The meeting of the Kozhikode Corporation Council on Thursday witnessed dramatic events including walkouts by the Opposition and even the Mayor herself.
The Mayor’s denial of permission for an adjournment motion by Opposition leader M.T. Padma led to heated arguments and a walkout of the opposition councillors right at the beginning of the council meeting that lasted for over a minute.
In her motion, M.T. Padma had wanted to demand the resignation of Mayor A.K. Premajam and Deputy Mayor P.T. Adul Latheef in the light of the vigilance case against the duo. The Mayor denied permission to present or discuss the motion on the grounds that it did not have an emergency nature.
Later in the session, Councillor N.C. Moyinkutty urged the Mayor to respond on a question he had asked two months ago concerning the ownership of the Kudumbasree E-shops.
Then, there was the issue of the construction of the Medical College bus terminus. The Opposition alleged that the council was not informed of the denial of permission to the construction of the bus terminus with private partnership.
The Mayor’s response to both the issues was not satisfactory to the Opposition who walked out for the second time.
More drama
Another dramatic incident of the day was concerning the misuse of Councillor Abdulla Koya’s letter-head by former Project Officer of Kudumbasree Ramsi Ismail.
Mr. Koya alleged that the official, who was transferred from his post recently, had misused his letter-head to write a letter to Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikkuty with allegations against Minister for Social justice M.K. Muneer.
In his calling attention motion, he planned to blame the Mayor for participating in an event which the said official had organised.
However, the Mayor denied permission to present the motion following which Mr. Koya staged a sit-in in front of the Mayor’s desk.
As the opposition councillors joined him with arguments, it was the Mayor’s turn to walk out. The session resumed only after 20 minutes.
Cleaning of the drainages in Chalappuram market, the constant disruption of water supply in various parts of the city, the problem concerning distribution of form for online sand distribution at Cheruvannur zonal office of the Corporation, and another concerning providing building permits were discussed after some of the councillors drew the attention of the council towards them.
Confusion regarding one of the items in the agenda, which turned out to be an error from the part of Corporation officials, was discussed and cleared.
Opposition walks out twice during council meet
Mayor also walks out after sit-in by a councillor
