Demand for Vizag Mayor's Resignation Over Funds Scam
Full-throated protests by alliance corporators citing 'bribes, fund swindling'
Visakhapatnam: The council meeting of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation on Tuesday was postponed by a day following a full-throated demand and disruption of the proceedings by the Alliance corporators seeking the City Mayor’s resignation.
Ward 93 corporator Raparthi Trivenivara Prasad Rao alleged that mayor Hari Venkata Kumari thwarted a probe into a multi-crore misappropriation in the civic body, and that she took a bribe on this count.
Former municipal commissioner Sai Kanth Varma and other civic body officials had also shared the spoils, he alleged.
Corporators gathered around the mayor’s podium, insisting on the mayor’s resignation. This led to an adjournment of the council meeting to Wednesday.
Prasad said the GVMC official involved in the `5 crore scam allegedly paid “bribes to the mayor, a former GVMC commissGVMC councilors from TD and opposition parties stage a sit-in protest at the Mayor's podium during the GVMC Council meeting in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. Photo: P Narasimha Murthyioner and other officials to prevent an inquiry.”
“A YSRC leader brought the entire issue to light a few months ago. The civic authorities should answer why the inquiry was not conducted,” he said.
The TD corporator demanded that the mayor step down from her post immediately to facilitate a fair inquiry. “She can be reinstated if it is proven that she is not guilty,” he said.
He alleged that the official in question was from the Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA). “He misappropriated `4 crore intended for sanitation staff, over a three-year period.”
There were heated arguments between YSRC floor leader Srinivasa Rao, deputy mayor Satish and the NDA corporators.
As the corporators' protest intensified, the mayor adjourned the council for 10 minutes. Thereafter too, the corporators continued to disrupt the proceedings, prompting the mayor to order an hour-long recess. This too did not help pacify the protesters. Finally, the mayor announced that the meeting has been adjourned and the council shall reconvene on Wednesday.
This was the first GVMC council meeting after the change of government took place three months ago.
This hurt the interests of the council members, MLAs and MLCs. MLCs Botsa Satynarayana Varadu Klyani, Ravi Kumar, MLAs Vishnukumar Raju and Vamshi Krishna Yadav attended the meeting.
Although two carefully prepared agendas with 75 items were scheduled for the council’s consideration, no discussion took place.
This was the first time that the GVMC council meeting was adjourned due to protests, in the three and a half years since its formation.
In response to the alliance corporators' demand for the mayor’s resignation, the YSRC corporators announced a counter-protest at the GVMC Gandhi Statue on Wednesday.