Mayor Indrani Pon Vasanth was all set to preside over the Madurai Corporation council meeting on Friday. However, things took an unexpected turn when a majority of her party councillors decided to play hooky, leaving her in a bit of a pickle. With four out of the five zone chairpersons also missing in action, the Mayor had no choice but to turn to the few members present for support in passing the crucial resolutions on the agenda. The officials emphasized the importance of these resolutions, as they were key to securing funds for road construction in the city.
The meeting kicked off at 10.30 a.m. with less than a quarter of the members present out of the total 100 wards. Usually, the Mayor would smoothly sail through the resolutions, followed by the customary airing of grievances by the zone chairpersons from the DMK party, the AIADMK leader’s speech, and then other members expressing their views. However, a spanner was thrown in the works when the AIADMK councillor and leader, Solai Raja, objected to passing the resolutions due to the lack of a quorum. The CPI (M) councillor also chimed in, echoing the AIADMK’s concerns. In the end, the Mayor had to bow down to the demand and allow the meeting to proceed, banking on the hope that her party councillors would eventually show up.
The meeting continued with members like DMK zone chairperson Pandiselvi commending the civic administration for their handling of the Chitirai festival and Lord Kallazhagar’s river entry celebrations. Various councillors raised issues ranging from the lack of proper facilities in ward offices to uneven development work distribution across the city. S.S. Bose from the Congress thanked Minister P. Moorthy for his efforts in the Madurai West Assembly constituency, while T. Kumaravel from the CPI-M demanded action against a contractor for shoddy road work in Pykara. The meeting wrapped up earlier than usual due to the low turnout, but not before a few more councillors trickled in to pass the resolutions unanimously.
