Chandigarh Municipal Corporation’s meeting that lasted 45 mins, burns a hole in admin’s coffers

On Tuesday, that money was burnt through in quick time, with the general House meeting being deferred for the day after only 45 minutes of discussions, despite several agendas scheduled to be tabled for the day.

The reason — the daughter of Mayor Sarabjit Kaur not being well, as per municipal commissioner Anindita Mitra.

On Tuesday, the House meeting started with a heated discussion over the issue of overhead cables being removed, leading to Internet outages in parts of the city. After the war of words died down, Mayor Sarabjit Kaur started to take up the rest of the agendas for the day.

As the Mayor sifted through the agendas, UT municipality commissioner Mitra stated that the “Mayor’s daughter was not well” and the agendas be taken up quickly.

Later, it was decided to postpone the meeting to some other day.

AAP’s Leader of Opposition, Yogesh Dhingra while speaking to The Indian Express after the meeting said, “If the Mayor had some urgent work, then the senior deputy mayor should have stepped in. We shouldn’t let agendas of development work related to the city suffer.”

He added, “Moreover, who will pay for the expenses. Every meeting costs the public exchequer a lot.”

Agendas listed for the day

Many important agendas had to come up before the House for discussion, which included the work of sanitation in villages and Mani Majra, the reconstruction of a passage in Sector 22, which was declared in poor condition.

A safety audit was carried out by the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR) that had found existing connecting passage in Sector 22 in “poor” condition. The civic body had then decided to pull down teh structure and build a new one for Rs 2.28 crore, the agenda for which was to be passed by the House on Tuesday.

RWAs unhappy

President of the Federation of Sectors Welfare Associations of Chandigarh, Baljinder Singh Bittu, while speaking to The Indian Express said, ” The city literally waits for these House meeting so that constructive or important decisions are taken. But all our elected councillors do is have fun at the expense of taxpayers.”

A lunch to end it all

Tuesday’s meeting ended with a lavish spread for the councillors and officials present.

The platter on offer saw North Indian main course dishes on offer with Punjabi specialities like sarson da saag and makki ki roti, along with shahi paneer, koftas, dal makhani, sprout salad, and all sorts of breads being on offer.

Sanitation workers protest

A group of sanitation employees were protesting outside the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation building in Sector 17 against the privatisation of giving sanitation in villages and Manimajra to private players.

They were protesting against this agenda which did not come for discussion as the meeting was abruptly postponed.