GCC skips monthly council meeting in May

Chennai: As countless civic projects, ranging from roads to storm water drains, lie pending, the DMK-majority Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) council, which is mandated to approve civic projects every month through council resolutions, did not convene in May.As per local body rules, GCC must convene 12 council meetings a year spaced between 30 and 45 days. While mayor R Priya convenes the meeting and heads it, the GCC commissioner is the executive authority responsible for ensuring the passed resolutions are implemented.When contacted, commissioner Dr G S Sameeran said the civic body could not meet due to administrative reasons. GCC did not conduct ward committee and standing committee meetings, which are prerequisites to council meetings. “Both the elected representatives and GCC officials were busy with election and post-election work involving expenditures and reconciliation. As per mayor’s instruction, we are planning to conduct the council meeting on the last week of June,” he said.Sameeran said the circulars have been sent to all the committees to convene their meetings and come up with an agenda. Ward committee meetings were convened in some zones like Sholinganallur but incidents of TVK members storming into such meetings were reported. While DMK councillors were absent, the TVK MLA along with cadres had participated in the meeting. An official from the Sholinganallur zone said that the meeting ended up being about “introductions” and no resolutions had been passed as a result.Deputy mayor Mahesh Kumar said they were ready to hold the council meetings but not all zonal officials were ready. “We will hold it in June,” he said.