Management panel meet drowns in din

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first meeting of the reconstituted Management Committee of the Corporation Computer Centre (CTC) got drowned in the din raised by the UDF councillors here on Monday. The UDF councillors sought the resignation of an official who was allegedly named in a corruption report earlier at the CTC and demanded a vigilance inquiry into the functioning of the CTC. The Management Committee was reconstituted after a gap of two-and-a-half years. The Council had witnessed big din over approving the reconstituting of the Management Committee. UDF member Maheswaran Nair had said in the Council that his name should be left out from the committee. Though only four members of the UDF are in the Committee, more than 30 UDF members were present at the Corporation office on Monday. ‘‘The meeting was scheduled for 3 p.m. However, the Mayor did not turn up and eventually left through the other door avoiding us. We have only demanded that the official who has been named in a corruption report and who has again been co-opted into the Akshaya centre under the Corporation be removed from the Management Committee,” said Maheswaran Nair. However, LDF councillor and Committee member M S Sangita said that the UDF had come prepared for a drama. ``Otherwise, why should the UDF members turn up in such large numbers when there are only four of them in the committee?” she asked. The LDF members said that the Mayor had actually climbed the stairs to attend the meeting but was blocked by the UDF members.  The CTC had met with allegations of corruption some two years back when discrepancies were found in the account books of the Centre by the Management Committee. The committee had then expelled two employees and an officer was put in charge of the monitoring of the Centre. Present Mayor Chandrika had served as the director of the CTC once.  The CTC has the reprographic centre, three apparel units, 12 Akshaya centres and two hardware centres under it and had risen from a mere computer centre to a full-fledged institution in the last one decade. However, with the corruption charges rocking its operations and the delay in setting up a new Management Committee taking its toll, the CTC has already seen its bad days. According to the Corporation officials, only if the meeting of the Management Committee takes place, the various agenda including the salary revision of the employees will get approved.