Day on, four councillors refute Mayor’s charges

Four councillors, including Senior Deputy Mayor Jasbir Singh Bunty and Deputy Mayor Taruna Mehta, have denied the charges levelled against them by Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla in a letter to Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria. In a counter-attack, they accused the Mayor of suppressing their voices in the MC House.

In a press conference at the MC office today, the Mayor’s deputies and other councillors of the opposition AAP and Congress, claimed that they tore up the minutes of the last House meeting as those were wrongly recorded. They claimed that they only protested in the well of the House and did not throw the papers at anyone. They said their claims could be verified from the footage of the House meeting.

Other councillors present at the press meet included former AAP Mayor Kuldeep Kumar, councillors Sachin Galav, Gurpreet Singh, Hardeep Singh, Suman Sharma, Yogesh Dhingra, Darshana Rani and Prem Lata.

In the letter to Kataria, the Mayor had alleged that four opposition councillors, including her deputies, Sachin Galav and Prem Lata, indulged in gross misconduct, flagrant disruption and hooliganism in the last House meeting held on September 30. She asked him to fix the accountability to demonstrate a commitment to procedural integrity and to restore the esteem of the MC in the public eye.

Former Mayor Kuldeep Kumar said he had also written a letter to the Administrator on November 25 last year complaining against nominated councillor Satinder Singh Sidhu and Kanwarjeet Rana for their behaviour in a meeting, but no action was taken against them. They have raised question over the hurry in selling the land in Manimajra for housing project.

In a statement today, city AAP chief Vijaypal Singh claimed that the Mayor’s letter was unconstitutional and unauthorised, and it was being used as a pressure tactic to suppress opposition councillors. He also expressed concern over “misleading and false details” recorded in the official minutes prepared by the MC.

The AAP leader demanded access to all audio and video recordings to ensure transparency and reveal the actual sequence of events to the public.

City BJP general secretary Sanjeev Rana, in a statement, criticised the opposition parties. He stated that the Mayor had made concerted and honest efforts to rescue the MC from its financial mess. She secured Rs 125 crore from the Administration, said Rana, while adding that work on V3 roads had started and tenders for the repair of V4, V5, and V6 roads had been floated. He said, “The proposal for the open auction of land in Manimajra is set to generate surplus and much-needed revenue. This financial independence and transparency are clearly not tolerable to AAP.”