MC meet likely to be stormy affair today

A general house meeting of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation to be held on Wednesday is likely to be a stormy affair as the opposition councillors have prepared strategies to attack the ruling BJP on issues like property tax, proposed increase in parking fees and financial crisis of the civic body.

The councillors of Congress and AAP held separate pre-house meetings today to discuss issues on which they can corner the BJP.

On the other hand, the BJP councillors also held meeting at the party office to discuss the plan to counter the opposition members.

Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky said though the administration had brought down the property tax from three-fold to two-fold, but the reduction was just an eyewash. The Congress councillors will demand a complete roll back of the enhanced property tax, he added.

He said the rollback was inadequate and did not serve the interests of people. The Congress will not tolerate any policies that burden the citizens of Chandigarh, Lucky added.

AAP councillor Yogesh Dhingra said there was nothing new in the agenda being placed in the meeting. He said all the councillors had decided to oppose the increase in the property tax. Claiming that no development work is being undertaken in the city, Dhingra added that RWAs are not being paid for the maintenance of the parks. There is totally a mismanagement in the Municipal Corporation, he added.

“The MC has no fund for development. When there is no money for development works then there is no meaning of the discussing new agendas,” he said.

The councillors will also raise the issues of the financial crunch. Jasbir Singh Bunty, senior Deputy Mayor and Congress councillor, said he had urged the MC Commissioner to discuss issues of financial crunch first.

Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla said the opposition councillors have no interest in the welfare of the people. “They should give their suggestions and should not oppose everything. I have been continuously working to get funds from the UT Administration,” Baba added.