The Kozhikode Municipal Corporation in its first ever online council meeting made several controversial decisions despite strong protest from opposition councillors. The first decision was to go ahead with the bus terminal project near the Government Medical College, which had been a headache to the corporation ever since the project was envisaged.
Land acquisition process for the bus terminal began in 1998 and was dropped following protests by landowners. Later, land for the project was purchased by a private firm, Minfra Structures Pvt. Ltd., which put forth the proposal for the bus terminal before the corporation once again. However, the State government had asked the Corporation to drop the project following a vigilance probe in 2009. However, the private firm procured an injunction order from the Kerala High Court against the government order. The corporation had asked Minfra to cancel the contract, but at the same time, it appealed to the State government to reconsider the order. The case is still on as the corporation has submitted a Statement of Facts before the court, but the return statement has not been filed yet.
On Wednesday, the council decided to go ahead with the project on the grounds that it would financially benefit the corporation. The opposition alleged that the project could not be taken forward with the objection from the State government in place.
Row over official
Councillors again locked horns over the extension of probation period for a corporation official who was under suspension for losing the bill books of tax collection earlier this year. Opposition councillors said that an erring official should not be allowed to continue especially when he was not a permanent staff of the corporation. The ruling front maintained that he had to be retained until investigation against him was completed and proven guilty.
S.M. Street project
The meeting saw another heated debate over accepting the proposal of Probic Traders for setting up and maintaining basic infrastructure such as street lights and CCTV cameras on S.M. Street. The agency had quoted the highest sum of ₹6.01 lakh. Opposition councillors protested against approving the proposal without proper discussion in the council.
The issues in question were not put to vote as in usual council meetings. However, Mayor Thottathil Raveendran has asked opposition councillors to submit a statement of protest at his office at the earliest.
The Mayor and chairpersons of various standing committees had assembled in his chamber while the rest of the councillors joined them online.