MC House hits a low, yet again

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 29

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation’s monthly House meeting hit a new low as councillors used ‘unparliamentary’ language against one another today. From words and phrases like ‘badtameej’, ‘bhagore’, ‘Chhota Bheem’ to ‘bhag Mayor bhag’, reverberated in the House.

Amid the din, no development agenda was passed. After the ruckus in the House, Mayor Arun Sood ended the meeting abruptly and 25 agendas worth Rs 30 crore got postponed. These agendas will now be passed in the next House meeting on May 30. 

As the meeting began today, Congress councillors Harphool Kalyan, Subhash Chawla and Darshan Garg raised the issue of water crisis in the city. The Congress was demanding a debate on water crisis but the Mayor said the debate would take place only after the confirmation of minutes of the last meeting and asked them not to dictate terms to him. 

On this, Congress councillor Subhash Chawla said “Ram Bhagat debate karao”. Replying to Chawla’s remarks Sood termed Chawla as “Ravan Bhagat”. Chawla then went on to say that the BJP was a ‘Jhoothi’ party to which Sood retorted that the Congress was a ‘corrupt’ party. In between, BJP councillor Satish Kainth also opposed Congress councillors then Congress Councillor Harphool Kalyan made a remark on Kainth’s height and said “Chhota Bheem” go from here. 

During the discussion, Chawla said the Mayor had won the election because ‘chaar bhagore’ from the Congress voted for him. Chawla’s statement was opposed by BJP councillors. It is worth mentioning here that the councilors, Satish Kainth, Raj Bala Malik, Rana Kashmiri Devi and Sat Parkash Aggarwal, had left the Congress and joined the BJP.

Thereafter, the Mayor adjourned the meeting for tea break. But after the tea break, the situation went out of control when the Congress councillors insisted that the Mayor bring in their table agenda for discussion. The agenda was to oppose the MC’s decision to close two parking lots in Sector 17. Due to the chaos in the House, the Mayor finally ended the meeting with National Anthem. But after the National Anthem, when the Mayor was going towards his room, Congress councillor Pardeep Chhabra called out to him, “Mayor sahab’ ‘Sood sahab’ and finally ‘oye Arun’, to which the Mayor replied ‘don’t you have manners’ and then Chhabra called him ‘badtameej’ and finally said ‘bhag Mayor bhag’. 

Not a new thing

November 30, 2015: Mayor Poonam Sharma and BJP leader Arun Sood exchanged “unparliamentary” words.

August 27, 2015: BJP and Congress councillors manhandled one another. 

May 24, 2013: Congress councillor Poonam Sharma and BJP councillors Heera Negi and Rajinder Kaur Rattu came to blows. They push and dragg each other. 

Rs 1.50 lakh goes down the drain

As no agenda of development was discussed at the House meeting on Friday, Rs 1.50 lakh went down the drain. “The expenditure includes tea, lunch for councillors, mediapersons, officers, employees and the security staff. Besides, the MC hires a person to record the proceedings, projectors are installed in the House and special pay is given to the councillors to attend the meeting. The entire cost of the meeting is estimated to be around Rs 1.50 lakh,” said an MC official.

Cong creates ruckus in every House meeting

The Congress has failed to digest its defeat in the recent mayoral polls so its councillors have been creating ruckus in every MC House meeting. Their frustration came out at the meeting and they began using unparliamentary words. It was their bad behaviour that forced me to end the meeting. By creating a din in the House, the Congress has stalled development work, as the agenda worth Rs 30 crore has been delayed. —  Arun Sood, mayor

‘Arun Sood ran away from the meeting’

The Mayor had no answers on water crisis in the city and the demand of Sector 17 traders opposing the closing down of two parking lots. Arun Sood ran away from the meeting. He ended the meeting in such a hurry as if he was to catch a flight to Germany on Saturday. The Mayor has no concern for the city’s problems therefore he was not ready for a debate on the two issues. — Pardeep Chhabra,  congress president and councillor