Corporation to gift gold rings to babies who are given Tamil names

CHENNAI: Chennai Corporation on Tuesday announced that it will give one-gram gold ring each to babies born in Corporation maternity hospitals if they are given Tamil names.

Addressing presspersons, Mayor M. Subramanian said, “The scheme would come into force at 6 a.m. on Wednesday and was being launched to mark the birthday of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.”

The scheme figured in the civic body’s 2009-2010 budget as a measure to encourage people to give Tamil names to their babies.

A panel of experts in Tamil would be formed to decide on the names eligible for the gold rings, said Mr. Subramanian. It would meet every 15 days and declare the names eligible. The distribution of gold rings would be carried out by the officials of the civic body every 15 days, said Mr. Subramanian. The officials will be given material on Tamil names.

Mr. Subramanian said that many of the people whose mother tongue is Tamil were reluctant to have Tamil names for their children. But people who speak other languages were keen to have names in their own mother tongues, he said.

The Corporation has taken measures to issue birth certificates free of cost within 24 hours of birth of a baby, the Mayor said.

Maternity hospitals run by the civic body have been modernised and they provide free services to the weaker sections, he added.

Disposable maternity kits would be provided to maternity hospitals. Around 15,000 babies are born in Corporation maternity hospitals every year, said Mr. Subramanian.

A total of 11,367 babies have been given gift packs under a scheme announced last September.

SSLC toppers among Corporation school students

CHENNAI: The SSLC topper among Chennai Corporation school students D. Agalyatharani of Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School at Nungambakkam missed a few marks in the Social Sciences paper. “The paper was tough this time. I missed out a centum by two marks.” She got centum in Mathematics and Science.

Having scored 490/500, she plans to take up the first group in Plus-I and then do her B.Tech. The daughter of a P.G. teacher in chemistry, she said her teachers ensured that all of them attended special classes and took a lot of tests.

The second ranker has a supportive family. A student of Buddha Street Corporation Higher Secondary School, Zarina Begum of Korukupet scored 484/500. Her entire family, including cousins, uncles and aunts, had accompanied her to Ripon Building when she was invited by the Corporation to meet Mayor M. Subramanian.

“We plan to walk to the Kovalam Durgah on Sunday morning. We had promised to walk the distance if I scored good marks,” said Zarina, who too wants to become an engineer.

The daughter of Nageshwar Rao, a make-up artist, P. Aparna, a student of CGHSS at Nungambakkam scored 482/500. Aparna aspires to become a doctor. “That has been my dream right from childhood.” She missed the centum in social science by one mark. When asked if the students had been given any career guidance so that they could choose their subjects in Plus-I, the students answered in the negative.

Earlier, addressing a press meet, Mr. Subramanian said that this year Corporation schools had a pass percentage of 82.5. Last year, the Corporation schools recorded a pass percentage of 79 per cent.

A little over 9,009 students took the SSLC examination, of which 7,429 passed. The pass percentage of girls was 85.4 and that of boys was 78.8. A total of 924 students had totals above 400 marks.

Twenty-two students got centum of which 15 were in Mathematics and seven in Science.

The Corporation High School, Kilpauk got cent percent pass, followed by the Vanniyar Teynampet school with 98.2 per cent and Walltax Road school with 97.1 per cent.

He said that a total of Rs.100 crore had been allocated for the Education Department this year. Mr. Subramanian said that a meeting of school headmasters would be held to discuss the performance of the children.

Property tax collection exceeds target this fiscal

Chennai Corporation aims to collect Rs. 25 crore more

CHENNAI: With still a week left for the current fiscal to end, the Chennai Corporation, which has already netted Rs. 300 crore property tax, is confident of collecting Rs.25 crore more.

Of Rs.198.47 crore property tax arrears, the civic body this month has collected Rs.60 crore. The increase in the property tax collection in 2008-09 happened despite the tax rates remaining the same.

The tax rates were last revised in 1998-99.

It had set for itself a target of Rs.300 crore property tax this fiscal, including recovery of arrears. In 2007-08, the revenue collection under this head was Rs.283.80 crore; in 2006-07 – Rs. 227.71 crore; in 2005-06 – Rs. 218.07 crore and in 2004-05 – Rs.210.85 crore.

While the Corporation has been able to improve its revenue collection in the last five years, property tax outstanding has also been growing and at present stands at Rs.138.47 crore.

Giving data on the arrears, a Corporation official said the reason some of the zones had huge backlog of arrears was because they have a larger number of commercial buildings, who owe a lot to the civic body.

He said a total of 63 such assessees owe more than Rs.25 lakh each, 500 assesses Rs.10 lakh-plus each, 800 assessees had to pay over Rs.5 lakh each, and 7,800 assessees over Rs. 1 lakh each.

On the measures being taken to collect the arrears, he said the Corporation has been undertaking special drives in all its 10 zones for the purpose.

The list of property owners who have not paid the tax on time was generated from the computerised database.

Re-assessing properties

Simultaneously, the Corporation has been taking steps to prevent under-assessment of property tax by re-assessing the properties.

The official said out a total of 1.10 lakh commercial and residential-mixed commercial properties, 55,000 were found to be under-assessed. Notices, demanding payment, including arrears for the past few years, had been sent to owners.

“But more than two lakh individual houses are also said to be under-assessed and we will organise a camp after the general elections. An opportunity would be given to the assessees to come clean.”

Online grievance redress system launched

CHENNAI: Chennai Corporation on Saturday launched the unified online Public Grievance Redressal (PGR) System as part of its initiate to improve delivery of services to the people.

With the help of the PGR, it will be able to register all complaints systematically and track their redressal. The system would structure the various types of complaints and enable better problem analysis and help in assigning them to the departments concerned.

Mayor M.Subramanian said, “This is one of the initiatives of the Corporation to solve the various types of problems which have accompanied the rapid growth of the city.”

The system also has a provision to display the number of complaints in each department and ward. A complaint ID number would be generated automatically as acknowledgement. The number would help the complainants track and monitor the official response. The new process of the civic body should aid the people post their grievances, comments and suggestions at their own convenience, Mr.Subramanian said. People can visit the corporation website

Now, online service for building plan approval

At the click of a mouse you can now check if your building plan confirms to Development Regulations. There is no need to take multiple copies for submission, or wait for long periods for approval. The recent measures of the Chennai Corporation have made the process of getting building approvals for new constructions and additions to existing buildings simple and straight forward.

One can just log onto

Ward Member Improvement Scheme funds go up

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation has increased the Ward Member Improvement Scheme funds from Rs.15 lakh to Rs.25 lakh.

Speaking at the discussion on 2009-2010 budget of the civic body, Mayor M.Subramanian on Monday said that the decision was made following requests from various members of the council.

Mr.Subramanian said that the Corporation planned to build public toilets for transgenders in the city. “The locations where they are concentrated will be identified soon for constructing the facility,” he added.

The civic body would construct modern nutritious meal centres in all zones at a cost of Rs.10.58 crore. The Corporation would construct shops for hawkers in Shenoy Nagar and Ayanavaram.

New gymnasium for the youth would be constructed at 35 locations in the city at a cost of Rs.6 crore. Playgrounds in 25 locations including schools would be renovated.

Around 10,000 approved plans have been scanned and measures would be taken to help people download the approved plans from the Corporation website. The records of documents and plans of Corporation property will be computerised.

Opposition Leader Saidai P.Ravi said private hospitals should be included in the health card scheme for slum dwellers.

He said the proposed dental hospital in north and south Chennai should be located in a place with better road connectivity to help more number of people. He added the existing dental hospital in Ashok Nagar should be modernised and more dentists appointed.

The scheme to reduce the number of bullock carts has to keep in mind the sentiments of the people concerned, he said.

The scheme to build more bridges in various parts of the city should be started, he said. DMK floor leader in the council N.Ramalingam said the English sections should be started in Corporation middle schools also. R.D.Sekhar of Ward 2 welcomed the budget. A total of 43 members of the council spoke.

The council also congratulated music director A.R.Rahman on his success in the international stage by winning the Oscar awards.

ELCOT to help Corporation computerise all operations

CHENNAI: Computerisation of all operations of the Chennai Corporation will be done with the help of ELCOT at the cost of Rs.1.8 crore.

Digital mapping of the areas in the corporation limits will be completed by June this year and a facility for automated tax payment extended to all parts of the city, said Mayor M.Subramanian.

Addressing the council meeting on Saturday, he said that a total of 4,000 new streetlights would be installed at the cost of Rs.8.30 crore, electric cables replaced, 15 vehicles with ladders purchased at the cost of Rs.1 crore to repair and maintain streetlights and high-mast lights.

A total of Rs.3 crore had been allocated for installing decorative lights at the Ripon Building and on the Napier Bridge, according to Mr. Subramanian.

September 29th of every year would be celebrated as Corporation Day to mark the foundation day of the Corporation, which was founded in 1688.

Competitions would be conducted for students, Corporation Councillors and officials.

A museum to commemorate 320 years of the Chennai Corporation would come up in the Ripon Building complex. The Victoria Public Hall would be renovated at the cost of Rs.9.75 crore and emphasis put on preserving its architectural elements.

Sports infrastructure, including modern 200 and 400 metre tracks would be constructed in north and south Chennai. Cash prizes would be awarded to students of Corporation schools winning national and State-level sports competitions.

Corporation to turn more citizen-friendly

Chennai: The Chennai Corporation is planning to make its 10 zonal offices more citizen-friendly by bringing in agents trained in customer care.

The agents in the ‘citizen service centres’ in the zonal offices will be available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to handle queries from the public. They can also be contacted over phone. The civic body will identify a private firm that can provide agents to offer this service.

Citizens can seek information on birth and death registration certificates, property taxes, building permissions and licences. Such queries are now answered by Corporation staff in the service centres in the zonal offices.

Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said professionally-trained agents would be able to create a citizen-friendly atmosphere in the zonal offices.

Property tax payment and obtaining birth/death certificates and applying for permissions have become easier with upgraded technology in zonal offices, the Commissioner said.

The citizen-friendly service by trained agents is another step in this direction, he said.

The civic body has called for bids from private firms specialising in front office administration or call centre customer care.

Agents are expected to be trained in interacting with citizens with respect, politeness and patience, said Corporation officials.

They would be fluent in both Tamil and English in order to respond to queries. Each centre would have three agents who will operate on shifts.

Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin launching the online facility for issue of birth and death

CHENNAI: A click of the computer mouse is all that is required now to get copies of birth and death certificates issued by the Chennai Corporation.

Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday launched the Corporation’s online facility to issue birth and death certificates. He said the certificates could be downloaded from any part of the world free of cost.

“The facility is easy to use and people can save a lot of time,” he said.

The Corporation’s website (