The budget discussion session of the Kochi Corporation held on Monday
turned out to be a stormy one with the Opposition councillors alleging
that the budget presented by Deputy Mayor B Bhadra the other day has
failed to address the basic issues of the city, including the potable
water crisis and solid waste management.

The Opposition members
alleged that the budget was prepared without discussing the proposals at
the Finance Standing Committee or the steering committee meeting.

However,
the Congress ‘I’ group Councillors stayed away from the discussions and
remained silent throughout the session as the Mayor and his team of ‘A’
faction councillors tried to defend the budget proposals. Opposition
councillor M P Maheshkumar said that most of the proposals had been
included in the budget without any discussions at the Finance Standing
Committee meeting. “Even in the case of the Brahmapuram Solid Waste
Treatment Plant, the Mayor has misled the council by displaying some
images of the garden in front of the plant. Heaps of garbage has been
piled up at the plant, including plastic trash,” Maheshkumar said after
tabling the images taken by the Opposition councillors.

Opposition
leader K J Jacob alleged that though the budget has mooted some
women-friendly projects under the ‘Sabala’ scheme, no specific fund
allocation has been made in the budget.

Left Councillors M Anil
Kumar, K N Sunil Kumar, C A Shakeer and P S Prakash also spoke. From the
ruling front, Soumini Jain, R Thyagarajan, Asha Pious, Essy Joseph and
Delina Pinheiro participated in the discussion.

The budget will be
passed on Tuesday. 14 members of the Congress-I group are not likely to
vote against the budget even if the Opposition demands a voting.