Civic problems put on back-burner amid Mayor-Commissioner tussle in Batala

Ravi Dhaliwal

Batala, February 26

With fissures surfacing yet again between the Mayor and the Municipal Corporation Commissioner, solutions for the city’s innumerable civic problems remain a far-fetched propositions.

Defunct lights

Defunct lights on the heavily populated Qadian Road, Cinema Road and Gurdaspur Road are yet to be replaced. This is not a problem limited to one ward. It is a pan-Batala problem. Jagjot Sandhu, Social activist

Almost all the problems require the direct intervention of the Municipal Corporation. However, a lack of resources, infighting among top MC officials and political incongruity in which both the Mayor and the MLA, an ex-officio member of the MC, are aligned to two different political outfits are not at all helping the cause of ‘Batalvis’.

Mayor Sukhdeep Teja has shot off an angry missive to Commissioner Shayari Bhandari, an officer known for her no-nonsense approach. He has questioned some decisions taken by the Commissioner, which were allegedly made without following the norms. Bhandari played down the issue saying, “some technical issues are involved”.

Ward No 38 Councillor Harinder Singh said his voters openly question him as to why their area is devoid of streetlights.

“This is not a problem consigned to one ward. It is a pan-Batala problem. Dysfunctional lights on the heavily populated Qadian road, Cinema road and Gurdaspur road are yet to be replaced,” said social activist Jagjot Sandhu.

Traffic snarls are a major headache for the residents. During peak hours, it takes nearly two hours to travel from one part of the city to the other, the same time taken to reach Amritsar.

Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal has ordered commercial establishments to use their basements as parking lots or provide valet parking. Residents want this order to be implemented as early as possible.

“The administration should not resort to cherry-picking just to help the powerful,” said a councillor.

The Municipal Corporation is perennially grappling with the garbage problem, which officials say is a never-ending one.