City Corporation Budget Passed as Opposition Alleges Error

Amidst the opposition’s claims that there are little or no new development projects announced in the budget, the annual financial outlay of Rs 1,077.63 crore of the City Corporation for the financial year 2014-15 was passed on Tuesday.

In the less-than-an-hour-long council meeting, no head-wise discussion was held on the budget proposals also. The Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) councillors failed to put forward any new proposals for a budget they had claimed to be a rewind of the previous year’s version.

As soon as the discussion began, opposition councillor K Maheswaran Nair pointed out an error in the budget data which led to a ruckus in the council. Meanwhile, some of the UDF councillors demanded voting as they said that if the difference in the data is rectified, the budget may turn a deficit budget. However, Mayor K Chandrika gave the ruling for voting and the budget was passed with 49 votes against 36.

According to the Municipality Act, 5 per cent of the total revenue should be earmarked for developmental activities and 2 per cent for poverty eradication. The opposition claimed that this has been included in the revenue expenditure but not in the capital amount.

The start of the council meeting was delayed by half-an-hour as the members, including the Mayor, arrived late. The proceedings did not last for more than one hour and the budget was passed without any amendments or the inclusion of new projects. During the discussion, the Mayor admonished the lackadaisical attitude shown by the councillors and criticised them for creating disorder.

The UDF members, who then moved out of the Council Hall raising slogans, staged a dharna in front of the Corporation office and burned copies of the budget. Addressing the dharna, UDF leader Johnson Joseph said that the budget was prepared with mere political intentions. The finance committee deliberately brought an error in the budget so that they could hide the shortfall, he alleged.