Thiruvananthapuram: Ruckus at Corporation council meet

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The corporation council meeting here on Tuesday turned stormy with charges traded between the corporation staff and councillors.

Even before the agenda came up for discussion, the BJP councillors staged a walkout.

They locked horns with Mayor V.K. Prasanth demanding action against the staff union leader who raised corruption charges against him, Palayam Rajan and Solomon Vettucaud. However, the mayor did not relent claiming that the leader made the statements under a union banner when he was not on duty. The mayor said that the council had received three complaints from councillors and that action would be taken only after the corporation secretary gives a report.

The BJP councillors came to the well of the council hall shouting slogans and staged a walkout. This clashed with the agenda presented by Beemapally Rasheed about the sorry state of hundreds of families at Vettucaud, who were displaced because of the severe sea erosion. But they walked out despite the request of Mr Rasheed for a healthy discussion on giving homes for the displaced families.

Mr Rasheed staged a protest inside the council hall covering his mouth and holding a placard demanding rehabilitation of the families. The mayor, who at first refused to listen to the agenda which was not pre-approved for discussion, later assured action and promised to rehabilitate them.

The council decided to make rain water harvesting mandatory for houses above 80 sq mtr constructed above 3 cent land. For houses below 80 sq mtr rain pits has been made mandatory.