THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The corporation council meeting on Saturday took a unanimous decision to not allow new makeshift shops to mushroom in city. The subject came up for discussion when an agenda to rehabilitate the wayside vendors outside the museum in the city to RKV road came up before the council for its approval. Thought the councillors were unanimous that rehabilitation was necessary, they expressed concern over mushrooming of such makeshift shops day after day.
Mayor K Sreekumar said that such shops would be identified and evicted. “We are working on a plan to remove roadside vendors and provide them a convenient place for trade and make footpaths safe for pedestrians. Once we clear vendors from one side, yet another group crops up on the other side. However, it will not be tolerated any longer,” he said.
Discussions turn sour
The allotment of office space to V K Prasanth, MLA, in the corporation-owned building led to ruckus in the council meeting. The former mayor was given a room in the corporation’s new health office at Sasthamangalam for a monthly rent of `872. Thrikkannapuram councillor Anil said that many councillors found it hard to get an office in corporation-owned buildings but the MLA was granted an office without any hassles. BJP and UDF questioned the low rent charged for the room allotted to the MLA. Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar said that the amount was decided by the officials concerned and if a recheck is necessary it will be done.
‘Better handling of cases needed’
With many verdicts from the courts going against the city corporation, some councillors raised the need for expert legal opinion on many issues as well as in giving proper reports to the court as part of litigations.
The issue came up when a high court order issued to provide a LIFE housing scheme flat to a person who did not make into the LIFE list of the city corporation was brought for the council’s approval. It was brought to the attention of the council that the corporation failed to explain its stand in the court.
Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar and development standing committee chairperson Vanchiyoor Babu agreed to the observation. “Many files are not being properly looked into and the reports provided in courts are mostly not solid ones resulting in verdicts going against the corporation,” said the deputy mayor.