MC meet: Nominated,Oppn councillors air grievances

While the House started with the nominated councillors raising their voice against the prevailing system where they were being ignored,the proceedings took a different turn with the Congress raising the issue of the BJP allegedly being against voting rights for nominated councillors. The proceedings of the House were disrupted a number of times.

Councillor M P Kohli said all nominated councillors had planned to boycott the meeting of the House. “This is the fourth meeting of this term of the House. The sub-committees are not functioning. When the intimation about the sub-committees was received from the administration,the nominated councillors were never informed. There are no answers to the questions we raised,” said Kohli.

Another issue that was raised was that two nominated councillors Major (retd) D S Sandhu and Shagufta Praveen were not informed about the cancellation of the meeting of the water supply sub-committee. Instead when they reached the office of the Municipal Corporation,they were informed that due to an all-party meeting,the meeting of the water supply sub-committee had been cancelled.

Major Sandhu said the nominated councillors should not be ignored. He added that when the Mayor or Commissioner visited any wards where nominated councillors reside,they should be invited. He said the information about the meetings of the panel be displayed in offices of the officers in the civic body.

The councillors of the Opposition raised objection to the cancellation of the meeting of the Finance and Contract Committee by the Mayor on the pretext that the quorum was not complete. The Mayor,in turn,retorted that it was the councillors of the Opposition who were late for the meeting due to which it was cancelled.

Another issue raised was about the auction of the enforcement wing taking place in the absence of observers as they were not informed about the change in timings.

As the attacks on the Mayor and lack of co-ordination in the Municipal Corporation went on,Congress councillor Subhash Chawla triggered another controversy stating that the BJP councillors were against voting rights for the nominated councillors.

This led to a din in the House with the Opposition and Congress councillors involved in a war of words. The councillors entered the well of the House. It was demanded that Chawla take back his words. The issue was resolved after it was decided that the statement would not be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

MC to send resolution to UT for taking over housing societies

The General House of the Municipal Corporation on Monday decided to send a resolution to the UT Administration for handing over the housing societies to the civic body along with the funds for their maintenance. The work within the housing societies is at present undertaken by the societies themselves.

The issue was raised by councillor Devesh Moudgil who proposed an agenda item for granting permission for executing development work within premises of the housing societies. A substantial part of the population of the city resides in these societies which are primarily in the southern sectors. The agenda proposed by Moudgil stated that there were various societies where the infrastructure facilities like roads,streetlight and parks were developed by the societies with their own resources.

“We go to the people of the societies to seek votes. However,when it comes to getting work done in the societies,we cannot get anything done. The civic body should undertake development work within the premises too,” said Moudgil. He added that there was a lack of schools,dispensary,playgrounds and temples in these sectors.

Councillor H C Kalyan said since the societies have a large number of voters,people question them since no work can be undertaken within the societies.

Municipal Commissioner Vivek Pratap Singh contended that the civic body could not take up any work within the premises of the societies. However,issues like improving sanitation facilities could be looked into.

Councillor Subhash Chawla proposed that a resolution could be moved asking the Administration to hand over charge of the societies to the Municipal Corporation.

It has been a long-standing demand of the housing societies that the internal work should be taken over by the Municipal Corporation. Several representations have been made by the residents in this regard.

Other issues raised

The problem of stray dogs was once again highlighted by the councillors. Major (retd) D S Sandhu said the pace at which the dogs were being sterilised was not sufficient to control the menace. Officials said a total of 5,261 dogs were sterilised in the past four years. Another problem was that of pet dogs. Councillor Subhash Chawla said there were certain breeds that were banned in other countries,but allowed here. The need for implementation of dog byelaws was highlighted.

Councillor Devesh Moudgil who had demanded a list of sweepers in his ward expressed dissatisfaction over the manner in which the list was given. He was assured that the pictures of all sweepers would be given to him.

The issue of providing winter uniforms to the safai karamcharis led to much debate in the House over whether they should be given uniforms or money for the same.

A number of agenda items about laying paver blocks,carpeting of roads were approved for different sectors.

On the request received from members of an association of persons with disabilities,it was decided that they would be allowed to hold meetings in the community centres free of cost once every three months.

A seven-member committee has been constituted to look into the allotment of tenders where it was alleged that a single company was favoured for laying pipelines.