Visakhapatnam: Over130 agenda items were approved in the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation council meeting, said Mayor Peela Srinivasa Rao.

At the GVMC council meeting held here on Friday, the Mayor stated that the meeting included more than 130 items, comprising the main agenda with 90 items and the table agenda with 42 items. The ward corporators raised ward-wise issues during the zero hour, while deliberations were held on various agenda items. Of them, 131 items were approved, while the proposal for renaming Relli Veedhi was turned down, the Mayor informed.

Earlier, the YSRCP and Left corporators surrounded the Mayor’s podium and demanded cancellation of the establishment of the Ambuja Cement factory at Pedagantyada. They stated that the area is already impacted due to pollution levels and setting up of the factory would further worsen the situation.

Representatives from various people’s organisations took out a dharna right in front of the GVMC office opposing the establishment of the cement factory. With the council deciding to bring the issue to the notice of the government and recommending suspension of the factory, the protestors withdrew the dharna. In the meantime, ward corporators brought several issues to the notice of the Mayor.

They included lack of functional streetlights in some of the wards, anti-social activities at Mudasarlova Park and absence of development in the wards that got merged.

Staging a sit-in protest at the podium, YSRCP corporators alleged that the coalition government is deliberately pushing Visakhapatnam Steel Plant into losses and handing it over to the private players. They stated that the coalition government is unsupportive towards saving the VSP from getting privatised.

The council meeting was held in the presence of co-option members, GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg and corporation officials.