‘Gupta isn’t accessible, MLA’s doors should always be open to the public’: Former Haryana deputy CM

An alumnus of Lawrence School, Sanawar, Mohan was the deputy chief minister of Haryana. He has done BA (Hons). “An MLA is the voice of the people. When I was the MLA or even the Deputy CM, it was a walk-in at my residence in Sector 8 where people could just come, meet me and share their problems. They never required any prior appointment.

People told me how to seek an appointment with Gian Chand Gupta, it takes days as he isn’t accessible,” said Mohan, adding that people should vote for a person who “has always been with them and is accessible to them”.

He said that this election is a fight to bring back lost spirit of Panchkula. “This election is to bring back the lost spirit of Panchkula which was once a clean city and today it’s the most neglected one with no basic amenities. If you see the booklet released by Gian Chand Gupta about development works here, he has mentioned those roads which don’t even fall in the jurisdiction of Panchkula. It’s a matter of investigation where has the Rs 5,000 crore amount really been spent? Because it is nowhere on the ground here in Panchkula,” the Congress candidate said.

He added, “The other day I went to the general hospital and there he claims to have carried out works of over Rs 50 lakh or so. It wasn’t visible at all. The amount seems to have been spent just on papers.”

Mohan was elected MLA from Kalka Assembly segment for four continuous terms — 1993, 1996, 2000 and 2004 — when Panchkula was part of it then. Later in 2009, the Panchkula Assembly constituency was created.

On Gupta stating that he couldn’t make Panchkula the Paris in 18 years, he countered, “It’s amusing. Guptaji is not aware that the foundation of Panchkula, the roads, institutions, bhawans and every facility that the city has….was laid by me and my father in our tenure. He failed to maintain that and I am here to bring back the original character of the city in shape.”

“Rather, I got the district of Panchkula carved out from the old erstwhile larger Ambala district. Those were my efforts to bring tehsil offices, district courts to Panchkula from Ambala. Rather my role was instrumental in shifting and establishments of government offices and departmental state head offices to Panchkula from Chandigarh. He needs to be reminded about all this.”

About his key priority once he is elected, he said, “The first and the foremost thing will be to remove the Jhuriwala dumping ground. It is that task which can be done in just two weeks. If Gupta ji wants, even before polls he could have got it cleared within two weeks. But don’t know why he doesn’t want to do it.”

On the dumping ground, Mohan said that “BJP was spreading false rumours”. “Moreover, I would like to mention that Gian Chand Gupta claimed yesterday during his Maha Jan Sampark Abhiyaan that 35 years ago Congress created the dump on the middle of the road. And I will clarify that 35 years ago in 1989 there was the Lok Dal government headed by Devi Lal ji and not the Congress. BJP is spreading a false narrative to try and shift the blame away from a problem they created,” Mohan specified.

Apart from the dump, Mohan’s other priorities are “repairing crumbling infrastructure (specifically roads and drainage), addressing the stray cattle and dogs issue, aggressively prosecuting crime and corruption which have both increased dramatically in the last 5 years”.

In rural areas of Panchkula, he adds that “the focus is on providing employment without bribes and discrimination, building clinics in villages and a large hospital in Barwala”.