Councillors unhappy with Rs 50 L development fund

CHENNAI: Ward councillors supported almost all the announcements made during the Corporation budget session with regard to fund allocation for various schemes including education, health, etc.,

During the debate session in Ripon Building on Thursday, they submitted many requests, of which, the most common was to increase the development fund for the ward members. Heeding their request, Mayor R Priya announced that the fund will be increased to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 45 lakh for the upcoming fiscal year 2024-25.

The developmental fund for the current fiscal year was increased to Rs 40 lakh from Rs 35 lakh last year.

On Wednesday, Mayor Priya announced that Rs 45 lakh was allocated based on the requirements councillors had submitted to undertake various developmental projects was. However, many councillors were unhappy with the hike, as they had wanted a hike by Rs 20 lakh.

“The development fund for the Mayor has increased by 50% — from Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore. Similarly, the councillors development fund should also be raised by 50% but only Rs 5 lakh has been increased. This will be insufficient to carry out any developmental works in the wards,” said D Elango (alias) D Elaya Aruna, chairman standing committee (Town Planning).

Similarly, ward committee chairperson of Thiru Vi Ka Nagar zone (Zone 6) R Saritha mentioned that the city Corporation should allocate Rs 1 crore to meet the requirements of the wards. Even other councillors expressed their dissatisfaction over the hike and demanded more allocation for development works.

“Since one of the common suggestions regarding the budget was to increase the fund for ward members, the Mayor should reconsider her decision and provide the sufficient money to councillors to enable them in developing their wards,” N Ramalingam, DMK leader in the council said.

In response, Mayor Priya stated, that Rs 2 crore was allocated in the financial year 2022-23, and there was no rise in the development fund for the Mayor in the present fiscal year due to financial crunch. So, the fund has been increased for the upcoming year.

On the other hand, one of the announcements welcomes by all was exclusive gyms for women in all 200 wards at a cost of Rs 10 crore. “We’ve already identified space to set up indoor gyms for women in the city, and the allocated fund would be used to procure equipment,” said the Mayor.

But the councillors pointed out that Rs 5 lakh for each ward will not be sufficient and the corporation should increase the fund to provide an indoor gym.

Additionally, during the debate session, ward councillors also urged the council to provide pinafore uniform for girl students, a time allocation to remind students to drink water every two hours and also create awareness on good and bad touch in all corporation schools.