Kerala - Kozhikode   

Walkout over refusal to discuss garbage issue

Staff Reporter

Mayor says problems in waste clearance have been sorted out

Kozhikode: The Opposition members, comprising those of the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), staged a walkout from the corporation council meeting here on Tuesday.

This followed Mayor M. Bhaskaran refusing to entertain a calling attention motion seeking the council to discuss the issue of removing garbage from various parts of the city.

The seven United Democratic Front (UDF) members in the 55-member council also boycotted further proceedings of the council meeting in the afternoon. P.K. Mamukoya, Congress councillor, who raised the issue as soon as the council assembled, requested that the meeting discuss the issue. Garbage was piling up in different places in the city, he said.

Procedures

However, the Mayor said that raising a calling attention motion required certain procedures. Besides, the corporation had sorted out the issue.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) members, including Pratap Kumar and P.T. Rajan, supported the Mayor.

Mr. Mamukoya said he too should be heard and the issue taken up at the council meeting. Demanding justice from the Mayor, he led the walkout with the two Congress and four IUML members, including Opposition Leader P. Mamukoya Haji.

Insurance scheme

The Mayor allowed another calling attention motion raised by the CPI(M) member V.V. Sivadas on the issue of a private company being awarded an insurance scheme for Kudumbasree volunteers.

The local bodies would be forced to stop health and sanitation activities if a private insurance company were to flourish in the State, he said.

The Janata Dal (S) member P. Kishanchand said the State Government had taken a unilateral decision asking local bodies to allocate funds for the scheme in their annual expenditure. Kudumbasree volunteers were already getting free treatment at Government hospitals, he said.

The Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) member U.T. Rajan and Pratap Kumar of the CPI(M) spoke.

In his reply, Mr. Bhaskaran said the Government had convened a meeting of mayors, municipal chairpersons and president of the association of grama panchayats in the State capital on Tuesday.

It had also issued a circular threatening to withdraw the amount meant for the insurance scheme from the Plan fund if the local bodies failed to implement the scheme, he said.

The CPI(M) member P. Divakaran, through a calling attention motion, raised the issue of water shortage in several parts of the city.

Kerala Water Authority (KWA) officials were not making alternative arrangements, though there was an acute shortage of water in some places for the last 18 days.

Asha Sasankan, the lone CPI member, spoke about flourishing drug peddling in Bangladesh colony.

Mr. Sivadas of the CPI(M) supported her. Nearly 22 people had died on account of this in the last few months.

Drug peddling had also spread to schools and colleges in the city, he said.

A DIC(K) member demanded that the Government establish a police station at Vellayil. Meladi Narayan, CPI(M) member, said the city had become a haven for drug peddlers.

The councillors P.K. Shalini, CPI(M), and K.C. Anil Kumar, independent, raised environmental issues at Muzhikkal and Canoli Canal, respectively.

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