Cuttack Municipal Corporation meeting halted midway after violent tussle

Cuttack city witnessed dramatic scenes on Friday during its municipal corporation (CMC) council meeting as a heated dispute escalated into chaos. Tensions flared when members clashed over the installation of gym equipment in Ward No. 51.

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The argument quickly intensified, with one of the corporators allegedly throwing a chair during the commotion.

According to sources, the confrontation began when differing opinions emerged over the allocation and setup of fitness infrastructure in the ward. What started as a verbal disagreement soon turned physical, forcing authorities to intervene.

The situation deteriorated to such an extent that the council meeting had to be abruptly suspended.

The incident has raised concerns about growing discord among corporators and the breakdown of decorum during civic proceedings. Senior officials are expected to review the matter and take disciplinary action against those involved.

“Gym equipment was earlier installed at a place (near a housing society) in Ward No. 51. I was completely ignorant about this. When I asked the society residents, they told me that they had obtained the equipment from the civic body by giving a bribe of Rs 30,000 to an engineer concerned,” BJP corporator of Ward No. 51, Rakesh Swain, said to OTV.

“This is very unfortunate, and rampant corruption is going on in the CMC. When I questioned the JE (junior engineer) in this regard, he had no reply, and he remained tight-lipped. This issue led to the heated argument, and the meeting was stalled,” Rakesh Swain stated.

“When he (BJP corporator Rakesh) brought the accusations, the JE concerned was replying to his queries. All of a sudden, Rakesh Swain got annoyed and broke the microphone, threw a glass tumbler and a chair at him (the JE). A large ceramic flower vase kept nearby broke in the incident, and also one of its broken parts hit a female corporator’s leg, who sustained injuries,” BJD corporator, Pradeep Sahu, expressed.

“After this, an elderly (BJD) corporator from Ward No. 30 named Rabi Narayan Sahu, in a loud voice and by mistake, uttered ‘rascal’ in place of saying ‘Rakesh’. It was a slip of his tongue, and he has already apologised for his wrongdoing,” Pradeep Sahu added.

However, no comments were received from the civic body officials in this regard.

Till the time when this report was filed, CMC Mayor Subhash Singh was trying to pacify both the BJD and BJP corporators.