The Corporation Council meeting on Wednesday decided to approve the agreement with Suchitwa Mission and Loro Green Clean City Pvt Ltd for supply of 35 tonnes of garbage daily to the waste treatment plant to come up at Chala, with certain amendments.
The meeting took the decision after heated arguments between councillors belonging to different fronts.
Left Democratic Front (LDF) councillors agreed that the supply agreement should be approved by the Corporation at the earliest with amendments to certain clauses that were found detrimental to the interests of the civic body.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashok Kumar alleged that the entire deal was suspicious and involved collusion between State government leaders and American firms. United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders dismissed his allegations as “hearsay and entirely baseless”
UDF councillor Mujeeb Rahman said instead of insisting on reopening the Vilappilsala plant, the scheme should be implemented soon to tackle the worsening garbage crisis. He added that the clauses identified by the Corporation’s legal counsel Nadakumara Menon had only been listed and the reasons detailing how they proved to be harmful for the civic body had not been furnished sufficiently.
Deputy Mayor G. Happykumar concluded the discussion stating that the delay was justified as they, “cannot afford another Vilappilsala” and the civic body needs to proceed carefully. “We are not abstaining from signing the agreement, but this is not an issue that can be sorted out easily. Anything that seems to affect the Corporation’s functioning must be looked into and rectified,” he said.
Regarding the creation of a special town planning committee to finalise terms of the city master plan, UDF councillors insisted that the Corporation’s Town Planning committee chairperson, Vanaja Rajendra Babu, should be included in the panel. As per the Government Town Planning Act, this is not possible and hence the council agreed to request the government to include her and the Deputy Mayor.
The issue of transferring Health Officer D. Sreekumar came up again .UDF leader Johnson Joseph staunchly disagreed to passing a resolution that pertained to the transfer of a single official. The UDF stance was somewhat eased with Mujeeb Rehman and Maheswaran Nair agreeing that Dr. Sreekumar had performed well, subsequently leading to the passing of the resolution.
