MC to run tatkal TS-1 service on trial basis

Ludhiana: In order to avoid ruckus in the MC House meeting, mayor Balkar Sandhu conducted an all-party meeting over the issue of tatkal TS-1 facility, at the Mayor Camp office near Rose Garden on Saturday.
The members showed their reluctance on facility and its proposed charges (Rs 1,000), saying that it will hit the public. Later, leaders of various parties decided to go for a trial run of this service for two months and the MC would implement it permanently if people like it. However, the final stamp on this trial decision will be marked in the House meeting on February 4.

It was an attempt to appease leaders of opposition parties so that they don’t raise hue and cry on proposals and house meeting could proceed peacefully.

In the meeting, Lok Insaf party councilor Swarandeep Singh Chahal spoke against tatkal facility, saying that officials would deny issuing the no dues certificate to the public unless they get a tatkal receipt. The officials tried to convince the leaders in favour of the proposal and then they decided to go ahead with the trial run.

Meanwhile, the agenda to impose advertisement tax on delivery boys of food companies was rejected in the all-party meeting because the mayor said it is not easy to reach the companies and poor delivery boys will bear the brunt. The resolutions to sell MC properties will be approved, but committees will be framed to finalize the rates, sources said.

Mayor Sandhu said, “The all-party meeting is usually called to explain the leaders of other parties about the resolutions kept in the agenda, so that there should be lesser confusion in the meeting. Usually the decisions taken in the all-party meeting are repeated in the house meeting, but actual picture will get clearer in the house meeting on Monday.”

He said they would go with trial run of tatkal TS-1 scheme till March 31 and the agenda to recover the advertisement tax from food companies might be cancelled.

Mayor plans to counter Cong MLA

A day after Congress MLA Sanjay Talwar attacked the mayor with some questions, the mayor seems to have prepared a plan to counter attack. The sources revealed that in the all-party meeting, it has been decided that the mayor will give chance to three councilors from each party to speak. In the previous meeting, the councillors from Ludhiana East constituency had dominated the zero hour and other party councillors did not get time to speak.