BJP, Kudumbashree in war of words over Mahila Mall

Councillors accuse corpn. of engaging in corruption using agency

The community development societies (CDS) of Kudumbashree under the Kozhikode Corporation and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members in the council on Thursday engaged in a war of words over the running of the Mahila Mall in the city.

The BJP councillors led by T. Raneesh held a press meet accusing the corporation of engaging in corruption using the Kudumbashree as a front. They alleged that the Mahila Mall, run by the Kudumbashree, was projected as a flagship venture of the corporation initially. When it incurred losses, the corporation promptly washed its hands of the project, they alleged.

However, T.K. Geetha, Sheeja Vinod, and O. Rajitha, chairpersons of the north, south, and central CDS of the Kudumbashree, said in a release that the Mahila Mall was only one of the hundreds of ventures promoted by them. The Kudumbashree is training women in various jobs and helping them get loans with interest subsidy to start ventures. The Mahila Mall, opened in 2018, had a good run till March 2020, they said. Later, the entrepreneurs defaulted their rent payments. Along with the losses due to the closure of the mall because of the pandemic restrictions, the rent dues went up further. The Kudumbashree could not handle the burden. Though steps were taken to reduce the rent, the entrepreneurs said that they were not ready to operate under the management. This led to its closure forever. Though these facts were explained at the corporation council meeting already, the members were again trying to mislead the people, they alleged.