A special meeting of the Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation council, convened to discuss the issue of encroachments and commercial establishments functioning without license, witnessed dramatic scenes over an alleged eviction notice issued to a Sree Narayana Guru mandiram at Chenthi.
Opening the discussions, M.R. Gopan, councillor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accused the Corporation of sending a demolition notice to the cultural organisation running the centre.
However, when Mayor Arya Rajendran requested him to submit the notice he had produced to raise the allegation, he was initially reluctant to do the same. Later, he forwarded a copy through Whatsapp. Reading out the text, Ms.Rajendran said that it was merely a notice asking the cultural organisation to present their side of the story, but Mr.Gopan had presented it to the council as an eviction notice.
She said that the Guru mandiram is located in 564/5, with the Corporation's required permissions. However, the alleged encroachments are reported in the survey number 564/4, located adjacent to it. Any action, if required, will be taken on this plot only, after further checks, she said.
Health Standing Committee Chairperson Jameela Sreedharan said that more than 100 scrap shops are functioning without license She said that licenses have been provided to 1,320 shops after the current administration took charge last year. Earlier, various councillors raised issues of encroachments in the city. UDF councillor Gopakumar said that a textile chain which has nine shops is functioning with a license for only one shop. He said that the civic body should check whether shops located inside malls are paying professional taxes for all its employees.
BJP councillor Anilkumar said that the Corporation's engineering department does not have accurate data of all the land owned by the Corporation. In many wards, there is not enough space available even to build a public toilet, due to encroachments on poramboke land. He urged the Health wing to provide a list of licensed shops in each ward to the respective councillors.
LDF councillor Palayam Rajan said that 95% of the shops in the city have a license. The Corporation has ensured that big establishments do not escape without paying license fees. Fire audits have to be done in old buildings.
