COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) deferred a proposal to hike licence fee for MSMEs, following stiff opposition from councillors during the monthly council meeting held on Monday. Mayor Kalpana Anandakumar and CCMC commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran presided over the meeting.
With Lok Sabha election around the corner, the CCMC convened a special council meeting expecting announcement of election soon and consequent enforcement of model code of conduct (MCC). Since no new projects or development work should be announced when the MCC is in force, Mayor Kalpana Anandakumar placed 109 resolutions before the council, which sources said was the highest in the last two years.
Except for two, 107 resolutions were passed. Two resolutions, including the one revising the trade licence fee for the MSME and another one regarding establishing a toy train service inside the VOC park, were deferred following opposition by the councillors.
In particular, the proposal to hike licence fee sparked off a huge uproar and councillors said it could adversely affect the results in the election. According to sources, CCMC proposes to hike annual licence fee ranging from Rs 800 to Rs 40,000 depending upon the type of trade and the area of business. DMK floor leader Karthikeyan of Ward 100 urged the mayor to postpone the resolution to revise the trade licence fee for industries considering the election. Ward 12 councillor and CPI floor leader Ramamoorthy also opposed the plan.
Commissioner Prabakaran said, “We’ve brought the revision based on new rules. Once the council passes it and sends it to the government, the state government will decide when and how to implement the revision.” But as the councillors remained unconvinced by the explanation, the mayor postponed the resolution.
Similarly, she postponed the resolution to operate a trackless children’s run train by a private company at the VOC children’s park after the central zone chairperson Meena Logu opposed. She said officials did not discuss the subject with her before it was tabled.
Earlier, AIADMK councillors staged a demonstration holding placards and raised slogans against the CCMC opposing privatising garbage collection works. They alleged that the private contractor failed to clear the garbage. Several DMK councillors including floor leader Karthikeyan also voiced out against the privatisation and said garbage was not cleared regularly by the contractor.
The councillors urged the civic body to cancel the contract given to the private player.