Kochi: Mayor Soumini Jain has defended her decision to recommend a vigilance probe into the controversial signage deal in which the private agency which won the bid for setting up sign boards in the city violated the agreement norms. The mayor mad her stand clear at a council meeting on Friday when members of the ruling bench including standing committee chairmen P.M Haris and Shainy Mathew questioned her decision and sought an explanation for referring the case to the vigilance.
The mayor said she took the decision after consulting legal experts and senior officials of department of local self government. Welfare committee chairman A.B Sabu strongly criticized additional secretary A.S. Anuja for giving statements to the media on her decision to seek an opportunity to speak in the council about the signage deal. Earlier, the mayor had held the additional secretary responsible for acting against the interest of the civic body in the controversial deal.
The official, however, said she acted on the instructions of the corporation secretary. Meanwhile, the opposition members lashed at the mayor for poor utilization of plan funds and expressed serious apprehensions over the lapse of huge amounts. They also demanded a special council session to be called to discuss plan fund utilization and audit report in which the local body’s serious lapses have been exposed.
