A meeting of the city Corporation council, on Wednesday, passed an adjournment motion to set up a Special Purpose Vehicle for the monitoring and operation of low-floor buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme.
The SPV, which will include representatives of the State government, the local body, and the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), will decide the routes and bus fares.
The resolution said the creation of such a committee was stipulated in the JNNURM guidelines, but no initiative had been taken in this regard.
Mayor K. Chandrika is accompanying Cardinal-designate Mar Baselios Cleemis to the Vatican on Thursday and on her return next week, discussions will be held with Minister for Transport Aryadan Mohammed and officials of the KSRTC.
In yet another council meeting punctuated by heated arguments, the chunk of the time was spent debating the contributions of Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor as MP representing the region. When the councillors of the United Democratic Front vociferously cited the improvements Mr. Tharoor had brought about, especially with regard to installing street lights at busy junctions, members of the ruling Left Democratic Front claimed it was hardly sufficient.
This led to a discussion on the proposed Twin City pact between Thiruvananthapuram and Barcelona.
Johnson Joseph, leader of the UDF, alleged that it was the fault of Ms. Chandrika for not following through on the proposal. She responded by passing around a letter she had sent to the then Union Minister for Urban Development S. Jaipal Reddy in 2010 requesting the Centre’s sanction for entering into an agreement with the local body of another country.
As part of the campaign against plastic, a resolution regarding the agreement signed with the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology for stamping hologram stickers on plastic carry-bags was adopted.
The council is yet to appoint its representative to the expert panel required by the High Court to study the impact of the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant. A special council meeting will be held on November 30 to discuss the activities of ward-level Samrakshana Samithis (protection councils) in decentralised waste management.
