CHENNAI CORPORATION: Jaya frowns on idolisation

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on October 26, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/jaya-frowns-on-idolisation/327009.html

CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday turned tutor to a newly-elected AIADMK councillor, C Selvam, (Ward-2 in Thiruvottiyur zone) after he fumbled with right choice of words while taking the oath of office at Ripon Building.

When Selvam was asked to take oath of office, he, instead of using the customary words ‘... do swear in the name of God’, said ‘... do swear in the name of Amma - kaaval deivam.’ Noticing the mix-up of words, the CM intervened and asked Selvam to take the oath once again in front of Commissioner D Karthikeyan and told him to use only those words given in the swearing-in format.

Barring K P Shankar, a DMK councillor from Ward-5, who is in prison on murder charges, all other 199 newly-elected councillors, including 24 DMK members, took the oath of office.

AIADMK members booed down a Congress and a DMK councillor during the oath-taking ceremony when they used their party leaders’ name (Kalaignar and Annai Sonia Gandhi) during the proceedings.  Karthikeyan came to the rescue of both and appealed to the AIADMK councillors to maintain the decorum of the council.

First Announcement

At the end of the swearing-in ceremony, the new Mayor, Saidai S Duraisamy, announced that garbage removal in the city would be taken up on a war-footing. Express on Tuesday had carried a story on pile up of garbage across the city.

Mayor walks the talk, visits flooded areas

CHENNAI: With complaints of water logging from different parts of the city pouring in at the Corporation helpline, Mayor Saidai S Duraisamy, along with civic body officials, toured the affected areas near Rangarajapuram in T Nagar Assembly segment and ordered local Corporation officials to speed up work on removing stagnated water.

In his first visit to a site as the Mayor, Duraisamy met the local residents at Parangusapuram, a low-lying area in Rangarajapuram locality, and directed the Corporation officials to remove the stagnated water using high-powered motors.