BJP, Cong councillors protest against mayor

Cuttack: Congress and BJP councillors of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) protested against the negligence to their wards and dictatorship of the mayor during the civic body’s council meeting in Cuttack on Wednesday.The Congress protesters raised slogans against the mayor for autocratic ruling and alleged large-scale financial irregularities in the CMC. The BJP councillors also joined the Congress protest and staged a demonstration during the council meeting.The council meeting was called off a few minutes after it started in the morning following a walkout by the mayor and CMC commissioner amid a ruckus.Congress councillor of ward 50, Santosh Bhola, said, “The mayor started a ‘Mo Ward’ programme for which he has given a proposal of Rs 40,000 to be spent on each ward. No proposal can be passed without any discussion but the mayor has unilaterally passed the proposal.”Mayor Subhash Singh said all the allegations are false and baseless. “The opposition doesn’t want any development as they are not even cooperating to run the council meeting,” Singh said.