On Tuesday, DMK councillors walked out of the Trichy corporation council meeting, leaving it short of numbers needed to pass resolutions. It was virtually holding civic work to ransom.It’s been four months since TVK govt assumed office, and Tamil Nadu’s municipal corporations are caught in an unusual political crossfire: civic bodies remain under DMK control, while the state govt is run by TVK, which has no councillors in any corporation.The impact is being felt everywhere, from routine works such as toilet repairs, streetlight maintenance and road work to major infrastructure projects. Officials say decisions on funding and proceeding with projects proposed by the previous govt are taking longer.In Chennai, the TVK govt and the DMK council have been at loggerheads on several issues, one being that the govt had frozen the annual councillors fund of `60 lakh and `4 crore for the mayor. DMK went on a black-dress protest, and the mayor wrote to chief minister C Joseph Vijay seeking to release the funds.TVK govt finally released `60 crore of the total `134 crore, but laid out conditions on how they must be used only for monsoon work. Another grouse councillors have is that they are not invited to govt events or zonal review meetings.In Trichy, funds for phase III of the integrated bus terminus link road — a crucial 5.7km stretch aimed at easing traffic congestion — are yet to come. In Coimbatore, corporation-run schools lack maintenance as contracts have expired. The previous contractor was asked to continue maintenance until a new company took over. However, the contractor has not been paid for the past two months.Meanwhile, in the suburbs more than 10,000 streetlights need repair or replacement. After a prolonged delay, a few days ago, the civic body cleared the repair.A similar administrative stalemate is affecting major commercial and public transport projects in Madurai. DMK councillors say files for roads, streetlights, sewage and water-supply works have piled up without funds, with even sub-`10 lakh local road works stalled.“Decisions are delayed. There is no clarity on whether to proceed with key projects. IAS officers are being frequently transferred, which causes further delays. We need to explain every project from scratch,” says a project management consultant in Madurai.Several assistant commissioners, assistant engineers and town planning officials have been transferred in the past three months. “When we report an issue, officials don’t know the location as they are unfamiliar with the city,” says R Prabhakaran, AIADMK councillor in Coimbatore corporation.Mayors and councillors say it has never happened before in TN. When DMK was in power, civic bodies would have AIADMK councillors and vice versa. Now, TVK has no representation in councils barring a few from their allies — Congress, MDMK and VCK, while corporations are led by DMK mayors. Municipal commissioners, the executive heads of the local body, report to TVK-led govt and follow instructions from senior bureaucrats.“HR&CE minister S Ramesh held a meeting with officials in Trichy corporation without inviting councillors, the mayor or the deputy mayor. When J Jayalalithaa was in office, local bodies represented by DMK ran smoothly,” says Trichy Mayor Mu Anbalagan. Councillors say officials withhold project updates and are evasive when questioned during council meetings.Salem mayor A Ramachandran, a DMK councillor, had sent a complaint against Salem corporation commissioner Lalitadiyta Neelam to chief minister C Joseph Vijay. “I have written to the President, Governor and chief minister seeking departmental action against the commissioner. We are unhappy with the commissioner’s activities,” he says.Council meetings have consequently turned stormy, with councillors saying they are being blamed by public for poor civic work. Contractors, meanwhile, say payments for completed work is pending, which is why they don’t want to take up new projects. Officials say they are pressured by the govt as well as the councillors. While councillors accuse officials of ignoring their demands, bureaucrats ask them to be cautious in clearing the projects to prevent tender irregularities. An official pointed out the case of disciplinary action against Tambaram corporation commissioner S Balachander, after a complaint by anti–corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam flagged tender irregularities.Since the municipal administration department is handled by Vijay, officials say they tread carefully on floating tenders to ensure transparency. “But it takes time and people suffer,” says K Suresh, a CPI councillor from Trichy corporation.TVK leaders say in some cases it was essential to scrutinise the tenders to prevent irregularities while in many instances, DMK mayors and councillors were deliberately delaying projects to bring “disrepute to the TVK govt”. DMK is holding the civic bodies to ransom, say some ministers. “Only if local body elections are held and municipal corporations are retrieved from the clutches of DMK, they will progress,’’ said state public works department minister Aadhav Arjuna recently.Officials say civic work isn’t paralysed. “While there have been issues with fund allocations, councillors are encouraged to bring issues such as streetlights and roadworks to us for quick resolutions,” says Madurai corporation commissioner Gaurav Kumar.(Inputs by Omjasvin M D, Anushka Juliet & Jaden Thomas)
