Pandemonium over budget at corporation council meeting

Mayor Soumini Jain with her torn gown after an opposition councillor attempted to prevent her from leaving the hall during the budget discussion.   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Opposition councillor attempts to prevent Mayor from leaving hall

The annual budget of the city corporation for the year 2018-2019 was passed on Tuesday amidst protests by the opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) councillors.

The ruckus in the council started as soon as it met for the budget discussion. The Opposition raised slogans against Mayor Soumini Jain for allegedly presenting the budget in violation of the Kerala Municipal Rules.

As the protests intensified, the Mayor left the chair by declaring that the budget had been approved. Pandemonium prevailed in the council when an opposition councillor, Sunila Selvan, attempted to prevent the Mayor from leaving the hall by pulling her gown.

Following this, the Mayor lodged a police complaint against the opposition councillor for allegedly attempting to assault her.

Earlier, the Opposition raised objection when the Mayor presented a resolution on the demands raised during the budget discussion. The issue was settled when the Deputy Mayor suggested that the issue could be presented as a council agenda at a later stage.

Tax issue

Acrimonious scenes continued as the Opposition sought to raise questions over the various sources of revenue and expenditure in the budget. The Mayor, on the other hand, was against withdrawing the new tax proposals despite strong objection by the Opposition and decided to send a letter to the State government, seeking to reinstate the advertisement and entertainment taxes which had been defunct with the introduction of the GST.

The Opposition has also approached the Minister for Local Self-Government and the Principal Secretary seeking action against the Mayor. According to them, the ruling counsel violated Section 285 of the Kerala Municipal Act by ignoring the government ruling that the budget should also include the annual Plan approved by the District Planning Council.

Further, the Mayor also turned down a demand by the Opposition to put the budget proposal on vote for approval. The civic body is slated to hold its development workshop only on March 28. With the following two days declared as public holidays, it will be impossible for the ruling council to collate and analyse the suggestions at the seminar and present the Plan documents before the government after seeking approval from the standing committees concerned by March 31.