Chaos rules:Ruling and Opposition councillors of the
KozhikodeCorporation engaged in a verbal duel on Thursday in front
ofMayor A.K. Premajam over a recommendation to grant No Objection
Certificates to two bar hotels in the city.— Photo: K. RAGES.

 

Opposition sees ‘hidden agenda’ behind move to grant NOC.

The Kozhikode City Corporation Council meeting, on
Thursday, witnessed unruly scenes over a recommendation to allot bar
licences to two city hotels.

The Opposition
vehemently opposed a point in the agenda for the day wherein the health
standing committee had recommended to the council to provide ‘No
Objection Certificate’ (NOC) for the licence. The Opposition members
crowded around the Mayor’s dais, shouted slogans, and tore up the
printed agenda. They alleged that the ruling front councillors had a
hidden agenda in giving the NOC and charged the Mayor and councillors of
corruption. They walked out shouting that the Mayor should resign. The
Mayor declared that the agenda had been postponed and adjourned the
meeting.

When the NOC issue was introduced, C.P.
Salim of Congress declared that the Opposition was against it. As
Opposition leader M.T. Padma started to speak, protestors began shouting
slogans from the visitors’ gallery. Heated arguments were submerged by
shouts and slogans and the council dispersed without passing the
remaining points in the agenda.

The Kerala Madya
Nirodhana Samithi, Welfare Party, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishath
(ABVP), and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) activists took out a
protest march to the Corporation on the issue ahead of the council
meeting.

Mayor’s version

Later,
speaking to reporters in her chamber, Mayor A.K. Premajam said that the
health standing committee that consisted of five members from the
ruling front and four from the Opposition had unanimously given approval
to the two applications for NOC after inspecting the hotels. The
members of the Opposition who had not objected then were now protesting
with the sole aim of creating confusion. “They did not even give me a
chance to speak. They wanted me to reject the suggestion completely. How
can I do that without discussion? Hence I postponed it,” she said.

In another press meet, Ms. Padma said that it was the duty of the council to correct the mistakes of the standing committees.

“The
standing committee’s role was only to check if there were any legal
grounds to deny the NOC, which were nil. But it is up to the council to
decide whether to provide the NOC on moral grounds,” said councillor
Mohammed Ali of IUML.

“The Mayor denied the council a
chance to discuss the issue. We wanted to discuss and put it to vote,”
said P. Kishenchand of Socialist Janata (Democratic), also a member of
the health standing committee. Mr. Ali said a section of the ruling
councillors was ready to vote against the agenda.

Earlier,
the council meeting began by unanimously passing an emergency
resolution mooted by M. Radhakrishnan of the Communist Party of India
(Marxist) and M.T. Padma of the Congress to express the council’s
protest against the Railway Budget which had “neglected the State, and
especially Malabar. The calling attention session too went off
peacefully. A few items in the agenda invited opposition and were
postponed for discussion before the controversial item was introduced.