A corporator of YSR Congress has been suspended from the proceedings of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) council meeting, which witnessed a furore over among other things, the Corporation’s move to hire sanitation staff on contract basis through open tenders on Thursday.
The meeting witnessed heated exchange of arguments as the YSRC members vehemently opposed the proposal, while the CPI (Marxist) members staged a dharna in protest against the decision. Tempers ran high as the members of the ruling and opposition parties traded charges, thoroughly disrupting the proceedings.
Water charges
Trouble began when some TDP corporators raised the issue of hiked water charges and wanted the authorities to slash it by seven per cent.
Taking a cue, the opposition members raised several other issues, with emphasis on contract sanitation staff and the VMC's alleged failure to meet drinking water needs of several localities. The opposition members wanted the TDP to come clear on the measures undertaken to alleviate the water woes. With the ruling members rebutting the charges, the house witnessed pandemonium for some time. YSR Congress corporator from 14th division U. Bahadur charged the Mayor Koneru Sridhar with being “inefficient” in discharging his duties. He went on to criticise the Mayor for his “miserable failure” in coming to the rescue of the residents facing hardships.
This led to heated arguments and the YSRC corporator was subsequently suspended from the proceedings for the day. Corporators demanded that the Corporation officials disclose the reasons for declaring more than 4,000 pensioners ineligible.
VMC Commissioner G. Veerapandian said the issue would be taken up with Janmabhoomi Committee to ascertain the rationale behind the move. This was followed with debate on pending legal cases, which had dues to the tune of Rs.30 crore to the VMC .
He replied that negotiations were being made with different parties for out-of-court settlement.
Menace of stray dogs also rocked the house with corporators complaining about the officials’ failure in addressing the issue.
Mr. Veerapandian said that Rs.50 lakh was sanctioned to set up a shelter house at Singhnagar for stray dogs and to purchase anti-rabies vaccine worth Rs.20 lakh.
