Salem Corporation council meeting ends after ruckus

The Salem Corporation’s monthly council meeting ended within 20 minutes following a verbal duel between the DMK and AIADMK councillors on Friday.

The meeting was held at the Corporation office and Mayor A. Ramachandran presided over the meeting in which 59 resolutions were passed.

Speaking at the meeting, Ward 44 councillor (VCK) J.M. Imayavarman said that while the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced that Special Intensive Revision (SIR) will be carried out until December 4, Salem Corporation officials instructed voters to submit their forms on Friday night itself. The Corporation should pass a resolution to extend the time for SIR works, he added.

Replying to this, the Mayor said that the VCK councillor’s demand will be recorded but the Corporation could not do anything with the SIR works.

After the Mayor’s reply, the VCK councillor again talked about SIR and AIADMK councillors asked the Mayor to allow councillors to speak about issues within their wards. It created a verbal duel between the AIADMK and DMK councillors.

Speaking at the meeting, AIADMK councillor (Ward 22) K.C. Selvaraj said that the Shevapet Main Road in Ward 28 is categorised as a Grade A area and over 102 families living there are suffering due to high taxes.

While Mr. Selvaraj went to the Mayor’s dais and gave the petitions regarding the issue, DMK councillors surrounded him, and a verbal duel broke out. As the ruckus continued for more than two minutes even after the intervention of the Mayor, the Mayor announced the meeting had ended and asked to sing the National Anthem. Following this, the ruckus ended.

Speaking to reporters, opposition leader N. Yadhavamoorthy said that the council meeting is being held monthly once and councillors are getting a chance to highlight the issues in their wards. But the Mayor allowing one or two councillors to speak and ending the meeting immediately is unfair and it is like strangling the democractic rights. The room of the Mayor’s PA was renovated allegedly at a cost of ₹28 lakh. But, the room of the opposition leader has no toilet or other facilities, Mr. Yadhavamoorthy added.