A finance committee meeting of the Kochi Corporation, which discussed the waiver of rent for Kudumbashree’s Janakeeya Hotel in the Ponnurunni division, ‘overlooked’ the demand raised by the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) to treat the hotel on par with the Corporation’s Samridhi@Kochi hotel.
Four UDF members of the nine-member finance committee, chaired by Deputy Mayor K.A. Ansiya, a Left Democratic Front councillor, had raised the demand. The Corporation’s revenue wing has now issued a notice to the Kudumbashree hotel to clear rent dues amounting to ₹1.38 lakh, including penal interest. Failure to do so could result in the hotel’s closure as early as Saturday (October 25), Kudumbashree members have been warned. The amount was calculated at ₹8 per sq. ft. for the 1,069-sq.ft. premises, covering the period from October 2022 to May 2023.
“We said there cannot be two sets of rules for Samridhi@Kochi and other Janakeeya hotels in the city. How can Samridhi@Kochi be exempted from rent, water, and electricity charges borne by the Corporation, while the same does not apply to Kudumbashree’s Janakeeya Hotel, which is one of the earliest such hotels in the city? Our opinion, however, went undocumented. We will raise the issue in next week’s council meeting,” said M.G. Aristotle, UDF parliamentary party secretary and a member of the finance committee.
