Opposition stages walkout on streetlights issue

KOZHIKODE: Opposition staged a walkout, when mayor A K Premajam denied permission for adjournment motion on non-functioning of streetlights in the corporation limit, at the council meeting on Tuesday.
Councillor C P Salim urged the civic body to take immediate steps to replace the 70 watt sodium vapour lamps and 150 watt streetlights that have stopped working at many places.
The mayor in her reply said that she cannot permit the motion since it is not an urgent issue, which irked the opposition who then staged a walkout.
The council meet witnessed chaos again when CPM councillor K V Baburaj moved adjournment motion on shortage of staff which started affecting the smooth functioning of the civic body.
The council witnessed spat between the opposition and ruling factions when deputy opposition leader Muhammed Ali said that the CPM councillor is trying to mislead the council by presenting wrong data. He said that he has all the data on vacant posts and urged the mayor to give time to present it.
The mayor said it's not possible to speak for long during an emergency resolution. The ruling faction stood against Muhammed Ali when he said that he will not allow deputy mayor to speak if the mayor does not allow him to speak first. Muhammed Ali questioned deputy mayor when he stood up to speak, which resulted in heated exchange of words between the ruling and opposition. Muhammed Ali was later suspended from the council .
The mayor then suspended the council proceedings for an hour. The mayor later revoked the suspension. Council party leader M Mohanan said that of the 73 technical staff posts, the posts of 22 persons are lying vacant."Around 30% of posts are lying vacant which is creating problem for the implementation of projects."
Mayor in her reply said that a delegation will meet the urban affairs minister to resolve the issue at the earliest.