With reference to your article, “Know Your Government-Councillors” (Ipoh Echo, December 16), I would boldly state that, almost 80% of the residents hardly know their council members. From the 24 zones in Ipoh City, few councillors visit their respective zones, while the rest are in sleeping mode.
However, my observations have caught the attention of the very active councillor of Taman Cherry and Lim Gardens. Dato’ Dr Naran Singh has been going all out to help all residents in his zone and Buntong. As a resident of Buntong, I have noticed numerous times, that, he and the Ipoh City Council have helped to repair roads, damaged drains, clear bushes, collect rubbish and clear some illegal dump sites.
Recently, he even hired lorries to collect the garden refuse, hired contractors to cut grass, leaves and tree branches. Buntong is an area with many abandoned houses. These houses are breeding grounds for snakes. This situation becomes worse after rainy seasons. Dato’ Dr Naran had attended to many of these complaints and overcome the problems. He truly fits the Ipoh City Council’s slogan, ‘Clean, Green and Developed’.
One should not forget that, local government are endowed with the power by the Local Government Act 1976 to provide goods and services to local people. Thus, it’s obligatory that councillors in Ipoh play an active role to ensure that local development issues are resolved.
Hopefully, there are more councillors like Dato’ Dr Naran to truly serve the people with transparency and accountability. Then, the taxpayers monies are justified.
S. Sundralingam
