Slugfest in VMC Council meet over court cases

Acrimonious scenes between officials and corporators on cases in various courts were witnessed at the council meeting of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation.

VIJAYAWADA: Acrimonious scenes between officials and corporators on cases in various courts were witnessed at the council meeting of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) here on Tuesday.

YSRCP Floor leader in VMC B Punyaseela raised the civic body pending cases issue before the council. There are a total of 1,020 cases pending with different legal bodies. There are 743 cases pending in High Court, 242 in local courts, 31 with administrative tribunal, two with Lokayukta. “Lakhs of rupees are being spent over the cases and it's a huge loss to the corporation. There is no clarity on how many cases come up for hearing in the courts every day. Are the advocates attending the cases in High Court,” questioned TDP corporator Nazeer Hussain.

Responding to Punyaseela, Mayor Koneru Sridhar said since a year, 100 cases have been raised in the city. He took a dig at the legal cell officials for showing apathy to the pending cases. “It's an insult to the VMC. A letter would be written to principal secretary and Municipal Minister. The pending cases list has been sent to the State Government,” the mayor said. He directed the officials concerned to conduct review meeting daily for the quick disposal of pending cases. 

In the question hour, the YSRC councillors also demanded the council to clarify the tender procedure opted for the greenery maintenance on central dividers through water tanks. In his reply, Sridhar said that hiring or entrusting the work to private companies was the best option as civic body was not in a position to maintain the vehicles. “Private companies will take care of the oil and vehicle maintenance and pay wages to the drivers. Around Rs 5 to 6 lakh worth bills are generated by the vehicle depot every week. Vehicle depot will be revamped shortly,” he said.

TDP corporator Kaku Mallikarjuna Yadav appealed to the council to maintain Tummalapalli Kalakshetram by VMC and reduce the rental tariff proposal of Rs 50,000 for cultural troupes. “The auditorium should be rented for a nominal price for the cultural troupes, who can’t afford such exorbitant rate. Moreover, the Ravindra Bharathi, Hyderabad charges a meager Rs 15,000 per day from cultural troupes,” he said.

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