House meet: AAP splits on allotment of tender for road sweeping in Chandigarh

Advertisement

Chandigarh, April 30

The main Opposition party in the Municipal Corporation (MC) House, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), today split on the issue of allotment of tender to Lions Services Ltd for the sweeping of roads in the southern sectors (31-60).

During a meeting of the House, differences came to the fore among AAP councillors on the supplementary agenda placed before the House for its information and approval on the allotment of the tender for mechanised and manual sweeping of selected roads in the southern sectors to Lions Services Ltd. The company was awarded the contract for placing the lowest bid of Rs 4,49, 90,653 per month. The previous rate for the said work was Rs 5,25,69,681 per month and the present rate is less by Rs 75,79,028 per month.

AAP councillor Yogesh Dhingra raised the issue that the supplementary agenda reached the councillors last night only and in such a situation, a special meeting of the House should be convened. But, the BJP councillors were not ready. MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra said compared to the previous tender, Rs 75 lakh was now being saved every month. On this, AAP councillors said the terms and conditions of the tender should be brought up for discussion in the House. The Commissioner, however, said the House did not have the right to decide the terms and conditions of the tender. The right to float tenders is also not of the House. The councillors got agitated. Finally, when the resolution was passed on the basis of voting, four AAP councillors had passed the motion supporting the BJP councillors. The other AAP councillors tried to convince the councillors who supported the BJP, but failed.

The four AAP councillors who helped the BJP councillors get the resolution passed are women. The Congress councillor remained silent on the issue. Mayor Sarabjit Kaur said 19 councillors had voted in support of the agenda. AAP councillor Kuldeep said before 2016, Chandigarh used to remain at top in terms of cleanliness, but after the work of cleaning the southern sectors was given to the Lions company, Chandigarh was continuously lagging behind in cleanliness.

Most AAP councillors said a committee of councillors should be formed to ensure that the work was being done according to the tender allotted for cleaning the southern sectors. To this, the Mayor said on the advice of the Commissioner, a sanitation committee was going to be formed in which councillors would also be included.

Councillor lashes out at MC officials

BJP councillor Kanwarjeet Singh said MC officials were ignoring the elected representatives. If they continued to do so, councillors would not cooperate with them, and the entire House was united on the issue. He said if the Administration wanted to run the MC by bureaucrats, there was no need for the councillors.

Fine for violation of pet dog rules slashed from Rs 5,000 to Rs 500

Despite being rejected earlier amid high drama by councillors of AAP and the Congress, the MC House passed all agenda items listed for the day. The main items passed include the disposal of commercial, industrial and nursing home sites on a freehold basis instead of leasehold basis. The House reduced the fine on violation of pet dog rules from Rs 5,000 to Rs 500, approved the purchase of 56 breathing apparatus sets for fire and rescue services, fixed the rates for lifting of construction and demolition waste at Rs 800 per trip for first 5 km and additional charges of Rs 50 per km above 5 km.