AIADMK demands Salem Corporation council meetings twice a month

The AIADMK councillors have urged the Salem Corporation to conduct the council meeting twice a month to provide an opportunity to councillors to highlight the issues in their wards.

An average of 80 to 100 resolutions are passed in the monthly council meeting that usually lasts for an hour or two. At the council meeting held on November 28, due to a verbal duel that erupted between the DMK and AIADMK councillors, the meeting ended within 20 minutes.

The Salem Corporation ward 22 councillor and AIADMK whip K.C. Selvaraj said it is mandatory to conduct the council meeting once a month. But, there was no issue in conducting two meetings. As there are 60 councillors in the Corporation, all councillors do not get an opportunity to speak in the meeting. Likewise, the officials do not answer properly the questions raised by councillors in the meeting, he alleged.

If the meeting is conducted twice, the officials will be able to answer the question raised by the councillors in the previous meeting, and it will help sort out the issues. Likewise, the agenda (for the urgent council meeting) is provided just a few hours before the meeting, and the councillors are unable to read them fully, he said.

Mr. Selvaraj said that earlier zonal-level meetings used to be held once in three months with all the councillors of the zone and officials. The officials display ongoing, completed, and upcoming projects in the wards, and councillors have a chance to raise the issue of the ward and sort it out. But for the past one-and-a-half years, the zonal-level meetings are not conducted, he added.

Mayor A. Ramachandran said, “One meeting is compulsory as per law and I am giving time for councillors to speak. The councillors were not allowed to speak for more than five minutes earlier. However, I give more than 15 minutes to councillors to speak in the meeting. Zone councillors’ meetings were conducted once in three months which is mandatory. The three months once meeting was an initiative of the Salem Corporation. But, some councillors started to quarrel with officials without any fruitful discussions. So, former Commissioner T. Christuraj cancelled this meeting. The agenda for the urgent council meeting will be given one day in advance hereafter,” Mr. Ramachandran added.