Noisy scenes ring out final Corporation council meet

KOCHI:  Noisy scenes, allegations, boycott and heated arguments brought the final council meeting of the Kochi Corporation to a close at the Ernakulam Townhall on Tuesday.From the start of the meeting, it was evident that the opposition was in no mood to let go the last opportunity to voice their protest. The opposition pounded the ruling front with a series of allegations. They also boycotted the meeting after leader of Opposition K J Antony filed a chargesheet against the governing council, citing flaws in the administration.

The allegations ranging from e-governance, city gas projects, contractors’ strike, loss of funds on Central and state government projects, delay in the construction of headquarters to the failure to implement the RAW project were raised during the meeting.However, the ruling front used it as an opportunity to hit back at the government. “The government had adopted a stepmotherly treatment towards the corporation. The state appointed an IRS official as the corporation secretary. This official has been working for the past month-and-a-half without moving a single file,” alleged Deputy Mayor K R Premkumar.

Mayor Soumini Jain said the corporation was the first local body in the state to get ISO recognition. “Sneha Bhavan, the construction of the Ro-Ro vessel, housing project in Vengur and the Ray project were all development activities that outgoing council undertook,” she said, adding that there was not a single undeveloped division under the civic body.

But LDF Parliamentary Secretary V P Chandran said the corporation witnessed “absolutely zero” development.Purnima Narayan, chairperson of the Education Standing Committee, highlighted the failure to implement e-governance.