Uproar in GVMC Council Over Land Agenda

The GVMC council meeting on Friday turned chaotic as NDA and YSRCP corporators clashed inside the council hall. Heated arguments led to a brief scuffle, sources said.

For the first time since the council took office in 2021, officials held the meeting in camera and kept the media out. The move drew criticism. YSRCP leaders alleged that the civic body aimed to regularise government land worth about ₹5,000 crore in favour of a private university.

Corporators began the meeting with a minute of silence for GVMC Superintending Engineer G. Govinda Rao, who passed away recently.

Trouble started before members took up the listed agenda. YSRCP corporators, joined by CPI(M) member B. Ganga Rao, asked Mayor Peela Srinivasa Rao to drop an item. The item reportedly concerns the regularisation of 54 acres of government land at Rushikonda. YSRCP leaders claimed the move would benefit GITAM institutions linked to Visakhapatnam MP M. Sribharat.

The Mayor did not accept the demand. YSRCP corporators then moved towards the podium. TDP corporators stepped in to support the Mayor. The groups exchanged sharp words. A brief scuffle followed. YSRCP floor leader Banala Srinivasa Rao and others got caught in the commotion. One YSRCP corporator reportedly injured his leg.

YSRCP members later staged a sit-in inside the hall. They raised slogans against the NDA. They also demanded media access. Officials rejected the demand.

Despite protests, the council cleared all 15 agenda items. NDA members pushed them through using their majority, sources said. The meeting ended in less than an hour. Corporators called it one of the shortest sessions in recent years.