Date:29/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/29/stories/2008092953280300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

8 ZPTC members suspended

Staff Reporter

Congress members disrupt proceedings of ZP meet for 45 minutes

Awkward situation: Police officials evicting Congress ZPTC members after they were suspended from the special general body meeting of Adilabad ZP by chairman Rathod Ramesh on Sunday.

ADILABAD: Eight Congress Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) members were suspended from the special general body meeting of the ZP on Sunday by Chairman Rathod Ramesh of Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

The members were suspended as they disrupted proceedings at the meeting for about 45 minutes demanding discussion on allocation of works under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF).

Discussion on BRGF

The meeting was called to discuss the allocation of works under the BRGF.

However, before taking up this discussion, the Chairman proposed discussion on Agriculture and Medical and Health subjects.

Stage sit-in

This was objected to, by the 10 Congress ZPTC members. They vociferously demanded discussion on BRGF and staged a sit-in in front of the dais.

As repeated pleas by the Chairman to the members to take their seats so that the proceedings could continue evoked no positive response, he suspended them citing relevant rules. He called the police officials in for physically removing the protesting Congress members.

Later, the BRGF allocation to the tune of about Rs. 22 crore was approved. In charge Collector Ilambarithi also attended. However, no MLA or MP attended the meeting.