With the Opposition raising the issue of “mismanagement” of vehicles owned by the Kochi Corporation, the civic body will come out with a status report on the vehicles shortly.
The next meeting of the monitoring committee for vehicles will prepare the status report. The committee had been reviewing the progress of repair and management of the vehicles, said V.K. Minimol, chairperson of the health standing committee of the corporation.
Left Democratic Front (LDF) members of the corporation council have been mounting pressure on civic administrators through a persistent campaign to highlight the issue of what they called “mismanagement of vehicles”.
Groups of LDF councillors had visited various workshops in the city to identify vehicles of the civic body kept for repair. They had also spotted a few abandoned ones in the process, besides coming out with a list of over 200 vehicles during the campaign.
The LDF team, which was led by K.J. Antony and V.P. Chandran, had also alleged that the civic body was spending huge amounts every month for hiring vehicles when those of the corporation were left unattended or abandoned.
Meanwhile, terming the count of vehicles made by the LDF councillors baseless, Ms. Minimol said as many as 98 vehicles were being managed by the health standing committee.
She added that the committee had details on the condition of all vehicles managed by it.
There are 31 other vehicles that need to be auctioned off. They are old ones and damaged beyond repair. Steps are being taken for selling them off, she said.
Ms. Minimol added that as many as 64 autorickshaws that were purchased during the term of the previous LDF-led council were handed over to individuals without proper records and documents. The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau is looking into the issue, she said.
After the LDF raised the issue in the council, the civic administration decided to form a high-level committee to oversee the management of vehicles.
A committee consisting of the leader of the Opposition and chairpersons of the health and works standing committees will supervise the management of vehicles. The status report will be placed before the committee when it begins its business, Ms. Minimol said.
