Bhubaneswar: High drama marked the 45th General Council meeting of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday over issues of sanitation, street lights and protocol, leading to suspension of a corporator.
Mayor Sulochana Das suspended Ward No. 37 Corporator Bandita Pal for allegedly live-streaming the meeting on her mobile phone despite repeated warnings. The meeting was chaired by the Mayor and attended by Commissioner Chanchal Rana, Deputy Mayor Manjulata Kanhara, Additional Commissioners Sasmita Sahu and Kailash Chandra Das, CFO Deepak Ranjan Behera, City Engineer Prafulla Kumar Raito and other officials.
At the outset, corporators protested over inauguration of a road in Ward No. 10 without inviting the local corporator and the Mayor. Calling it an insult, they demanded that BMC re-inaugurate the road. The protest ended after the Mayor assured fresh inauguration.
Later, trouble started when Corporator Bandita Pal allegedly began live-streaming the proceedings and kept questioning the Mayor and Commissioner while on live. Mayor, Commissioner and other corporators objected saying it violates council rules. As Pal allegedly continued despite requests, other corporators threatened to walk out.
The Mayor then suspended her from the meeting under Section 114(5) of Municipal Law for disorderly conduct. After normalcy returned, corporators raised concerns over poor street lighting and sanitation and questioned the delay in engaging a new sanitation agency even after tender finalisation.
