The Tiruchi City Corporation Council meeting on Friday saw tense moments as DMK councillor V. Ramadoss was suspended for two months after making critical remarks against the party’s Mayor M. Anbazhagan.

The suspension followed a verbal altercation between Mr. Ramadoss, councillor of Ward 55, and the Mayor over the issue of illegal water connections and the councillor’s alleged role in it. Mr. Ramadoss reportedly attempted to lay an unauthorised drinking water pipeline from the main supply line without shutting off the flow from the Kambarasampettai head works, citing water shortage in his ward.

The confrontation escalated when Mr. Ramadoss challenged the Mayor to file a complaint against him and declared that the Mayor was unfit to preside over the council. In response, Mr. Anbazhagan cited misconduct and violation of council decorum and ordered his suspension for two months.

Parking woes

Earlier, DMK councillor T. Muthuselvam, representing Ward 57, staged a sit-in protest inside the council hall, demanding a re-tender for running the bicycle parking stand at the Chathiram bus stand. He alleged lack of transparency in the tendering process and questioned why a significantly lower revenue was generated compared to other facilities within the same premises.

Mr. Muthuselvam pointed out that while the Corporation received ₹13 lakh more in the recent tender for the toilet at Chathiram bus stand, the bicycle stand tender fetched only ₹3 lakh more than the previous year, much lower than the revenue from bicycle stand at the Central bus stand.

The protest led to a temporary disruption of the meeting, and several DMK councillors voiced support for Mr. Muthuselvam’s demand and urged the Mayor to resolve the issue within a month. Corporation Commissioner L. Madhubalan intervened, stating that a consultant would be appointed to conduct a market valuation review and re-tendering would be considered based on the findings.

A section of councillors raised concern about the underutilised multilevel car parking facility on West Boulevard Road, which they said was causing revenue loss for the civic body. Mr. Madhubalan said the Corporation was planning to implement an integrated digital parking model with the installation of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to enhance efficiency. A tender for the project was expected before Deepavali, he added.