Sparks fly over flyover issue

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, SEPT. 8. Bedlam once again gripped the Assembly today with the AIADMK and DMK locked in a fierce argument over whether the construction of flyovers in Chennai was a ``wasteful expenditure.''

The row began just after the zero hour, when the DMK member, Mr. K.K.S.S. Ramachandran, speaking on the demand for grants for the PWD department, alleged that the Government had not allotted funds for any of the infrastructural projects.

As the AIADMK members were on their feet raising a din, the Leader of the House, Mr. C. Ponnaiyan, clarified that the Government was spending about 94 per cent of its funds on payment of salaries, and hence, it obtained loans from the NABARD and the World Bank for the projects.

``If it is so, why did the Local Administration Minister charge in the Assembly a few days ago that the Chennai Corporation is in a debt trap as it has obtained huge loans,'' the DMK member shot back.

Even as the AIADMK and the DMK members were shouting at each other, Mr. Durai Murugan (DMK) heatedly remarked: ``If the Government gets loans, it is for welfare measures. But if the Chennai Corporation gets loans, it is being construed as a crime''.

At this, Mr. Ponnaiyan charged that the Corporation had resorted to wasteful expenditure. Instantly, the Chennai Mayor, Mr. M. K. Stalin, asked the Minister to give details of the wasteful expenditure.

Retorting, Mr. Ponnaiyan said ``several crores'' had been squandered away on the narrow fly-overs at Adyar, Guindy and Perambur which were cleared without a proper study. And, the contracts for laying cables were given to a private company which sub-contracted the work to other companies, leading to a cost inflation.

Mr. Stalin insisted that the projects were cleared by a high- level committee based on the recommendations of the Traffic Improvement Committee, and the Chennai Corporation Council too had approved them. ``The Minister's statement is contrary to truth. After the completion of probe into the fly-over cases, the people will get to know the truth,'' he said.

Later, when Mr. Ramachandran (DMK) charged that the tender schedules were not being given only to select persons after the AIADMK regime took charge, the House witnessed another round of pandemonium. The PWD Minister, Mr. Thalavai Sundaram, said the tender procedures were being followed, but the DMK MLA, Mr. M.R.K. Paneerselvam, had created trouble at a PWD office in Villupuram demanding tender schedules.

An angry Mr. Paneerselvam vehemently protested, raising his hands, to which the Minister stoutly objected, saying ``don't menacingly direct your hands at me,'' even as the AIADMK members continued to shout at the DMK.

Then Mr. Durai Murugan raised the Cauvery issue, seeking to know why the Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa, had not sought convening of the Cauvery River Water Authority. But the Speaker stoutly refused permission for discussing the issue, and after over half-an-hour, calm was restored in the House.

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Section  : Southern States
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