Bhubaneswar: The 45th General Council Meeting of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Tuesday here, witnessed heated exchanges over sanitation tenders, street lighting and procedural issues. Mayor Sulochana Das suspended Ward No. 37 Corporator Bandita Pal from the meeting after she allegedly continued livestreaming the proceedings on her mobile phone despite repeated objections.
The meeting was chaired by BMC Mayor Sulochana Das and attended by Commissioner Chanchal Rana, Deputy Mayor Manjulata Kanhara, additional commissioners Sasmita Sahu and Kailash Chandra Das, Chief Finance Officer Deepak Ranjan Behera, City Engineer Prafulla Kumar Raito and other officials. Standing committee chairpersons, corporators and officials from various departments also participated. After the commissioner’s welcome address and the deputy mayor’s remarks, corporators raised objections over the inauguration of a road in Ward No. 10, alleging that neither the local corporator nor the mayor had been invited to the event.
Describing the omission as an insult, the corporators demanded that the road be formally inaugurated again by the BMC. The protest ended after Mayor assured them that the civic body would organise a fresh inauguration. Tensions escalated when Ward No. 37 Corporator Bandita Pal allegedly began live-streaming the proceedings on her mobile phone and continued asking questions to the mayor and commissioner while broadcasting the meeting. According to the BMC, the mayor, commissioner and other corporators objected to the livestreaming, stating that it violated the rules governing the meeting. Despite repeated requests to stop the broadcast, Pal allegedly continued, prompting other corporators to consider walking out.
Mayor Das subsequently suspended Pal from the meeting under Section 114(5) of the municipal law, citing alleged disorderly conduct and disrespect towards the House. The other corporators later returned to their seats, allowing the meeting to proceed. As the meeting moved to its scheduled agenda, corporators raised strong objections over the City’s streetlighting and sanitation arrangements. Corporators raised the issue in deploying a new agency for sanitation services, despite the completion of the tendering process. Responding to their concerns, Rana said, “The tender process had been completed, and the agency is selected. However, the proposal had been forwarded to the state government for approval, and implementation would begin after the necessary clearance was received.” Dissatisfied with the explanation, several corporators staged a sit-in protest near the podium. The situation eased after the mayor and commissioner assured them that efforts would be made to resolve the issue within 10 days. The council subsequently reviewed various works approved by the standing committees, discussed the minutes of the previous meeting and examined the progress made in implementing earlier decisions. The meeting also included a question-and-answer session in which the mayor and commissioner responded to queries raised by corporators. Several proposals submitted through the standing committees were presented and approved by the House, while other suggestions from corporators and departmental officials were discussed in detail.
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