As many as 42 out of the total 53 ward councilors of Ranchi boycotted the Ranchi Municipal Corporation board meeting held on Thursday as the meeting started around two hours later than the scheduled time.
The meeting was scheduled the commence at 11 am but the mayor, deputy mayor and other officials turned up at 12:45 pm, which annoyed the councilors who claimed that the officials do not care about the time of others. The councilors shouted slogans against the senior officers and walked out of the meeting. Finally, the meeting was conducted in the presence of only 11 ward councilors.
Deputy Mayor Sanjiv Vijayavargiya said that the councilors were making a mountain out of molehill as there are a number of times when the councilors arrive late themselves but nobody questions them. “We had genuine reasons to be late. The Union Minister of State for Railways, Suresh Angadi was in the city and we were in his programme. How can the councilors expect us to leave the programme midway?” he said.
Following the board meeting, Mayor Asha Lakra convened a press conference and informed about the decisions taken in the meeting.
One of the major decisions was beautification of ponds and roundabouts of the city. “Around a dozen ponds including Tiril, Hesag, Pundag, university and other ponds will be beautified by the RMC. Also, as many as 22 major roundabouts of the city will be beautified which will include cleaning and plantation drive as well. The beautification will start from Nucleus Mall roundabout and Jail Chowk and gradually all the roundabouts across city will be covered,” Lakra said.
The Mayor also informed that the board approved payment of dearness allowance of all RMC workers from January 2019 till date at a rate of 6 per cent. Also, DA for those getting pension was also approved at three per cent.
It was also decided that the workers involved in solid waste management including the cleaners, sweepers and others, who were earlier employed by Essel Infra, the solid waste management company which has been blacklisted by RMC, will now be brought in the ambit of RMC to ensure that they get regular payment.
The board also decided to ensure cleanliness of all Akhras across the city before Karma festival.
