The meeting of the Kozhikode Corporation council on Wednesday witnessed heated arguments as a few councillors in the opposition alleged that the method for selecting beneficiaries for the LIFE housing scheme was unscientific.
Councillor S.V.S.M. Shameel pointed out that a large number of deserving people in his ward were not considered for the project citing technicalities. “There are people who do not own a ration card and have not been classified as APL or BPL....people who do not even have a temporary roof over their heads to get a ration card,” he said.
Congress councillor P.M. Niyas supported him stating that a large majority of deserving people, like differently-abled people, had been excluded as they had no place in the LIFE Mission data base because they did not fit into the listed categories. Mayor Thottathil Raveendran, who chaired the session, assured that the issue would be brought before the State government.
Earlier, BJP councillor Nambidi Narayanan presented a submission criticising the organising of large-scale entertainment programmes at S.K. Square on S.M. Street. He pointed out that the crowd at the entrance of the street was a disturbance to shoppers. Janata Dal (U) councillor P. Kishenchand called for a restriction on programmes at the square and that the forthcoming musical night in memory of actor Kalabhavan Mani should be held elsewhere.
The council agreed with the suggestions.
