KOCHI: In the wake of the State government’s instruction to the Kochi Corporation to present a revised annual budget of 2018-19, the Opposition has demanded resignation of Mayor Soumini Jain. “Government order for presenting revised budget exposes the civic administration’s total failure. Taking responsibility, the Mayor should resign,” said V.P Chandran, LDF parliamentary party leader in the council.
“The annual Budget has been presented in violation of the guidelines issued by the State government. The ruling bench has violated Section 285 of the Kerala Municipal Act by ignoring the government ruling that the budget must have the annual Plan approved by the District Planning Cell. Though Opposition members have pointed out the serious lapses, the Mayor ignored the points raised by us,” he said. The budget presented by Deputy Mayor T.J Vinod on March 25 didn’t include the approved annual Plan projects.
The LDF members alleged that Mayor’s ignorance has been creating crisis in various sectors of the civic body. “Failure in beginning full-fledged service of modern RO-RO vessels in Fort Kochi – Vypeen route, legal hurdles over completion of the new Corporation office building at Marine Drive and huge financial loss incurred by the Corporation for waste removal from the city are some of the examples for inefficiency of the civic administration,” he added.
