How Chandigarh BJP leader’s association controls 44 parks, gets a fat cheque from MC

As many as 44 out of 70 parks in Sector 22 are being maintained by Amrut Residents Welfare Association run by BJP leader Prince Bhandula. He is the president of the BJP’s Medical Cell in Chandigarh. He had contested civic body polls in December 2021 on the BJP’s ticket against the Congress’s Sachin Galav but lost to him.

Details with The Indian Express show every month he was paid around Rs 2 lakh on average, around Rs 26 lakh a year.

Ironically, notices were served on the BJP leader’s association for not maintaining parks as well.

When contacted, a senior official of the engineering wing said, “The Amrut Residents’ Welfare Association has been served notices thrice by us as they were not maintaining the parks as per the memorandum of understanding.”

Sources stated that the Municipal Commissioner had asked the engineering wing that if “an association was faltering repeatedly and the parks were not being maintained, why the MoU wasn’t being cancelled with them”.

N P Sharma, Chief Engineer of Chandigarh MC, told The Indian Express, “ Yes, they (Amrut Welfare Association) have the maximum parks. They were served notices too when certain norms as per MoU were not fulfilled. Even an amount was deducted when they raised an inflated bill. Our horticulture wing checks whether pruning is done, grass is maintained and other norms are followed before releasing the payments.”

Details with The Indian Express show that the association was made a payment of Rs 2,08,619 in July this year, Rs 2,29,514 in August and Rs 1,79,438 in September. Generally, the association raised a bill of around Rs 2,84,665 per month.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Bhandula said, “Yes, I am the president of BJP’s medical cell. There can be situations where grass is pruned in one park and it may take time to be pruned in the other parks. I have gardeners and a supervisor as well. The parks are being maintained well. Hence, this amount (of bills). The area councillor who is from AAP wants to field his own men to carry out this work. That is why he is saying that the parks are not maintained well.”

Park maintenance: Not a single penny audited

Interestingly, not a single penny that is disbursed under park maintenance is being audited.

There are 809 neighbourhood parks that are being maintained by 86 RWAs. The RWAs in the city which wish to maintain the neighbourhood parks get Rs 4.15 per square metre to maintain them.

Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra had said that “the funds being given to the residents’ welfare associations for maintaining these parks should be audited” as this is government money.