THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The civic body’s decision to allocate Rs 2 crore from the corporation’s own fund to the ‘vaccine challenge’ started by the state government resulted in a long-drawn discussion and uproar in the corporation council which met here on Monday.
The amount was donated after Mayor Arya Rajendran granted sanction for the same on April 27. The move was criticised by the BJP members in the council, who demanded that the money be returned. Alleging that the decision to allocate the fund had to be unanimous and should have been discussed in the council first, the BJP councillors raised a furore in the council.
The issue was raised by BJP councillor Karamana Ajith and there was a lot of discussion on the topic. The councillors alleged that spending a hefty sum from its own coffers was akin to mismanagement of the funds and demanded that the amount be returned. The BJP councillors also pointed out that since the vaccine is now being given free of cost by the Centre, the move was an example of maladministration. Stating that the decision to donate the amount was taken before the Centre offered vaccines for free, Deputy Mayor P K Raju said the state government had made it clear that the amount collected from the vaccine challenge will be used for Covid-related activities.
Hence, there was no point in continuing the discussion, he said. Another issue that cropped up was the multi-level car parking on the corporation premises, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in October. Saying that the parking lot was languishing as a ‘memorial’ and that its location within striking distance of the council showed gross mismanagement, the BJP councillors demanded that the parking lot be opened to the public. The issue came up in the agenda after a time extension was sought in the council for the completion of the project.
Works standing committee chairman D R Anil said the work couldn’t be completed on account of the pandemic and that it will be completed within a month. “The pandemic led to this situation. If we were to be hit by the third wave of Covid, then the work will get delayed further. But as per our plan, we hope to open the parking lot to the public in July,” said Anil.
Heated discussions were held regarding indiscriminate disposal of poultry and slaughter waste in rivers. The civic body has formulated measures to ensure that waste is managed properly, P Jameela Sreedharan, Health Standing Committee chairperson, said.
“It has come to attention that while the corporation has tied up with seven agencies to dispose of the waste properly, the slaughterhouses were depending on other agencies which were seen to be dumping waste on the streets and water bodies. A special health squad will be launched to monitor this. The contract of defaulting agencies will be terminated,” said Jameela Sreedharan.