Chennai Corner

UPA-2 & Newton’s third law
The DMK, an ally of the coalition at the centre, has tried to arm-twist the UPA government on the fuel hike issue but has so far not met with any success. After meeting with firmness from the PM, the DMK backed off as could be read from Raja Sabha MP Kanimozhi’s statement: “There will be different points of view in a coalition government, but it doesn’t mean the alliance has to break. Sorry …. What many people hope for will not happen.” Was she sending a message to AIADMK chief Jayalalitha or trying to convince her father CM Karunanidhi who has been insecure about the continuation of the alliance with the Congress? While part of UPA -1, he was used to getting his way, but as part of UPA -2, it’s a different ballgame because Karunanidhi does not always call the shots.

But if the DMK’s heart really beats for the poor, as they tried to claim while calling for a rollback on the price hike, the evidence on the ground contradicts it. Here’s how: Despite deploying 4000 workers working round the clock, the dome of the assembly which is the piece de resistance of Karunanidhi’s magnum opus is not going to be ready in time for its inauguration on March 13. So what has this government done? It has called in the well-known art director Thota Tharani to build a replica for Rs two crore. A local paper quoted a senior PWD official as saying, “We initially thought we would go without the dome, but did not want to miss out on showcasing one of the unique features of the complex. In fact, we scrapped the idea of a 20-storied building only to give the dome good visibility. So no dome would have taken the icing from the cake.”

And because of Karunanidhi’s clout in Kollywood, all he had to do to get Thota Tharani (who has worked as art director in blockbusters like Agni Nakshatram, Thalapath, Bombay, Jeans and Kandasamy) was snap his fingers. For over 10 days now, over 500 men from Thota Tharani’s OHM Decors have been working on the artificial dome using plywood to create the replica. “The dome will look just as real,” said one of Tharani’s assistants. At the risk of sounding like a Philistine, I say Rs two crore for a pro-poor scheme would have looked as real. But then think Mayawati and the elephants she built by taking away from Ramukaka, Sitadevi, etc so she could get an ego boost.

The nuts and bolts
Incidentally, the “late lateef” is Bangalore-based Geodesic which had bagged the tender to construct the dome at a cost of Rs 25 crore. The dome — 30m tall and 45m in diameter — is meant to be a modern interpretation of the thatched archaic temples typical of South India.

The dome, which is to be built in May, after the budget session, will have eight steel structures that will have granite cladding. Each of the eight arms, weighing 100 tonnes, will have aluminium fins (totally 33 of them) or gold-coloured anodized aluminium sheets that should withstand wind force and corrosion. But the problem with the anodised sheets is that the colour application will not be uniform. So spray painting should be done, but doing it regularly is not going to be practical. So the third option is to have aluminium composite panels.

And therein lies the reason for the delay. Unless studies are done which require a month at least, the architects cannot figure out whether the aluminium plates should be welded or screwed in. Hence the fake dome so Karunanidhi can hold the last full budget session from March 19 before the assembly elections. And here’s a question – didn’t Geodesic know that the new complex was slated for inauguration on March 13 and that the dome needed studies to figure out the wind force and corrosion? Consequently would it not have been logical to give themselves a buffer in terms of time?

The numbers game explodes
And here are some numbers: The legislative assembly and the secretariat complex at Omandurar estate will cost the exchequer about Rs 700 crore. A modern security system, which means Big Brother will be watching all your moves, will cost Rs 29 crore. So, obviously money is not the issue when it comes to the security of rulers. But lax describes it when it comes to the safety of the aam aadmi. For instance, dummy bombs meant for movies exploded and created a real scare among people living in Ashok Nagar this week because they were not aware that someone was stashing the bombs in their midst. An explosion this week in a congested area in Ashok Nagar killed “bomb” Ravi, five years after a similar explosion killed another in the same area. There is a “Action Special Effects Association” whose members make devices that are combined with balloons filled with fake blood to simulate shattered bone and tissue. In “bomb” Ravi’s case life imitated his craft. But while the big stars corner huge payoffs, stuntmen like Ravi and a 100 others live in thickly populated areas, paying small rents and work in conditions where an explosion is waiting to happen.

Scamming the mayor
But the mayor of Chennai, M Subramaniam, has other things to pre-occupy him. He told a recent meeting that despite the government blacklisting a number of NGOs  -- 2,000 alone came up after the tsunami and many were recently arrested for using money from foreign donors for their high maintenance lifestyles -- “fake” NGOs continued to flourish. He has personal experience of such a fraud. He told of how he was with a “senior political leader who knows how the Chennai Corporation functions” (that’s a description that fits deputy CM Stalin like a glove), when a man walked up to him and claimed his organization had built more than 50 water tanks for schools run by the Chennai Corporation. The man claimed he was from Coimbatore but insisted he had built the tanks, for which he had spent Rs 3.5 lakh each, for Chennai’s schools. “I told him there were 329 corporation schools in Chennai, of which only 21 had water tanks which were built by the Lions Club. And I had inaugurated all barring one.” The flummoxed man asked who he was and was told “I am the mayor of the city.” The man vanished. But I can’t help this comment: The scamster does not read the papers or watch TV? Because if he did, he would recognize Subramaniam.

But who is scamming, Mr Mayor?
Talking of scamming, the Chennai Corporation spent more than Rs 24 lakh on the inauguration of two flyovers(at Cenotaph Road and Alandur Road) and a subway (on Jones Road, Saidapet) by chief minister M Karunanidhi on December 11, 2009. According to a reply to an RTI filed by V Madhav of Porur, Rs 16.45 lakh was spent on the inauguration of the Cenotaph Road flyover while Rs 7.87 lakh was spent for the Alandur Road flyover and the Jones Road subway although no stage was put up and the CM inaugurated it sitting in his car. “The total amount spent for the functions is almost equal to the ward development fund of a councillor, which is Rs 25 lakh a year. At a time when the government is short of funds for welfare schemes, there should not be any wasteful expenditure,’’ Madhav said.

So, what was 24 lakhs spent on? Rs 8.3 lakh on lighting, mikes and ACs at the Cenotaph Road flyover inauguration, Rs 2.5 lakh on the stage arrangements and toilet facility for Karunanidhi, Rs 1.15 lakh was spent for chairs for VIP, VVIPs and members of the public, the fabricated tent and synthetic mat. In addition, booklets supplied to VIPs, VVIPs and the public on the two flyovers cost Rs 4.3 lakh, while Rs 3.53 lakh was spent on lighting arrangements on the Alandur Road flyover, the Jones Road subway and the approach roads. All this expenditure does not include the money spent on the CM’s security and newspaper advertisements. But Subramaniam’s defence? Spending Rs 25 lakh for a function in which the CM participates “cannot be considered unusual or unnecessary.”