Kanpur: The first session of Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) in the current financial year was suspended after chaos on Wednesday.
Following verbal attacks, counter-attacks and taunts between deputy leader of BJP Mahendra Kumar Shukla alias Dadda and corporator Ramesh Hati (also of BJP), when mayor Pramila Pandey intervened to pacify them, heated arguments took place between her and the corporator. An indecent comment made by the BJP’s deputy leader against Ramesh Hati created an ugly situation in the house.
Ramesh Hati alleged that Mahendra Shukla had taken illegal possession of a dharamshala which was the KMC’s property.
Thereafter, the mayor suspended Mahendra Shukla for six months from the house. According to a senior corporator, this was the first time when a corporator, who was also a deputy leader of the house, was suspended for six months. It was rather strange both of them belong to BJP, he added. The mayor and the municipal commissioner later suspended the house meeting for thirty minutes.
The proceedings of the house began in the morning with a presentation of the budget. The total budget outlay was over Rs 11.98 billion (Rs 11 billion, 98 crore, 62 lakh and 33 thousand). The house passed the budget outlay of Rs 1.85 billion for the jalkal department. Municipal commissioner AkshayTripathi informed the house that since eight months of the current financial year have passed, therefore, a supplementary budget has also been included in the present budget.
Later, the corporators raised a demand of Rs one crore in the form of funds ‘for the corporators to be spent in the city’s development as the municipal corporation had failed to develop the city. The house proceedings were suspended for half-an-hour on this issue as every corporator started demanding funds for the development of his/her ward. Some corporators even brought hand-pushed carts in the house and alleged that it was substandard. They claimed that the stuff used in manufacturing the carts were of such a bad quality that their wheels take the shape of a rectangle when garbage is loaded on them. They alleged large scale corruption had taken place in purchasing these carts.
Following chaos and allegations of corruption on KMC officials, the house could not discuss the agenda. Naveen Pandit, a corporator of Govind Nagar said the house had to ratify the increase made in rent of the Motijheel lawn and the electric crematorium but that too could not be discussed. It was decided that matters like hike in the rent and other development work which had already been passed by the working committee of the house would be put in the next meeting of the house, Pandit said.