The Kochi Corporation council meeting, which was convened to discuss the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order that slapped a hefty fine on the civic body, ended in mayhem for the second consecutive day on Thursday, with the Opposition councillors disrupting the proceedings.
Mayor Soumini Jain, who chaired the previous council meeting, had abrogated the proceedings after the LDF-led Opposition raised a banner of protest and demanded voting in the council on discussions on the NGT order.
Though the tribunal had slapped a heavy fine on the civic body for the “tardy handling” of solid waste management and the absence of a leachete treatment plant, the Kerala High Court had stayed the order.
On Thursday, the Opposition councillors once again disrupted the proceedings after their members completed their speeches at the meeting.
They also heckled the Mayor while she attempted to reply to the debate. They also shouted down V.K. Minimol, chairperson of the health standing committee, when she tried to explain the activities undertaken on the Brahmapuram campus.
Earlier, CPI(M) members V.P. Chandran, K.J. Antony, and Poornima Narayan, chairperson of the education standing committee, had come down on the civic administration for its “poor” management of the solid waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram.
The LDF councillors, who held the civic administration responsible for the adverse remarks from the NGT and the hefty fine, said the Mayor and the administration should own up responsibility for the developments.
Ms. Narayan said the civic administration had failed in its responsibilities, thereby incurring huge loss.
The administration could not streamline the e-governance project even after spending a huge sum on it, she added.
Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor T.J. Vinod informed the council that the tender floated for setting up the leachete treatment plant had to be put on hold after discrepancies were detected in the financial and technical bids submitted by an agency.
The task of setting up the facility, as suggested by the NGT, shall be entrusted with the Suchitwa Mission, he suggested.
A.B. Sabu, chairperson of the welfare standing committee, said the State government and its agencies were responsible for the slow progress of the waste-to-energy plant project as they was delay in issuing statutory clearances for it.
The Mayor ended the council proceedings after the Opposition councillors interrupted her reply by shouting slogans.
