THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: ‘’The councillors are not lesser people, they do more work than MPs and MLAs.’’ In a rare instance of comradeship, the entire Corporation Council expressed the feeling that they should be paid more. A resolution in this regard was introduced in the Council by Manikyavilakom councillor Sureshkumar which said that councillors must be remunerated not less than Rs 10,000. They should be eligible for pension, medical insurance, travel allowance and other incentives as they are the people mostly associated with people at the grassroots-level. Seconding the resolution, UDF’s Maheswaran Nair said that the councillors must at least be given a mobile phone like the ones given to Health Inspectors. ‘’We have to reach everywhere, from a wedding to a death. People come calling on us when in need. But our needs are not catered to. We do more work than a peon here, but our honorarium is pathetic,’’ he said. Concluding the discussion, Mayor K Chandrika also said that the plight of councillors and elected representatives in local bodies as a whole was to be highlighted. We work in distress, she concluded. School VanGuidelinesThe Council approved the resolution of Welfare Standing Committee Chairman Palayam Rajan which said that there should be monitoring committees to check whether the guidelines put forward by the DPI for transporting school kids by private and school vehicles are being implemented. He said that the committee must have the power to intervene at the regional-level and must have officials from the Education Department, Police, Motor Vehicles and from the socio-cultural spheres. He said that it must work towards stopping further tragedies like the ones that happened at Karikkakom and Kadinamkulam.Licence for Big BazaarThe Council has asked the Corporation Revenue officials to submit a report on the issue of renewing licence to the Big Bazaar outlet at Pazhavangadi. The Corporation has already slapped a case against the group for unauthorised construction. The shopping mall has not submitted the receipts showing the payment of professional tax and property tax. While the records show that the owner of the building is M P Ahamed, the letter of agreement shows another name - B Raveendran Pillai, which was confusing, the official agenda of the Council read. It was taking all these facts into consideration that the application for renewal of licence to Big Bazaar was kept in abeyance by the Council. The Mayor has asked the Revenue officials to place the report in the next Council.Illegal HoardingsThe Council witnessed a din over the UDF’s allegation that the Corporation Secretary was being restricted by the Standing Committees and Mayor from carrying out many orders. The statement followed BJP leader Asok Kumar’s stand that the Finance Committee had no need to interfere in the issue of illegal hoardings in the city. It was up to the Town Planning Committee and the Secretary to see to it, he said.
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