The city Corporation council witnessed unruly scenes for the second time in a week, with councillors of the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) disrupting the proceedings, demanding a discussion on issues related to revenue collection.
Mayor Arya Rajendran suspended BJP councillor V.G. Girikumar for alleged attempt to heckle Deputy Mayor P.K. Raju during the protests in the well of the council hall.
Help desk
Early on in the council meet, BJP councillor M.R. Gopan demanded that time should be allocated for a discussion on the recent cases of alleged corruption in the Corporation's zonal offices. He demanded that the Corporation should open a help desk for the public to check whether they have lost any money due to fund misappropriation by officials in the zonal offices.
Refusing permission for the discussion, the Mayor said it was the Corporation administration itself that had unearthed the corruption carried out by some officials in zonal offices, and it was not right for others to claim credit for the same and blame the administration.
"As soon as the case of corruption was reported in the Sreekaryam zonal office, we wrote to the local fund audit director, requesting for inspection in all zonal offices. Two officials were suspended in the Sreekaryam zonal office, while the superintendent and the cashier of the Nemom zonal office were suspended. Today, an office attendant from the Attipra zonal office was suspended. The report from four more zones are awaited, based on which action will be taken. A police case has also been registered over fund misappropriation," said the Mayor.
Blame game
However, the BJP councillors continued their sloganeering, displaying placards and flex-boards, accusing the ruling LDF of aiding corruption, prompting the LDF councillors to accuse the BJP of coming prepared for a protest and refusing to take part in any discussion.
Mr. Girikumar refused to leave the council hall despite repeated reminders from the Mayor. As the sloganeering continued, the agenda items were passed without any discussion. After the meeting, the LDF councillors staged a protest in front of the Corporation office, accusing the BJP councillors of trying to heckle the Deputy Mayor, while the BJP councillors continued their protest inside the council hall.
Published - September 29, 2021 07:02 pm IST
