Mayor faces women members' wrath

Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy and the Taxation and Finance Committee chairperson, K A Muneendra Kumar, were at the receiving end on Friday, when corporators from Opposition parties accused them of being partial.

On the last day of budget discussion, Byatarayanapura corporator Indira accused the Mayor of not releasing enough grants for projects in her ward.

“Except for my ward, which was allotted only Rs three crore, all the other wards in Byatarayanapura Assembly constituency have been given grants of at least Rs seven crore,” Indira complained.

Seeking an explanation, Indira stormed into the well of the House.  Mayor outrightly rejected her accusation and said the ‘anomalies’ will be looked into. Leader of the Opposition, M K Gunashekar too joined the issue and appealed the Mayor to consider Indira’s plea.

Indira, at the time of Mayoral election, had filed a petition in the High Court, which could have derailed the prospects of Venkatesh Murthy becoming the Mayor.
Later, another Congress corporator Asha Suresh too flayed the Mayor for overlooking women corporators.

She said the scheme named after Kalpana Chawla was an insult to the famous astronaut as only a meagre amount of Rs five lakh was being given to the wards represented by women corporators. She demanded that the amount be enhanced to at least Rs 10 lakh.

She also pointed out the “apathetic attitude” of the BBMP for not having portraits of famous women, in the Council Hall.

Siddapura corporator M Udayashankar alleged a racket involved in blackmarketing TDR. He also questioned the outcome of the drive against illegal OFCs, drive for trade licences and non-utilisation of JnNURM funds for sewerage lines.

Nandini Layout corporator M Nagaraj demanded a probe into the fake bills scam in all the 28 constituencies.

However, the ruling party corporators objected to the suggestion claiming that the Congress legislators too had denied any scam in their constituencies. Nagaraj sought details on the steps taken by Palike to widen 217 roads, aimed at making the City roads congestion-free. There was a uproar in the Council, when HSR Layout corporator K Latha lashed out at Opposition members for criticising the budget, and said they had an opportunity to point out shortcomings before tabling the budget.
“If the Opposition members had highlighted their reservations while preparing the budget, arguments could have been avoided,” said Latha.