Chandigarh: Councillors refuse to restore fuel limit for official staff cars

“Until councillors don’t get perks of fuel to run their vehicles for development work, we won’t allow revocation of the order of 20 per cent cut in fuel limit,” BJP councillor Kanwarjeet Ranak said. Other councillors nodded in agreement.

The cut in fuel limits was made for official staff cars to cut costs during the Covid-19 pandemic. On Friday, the matter was brought up for discussion but shot down by councillors, who brought up an unfulfilled promise made to them.

BJP councillor Kanwar Rana said that an agenda had been passed earlier where councillors would also be provided with fuel as they use their vehicles for work.

In January 2020, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation general house approved a monthly fuel limit of 250 litres for Deputy Mayor and Senior Deputy Mayor, and 100 litres for every councillor. But despite the agenda’s approval, the councillors are yet to receive any such benefits. “We also have to go around so much for some or the other work in our ward. As long as our fuel limit promise is not formally applicable, we will not let the restoration of 20 per cent also take place,’ Kanwar Rana said.

Commissioner Anindita Mitra responded, saying that no official tours will be done on their private fund and that they will limit their official tours to that allowed to them now.

Other agendas discussed in the meeting

Setting up horticulture waste processing plant

The general house approved the establishment of a horticulture waste processing plant with a capacity to treat 30-40 tonnes per day at a cost of Rs 3.49 crore.
The MC will collect and transport green waste to the plant site, where wood and leaves will be processed into briquettes. It was claimed that the whole process would completely eliminate horticulture waste. The briquettes will then be used for cremation and also be sold to industries as biofuel.

Property tax exemption for EWS houses

The general house resolved to exempt the EWS houses in colonies from property tax. AAP councillors along with those of Congress and BJP agreed to exempt the colonies from paying taxes. The councillors also demanded that tax since 2019 be waived as well.

Dadumajra Dumping ground

AAP leader Yogesh Dhingra argued that the matter regarding the Dadumajra dumping ground has reached a point where the HC had to intervene. Commissioner Mitra responded, saying that the matter was subjudice.