UDF boycott ensures easy passage of Corpn budget

The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation managed to get the annual Budget for 2018-19 passed after it was put to vote on Tuesday. With the United Democratic Front (UDF) abstaining from the voting process, the ruling front faced no major obstacle to the approval of the annual financial statement.

While 44 LDF councillors voted in favour of the budget, 35 BJP councillors expressed their opposition with a show of hands. While staging a walkout, Congress councillor D. Anil Kumar said the UDF staunchly opposed the “anti-people” proposals, but it would not participate in the voting process and take sides with the BJP.

Charges refuted

Dismissing allegations of bias in budgetary allocations, Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar said the Corporation had ensured equitable share of the available funds, with none of the wards being neglected. She dismissed claims that many of the announced projects were repetition of the previous years.

In her response to the two-day budget discussion, Ms. Ravikumar took a dig at the BJP while quipping that the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) should be “ideally renamed the Mayor’s Awas Yojana” with the civic body being the major contributor to the housing project. Her remark sparked protests by the Opposition BJP councillors, following which the Deputy Mayor withdrew her comment.

Many councillors called for efforts to intensify tax collection as the civic body had seen a drastic fall in revenue by way of entertainment and advertisement tax with the implementation of GST.