Councillors seek govt houses, to send proposal to Admn

The councillors of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation have demanded government accommodation for themselves. The demand was raised by BJP councillor Saurabh Joshi during a discussion on the dilapidated condition of government houses under the MC.

Joshi sought to know the number of houses under the civic body and their present condition. He also demanded information as to how many houses are under maintenance and from which date. Joshi said as per the information provided to him, 1,051 houses are under the MC. Many of them are vacant and not in good condition. He proposed that the houses should be allotted to the councillors, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Other councillors also agreed to the proposal.

The proposal in this regard will be sent to the Chandigarh Administration for approval. There are 35 elected and nine nominated councillors in the MC House. Presently, only Mayor is entitled to government accommodation.

The Mayor’s house is situated in Sector 24, Chandigarh. This is a category 7 house. However, very few mayors have stayed in that house. Joshi has also demanded to enhance the category of the Mayor’s house. He said while MC officers of had been given higher category houses, the Mayor has been given a lower category accommodation.

Of the total 1,051 houses under MC in different areas of the city, 577 are currently occupied by the employees.

Many houses require repair and maintenance.

Replying to the questions, an MC officer said teams have been constituted for collecting the data regarding the condition of the houses. Though the councilors have demanded government accommodation, sources in the MC said the administration will examine the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act before taking a decision.

Meanwhile, leaders of the employees’ union have also demanded that the MC must allot houses to outsourced employees. Ashwini Kumar, a union leader, said the policy should be changed to give vacant houses to outsourced employees. He demanded that the condition of all houses must be improved. There was also a demand for allotment of houses to outsourced employees on the lines of regular staff. On this, the corporation officer cited the House Allotment Policy that only regular personnel can be allotted houses. The MC has over 3,000 regular employees, besides a significant number of outsourced staff.