JOIN USHigh drama at ZP meeting
High drama was witnessed at the general meeting of Zilla Panchayat held here on Saturday, when the ZP President Pushpa Amarnath blamed the Centre for the cut in food grains allocated to the hostels in the district.
Crying foul, the opposition Janata Dal (Secular) and BJP members who trooped into the well of the house created a din till the ZP president tendered an apology. Mysuru Taluk Panchayat President Kumar who was also present at the meeting, brought it to the notice of the ZP that there was a cut in share of rice allotted to hostels coming under Backward Classes and Minorities and Social Welfare departments, between September and December 2014. Barely 4.45 kg of rice was supplied against 10 kg of rice, said Kumar.
This led to a heated debate, with the members cutting across party barriers levelling grave allegations against the officials. However, the ZP president reasoned that such a situation had arisen due to the lack of stock in the Central government owned Food Corporation of India -- only to anger the BJP members. BJP member Sindhuvalli M Kempanna who took exception to it, asked her to clarify on the same, “as the fault was with the State government”.
Sensing trouble owing to the hue and cry raised by the BJP, the ZP president announced lunch break, only to irk them further. Both BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) members including Kempanna, Bhagyalakshmi H R, Gowramma, Manjula Puttaswamy, K P Siddaveerappa, Lalitha and Chikkaranganayaka, Suneetha Veerappagowda and others trooped into the well of the house and refused to break for lunch, till the issue was sorted out.
Though they relented later, they insisted on clarifying the same during the post lunch hour.
When ZP president showed no signs of remorse even after the meeting resumed, the BJP and JD(S) members made a bid again to stage a protest. ZP Vice-president L Madappa who tried to intervene claimed that the situation at hostels was due to the errors in the distribution of rice, as told by the officials concerned.
This put both president and vice-president in a fix, with opposition party members raising their pitch for clarity regarding the same.Eventually, the ZP president confessed that she had committed a mistake by quoting the officials concerned. Walkout
The orderliness at the house came under threat again, during the closing hours of the meeting, as the JD(S) members staged a walk out over being ill-treated by the officials.
The members alleged that they were not invited as per protocol, during the recent ceremony of launching the developmental works in the taluk. Interestingly, former MLA M Satyanarayana and former ZP president K Marigowda had been invited to it, they alleged.