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Face-off in LMC House after SP MLA accuses civic body of benefitting 3 Gujarat-based companies
Corporators accuse LMC officials of doing nothing to prevent the spread of dengue, alleging that the cleanliness campaign is “just a photo opportunity”
LUCKNOW SP and BJP corporators had a face-off in the LMC House on Thursday when SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra accused the civic body of giving benefits of ₹15 crore per year to three Gujarat-based companies.
After Mehrotra accused the LMC of paying ₹15 crore annual dividends to the companies from its municipal bonds, the BJP corporators got angry and demanded proof of this. When they tried to gherao the MLA, SP corporators came to his rescue, leading to unruly scenes.
Additional municipal commissioner Abhay Pandey said the municipal bonds were listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), from where global companies bought them. “About 18 government and private companies had bought the bonds, which shows systematic and better financial management of the LMC,” he said. On Thursday, UPDESCO presented the award for Governance Innovation in Urban Housing and Development to the LMC for the bonds, added Pandey.
The meeting, which started at 11:30am on the issue of dengue and cleanliness, ended around 7pm after a protest over anomalies in the GIS survey.
Ravidas Mehrotra said the city was marred by broken roads, bad sewer lines and waterlogging. “There are no sweepers and heaps of garbage dot city roads. Work is not being done in 88 villages, while the salary of LMC sanitation workers is not being paid,” he said.
BJP corporators said it was during SP regime that EcoGreen was given responsibility of solid waste management in the city. Subsequently, in the midst of allegations, the mayor adjourned the House.
The corporators also accused LMC officials of doing nothing to prevent the spread of dengue, alleging that the cleanliness campaign was “just a photo opportunity”. They demanded reappointment of 25% sanitation workers, who were sacked by former municipal commissioner to save money earlier this year. The sacking of sanitation workers resulted in Lucknow slipping several places in the City Sanitation Index, they added.
Municipal commissioner Indrajit Singh said the House agreed to increase cleaning staff strength by 15%.
Leader of opposition in LMC House, Yawar Hussain ‘Reshu’, raised the issue of anomalies in GIS survey. “Due to this, the tax of building owners has been wrongly fixed. Tents and huts were also shown as houses and that’s why the survey work must be cancelled,” he said. Chief tax assessment officer Ashok Singh said any irregularity in the survey would be probed.
On this, the House decided to hold back the GIS survey for two months before the elections.
Women members of the House felicitated mayor Sanyukta Bhatia for being the first woman mayor and working on women’s issues for the last five years.