Mayor pats councillors for managing flood-like situation on August 21

Mayor Asha Jaswal said she appreciated how councillors and officers, including Municipal Commissioner Baldeo Purushartha, were out in the city managing the situation on their own.

Mayor Asha Jaswal, Chandigarh floods, Chandigarh rainfall, Chandigarh municipal corporation, indian express news

Mayor Asha Jaswal (Express Photo by Jaipal Singh)

EVEN AS Chandigarh witnessed a flood-like situation on August 21, officers and councillors of the Municipal Corporation patted themselves in the back for good arrangements. Mayor Asha Jaswal said she appreciated how councillors and officers, including Municipal Commissioner Baldeo Purushartha, were out in the city managing the situation on their own. It was claimed that the roads were cleared of waterlogging within half an hour.

Congress councillor Devinder Singh Babla said it was managed quite well and the officials saved them from facing a situation like that in Mohali. Other than this, the general House approved of giving a 10 per cent rebate to all those who practise 100 per cent in-house composting. Babla said if a habit of composting needed to be inculcated in residents, 10 per cent rebate, which would be around Rs 100 only, was far too less.

People will install the composting machines by spending thousands of rupees but will get a rebate which is hardly Rs 100. To inculcate this thing in people so that they carry out their own composting, those assessees, who practise 100 per cent in-house composting under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and follow other initiatives of the Government of India/Chandigarh administration, shall be entitled to have the rebate at a rate and for the time period as decided by the MC Chandigarh and approved by the Chandigarh Administration.

Purushartha informed that there would soon be a competition at the ward level to determine the cleanest ward. Ranks would be given to each ward which would even include segregation of waste at the household level. Meanwhile, BJP councillors Arun Sood and Davesh Moudgil had some heated arguments over the issue of community centres. Moudgil said an MC official called him just 10 minutes before coming for inspection of the community centre’s condition and it was not done at all.

As the matter aggravated, Sood accused Moudgil of targeting him which the latter denied. A few councillors even demanded that the MC should appeal in court for restoring the voting rights of nominated councillors. However, nominated councillor Kamla Sharma got up and said that they were there to do service for the city and it does not matter if they did not have voting rights.