Hyderabad: A tense situation prevailed at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation head office here on Tuesday as BJP corporators staged an instant protest. They tried to enter the chamber of mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi and damaged furniture and flowerpots there, seeking an urgent general body meeting of the GHMC.
Some BJP corporators were injured when cops including women constables forcibly shifted the agitating corporators to the police station.
Police were deployed in large numbers at the GHMC office to prevent any untoward incident. Angry corporators raised slogans against Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao, municipal administration minister Rama Rao and police officials who stood by.
They demanded that the mayor come to the GHMC office and assure them of holding an urgent general body meeting. “For the last nine months, no council meeting was held,” they pointed out.
“In view of Covid-19 pandemic, a virtual meeting was conducted five months ago but this did not help solve several pending problems of the wards. There was no developmental work in the GHMC and bills of contractors remained unpaid. We got appointments for a meeting with the mayor several times, but she always skipped it,” they alleged.
BJP corporators said that while they staged the protest at GHMC head office in a peaceful manner, the police forcibly shifted them to the police station. “If the mayor does not hold the council meeting, we will stage protests at the offices of the CM and municipal minister,” they warned.
Women corporators said that as elected representatives of the people, they were duty-bound to resolve the civic problems, but the TRS dispensation intentionally ignored the BJP corporators. “We staged the agitation peacefully and democratically but why did the police act in a high-handed manner,” they asked.
The women corporators asked women constables not to behave rudely while shifting them to the police station.
BJP state president Bandi Sanjay condemned the arrest of BJP corporators and demanded their unconditional release. “The TRS government is violating the rights of elected representatives of local bodies. Ignoring all norms, the TRS party formed standing councils with their members. Pending bills of contractors are not cleared and hence they are refusing to take up new works in the city,” he said.
Sanjay said the mayor and the commissioner are not available to hear about the problems of the corporators and the people.
