VIJAYAWADA: Several ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) corporators strongly opposed the decision of Mayor Koneru Sreedhar to allocate Rs 2 crore to the three city legislators from the funds raised through Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS).
They instead demanded that sanctions be made to the corporators for completing the pending development works at the division level.
The issue was debated during a council meeting held under the chairmanship of the Mayor here on Monday. “Are the three legislators representing the ruling TDP incapable of getting funds from the government for developing their constituencies?,’’ asked YSRC Corporator SK Bejan Be. Why should the debt-ridden VMC allocate funds to the legislators from the revenue earned through BPS? It is better to increase the development funds of the corporators to Rs 50 lakh from the present Rs 20 lakh to enable them to complete the pending works in their divisions, she said.
Intervening in the matter, Sreedhar said that VMC earned a revenue of Rs 63 crore through BPS. A part of the revenue was set aside to clear the dues to the contractors. Rs 20 crore were kept in reserve to undertake the construction of a new building for VMC. The three legislators, Gadde Ramamohana Rao, Bonda Umamaheswara Rao and Jaleel Khan sought Rs 5 crore each from the BPS funds.
To deal with the financial crisis the civic body was going through, an allocation of Rs 1 crore each was assured, but the legislators turned down the proposal, and finally agreed to Rs 2 crore each after the intervention of Minister for Municipal Administration, P Narayana, he said.
Heated words were exchanged between the mayor and the YSRC Corporator.
With the situation getting out of control, Sreedhar instructed the staff to cut the mike connection of the corporator and directed her to either go back to her seat or leave the council hall. The corporator occupied her seat and the proceedings continued.