Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Corpn. office witnesses unruly scenes

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM March 5. The functioning of the city Corporation office was disrupted today after the Opposition UDF councillors locked the Mayor, J. Chandra, in her chamber, and a skirmish broke out between the ruling and Opposition members today morning.

The UDF members accused the Mayor of having been hand-in-glove with the DYFI activists who waved black flags at the Local Administration Minister, Cherkkalam Abdullah, here on Tuesday.

The incident occurred when Prof. Chandra was chairing a review meeting of the Thrikannapuram drinking water scheme in her chamber at around 11 a.m. along with the Kerala Water Authority chief engineer, superintending engineer, Corporation secretary, superintending engineer and others.

The UDF parliamentary party leader, K. Maheswaran Nair, the Congress member, D. Sudarsanan, and the CMP councillor, M.P. Saju, entered the chamber and declared that they were going on an agitation to protest against the black flag demonstration against Mr. Abdullah and for not inviting Mr. Nair and Mr.Saju for the garbage collection project launched on Tuesday.

Prof.Chandra then told them that she was busy with the meeting and was not opposed to the UDF going on an agitation. The trio then came out and locked her chamber and office.

The UDF councillors assembled there and started shouting slogans. The Corporation staff owing allegiance to the LDF then took out a demonstration to protest against the locking up of the Mayor and the staff. The LDF councillors soon reached the scene and a heated argument broke out with the UDF members. This was followed by a scuffle.

A posse of police that reached the office forced the rival groups of councillors to withdraw. The CPI(M) members, Sukharno, V.S. Padmakumar, and K.C. Vikraman tried to enter the Mayor's chamber and this again led to an altercation. LDF workers started collecting before the office from different parts of the city. Police then removed the UDF councillors from the office and took them to the Museum police station. The KWA officers were also forced to stay in the chamber for nearly an hour.

Meanwhile, DYFI activists too gathered before the office and Suresh Babu, a DYFI activist, allegedly assaulted the Museum Circle Inspector, Sreedharan. Police have registered a case against Suresh Babu, but no case has been taken against the councillors. Four of the councillors, Mr. Nair, Mr. Sudarsanan, Mr. Saju and Xavier Lopez, have been admitted to the hospital.

Prof. Chandra denied the charge that she had prior information about the DYFI action. She wanted the Government to act against those who held her hostage. The Minister did not have any complaints and he did not talk about it at the meeting, Prof.Chandra said.

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