SAD, Cong councillors corner Mayor over waterlogging

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 22

SAD and Congress councillors on Monday cornered Mayor Balwant Rai Nath over the waterlogging issue in the emergency meeting called to sort out a solution to the problem plaguing the city. Councillrs were irked as MCB Commissioner Dr Rishipal Singh and other senior officials of the MC and the sewerage board were not present.

Councillors Gursewak Mann, Harvinder Sharma, Nirmal Singh Sandhu, Sukhdev Singh Brar, Harjinder Shinda, Anjana Rani and others staged a protest by sitting on the floor in front of Mayor Balwant Rai Nath during the meeting. They alleged that for waterlogging in the city, officials of the sewerage board and Triveni company were responsible as they did not listen to complaints lodged by them.

SAD councillors said it was a shame that they were holding the emergency meeting on waterlogging and senior officials were not present in the city. They alleged that no officials of the sewerage board listened to them and road gullies were lying blocked as they had not been cleaned.

The Mayor lashed out at officials without taking any name as he presented a letter in the House and claimed that one year ago, they had passed a resolution of taking back O&M work from Triveni company, for which the Local Bodies Department had given its approval as well. The department had issued a letter to the MCB on June 22, but officials did not show him the letter and now he had got it. He demanded the registration of a criminal case against the officials who did this deliberately.

The Mayor said as per the letter of approval, if they had taken back the work from the company, then they would not have faced such a situation during the rains.

Congress senior councillor Jagroop Singh Gill warned SAD councillors against indulging blame game politics. They said for the wellbeing of the city, they should resolve the issue by rising above the party politics.

He cornered the Mayor for not taking any action against officials of the MCB and the sewerage board. He said the Mayor was the supervising authority and he wanted to know how many checking he had made in the past and how many showcause notices has been issued by him.

The municipal councillor, Santosh Mahant, raised the issue of poor working by sewerage board officials as rainwater was still accumulated on roads in Sanguana Basti. She alleged that when residents staged a protest, the sewerage board officials pressed into service a generator set to drain the rainwater, but after the protest was lifted, officials took back the generator set.

She alleged that nobody  listened to them and she was very upset over this. Later, MCB officials ensured that within 30 minutes the generator set would reach there and water would be drained.

Senior Deputy Mayor Tarsem Goyal said a resolution should be passed to take action against officials, so that by passing it action could be initiated against erring officials. He demanded a reply from the sewerage board officials on the issue raised by Santosh Mahant.

SAD councillors demanded a probe by the Vigilance Bureau into the cleaning of road gullies by the MCB. While an official of the sewerage board present in the meeting claimed that they did not have any machines with which they could do the cleaning work.