KOCHI: With Kochi corporation officials facing several corruption allegations, UDF councillors have submitted a notice to the district collector to move a no-confidence motion against town planning committee chairman J Sanilmon.
“The move comes as several corruption cases have been reported under the jurisdiction of Kochi Corporation. In the council held on December 4, the mayor accepted that he has received complaints about money being collected from the public. In this scenario, we have decided to move a no-confidence motion,” said Congress parliamentary party secretary M G Aristotle.
LDF Councillor P S Viju too has raised a complaint that an official demanded a `50-lakh bribe in the name of Sanilmon and P R Ranish, the development standing committee chairman.
Adarsh Chandran, an official with the corporation’s Vyttila zonal office, was suspended by Mayor M Anilkumar following the allegation raised by Viju.
UDF members in the town planning standing committee, A R Padmadas, Sakeer Thammanam, Mini Dileep, and Suja Lonappan, have submitted the notice to the collector.
Earlier, an LDF councillor, M H M Ashraf, had resigned from the committee in protest against the mayor’s decision to announce a vigilance investigation into bribery allegations against some officials.
DCC PRESIDENT DEMANDS PROBE
The president of the Ernakulam District Congress Committee, Mohammad Shiyas, on Wednesday said that a judicial investigation is necessary into the corruption allegations since several elected officials and members are accepting bribes from the public. He was inaugurating the protest led by UDF councillors against the mayor and the standing committee chairpersons.
“A group of people, led by the mayor, are unlawfully providing buildings with numbers after accepting payment from owners,” he said, demanding the resignation of the mayor.
“The chairpersons of the standing committees are also threatening the owners of the unapproved buildings for money. It will affect the revenue of the local body. This approach is troubling the common people,” Shiyas added.