THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The corporation council meeting held on Wednesday to discuss the appointment of 147 sanitation workers on a temporary basis witnessed heated arguments after the Opposition parties objected to the list prepared by the civic body. The Opposition councillors alleged that all the selected people were either CPM workers or their relatives. Following this, the BJP councillors tore up the list, which created a furore in the hall. Later, the BJP and the UDF councillors boycotted the meeting.
The councillors made allegations of corruption while discussing the agenda of preparing a list of 147 persons after conducting interviews and competency tests as per the letter provided by the district employment office. Health Standing Committee Chairperson Jameela Sreedharan explained that the 147 workers were selected from a list of 1,441 people.
However, Opposition councillors raised serious allegations against the ruling front. According to them, some people have moved from other districts to get an appointment in the corporation. Some have even switched employment exchanges. There are people on the list, including a former literacy mission director’s driver, farmers’ union leader, DYFI area secretary and sister of a former CPM councillor.
The BJP councillors alleged that the interviews were conducted illegally. They said that there were no representatives from the employment office on the interview board. A man who threatened a health inspector in Karamana during a fitness test was also included in the list.
The UDF claimed that most of the people on the list are CPM members. They also said that the list be revised and corrected after discussing it with the party leaders. BJP councillor V G Girikumar said that had the corporation deployed the existing sanitation workers properly, there would have been no vacancy for the post. The council hall witnessed unruly scenes when UDF councillor Mary Pushpam got up to speak. As she did not get the microphone, she shouted at the operator.