The Kozhikode Municipal Corporation Council witnessed stormy scenes on Thursday as the Opposition councillors staged a walkout after Mayor A.K. Premajam denied permission for an adjournment motion by K. Sathyanathan, demanding the resignation of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Works standing committee chairman, who have been named as accused in a Vigilance case.
It was only last week that the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau booked five persons including the aforementioned in a case of misuse of funds for renovating a private road in Pottamal. The Opposition demanded that the accused resign till the investigation was completed. However, the Mayor denied permission to the motion on grounds that the matter was under the consideration of the court and hence could not be discussed in the council, which led to the walkout by the Opposition councillors.
The council, in the absence of the Opposition, passed another adjournment motion by O. Sadasivan demanding action against the police officer who unleashed violence against a LDF worker, during a protest against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
In response to a calling attention motion by P.V. Avaran, the council pointed out that the civic authorities were showing a lackadaisical attitude on the matter of non-functional streetlights in the city. In another calling attention motion, councillor P. Kishenchan pointed out that no works have yet been undertaken for the five projects including Medical College bus stand, multi-parking facility, Kalluthankadavu quarters and vegetable market, Meenchandha bus stand and lorry parking facility, which the previous council had sanctioned.
He alleged that Corporation failed to reimburse the funding from ICICI Kinfra for these projects and demanded a probe by the council committee. Later the council passed the agenda and adjourned.
