Councillors claim in unison MC has become ‘adda’ of corruption, says civic body has failed to remove encroachments

Rising above the party lines, all councillors of the Chandigarh civic body lashed out at officers of the enforcement wing, stating that the MC has become an “adda of corruption” and that the officers concerned have failed to remove encroachments in the city.

“I will on record say that the municipal corporation has become ‘municipal corruption adda’ in the enforcement department. The worst part is that the illegal vendors are all over the place and the genuine ones who have paid the fees are suffering a lot,” BJP councillor Saurabh Joshi stated.

“I wouldn’t even hesitate to mention that the complete enforcement wing is involved in corrupt practices and letting illegal vendors mushroom.”

AAP councillor Damanpreet Singh told the House that illegal money is being collected from the vendors to allow them to sit in Sector 22.

“Sector 22 has the worst situation. Illegal vendors are all over the place. The enforcement staff doesn’t even stay there till 7 pm, they leave by 6 pm. Aren’t they supposed to be there till 7 pm? One cannot even cross the road such is the scenario in my sector,” the AAP councillor claimed.

BJP’a Rajender Kumar while vetting the claims raised by other councillors said that vendors in his ward even challenge him that no one can remove them since they pay money to the MC officers.

“Do you know a scrap dealer challenged me and said no one can remove him from this place because he pays Rs 15,000 to the officials of the civic body,” Rajender Kumar told the House.

Stressing that the civic body has a “zero tolerance” policy towards encroachments, the deputy commissioner, after listening to the councillors’ claims, directed officials of the enforcement wing to take necessary action. “We have zero tolerance against the encroachments and all illegal vendors will be removed within fifteen days,” he added.

Councillors even took up the issue of the timings of the enforcement wing. AAP councillor Prem Lata asked as to why the timings of the enforcement staff may not be revised. “Instead of 11 am to 7 pm timings of the enforcement staff, why can’t their timings be from 12 noon to 8 pm. Majority of the illegal vendors come at 8 pm and encroach upon till 11 pm. I won’t hesitate to say all these officials are hand in glove with these illegal vendors,” Lata said.

DC apologises to AAP councillor on behalf of officials

Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh, who is holding the additional charge of Municipal Commissioner, on Tuesday apologised to AAP councillor Jasbir Singh Laddi in the General House meeting following a row over “attaching a copy of a complaint against the councillor along with the agenda of the meeting”.

The meeting was held at the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation building at Sector 17 here. Before the items on the agenda were taken up for discussion, councillor Jasbir Singh Laddi took up the issue of “attaching a copy of a complaint against him along with the agenda” distributed to everyone in the meeting which, according to Laddi, was “intentionally done to malign his image”.

The deputy commissioner apologised on behalf of officials for attaching the copy of the complaint along with the agenda. Laddi had been raising this issue for quite some time.

In the complaint, workers maintaining a park in Laddi’s ward had cited that the RWA, running the park, was paying them lower remuneration while the Chandigarh civic body was paying much higher. A copy of this complaint was attached along with the agenda of the General House meeting.

Laddi said that “it was intentionally done to malign his image”. He sought an apology for this and even called then Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra “an officer with low intelligence quotient”.

“Several complaints are lodged every day, but former Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra attached a copy of this complaint along with the agenda,” he said in the House.

The deputy commissioner replied, “On behalf of all the officials, I apologise to you. We are all working as one team. And as public figures, several anonymous complaints are lodged.”

Vinay Pratap Singh also directed the officers to ensure that such a mistake is not repeated.

When Laddi called Mitra “an officer with low intelligence quotient (IQ)”, the deputy commissioner asked him to refrain from using such words. “We should rather thank her for all the good work that she has done. We should not use such words for officers who have worked so diligently in the civic body,” the deputy commissioner said.

Senior Deputy Mayor Kuljeet Sandhu added that councillors should avoid taking the names of officers during House meetings.

The previous House meeting on August 21 was deferred at the last minute when Laddi had said he would table everything before the House and how attempts were being made to tarnish his image. That time the Municipal Commissioner was Anindita Mitra whose term ended last Friday. Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh is now holding the additional charge of Municipal Commissioner.