Chandigarh MC chief engineer Sanjay Arora removed on Kataria’s order; reason not yet known: Mayor

When asked, MC Commissioner Amit Kumar refused to comment on Arora’s removal.

The Chandigarh Congress alleged that Arora was removed from his post as he was “not acting as a puppet in the hands of the BJP”, while the BJP defended the move, saying “all public works have been stuck due to his presence”.

A BJP councillor, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Most of the development works are in a limbo. Not a single project saw the light of day. Look at the condition of roads…see what was done to the tender of the legacy waste and whatnot.” “Moreover, the Administrator was apprised of certain irregularities in tenders,” he said.

The BJP councillor said, “Arora was inaccessible, too. What to talk of meeting, he would not take our calls at all…not even once in past one year I was able to speak with him.”

On October 6, The Indian Express had also reported how Arora was inaccessible to the public.

Chandigarh Congress chief Harmohinder Singh Lucky alleged, “Arora wasn’t acting as a puppet in the BJP’s hands, so this happened.”

Speaking with The Indian Express, Lucky said the removal of an honest officer from the Municipal Corporation exposed the BJP’s “arbitrary attitude”.

“BJP has once again revealed its malicious intentions and flawed policies by removing an honest officer. BJP wants every honest officer to act as its puppet and support its wrong and arbitrary decisions. The Congress stands firmly with all honest officers. The people of Chandigarh can clearly see how the BJP is treating officers who are trying to improve the collapsing financial condition of the Municipal Corporation,” Lucky said.

Lucky added, “Apparently, the chief engineer might have pinpointed loopholes in the Manimajra land deal case, which wasn’t in the BJP’s favour.”

Arora had joined the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation as the chief engineer from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in 2024. Before joining the MCD, Arora was a superintending engineer with the Chandigarh civic body’s public health department. Before Arora, the then chief engineer NP Sharma had stayed on a deputation for over 22 years with the Chandigarh civic body.

No fresh appointment to the post was made till the filing of this report, but MC sources indicated that Superintending Engineer Krishan Pal might be given the additional charge.

On October 6, The Indian Express had highlighted how, over a period of eight days, its correspondents tried meeting Arora, posing as common citizens to present a grievance before him about a civic issue, but they could not even catch a glimpse of the officer, even during designated public hours, let alone secure a meeting.

This was despite the administration’s claim that its officials are easily accessible to the public.

At the level of the chief engineer, who oversees the city’s core infrastructure and services-related matters, the gates remained firmly shut. Even during the notified “public meeting hours,” citizens waiting outside his office were told only one thing by his staff: “Arora is in a meeting.”

From a widow seeking a livelihood to students worried about roads and drainage, their grievances never reached the officer tasked with addressing them. The public meeting hour, meant to bridge the gap between officials and residents, remained a closed door.

Later, when asked whether he was meeting people as per the public hours, Arora stated, “Haanji, bilkul, 12 se 1 milta hoon sabse (Yes, I meet the public from 12 noon to 1 pm).” When told that not one correspondent could access him over several days, he responded: “I can give my PA’s number. They can fix an appointment.” When Arora was reminded that he had not been available to the public since September 24, he said: “I may be caught up somewhere…”

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