26-07-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Alleging irregularities in flower market leasing, AIADMK councillors walk out of Salem corpn meeting
SALEM: Alleging irregularities in the leasing process of the VOC Flower Market complex, AIADMK councillors led by party's leader of opposition in the council N Yadavamoorthy walked out of the Salem City Municipal Corporation's monthly council meeting, on Friday.
The meeting was chaired by Mayor A Ramachandran, along with Deputy Mayor M Saradha Devi and Salem City Corporation Commissioner M Elangovan.
The AIADMK councillors strongly opposed the corporation's move to lease the flower market shops directly to vendors. The complex, developed under the Smart City project under the AIADMK regime, was originally leased to a private party. After the private party withdrew from the contract, the corporation invited fresh tenders and decided to handle the leasing by itself.
AIADMK councillors said the corporation is now demanding advance payments of up to Rs 8 lakh and monthly rents of up to Rs 20,000 from vendors. They argued that such high costs would be unaffordable for small flower sellers who have been operating at the market for decades.
