Vijayawada: Corporators of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) have embarked on a 14-day study tour starting Monday. During this period, they will visit municipal corporations in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala to study best practices being implemented by these bodies. The objective is to emulate similar practices in Vijayawada to provide improved civic services to the city’s residents.
As part of the tour, 24 corporators from the YSRCP and 17 from the NDA alliance, along with two co-opted members and civic body staff, will visit the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Mysore City Corporation (MCC) in Karnataka, followed by the Madurai Municipal Corporation (MMC) and Nagercoil Municipal Corporation (NMC) in Tamil Nadu, and the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation (TMC) and Kochi Municipal Corporation (KMC) in Kerala.
VMC mayor Rayana Bhagya Lakshmi flagged off the study tour bus carrying the corporators’ delegation, which is being undertaken under the supervision of YSRCP floor leader Venkata Satyanarayana. The delegation will begin their tour in Bangalore on Tuesday, where they will inspect various development works undertaken by the BBMP in the city.
Meanwhile, eyebrows were raised regarding the corporators’ study tour to the three southern states, for which a whopping Rs 70 lakh has been allocated, as previous study tours undertaken by VMC corporators to northeastern states and other municipal corporations in northern states failed to yield positive results.
VMC CPM floor leader Boya Satya Babu, who decided to abstain from the corporators’ study tour, told TOI: “The civic body corporators from both the YSRCP and TDP alliance parties have no regard for, and lack accountability regarding, taxpayers’ money. They are splurging public funds and enjoying pleasure trips in the name of study tours.”
“Funds amounting to approximately Rs 280 crore for storm water drain canals are pending from the state govt, yet not a single corporator from either the YSRCP or TDP has taken time to visit the state secretariat—which is just a stone’s throw away—to submit a petition or memorandum seeking the release of funds. But the corporators going on a 14-day study tour to assess development works in different states indicates that they have no accountability for public money,” Satya Babu criticised.
