The criterion for determining zones for COVID-19 management led to heated discussions at the Kozhikode Corporation Council meeting on Friday.
Mayor Beena Philip presented a motion on the issue, while rejecting the request for an adjournment motion by councillor Rajesh Kumar on the unscientific lockdown based on test positivity rate (TPR). The Mayor, in her motion, pointed out that the present criterion for lockdown caused much difficulty to people. The Corporation decided to appeal to the district administration to consider the opinion of the ward-level rapid response teams while determining the zones.
Deputy Mayor C.P. Musafir Ahamed supported the motion while councillor S.K. Aboobakker pointed out that even wards that recorded less than 10 positive cases a week were placed under the ‘C’ category, along with the rest of the Corporation. “Shops should be able to open at least three days a week. Otherwise, people rush into the shops on the single working day. This will only lead to a rise in the number of positive cases,” he said.
Opposition leader K.C. Shobhita introduced an amendment to the motion to request the State government to reconsider the categorisation based on TPR.
The non-availability of vaccines and the uneven distribution among wards were also discussed. The Mayor requested the councillors to cooperate with the health wing to enable the smooth vaccination of maximum number of people in their respective wards.
Councillor T. Muralidharan presented a submission on problems related to pensions as mustering has not been carried out in the Corporation for two years. Welfare standing committee chairman P. Divakaran said the Corporation was introducing doorstep services for several welfare schemes and mustering was one of them. He said the facility would be operational by September.
Mr. Aboobakker’s demand to cancel the lease agreement for the KSRTC bus terminal complex at a rent of ₹10 per square feet drew flak from councillors of the ruling front, who were irked by his remark that the Chief Minister had vested interest in the matter.
Later, the Corporation passed two motions, one on the move to form a Union Ministry for cooperatives and another on the phone tapping row using Pegasus spyware, despite opposition from BJP councillors.
