Thanjavur Corporation Budget meeting ends abruptly as miffed Mayor leaves the hall

The Thanjavur Corporation Budget meeting on Friday ended abruptly with Mayor S. Ramanathan winding up the proceedings in a huff after his own party Councillors accused him of “corrupt practices”.

The Budget Meeting commenced with the Mayor directing Accounts Committee chairman Venkatesan to present the budget. While Mr. Venkatesan was presenting the budget, Opposition Councillors stood up and raised slogans condemning the civic body for alleged inefficiency in execution of basic services to the residents though the civic body managed to present a ‘surplus’ budget for the second consecutive year.

When the elected members were allowed to discuss the budget by the Mayor, a section of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) councillors started accusing Commissioner G. Kannan and other officials of lethargic execution of their duties.

Chipping in at this juncture, the Mayor urged the Commissioner and other officials to look into the issues raised by the councillors without fail and provide solutions at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Manikandan (AIADMK) wanted to add to the issues raised by the DMK councillors. But the Mayor refused to allow him to speak since his party councillors (DMK councillors) were airing the problems faced by the common people.

Overlooking the Mayor’s intervention, Mr. Manikandan raised a legal point concerning the conduct of an ‘Urgent Council Meeting’ on Friday. Questioning the last-minute announcement of the meeting, he sought an explanation from the Commissioner about the subjects that could form part of the ‘Urgent Meeting’ as per the civic body rules. He demanded that the subjects included in the ‘Urgent Meeting’ agenda be discussed by the Council on a later date.

The Mayor put an end to this discussion by stating that the Council was not in a position to act according to the wishes of Opposition party councillors.

Subsequently, DMK councillors such as Neelakandan, Anand, and others took up the ‘Convention Hall’ issue wherein they accused the Mayor of “accepting bribe’ to allow the conversion of the meeting hall into a cinema in collusion with the Commissioner and other officials.

A virtually annoyed Mayor suddenly announced that all the resolutions placed before the Council for today’s meeting were passed ‘unanimously’ and left the hall in a huff by asking the staff to switch off the lights and fans immediately, which was promptly complied by the civic body staff.