Make security gates functional or remove them: Councillor

In a notice to the MC president and executive officer,the senior Congress leader submitted that at a MC house meeting held on December 29,2009,it was resolved to cancel the contract of the private firm if it failed to make the gates functional by deploying security guards and replace the present gates with the new ones as per the specifications of the MC.

“While rejecting the demand of the contractor to grant two-year extension in his contract,it was decided to allow advertisements on the gates only after they were made functional and installed as per specifications,” he reminded. Bedi wrote that it was a matter of a great concern that even seven months after the MC meeting,the decision still awaited compliance as the gates remain defunct and their ill-designs were serving as eyesore to the residents.

“I would be forced to drag you to the competent court of law if you failed to ensure compliance of the MC decision,” the councillor threatened,while adding that as per the terms and conditions mentioned in the contract agreement,the MC was empowered to cancel the contract after serving three months’ notice to the contractor.

It was in August last year that a private firm had installed 39 security gates in all 11 phases under Mohali MC limits; but so far,the gates,installed at the entry and exit points of all the phases to keep round-the-clock vigil and check the entry and exit of the visitors to the specific area,had remained defunct. They failed to serve the purpose as nobody was deputed to close and open the gates,which in turn remain wide open all day and night.

The gates were installed on the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis by a private contractor,who was also supposed to operate them for six years before transferring them to the MC for future operation. Though the gates had yet failed to secure the area,the contractor had started earning revenue from sole advertisement rights given to him.

As per the scheme,the entry and exit of the houses was specified and restricted through specific gates,on which their numbers were to be displayed and it was left as per wish of the area residents to decide the opening and closure timings of the gates and how to check the entry and exit of the outsiders to the area but no such system was put in place as yet.

It was on the recommendation of former SSP Jatinder Singh Aulakh that the MC,at its meeting on February 27,2009,had unanimously resolved to install security gates.

Aulakh had made the recommendation in view of the rising number of thefts even during daytime across the city,which he had attributed to the free access to the outsiders,vendors and suspected elements without any check.