Independent councillor K. Jayachandran staging a demonstration on ‘Anna Maligai’ campus in Madurai on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: G. MOORTHY
The 47th council meeting held at the Madurai Corporation witnessed noisy scenes for about 30 minutes when the DMK and AIADMK councillors accused each other over the property tax scam on Tuesday.Mayor (in-charge) T. Nagarajan was in the chair. Commissioner Gaurav Kumar presided. Officers from various wings of the Corporation participated.Even before the meeting started, AIADMK councillor Nagajothi and independent councillor K. Jayachandran squatted inside the ‘Anna Maligai’ campus to protest the Corporation’s lackadaisical attitude over the incomplete underground drainage system in their wards. About 100 people from her ward too joined her and as the situation looked out of control, the police arrested them and also closed all the main gates of the ‘Anna Maligai.’ A heavy posse of police was deployed in the area.As the meeting began, the AIADMK leader in the council Solai Raja demanded a response for the arrest of his party colleague.The DMK councillor Jayaraman said that the party had been cooperating in the property tax scam investigations.He said that the Corporation itself, had in an affidavit, stated that the AIADMK had misled it for political mileage as the figures mentioned suggested that the civic body had not lost as claimed by the AIADMK.Denying it, when the AIADMK members said that it was a huge loss to the civic body and that the DMK members were attempting to ‘close’ the issue, there were noisy scenes. Despite the Mayor’s appeal to remain calm, the two parties traded charges against each other. Finally, Mr. Nagarajan said that the matter was pending in the court, and thus there should not be any more discussion, normalcy prevailed.Cutting across party lines, the councillors said that after the elevated flyover came up at Goripalayam intersection, no doubt, traffic congestion had been eased to a great extent.However, the presence of the bridge had pushed the Muthuramalinga Thevar statue down, in the sense, the prominence appeared to have lost. Hence, they wanted the Highways authorities to examine modalities in such a way that the statue was in an elevated position.Many councillors expressed concern over the non-cooperation of the officials of the Corporation.They said even at the fag end of the five-year term (which ends in May 2027), their wards still had not got the UGD or street lights or potable water supply.The councillors also charged that many officers did not take their calls. They also said that during inspections, they were not informed.“We are in the dark....The people in our wards knock our doors with grievances. Where do we go,” asked the councillors from the DMK, AIADMK and CPI (M).Intervening, Mr. Gaurav Kumar said that councillors can bring their issues to him directly and assured to take action. Published - July 14, 2026 08:18 pm IST
