Chaotic scenes mar MC’s board meeting

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 25

Chaotic scenes were witnessed during a meeting of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) Board here today as members protested against poor sanitary conditions in the capital city. Councillors Arun Khanna and others created a ruckus alleging that despite repeated reminders the Municipal Corporation had done little to improve the sanitary conditions in the city. Cleanliness was being neglected in most of the wards of the city.

Khanna said the municipal supervisors were not interested in cleaning and removing garbage from various wards under the corporation. Mayor Vinod Chamoli tried to pacify the councillors but when his pleas for order fell on deaf ears, he directed the officials to forcibly take Khanna out. He directed the officials to also get his medical test done.

The councillors observed a one-minute silence in the memory of deceased members Ganga Kshetri and Ram Pandey at the start of the meeting. Later councillors belonging to both Congress and BJP had verbal spats on the issue of cleanliness, especially in the wake of the dengue epidemic that has not even spared senior Congress leaders of the state.

Chamoli assured the councillors that all necessary steps would be taken to keep the city clean and garbage would be disposed of from all wards in the city. It was after the Mayor’s assurance that some sort of normalcy returned and the meeting could proceed without interruption.

The hike in the door-to-door garbage collection charges from Rs 40 to Rs 50 was approved after a serious deliberation. The Mayor said every ward member has a right to express discontent but it should be done according to the norms and corporation guidelines. It was due to such an attitude that Khanna was shown the door, he added.

Several other proposals were discussed in detail during the meeting. Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Nitin Singh Bhadauria, Health Officer Kialash Gunjyal, Leader of the Opposition in the board Amita Singh, councillors Bhupendar Kathait, Nandini Sharma, Dr Bijendar Pal Singh, Arjun Sonkar, Ramesh Butola, Jagdish Dhiman and Sushil Gupta attended the meeting.