Lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and a group of flood victims from Kaohsiung yesterday filed complaints with the Control Yuan against Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the Democratic Progressive Party, accusing her of neglecting her duties and allowing floods caused by Typhoon Fanapi to sweep the city on Sept. 19.
Speaking at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan before they headed to the government’s top watchdog agency, KMT legislators Chiu Yi (邱毅), Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) and Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏), as well as several Kaohsiung City councilors led by May Zai-hsin (梅再興) of the KMT, said that Chen should be held accountable for the disaster.
The group accused Chen and other city government officials of neglecting the city’s sewer system construction, failing to clean drainage ditches, dredging rivers and maintaining flood prevention facilities, which they said were the main causes of the massive flooding in the city.
Chiu accused the Kaohsiung City Government of misusing flood-prevention budgets for public relations purposes, adding that city authorities were also guilty of failing to respond in time to a central government request to dig detention basins and clean up blocked lakes.
Control Yuan member Tu Shan-liang (杜善良) received the complaint yesterday, saying the Control Yuan would conduct an investigation into the case.
Asked by KMT city councilors at Kaohsiung City Council, Chen said she would accept a Control Yuan probe. She added the city government is seeking cooperation with National Cheng Kung University’s -disaster-prevention center to better improve the city’s flood prevention systems.
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