The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) walked out of a city Corporation council meeting held on Friday accusing the ruling party of indulging in corruption in a project related to the installation of street lights in the city.
However, Mayor Arya Rajendran maintained that the project was awarded to a public sector company by following all norms and with the approval of the council.
BJP councillor Karamana Ajith, who had earlier raised the allegations in a Facebook post, said the project to replace 18,000 street lights with LED lights was awarded to United Electrical Industries Limited without calling an e-tender.
He alleged that the company was chosen, despite there being other companies offering lights at cheaper rates, because the relative of a Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader is part of its management. The Corporation could have got the lights at a lesser rate, if it had gone through the tender route.
In her reply, the Mayor said that as per a Government Order issued in August 2018, local bodies can purchase LED lights from the public sector company United Electrical Industries Limited without calling for tenders. During the previous council's tenure, an amount of ₹18 crore was deposited with the Kerala State Electricity Board, which had purchased lights from the central PSU Energy Efficiency Services Limited. But, they had not carried out maintenance work properly, she said.
Ahead of the assembly elections earlier this year, following complaints from councillors about non-functioning street lights, the steering committee had given approval for purchasing 10,000 lights, said Ms. Rajendran. The finance standing committee, where BJP has a majority, approved this decision, which was later placed in the council, where it was finally cleared. None of the BJP councillors had raised an issue with the clearance at that time. The allegations of corruption are baseless as the money is transferred to a public sector company’s account.
Communist Party of India councillor Rakhi Ravikumar accused Mr. Ajith of raising baseless allegations and targetting women leaders. The BJP councillors took umbrage to a comment she made against Mr. Ajith and wanted the remark to be withdrawn. Later, the councillors staged a walkout, during which the Left Democratic Front councillors distributed laddoos to celebrate the proposed repealing of the farm laws enacted by the BJP-led Union Government.
