CUTTACK: The council meeting of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) on Friday descended into chaos with corporators confronting the mayor and commissioner over various issues, including defunct water supply systems, alleged arbitrary utilisation of funds under the Mukhyamantri Sahari Bikash Yojana (MSBY) and the poor condition of roads in the city.
Corporator of ward no 35 J Kameswar Rao protested the civic body’s apathy towards slum-dwellers, who have been evicted from his ward and relocated to Nimpur in Jagatpur. Holding a banner criticising CMC mayor Subhash Singh, Rao’s protest triggered an uproar in the meeting hall.
Rao alleged that despite repeated complaints, no steps had been taken to repair a defunct motor, forcing the relocated slum-dwellers to face difficulties in using the community toilet and accessing drinking water. He also alleged that waterlogging continued to plague the locality as pipes and chambers remained damaged in the absence of a proper drainage system. Several other corporators, including ward no 9 representative Bikash Behera, alleged irregularities in the hoarding tender and arbitrary allocation of MSBY funds. They alleged that instead of allocating MSBY funds equally, the money was being distributed among wards arbitrarily in connivance with the mayor and his favoured corporators, with malafide intentions.
The chaos ended after the mayor and commissioner assured the corporators that their grievances would be addressed and problems in their respective wards resolved. Amid the uproar, the civic body passed resolutions to celebrate Self-Governance Day from August 29 to 31.