Let dengue be damned, councillors stage protest

Though the councillors proposed to speak about the burning issue, ‘dengue fear’ at the council meeting on Monday, they turned out to be more interested in staging protest than holding discussions.  

Without discussing much, when the ruling party approved many subjects by voice-vote, the opposition party councillors staged a protest demanding a detailed discussion on dengue. Although given a chance, they stormed the well. The councillors did not pay heed to the ‘piece of advice’ given by Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy.

The mayor, in a previous meeting, had issued Karnataka Municipal Corporations Rules 1998 books to all the councillors, which had guidelines on code of conduct during council meetings.

However, the Mayor, seemed like he had forgotten the rules himself, and arrived an hour late for the 10.30 am meeting. On arrival, he adjourned the meeting by half-an-hour and at 12.20 pm, it resumed.

Interestingly, it took only 10 minutes for the ruling party to approve 22 subjects.  JD(S) Councillor Padmanabha Reddy condemned the mayor for approving 22 subjects without discussing anything about dengue deaths.

Speaking about dengue, Murthy said 200 cases of dengue had been reported so far. He added that the BBMP commissioner was instructed to initiate more awareness programmes.

‘Set-Up Labs’

During the discussion, setting up of a laboratory by the BBMP to diagnoses dengue was proposed. Councillors of Congress, JD(S) and a few independent parties demanded the mayor to allow them to speak about dengue. When allowed to speak, they were more interested in shouting slogans against the BJP.

Irked with this, the mayor rebuked, “You (non-BJP councillors) seem to be interested in publicity rather than holding discussions. When people are dying due to dengue, you are staging protests.” JD(S) leader Thimmegowda urged the mayor to revoke the approvals.