectively. They jointly complained that their wards went without a drop of water for the last six days and despite repeated requests to the corporation, the problem did not find a solution.Both of them, however, reluctantly exited at 4pm after officials persuaded them to give up their protest with a promise of an early solution to the long-standing water problem at Edamalaipattipudhur.
Both the ruling AIADMK and the opposition were sharply divided over what the corporation budget 2013-14 would do to the people soon after the House assembled in the morning. MDMK's Mustafa opened the discussion over the budget proposals saying that there was nothing new in the budget and all the promises made in the present budget had also been made in the last budget, but what was sadly missing was action over them. DMK councillor Muthuselvam said that though a higher percentage of tax collection took place from suburbs of the city, such as from wards 39 and 40, these places were neglected without any basic amenities. "Funds have been allotted for the same projects twice that were not previously implemented and it amounted to cheating the people," Muthuselvam charged.
On the contrary, AIADMK member Srinivasan while vehemently objecting to Muthuselvam's charges, maintained that it was one of the most useful budgets to the people ever and appealed to the chair to expunge the charge that the corporation was cheating the people. Mayor A Jaya intervened to say that the members must behave themselves in the House and should not make sweeping statements.
Later in the evening, N Kathiravan said that water mains in his area burst every now and then and the corporation was not inclined to find a permanent solution. "Even this evening (Thursday) people in our area were in a mood to protest, but I pacified them. The corporation is not interested in finding a permanent solution to water problem. At present, water is being supplied in trucks which is not enough. We just do not know what to do in future," he said.
Corporation commissioner Dhandapani, who was under fire from everyone, said that 30 of the 37 overhead water storage tanks had been constructed under a new scheme and all the people would get their share of 135 litres of water per head by the end of May. The opposition members repeatedly charged, "There is nothing new in the budget except in the number of pages and the colousr of presentation."