Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) council meeting at the ISBT on Saturday witnessed a heated exchange between BJP corporators and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Shabista Zaki over her remark, “I don’t take commission.”
The controversy erupted during a discussion on renting out vacant space at the New Market multilevel parking complex.
When Zaki opposed the proposal, Mayor-in-Council (MiC) member Manoj Rathore said opposing every proposal was inappropriate. Zaki responded by saying she did not take commissions.
This triggered protests from BJP corporators who surrounded the chairman’s podium and demanded an apology. Zaki refused to apologise, prompting chairman Kishan Suryavanshi to adjourn the meeting for 15 minutes.
Suryavanshi termed the remarks objectionable, ordered them to be expunged from the proceedings and warned Zaki of strict action if she made similar allegations without evidence in the future.
Congress corporators defended Zaki, arguing that she had referred to herself and that the issue was being unnecessarily escalated.
Hoarding policy, sanitation staff demands raised
District BJP president and MiC member Ravindra Yati sought details of hoardings installed across the city, including the names of agencies, legal and illegal installations and outstanding dues.
He later told the media that discrepancies in the hoarding system made it necessary for the corporation to formulate a comprehensive policy.
Corporators also demanded an assessment of sanitation staff shortages across all 85 wards and recruitment accordingly. Issues involving contaminated water, pipeline capacity, audit objections and expenditure of education cess on government schools were also discussed.
During Question Hour, proceedings reached only the eighth of around 13 scheduled questions. The chairman directed officials to provide answers to the remaining councillors separately.
