Urban News

The Hindu 30.03.2010

Kochi Corporation: Opposition boycotts budget discussion

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The Opposition councillors of Kochi Corporation on Monday boycotted the budget discussion after a heated exchange between the ruling and Opposition members went out of control and some councillors used abusive language against one another.

Trouble broke out when some of the LDF members objected to the Congress councillor N. Venugopal continuing his speech even after the extended deadline. Though Mayor Mercy Williams invited N. Anilkumar, the Works Standing Committee Chairman, to speak, Mr. Venugopal continued with his speech. This infuriated CPI (M) councillors, who vociferously protested against Mr. Venugopal. At one stage, T.K. Shamsudheen, the Welfare Standing Committee Chairman, and Mr. Venugopal came face to face shouting and hurling abuse at each other.

Repeated attempts of the leaders to pacify the agitated councillors failed and the Opposition councillors started shouting slogans inside the Council hall. Some of them tore away the budget papers in protest before walking out of the hall. Later, they held a protest meeting at the portico of the Council building.

Earlier, participating in the discussion, A.B. Sabu, leader of the UDF in the council, said that the budget was an attempt to hoodwink the people of Kochi. Many of the projects announced earlier were presented in the council as new ones after renaming them. The civic authorities failed in launching new programmes and completing the earlier ones, he said. The administration, which failed to mobilise revenue, was just redistributing the support extended to it by the Central government. It also failed in identifying new revenue sources. Though a large number of buildings have come up in the city, it did not reflect in the earnings of the corporation, he said.

K.J. Antony, CPIM (M) councillor, supported the budget as he felt that it had taken care of the growing demands of the West Kochi area.

The proposal to buy passenger boats would benefit the people of West Kochi.

The budget proposals would help to ensure comprehensive development of the city, he said.

Mr. Venugopal said several errors had crept into the budget.

The Hindu 24.03.2010

Civic body to take Rs.60 crore as loan

Special Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram: The City Corporation will take a Rs.60-crore loan from the Thiruvananthapuram District Cooperative Bank (DCB) for the EMS Housing Scheme.

Deputy Mayor V. Jayaprakash told the Corporation Council here on Tuesday that the assistance would require a government guarantee. “The repayment of the loan would be from the Corporation's Plan fund assistance,” he said. “As many as 9,000 houses are to be constructed for weaker sections in the city under various schemes including the Basic Service for the Urban Poor (BSUP), scattered housing scheme and the coastal housing programme, apart from the EMS scheme to be implemented in 14 wards,” he added.

The Opposition UDF members said the EMS scheme was not practical, given the need to procure land for landless families. But the ruling front maintained that the project was going ahead and would be completed.

The Council adopted a resolution urging the government to regulate parking on the road from Sreekaryam to Plamoodu. Moving the resolution, UDF leader Johnson Joseph said careless parking of vehicles was responsible for accidents on the congested stretch. He stressed the need to widen the road from Ulloor to Sreekaryam to remove the traffic bottleneck. During the debate on the resolution, councillors highlighted the need for foot overbridges to help pedestrians cross busy roads. UDF councillors questioned the Mayor's refusal to allow discussion on an adjournment motion by Poundukadavu ward councillor Veli Varghese on the inauguration of work on a breakwater at Veli.