Money makes the Mayor go, says Sunil Jyoti

JALANDHAR: Set to relinquish his office tomorrow, Mayor Sunil Jyoti’s five-year tenure largely remained rid with controversies, blames for failure on development front, high-pitch stormy House meetings and for not being able to take councillors of the alliance partner along.

Mayor Sunil Jyoti at his office in Jalandhar. Photo: Malkiat Singh

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 23

Set to relinquish his office tomorrow, Mayor Sunil Jyoti’s five-year tenure largely remained rid with controversies, blames for failure on development front, high-pitch stormy House meetings and for not being able to take councillors of the alliance partner along.

As he goes out of power, the Mayor, who personally counts 13-14 achievements, does not have to his credit getting started and completed any mega project during his tenure. All the projects which he got sanctioned during his regime, including Smart City, LED lights, street vendors policy and works under the AMRUT scheme, have not yet got started on ground owing to various glitches.

Jyoti drew flak for not even carrying forward the projects which he got started during the tenure of his own party’s previous Mayor Rakesh Rathour, including the setting up of sports hub at Burlton Park and the Fish Aquarium project.

In a tete-e-tete with Jalandhar Tribune, he makes some candid confessions and discusses the reasons for the problems that he faced:

Q: Do you think that an administrator will be able to manage the entire MC?

A: How will a lone man be able to handle work and take important decisions that earlier 60 elected representatives were doing? One man cannot shoulder such a huge responsibility for the entire city. The morale of the bureaucracy in the Local Bodies Department is already down owing to suspensions, demotions and cancellation of their transfers. The dilly-dallying of civic polls will cost the ruling government dear.

Q: Do you have any plans to re-contest elections?

A: That is for the party to decide. I have never had desire to be an MLA and have always rallied behind all four city MLAs.

Q: How do you feel as to hand over the baton?

A: I have regrets for not being able to give a practical shape to the Smart City project and not being able to get the Fish Aquarium project through. Rest I am leaving as a satisfied man. I felt happy as some 300-400 people greeted me at my place in Vij Nagar as I reached home yesterday, holding a farewell kind of an event. I am perfectly okay with people not calling me Mayor sahib from now on and addressing me as Billu (his nickname).

Q: What is the current financial position of the MC as you quit vis-a-vis when you took over in 2012?

A: I am leaving behind a basketful for the new House. I have got approved so many works, completed formalities for several mega projects and have even arranged crores of rupees for these works. When I took over, the MC was running with Rs 100 crore deficit. Now it is has Rs 10 crore profit. (Opposition claims there still is Rs 20-crore deficit.)

Q: Some unsavoury incidents happened in your tenure. You could not get the last budget passed in time. Your take.

A: That was rather a shameless act on the part of the Congress people led by Leader of the Opposition Jagdish Raja along with new party MLAs. They ignored the city’s development. It was a month or so later that they realised what they have done. Then they began pestering me to recall the House meeting. Their MP met me at a function and insisted that a meeting be called. Then councillor-turned-MLA Sushil Rinku also demanded holding a meeting, giving me an assurance that no ruckus will be created. Then I got it done. I even cleared it.

Q: As the 2014 Lok Sabha polls were held during your tenure, then Deputy CM had to apologise in public for poor upkeep of civic amenities. How do you see it now?

A: It was the worst time that we faced. We had no money to get roads laid. The contractors had sued us then in court over Rs 60 crore dues from the MC. Even in those days, I daily attended the office, met people and tried to keep them calm. After all, money makes the Mayor go. He laughs.

Q: The Solid Waste Management project could not get started. How do you look at it?

A: It was a perfect plan. An unnecessary opposition was made over it. If it is working so well in other cities of India, so could it be in Jalandhar too by now.

Q: Kamaljit Bhatia was a Senior Deputy Mayor during the tenure of your predecessor and with you too. Why do think he remained against you, but was largely friendly with Rathour?

A: I do not want to reply to this question.

Q: Do you think your party will be able to make a comeback in the next MC polls?

A: I think it should be able to. People have already started getting feelers of the working of this party in its first six months. They will compare it with our 10 years and then vote.

Q: Any major steps taken by you in department? Any new proposals you will like to make?

A: There was no protocol for mayors. We got it started in Punjab. Till about a year ago, we were not even entitled to claim a room in Punjab Bhawan during our meetings. I wish that the Local Bodies Department could get complete autonomy in decision making, fund generation and use and even for having a separate cadre for local bodies. I am also a votary of separate elections for mayor as in Madhya Pradesh and other states.

Works he considers as achievements