The Jagdalpur Municipal Corporation on Friday passed its budget of Rs130.22 crore for 2013-2014 and an interim budget of Rs1.29 crore for fiscal year 2014-2015 amid violence and protest by some members.
As soon as the mayor Kiran Dev started his speech while presenting the budget, the members of the Opposition Congress party interrupted him repeatedly. The trouble intensified when the leader of the Opposition in his speech started accusing the ruling party of presenting a misleading budget
The ruling party members who belong to the BJP protested his speech and created an unruly scene. The members got engaged in heated clash inside. A ruling party member went to such an extent that he raised his hand to beat up the leader of the Opposition and moved towards him. Some corporators managed to protect him.
In a retaliatory action. the angry leader of the Opposition broke a mike and threw on the table of the chairman, while a member threw a water bottle which fell near the table of the chairman. The corporator of Ganganagar, Bikaram Singh Dangi, also threw the budget booklet on the table of the chairman. The chairman suspended Dangi from the house and announced the approval of the budget by majority of the members.
Speaking on the occasion, the mayor highlighted different works the corporation has carried out during his tenure. He said the door to door garbage collection and passenger waiting centre set up the corporation in Bastar has become a model in the State.
The corporation has been collecting garbage from about 250000 houses daily. Besides work was on to beatify the Gangamunda pond and water harvesting structures, he said.
However he admitted some works have remained incomplete because of several reasons including lack of necessary approval from the local administration.
However he said the work for beatification of Gangamunda pond, work on Bailakot, Mukti Dham and slaughterhouses were on. He said natural disaster like heavy rains, assembly election, and festivals also hindered progress of some works.