Mysore/Mysuru: Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner Gurudatta Hegde has hinted that it will be difficult for the Corporation to release Rs. 50 lakh to every Ward for development works in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

He was replying to members over the status of fund release to all 65 MCC Wards in city at the General Council Meeting of the MCC held here this morning. 

Corporator B.V. Manjunath (BJP) said development works in all Wards have come to a standstill due to delay in release of funds promised by Mayor Tasneem in one of the previous meetings. Now, it was learnt that the file pertaining to release of Rs. 50 lakh for each Ward has been held back by the MCC Commissioner. Such promise should not have been made by the Mayor in the Council meeting if it cannot be fulfilled, he said.

When other members demanded a statement from the Mayor in this regard, she asked the Commissioner to reply.

The Commissioner said the civic body required Rs. 32.50 crore to release Rs. 50 lakh to every Ward in the city for development works. But now it was looking difficult to honour that commitment owing to prevailing COVID-19 situation in the city.

Manjunath demanded the Mayor to come out with a status report on the financial position of the MCC immediately. He opined that she cannot back out of her promises since her assurance of giving Rs. 50 lakh to each Ward has been on record. The previous Mayor, Pushpalatha Jagannath had made a similar promise of Rs. 50 lakh for every Ward but what they got was just Rs.35 lakh each.

Pandemonium: Earlier, the ruling JD(S) and Congress members and Opposition BJP members involved in a wordy duel after former Mayor Arif Hussain of Congress lambasted the State Government for its failure in handling COVID-19. 

He contended that beds were not available to Corona positive patients and blamed District Minister S.T. Somashekar. Agitated over this, the BJP members led by Opposition Leader M.U. Subbaiah and Manjunath walked into the well of the House, and demanded action against the member for making baseless allegations. 

The JD(S) and Congress members also involved in a heated exchange of words and nothing was audible in the melee. As the appeal made by the Mayor proved futile, she adjourned the House for ten minutes.

As soon as the meeting began, the members observed a two-minute silence to condole the death of former President Pranab Mukherjee, noted singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam and former Corporator Narasimhe Gowda. The meeting was in progress when we went to Press.