Coimbatore Corporation holds first council meeting

The first meeting of the Coimbatore Corporation was held this morning at the Coimbatore Corporation Office Meeting Hall. The meeting started at 10 am. Deputy Mayor Vetriselvan and Corporation Commissioner Rajagopal Sunkara were leading the meeting which was presided over by Mayor Kalpana.

The mayor began the session by reciting a Thirukural verse. Then zonal leaders, councillors, chairmen of corporation committees, members, and councillors spoke to the council about their zonal and ward level grievances.

At the time, Eastern Zonal Head Lakshmi Ilanselvi Karthik blamed the AIADMK government for the water shortage and sewerage problems in Coimbatore. She said legislators have not yet visited the wards. Forty-seventh Ward AIADMK Councillor Prabhakaran objected to this. Following this, DMK councillors protested against this which caused a slight stir in the hall.

Central Zone Head Meena Logu said, “Small vehicles are allotted for garbage collection which ultimately leads to the garbage stagnation. If a tipper truck is used, the garbage can be loaded in a single vehicle instead of four small vehicles. Moreover, the fund allocated for the council members is Rs. 5 lakh and it is not enough. Ward councillors in Chennai get up to Rs 30 lakh.” Responding to this, Corporation Commissioner Rajagopal Sunkara said that funds will be allocated to councillors as per the government of Tamil Nadu, adding that the request will be taken to the notice of the Government.

The councillors who spoke on the occasion said that the supply of drinking water should be smooth. Drinking water should be distributed once every 2 days. Garbage should be removed without stagnation. Responding to this, Mayor Kalpana said that the demands of the council members will be met.

AIADMK councillor Prabhakaran of the 47th ward said that various works including park maintenance have not been carried out in the corporation for the last 10 months. Meena Logu denied it by saying that nothing was maintained for 10 years under the then AIADMK regime. This was followed by a heated argument between AIADMK councillor Prakaran and DMK councillors. This caused a stir in the council meeting.

17 resolutions were passed at this meeting including the revision of property taxes. “The 15th Union Finance Commission stipulates that from 2022 to 2023, property tax rates must be reported on the gross annual value of the subsidy received by local bodies and that property tax collection must improve in line with GDP growth. Property tax is required to obtain funding for Clean India Project 2.0 and Amrut Project 2.0. The resolution was therefore passed to seek the approval of the council to revise the corporation property tax,” the resolution added.

AIADMK councillors protested against this. Coalition party councillors, including the DMK, said the property tax was imposed because of pressure from the Centre.