Strict action taken by the city Mayor against erring revenue officials became a useful tool for the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which accused him of double standards in not taking action against a revenue official who had publicly criticised the Mayor and councillors. The BJP councillors who demanded that the said official be summoned to the council and censured walked out of the council meeting on Tuesday as the Mayor refused to do so.
The issue began at a meeting of the Corporation council last month, when Communist Party of India councillor Solomon Vettukad and Congress (S) councillor Palayam Rajan criticised certain officials who were allegedly delaying delivery of services to the public to get bribes.
Remarks about Mayor
The Kerala Municipal and Corporation Staff Union (KMCSU) took offence to these remarks, and took out a protest march and held a meeting at the Corporation office on July 1, in which Suresh, KMCSU leader and revenue inspector, had allegedly made comments about the Mayor and the councillors.
BJP councillor M.R. Gopan, who raised the issue in the council meeting, questioned why Mr. Suresh was not punished though some revenue officials were suspended for a delay in remitting the daily revenue collections to the official account.
Special treatment
United Democratic Front councillor D. Anilkumar alleged that this revenue inspector was getting special treatment and he had been given the responsibility of only two wards, while others had the charge of more than six wards.
Mayor V.K. Prasanth said that he had received complaints regarding the official and had asked the Corporation secretary to conduct an inquiry and submit a report, after which action would be decided.
“We have seen several protest meetings being organised in the Corporation office. People raise many kinds of allegations in such meetings. But no one has ever demanded action over it. Action against some officials were taken for erring in their official duty. The inquiry report in this will be placed in the council and we will decide on the action then,” said the Mayor.
The BJP councillors were unsatisfied with this and continued raising slogans in the council, even as UDF councillor Beemapally Rashid tried to raise the issue of people in the coastal areas who have lost their houses to sea erosion. The councillors later walked out.
House for coastal people
Mr. Rashid demanded inclusion of around 200 families who had lost their houses at Beemapally in the LIFE housing project. He later covered his mouth with a black cloth and staged a gagged protest. The Mayor, in his reply, said the government had already rehabilitated 192 families in the coastal areas as part of the Muttathara housing project, as well as 287 families at Mathippuram and Kalladimukham. Land for three more projects had also been identified, under which these families could be considered.
