The ruling LDF and the Opposition BJP engaged in a tussle at the Corporation council meeting on Friday over alleged politicisation of Kudumbashree. The BJP members later walked out of the meeting.
The issue cropped up towards the end of the council meeting, during a discussion on the Destitute-free Kerala project. It was noted that the project, which the State government proposed to implement through Kudumbashree, was yet to begin in the city Corporation. A meeting chaired by the Mayor had earlier decided to continue with the Aashraya project, until the list of beneficiaries for the new project was completely vetted. The funds for providing food to the beneficiaries until the beginning of the new project would hence be utilised from the Aashraya project.
The BJP, however, alleged that the delay was a sign of how Kudumbashree was moving away from its core aim, as the various units were now being used for the Left’s political programmes. They alleged that Kudumbashree workers were busy with programmes such as the ‘women’s wall’. This led to a slanging match between both sides, following which the BJP councillors walked out, raising slogans against the alleged politicisation of Kudumbashree.
Housing scheme
In another major discussion, councillors raised the issues faced by beneficiaries of the Pradhan Manthri Awas Yojana owing to lack of proper land ownership records. Councillors from the coastal wards said many beneficiaries faced this issue. The village officers were not helpful in providing documents for proof of ownership, they alleged. They demanded an increase in the number of beneficiaries in view of the high demand for houses in each ward.
In his reply, Mayor V.K. Prashant said clear instructions had been given to officials that beneficiaries can be chosen if they produced land possession documents from the village office. Applications for plots located on puramboke land or close to the sea cannot be cleared. In the case of the few wards where there had been difficulty in getting the possession document from the village office, the Corporation would take steps to ensure that it was provided soon.
It had also been decided to send notices to 2,184 beneficiaries chosen in the past five phases of PMAY, who had not yet inked the agreement with the Corporation. In case they do not respond within a specific date, their selection would be annulled and other beneficiaries would be selected. On the restriction on the number of beneficiaries in each of the phases, the Mayor said the Corporation was struggling to meet the funds required for the same from its own funds. In addition to the PMAY-LIFE beneficiary lists, the Corporation had also provided funds to 645 families to buy land.
