Corp rejects vigilance probe into pongala waste mgmt

Thiruvananthapuram: The demand of BJP for vigilance probe into Attukal pongala waste management was rejected through voting during the special council held here on Thursday. Fifty-four councillors opted against vigilance probe while 33 councillors of BJP were in favour of probe. Thirteen councillors of UDF did not take part in voting. BJP demanded a special council after an agenda came up in the last meeting about ratifying the anticipatory sanction given by mayor Arya Rajendran for taking 21 trucks on rent at a cost of over Rs 3 lakh for cleaning works related to Attukal pongala.
Mayor Arya showed assertion and authority in the chair as she picked on each of the opposition councillors and flagged contradictions in their statements. While the usual norm has been to reserve the mayor’s comments for the final minutes of the council, Arya broke the pattern and took the opposition councillors head on and cornered them by openly contradicting their statements.
Veteran BJP councillor P Ashok Kumar sensed the danger in mayor’s move and he said that such interruptions could upset the rhythm of speech and this was unprecedented. Arya was quick with the retort. “I have the right to intervene, if you mislead the council I will exercise that right. Don’t tell me about my experience, you can use some other venue for that,” she said.
When BJP councillors rose with the clamour that one of their women councillors Simi Jyothish was being taunted, Arya again stepped in. “You seem to have no qualms targeting people without any regard for their age or gender. Why would it concern you now?” she asked. Arya who has been in the thick of the storm over allegations in waste management of Attukal pongala was being trolled for her young age with comparisons that corporation administration was not a child’s play.
BJP mainly centred their allegations around two demands — there should be a vigilance probe into the waste management during pongala and that the agenda may be passed only after clearance from local fund audit department.
BJP councillor Karamana Ajith said that the contractor who had entered into an agreement with corporation for waste management could not be traced. The ruling council which was able to brush aside the demand for vigilance probe however faced questions regarding mismanagement of vehicles in corporation’s garage. BJP councillors alleged that corporation promoted private vehicles for money and hence did not manage its own vehicles.
The mayor said that contrary to the allegation that only 60 workers were deployed on pongala day, there were 395 workers in various health circles on duty. The city corporation is yet to clear the pending bills and it will be processed after a report is received from the health officer.