Councillors stage walkout as Mayor suspends BJP’s Saurabh Joshi

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, June 11

All BJP councillors, along with nominated councillors, staged a walkout after party councillor Saurabh Joshi was suspended by Mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor during the MC General House meeting today.

Agenda items okayed

• Rose Garden in Sector 16 and Terraced Garden in Sector 33 will be made accessible to physically challenged persons at a cost of about Rs 2 crore.
• The House okayed enhancing the compensation amount for workers who die while cleaning sewers, from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh, as per the Supreme Court’s order.

We are in alliance, Mayor reminds Cong councillor

In the first MC House meeting after the Lok Sabha elections, Mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor, who belongs to AAP, had to remind Congress councillor Jasbir Singh Bunty that they have an alliance. “We are just done with elections as an alliance partner,” replied Dhalor as Bunty said their works were not being done and it was being done deliberately.

Joshi was speaking on the agenda of setting up a waste segregation plant. He was interrupted by the Mayor two-three times and was asked to cut short his speech. Joshi argued that if they were in the opposition, it did not mean they could not speak on issues.

On this, Dhalor told him that he was not stopping him from speaking, but he should not tell ‘stories’. “We do not have this much time to listen to your long stories. Finish it in brief,” said the Mayor. When Joshi did not stop, he was suspended for the rest of the House proceedings.

As a shouting BJP councillor started walking out, other party councillors and nominated councillors too left the House. “You have done wrong…you are doing corruption…you have spoiled the MC,” shouted Joshi while leaving the House.

AAP councillor Yogesh Dhingra later alleged that Joshi misbehaved with the Mayor and should be suspended for at least three days. However, the Mayor did respond to it.

The House comprising INDIA bloc councillors then cleared the agenda to install automated solid waste segregation plant at the Dadu Majra dumping ground for Rs 5.22 crore. The plant would segregate at least 70 tonnes per day (TPD) garbage into ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ waste for proper processing.

Subsequently, 20 others agendas were later passed in few minutes.

Agricultural land to be auctioned

The House approved to auction the agricultural land available at Chahar Taraf Burail, Khuda Lahora, Khuda Alisher and Dadu Majra villages on an annual basis. The corporation has approved reserve prices as Rs 30,000 per acre per annum for land in Chahar Taraf Burail and Dadu Majra, Rs 25,000 per acre for Khuda Lahora and Rs 35,000 per acre for Khuda Ali Sher.