A city Corporation councillor has been caught in the middle of a controversy after an alleged voice clip emerged of her demanding a commission for inclusion in the beneficiary list for a land and housing scheme.
A voice clip, allegedly of Mary Pushpam, councillor of Kunnukuzhy ward belonging to the Congress party, was leaked on Tuesday, leading to a protest by Left Democratic Front (LDF) activists in the ward. She had allegedly demanded ₹25,000 from the beneficiary share from an applicant for the Corporation’s Mannum Veedum project. The applicant had identified a land near Sreekaryam for constructing a house. However, the councillor had allegedly asked her to look for land in some other area. When the applicant insisted, she had allegedly demanded money to sign on the recommendation letter. The fact that the applicant belongs to a family of Congress supporters has put the councillor on the defensive. The applicant had given complaints to the District Congress Committee as well as the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee office-bearers.
The councillor has, however, denied the allegations. Mayor Arya Rajendran said steps would be taken to ensure that the applicant received the plot of land she had identified as hers as the first name in the list approved by the ward sabha.
