Councillors accuse MC chief of irregularities

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, October 26

Seven councillors have accused Municipal Council president Manmohan Singh Mall of irregularities.

The councillors, all members of the Congress, today held a press conference at a hotel in Mussoorie. They said the MC president was misleading the council. “He has conducted the MC meeting flouting all norms just to clear several proposals wherein he had vested interest,” they said.

The councillors, namely Vinod Semwal, Anuj Gupta, Rami Devi, Beena Panwar, Ramesh Bhandari, Kuldeep Rawat and Sashi Rawat, said Manmohan Mall was trying to sell a piece of land near Bhatta Fall to private groups close to him on the pretext of installing a ropeway for tourists. They alleged that Mall was a partner in the project.

Sashi Rawat rubbished the allegations of the MC president wherein he had accused her of occupying MC property. She said the house at Strawberry Bank was allotted to Kaintula Devi in 1991, not to her or her husband who still live in the government house allotted by the Electricity Department. She accused Mall of giving a flat at Mount Rose to his acquaintances that was designated for executive officer. “Mall should disclose the name of the beneficiary and also the norm under which the flat has been allotted so that more needy persons can apply under the same rule,” she said.

She said the property of the Municipal Council was being usurped at the behest of the MC president. “The hall constructed by the council at Mount Rose is being used by the hotel staff, which is owned by the MC president and his family near the council market at Camel Back Road. The hotel is built on public property. If investigated, several irregularities will come to the fore,” she said.

Anuj Gupta said the sole aim of the MC president was to make money by selling the MC land by hook or by crook amid preparation for Assembly elections.

Rami Devi alleged that the MC was constructing houses illegally near South Road for Narendar Panwar, a close aide of the MC president. The councillors said they had submitted their complaint to Dehradun District Magistrate who directed the Mussoorie SDM conduct an inquiry and submit the report soon.

Meanwhile, MC president Manmohan Singh Mall said the MC ward members were creating unnecessary pressure for their “vested” interests but he would not budge. “I will continue to follow the norms,” he added.