Councillors back increased women representation in MC

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 23

With the Municipal Corporation elections expected to be held in August, everyone is waiting for the announcement of candidates for the polls. Apart from it, as the Punjab government has increased the representation of women in the local bodies from 33 to 50 percent, women councillors believe that it would not be difficult to reach the mark of 50 per cent as women were capable of carrying out the work of the corporations.

It is a known fact that most of the women councillors work with the help of their husbands and don’t even attend the meetings of the Municipal Corporation. Only a few women councillors in the corporation are found active.

Parminder Kaur Pannu, a councillor from ward No 60 said it was good that presence of women would be increased in the local body. “This will boost up the confidence in women and they will work more in future,” she said.

Arvinder Kaur Oberoi, councillor from Ward no 29 and Deputy Mayor, said it was not bad if a woman councillor was being helped by her husband. “The point is that a councillor should have knowledge and she must know about her work. If she has knowledge and is helped by her husband, there is nothing wrong in that because she has other works to do,” she said.

Jagdish Raja, leader of opposition and councillor from ward No 37, says women have many household chores and so they show less interest in such things, but there will not be any problem in electing 50 per cent women in the city.