The majority of councilors stated that the absence of street lights was primarily attributable to the excavation of stretches for various civic works, which had damaged the existing underground power cables.
Sujatha Anandkumar, the Mayor of Vellore, presided over Friday's meeting of the Vellore Corporation Council.
Residents in Vellore say they are afraid to leave their homes at night because of the ongoing infrastructure work, including the Smart Cities Mission project. Ward members of Vellore Corporation said this at the council meeting on Friday, which was held at the corporation's headquarters.
The majority of councilors stated that the absence of street lights was primarily attributable to the excavation of sections for various civic projects, which had damaged the existing underground power cables. The most affected areas include Kangeyanallur, Katpadi, Sathuvachari, Alamelumangapuram, the Old Town, Kasapa, Saidapet, and Velapadi. M.R. Ganesh, a councilor in the 25th ward, stated, "We have been demanding new LED street lights for many years despite the fact that new cables have been laid for the purpose."
The meeting was presided over by Mayor A. Sujatha, who stated that the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) scheme had completed the installation of new pipelines in the city. In order to check for seepage, trial runs are currently being carried out in the new pipelines. Before the Corporation takes over the maintenance, the whole process will take at least 45 days. The Mayor promised that the issue with the street lights would be resolved.
Another civic issue discussed at the meeting was source segregation and the absence of adequate sanitary staff. Most of the time, people don't separate their household waste before giving it to sanitary workers every day. Over half of the waste is dumped in open areas, waterways, and roadsides nearby instead. Sanitary workers now have to collect household waste and clean up roadside garbage, which has doubled their workload. Additionally, biowastes are dumped on open land and in the Palar River. According to the Biomedical Waste Management Rules of 2016, such dumping of biowastes is a criminal offense. Such dumping will result in sanctions, according to Corporation Commissioner P. Ashok Kumar.
After the existing pipeline was damaged during the construction of the new bus terminus off the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway as part of the Smart Cities Mission project last year, more than 200 families in Samuel Nagar, which is part of ward 18, were left without access to piped water for more than six months. Councillor S. Sumathi stated that no repairs have been made to the damaged pipelines since then.
The Mayor presided over the one-hour council meeting, which was attended by Deputy Mayor M. Sunil Kumar, Corporation Commissioner P. Ashok Kumar, and MLA P. Karthikeyan (Vellore). A resolution was approved by the council to fund 215 projects across all four zones and 60 wards at a cost of Rs 42 crore.
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