Mayor ‘sick’, yet to call meet to approve budget

Ludhiana: Whereas the annual budget worth Rs 1,043 crores was prepared a few days back, the meeting to discuss and approve the the same has not yet been scheduled by mayor Balkar Sandhu.
This would have been the last house meeting for this present house, so councillors wanted to attend it but now they are disappointed as they have time only till Saturday and the schedule has not been fixed yet.
However, sources revealed that mayor is not satisfied with the budget and he even objected to a few things in the proposed budget; the main reason the meeting was not called. According to sources, the mayor is not available for meetings as he is not “feeling well,” and is avoiding contact with the general public.
Shiromani Akali Dal councillor Harbhajan Dang said, “It is really disappointing that the mayor did not call the last house meeting. We could have raised some of the issues in the meeting and officials would have to reply.”
He said they have time till Saturday, so they will request the mayor for calling one last meeting for this house.
Meanwhile, sources revealed that the mayor had raised objections over some points in the budget as electricity duty is being revised and then annual budget for the change of land use is revised. The mayor had asked the officials to change it, but it did not happen. The Congress councillors have also suggested that mayor should call this meeting and ask the officials to fix the issues in the budget and fix it.
Mayor Balkar sandhu could not be contacted for his comments.
However, senior deputy mayor Shyam Sunder Malhotra said the mayor is unwell so the meeting could not be scheduled, but they are trying to get it fixed in a day or so. Before a house meeting, the mayor is also expected to call an all party meeting to discuss the issue.
Notably, the tenure of the MC house is coming to end on March 25 and after this, a technical advisory committee will take over the working of the civic body.
The officials will have complete charge of the civic body for the period.