Chennai: Hundreds of applications (building plan approvals, drinking water and sewage connection, commercial licences), certificate issuance (birth and death certificates) and grievances related to civic works have piled up in Chennai corporation and Chennai metropolitan drinking water and sewerage board.
According to informed official sources, three days of consecutive council meeting followed by the weekend, Bakrid and Onam holidays have made things worse for the public.
The last session of the council meeting was dragged by Mayor Saidai S. Duraisamy for three full days following requests from councillors and this forced all zonal officials and senior engineers to be glued to Ripon buildings, the city civic headquarters. The weekend with two holidays has sent several government staff to go on long leave and this accumulation of work will take at least a week to be cleared, the source said.
“My younger brother R. Yovan (41) admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital died on August 30. Two weeks have passed and we are yet to get the death certificate from the Chennai corporation and there is no proper response from the civic authorities,” said a grieving R. Immanuel.
“Yes, there is a backlog of work due to extended holidays, but they will be cleared within a day or two and people need not worry,” said a senior corporation official, when contacted. A senior metro water engineer serving in north Chennai also admitted that the number of complaints of sewer overflow usually increases during closed holidays. With three continuous holidays, civic work will be partially affected till Wednesday.
According to state official sources, local bodies in Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Nilgiris and Kanyakumari will remain closed on Wednesday due to the district holiday of Onam.
