Chaos at Kochi corporation council meet, mayor blocked
During the noisy scenes, the Mayor announced that the agenda was passed and adjourned the meeting.
KOCHI: Unruly scenes prevailed at the Corporation council meeting on Monday with both ruling and opposition councillors alleging there were attempts to manhandle them. While three opposition councillors K.J Basil, T.K Shamsudeen and Benedict Fernandez blocked Mayor Soumini Jain, V.R Sudheer and K.X Francis from the ruling side, tried to prevent them. Meanwhile, development committee chairperson Gracy Joseph complained that Benedict Fernandez slapped her face. Benedict also complained that UDF councillors tried to manhandle him.
The issue began when UDF councillor Ansa James criticized LDF councillor Adv. Sunila Selvan for her remarks against the Mayor. “It is unfortunate that Sunila is constantly criticizing the Mayor. If she has any complaints, it should be raised personally and not in council sessions,” she said. The Mayor did not allow Adv. Sunila to reply to the statement and that triggered heated arguments between the opposition and ruling benches. During the noisy scenes, the Mayor announced that the agenda was passed and adjourned the meeting.
Meanwhile, T.K Shamsudeen rushed to the Mayor’s chair and started shouting slogans and tried to block Ms. Jain from exiting the council hall. Tense moments prevailed at the Mayor’s chamber when councillors started shouting. Senior councillors like T.K Ashraf, K.J Antony and A. B Sabu were seen trying to pacify aggressive colleagues. Later, Adv. Sunila was given a chance to express her stand and talks between leaders of political parties were also held.
Opposition alleges serious lapses in tax collection During the council meeting, CPM member V.P Chandran criticized the local body for financial indiscipline. While raising the case of the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium which owes Rs 75 lakh as tax default, Mr. Chandran said that for more than 25 years, the stadium had been functioning illegally. “All the buildings in the stadium complex are unauthorised and not paying property tax to the civic body,” he said.
Recently, The State Sports Council submitted a letter to the Corporation secretary requesting that the buildings in the stadium complex should be registered in the name of the council as it has remitted the land tax till the year 2016-17. The mosquito menace, the delay in setting up the slaughterhouse at Mattancherry, the ban on plastic carry bags were some of the other issues discussed in the council session.