Chronicle Reporter, Indore
United after a long time, Congress on Monday protested the policies and ‘dictator’ like attitude of officials of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) as they staged a demonstration at the main gate of the IMC office.
A large number of Congress party workers and prominent leaders shouted slogans against the functioning of the BJP-led IMC and even created ruckus at the main entrance where they were stopped by police.
Apart from local leaders, heavyweights like Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president Arun Yadav, state in charge Deepak Bawariya, and secretary in charge Sanjay Kapoor also participated in the protest.
Comparing the municipal commissioner Manish Singh and mayor Malini Gaud with North Korean premier Kim Jong Un, the Congress corporators and leaders criticised the action taken by IMC against Congress MLA Jeetu Patwari for protesting civic issues at a ward in Palda a few days ago.
Addressing the protest, Yadav said “Congress party too supported the endeavour of making city the cleanest one in the country and still support it on every front, but the IMC officials and mayor are now placing themselves even above the people.
However, all fell flat when they had to face heavy embarrassment after the city came under attack of vector-borne diseases despite being no. 1 in cleanliness and hygiene.”
MLA Jeetu Patwari, who was recently arrested for protesting against the IMC apathy, too trained his guns against the bias of IMC officials and said that “They do not like to face criticism and see the reality.”
“IMC has been behaving like a dictator frustrating common men from all walks of life. IMC has destroyed houses and shops of poor people and left them to beg or die. They even put me in jail for protesting peacefully against their irregularities,” he said.
Spokesperson Johar Manpurwala said they submitted a memorandum of demands including legalising of unauthorised colonies without any charges to people and stopping new illegal establishments and basic facilities to the people resettled due to development works.
Common man bears brunt
While Congressmen were protesting at the main entrance of the IMC, they were oblivious about the fact that a large number of common citizens got stuck in the jam caused by them.
As the protest flared up with policemen trying hard to control the ruckus, commuters passing through MG Road and Rambagh were badly stuck in the jam for nearly an hour losing a lot of their valuable time and cool as well.
