Public hearing held without informing public

The Hindu: Coimbatore: Wednesday, May 30, 2018.

The TamilNadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board along with the Coimbatore Corporation on Tuesday conducted a public hearing at the Collectorate to invite opinion from members of the public to implement the ₹ 740.05 crore Pilloor III drinking water supply scheme.

A TWAD Board official said it was a stakeholder-cum-public hearing for which the Board had asked the Public Relations section of the Corporation to intimate the public.

But sources in the office of the Public Relations Officer at the Corporation said they got information about the meeting only on Tuesday morning, hours before the start of the meeting.

The Corporation would implement the project with Central Government funds under the AMRUT scheme through the Board.

The objective of the scheme is to draw water from River Bhavani to supply 178.30 million litres a day (mld) by 2035 and 318 mld by 2050, said a release issued by the Corporation at the end of the meeting.

Commenting on the way the Corporation and Board had conducted the meeting, DMK MLA N. Karthik said the way the two organisations conducted the meeting made it evident that they wanted to avoid controversy and implement the project they wanted.

Wrong precedent

By doing so, the two government organisations had set a wrong precedent and shown how a government project should not be implemented.

K. Kathirmathiyon, consumer activist, said the way the Corporation and Board conducted the meeting was a mockery of democracy and governance.

The very purpose of the meeting was to get feedback from the public and avoid problems during implementation.

Mr. Kathirmathiyon also said that if the project mandate was to conduct a public hearing, the way the Corporation and Board officials conducted made it illegal and it could be challenged.

This was yet another instance of the Corporation’s lack of faith in transparent administration as it had acted in a very similar manner in conducting a public hearing for implementing the Vellalore integrated bus stand project.

And, when he sought details of the participants by way of an RTI query, the Corporation had replied that since the bus stand project was under implementation, it was not in a position to share even the name of the participants.