Thrikkakara municipal chairperson dismisses audit report putting question mark over council

The Hindu

14-05-2025

Thrikkakara municipal chairperson Radhamani Pillai has dismissed the audit report on municipal accounts for 2023-24 and questioned the intentions behind making the report public before being verified with all papers submitted by the municipal authorities.
The Opposition parties had called for a special council meeting to discuss the report, which noted that ₹7.5 crore, which the civic body had received on various occasions, were not accounted for. But Ms. Pillai told reporters here on Wednesday (May 14, 2025) that the municipality could account for every rupee of the said amount that was said to be missing from the municipal accounts in the audit report.
She said the money was not in the bank account details, which were initially furnished by the municipality, but the matter was later clarified since the municipality operates multiple bank accounts. She also claimed that the controversy over the accounts and missing money could be a ploy by the Opposition to paint a poor picture of the ruling council ahead of the local body elections due in October.
However, the Leader of the Opposition in the council, M.K. Chandrababu of the CPI(M), claimed that the municipality's allegations were unfounded and that there was money missing from its account. He said there had been similar instances in the past as well. He pointed to the Onam celebrations held over the past two years, during which, he claimed, municipal funds were misused, a concern that had also been raised in the latest audit of accounts.
Mr. Chandrababu said the Opposition would request the ruling council to convene a meeting of the council members to discuss the issues raised in the audit report.
Ms. Pillai, on the other hand, expressed confidence that she would be able to account for every rupee spent by the municipality for various purposes and slammed the audit report, which, she said, went without incorporating clarifications submitted by the municipal authorities.
She added the online system of accounting for money at the municipal level through K-SWIFT was introduced over a year ago, and that the system ensured that there was transparency in all dealings with regard to money.
With regard to expenses for Onam celebrations, as pointed out in the audit report, the chairperson claimed that there were no Onam celebrations during 2023-24 during which just ₹2 lakh was spent under various heads, which were accounted for. During Onam in 2023, the civic body spent ₹24 lakh, including the ₹1 lakh paid to the Thrikkakara temple. All the rest of the money spent on celebrations in 2023 was accounted for, she added.