Vijayawada: Cancellation of pensions creates furore at VMC council meeting

Vijayawada(NTR District): Heated argument took place between the ruling YSRCP and Opposition parties - TDP and CPM - over various issues, mainly on pensions and running food courts within the city limits, during the council meeting of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) here on Tuesday.

VMC Mayor Rayana Bhagya Lakshmi chaired the meeting at VMC council hall and as many as 128 agenda issues including additional issues have come before the council for discussion.

Along with CPM floor leader Boyi Satya Babu and other Opposition members, TDP floor leader N Balaswamy raised the issue of stopping pension to 2,300 persons in Vijayawada. During discussions, war of words occurred among the members of the ruling and Opposition parties.

In the meantime, the Opposition corporators insisted for an explanation for stopping pensions and staged a protest in front of the Mayor's podium. Due to this, the Mayor suspended four Opposition corporators, following this, all other Opposition corporators walked out from the council.

Later, the ruling YSRCP passed all the items on the agenda, which they brought to the notice of the council. Responding to the issue of stopping pensions, YSRCP member Adapa Seshagiri Rao explained that the pensions were stopped due to Sadhikara Survey.

The Urban Community

Department (UCD) official said that the State government has

increased the number of pensioners from 52,855 to 69,233 in

Vijayawada.

The UCD served notices to 4,060 pensioners seeking correct information from them and of which 2,300 pensions were reinitiated. The remaining 1,690 were under scanning, he explained.

On the other hand, the suspended corporators Balaswamy, Venkateswara Rao, Mummineni Prasad and Satyababu along with other TDP, CPM members, staged a protest in front of the council hall against the suspension of the members. They alleged that the ruling YSRCP is afraid of discussing public problems.