Mayor, MC officials draw flak from Cong MLAs, councillors

Ludhiana: Congress MLAs and some of the councilors were seen venting their ire against mayor Balkar Sandhu and top brass of the civic body during the MC general house meeting, who not only questioned about its functioning, but also resented that despite being in the majority and in the ruling government, the development work in their areas was being neglected.
Congress MLA from North constituency Rakesh Pandey was seen aggressive in the meeting on Monday and raised questions over the ongoing practice of mayor Balkar Sandhu in clearing new proposals without caring for the previous ones. He asked the mayor as well as the MC commissioner, K P Brar, about the status of the previous approved works.
Pandey also questioned the mayor as to why Rs 2-crore fund was not being released for MLA quota for development works. Even Congress MLA from Central constituency Surinder Dawar asked the mayor to provide funds to the MLAs for various developmental works per year.
Rakesh Pandey gave the example of checking drive initiated by the mayor after assuming charge and asked about the status report. He showed an old report of sanitation staff in the MC house meeting while stating that when there were only 40 wards, the MC had 715 sweepers, 300 gardeners and 200 sewer men, but now the city has developed, but there was no clarity over the staff. He also raised questions over the list of vending zones by stating that before proposing these sites, officials did not consult area MLAs and councillors.
Despite his request to check these sites again, the house approved the resolution. Pandey was seen angry with the MC commissioner and said whatever directions were given in the past meetings, not even a single direction was implemented. He also warned the house that he would not tolerate interference in his zone and constituency.
MLA Dawar also asked the mayor to allow Rs 2 crore annual quota for the MLAs. However, the MLA from East constituency Sanjay Talwar, who did not speak in the meeting, later commented that he was in support of two senior MLAs in seeking Rs 2 crore fund from the MC. He claimed that there was a need for a bigger amount as more developmental work was required in his constituency.
When Congress councilors raised question marks on their own government, Congress councillor Kuldeep Janda was in tears when he raised the problems of his ward in the meeting.
He said from the past one-and-a-half years he has been fighting against dyeing units, dairies and sewerage problems in his ward. While the MC was allowing dyeing units to use ground water for the public, installation of tube wells was not being allowed.
Another Congress councillor Baljinder Singh said: “I am saddened to see that I am unable to resolve the issue of street lights in the areas under my ward because the company people do not come to resolve the problem and the MC staff is not doing anything.”
Allegations against deputy mayor
Akali Dal councillor from Ward Number 30 Jaspal Singh Giaspura levelled allegations against deputy mayor Sarabjit Kaur while stating that she got high tension wires removed from a private property.
Giaspura said the MC was going to spend Rs 8.65 lakh for removing electricity wires from some private plot in Samrat Colony. He said even officials did not bother to check and report the same.
The deputy mayor denied allegations and said a few residents of the area had come to her with a request to remove the wires. She said she had kept the letter signed by residents of the area and could show the same in the house.