CHENNAI: It was once a tradition in Chennai which was comfortably forgotten.Thankfully, it is being revived gradually. Face to- face meetings between citizens and civic officials at least offer people an opportunity to present their grievances directly to the elected representatives and officials of civic agencies. At a time when Anna Hazare seems to have made an impact on society and when people want to have a say in governance issues, these faceto- face meetings assume significance.One such public grievance meet at the Ashok Nagar TNHB Shopping Complex premises, organised by the Ashok Nagar Exnora, has, in fact, brought the civic officials face-to-face with people’s problems.The recently held meet was presided over by T Nagar MLA, V P Kalairajan, and attended by Yathukula Rao, Zonal Officer, Zone-10, Chennai Corporation, Velmurugan, Area Engineer-Area-8, Chennai Metro Water, Kalyanasundaram, Executive Engineer- KK Nagar, TNEB, and representatives from the police and Tamil Nadu Housing Board.R Govindaraj, Joint Secretary, Exnora International, and Anand Laxman, Senator, co-ordinated the civic meet.The major issues discussed in the meet were improvement of TNHB shopping complex, expansion and improvement of Peripheral Hospital at KK Nagar, traffic congestion, bad condition of roads after rains, encroachments, mosquito menace, improper collection of garbage, debris removal, protection against minor crimes, and other civic and environmental issues.During the meet, Govindaraj highlighted the importance of such face-toface meets where there is an interaction between public and civic officers. This he said would create a healthy public participation in governance.T R Ramasamy, President of Ashok Nagar Exnora, stated that the Peripheral Hospital at KK Nagar, which has been in existence for the past 40 years, caters to more than two lakh residents of Ashok Nagar, KK Nagar, MGR Nagar, Nesapakkam, Ekattuthangal, Guindy and Saidapet.With the residents agreeing that the hospital needed more facilities, he appealed to the MLA to take steps to upgrade it to make it on par with the Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital.Ravi, a shopkeeper at the TNHB Shopping complex, said that a wine shop, which was located in the complex, was posing serious problems to the general public and shopkeepers. The complex, which comprises several shops, ration outlets, bank and government offices, is frequented by a large number of people.The presence of a wine shop creates fear and nuisance to the general public as the wine shop customers resort to open drinking, Ravi said. Also, the place is strewn with litter from the drinkers. He, therefore, requested the authorities to shut this shop.Reacting to Ravi’s demand, Kalairajan promised to take steps to dismantle the wine shop and create a park in the vacant area within the TNHB shopping complex out of his MLA LAD funds.Residents from Indira Colony, Bharathiar Colony, Vaigai Colony, 65th Street, 48th Street, 3rd Avenue, 10th Avenue, 7th Avenue, 240 LIG flats, 120 MIG flats, Manthope Colony, Geethanjali complex and other surrounding areas, submitted petitions to the MLA relating to civic issues in their locality such as bad condition of roads, encroachments on platforms, mosquito menace, water logging during rainy season, non-desilting of storm water drains, improper collection of garbage and debris and other issues.Officials from the different departments responded to the public by confirming the status of the various projects as well as promising to rectify the problems within a short period.On upgrading the hospital, Kalairajan promised to discuss the issue with the concerned officials and take steps to improve it in a phased manner. With regard to the other grievances, the MLA promised to discuss the issues with the respective officials and ensure that they were solved as early as possible.
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