Mohali Mayor Amarjit Singh Jeeti Sidhu hits out at Opposition

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, July 6

City Mayor Amarjit Singh Jeeti Sidhu today hit out at the Opposition for “misleading” the people.

He claimed that the Opposition councillors were “misinterpreting” the letter issued by the Local Bodies Department on June 28 over the enhancing of the financial powers of the Finance and Control Committee (F&CC) to Rs 1 crore.

“The fact is that the said letter has also clarified the details of the last two letters (2013-14) and also referred to the Sections 42/1 and 42/4 of the Municipal Act, under which F&CC committees or other committees are formed and given financial powers,” said Sidhu.

“Opposition Councilors lied that the financial power of Rs1 crore given to the F&CC by the House had been taken away… the resolution passed by the House of the Mohali Corporation has been approved by the Local Bodies Department,” he added.

The Mayor said the F&CC continued to hold the financial powers of spending up to Rs 1 crore and added that he was going to convene a meeting of the committee soon.

“The Opposition councilors have resorted to lies and deception to mislead the people. It is my duty to expose them,” he said.

Senior Deputy Mayor Amrik Singh Somal, Deputy Mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi, Municipal Commissioner Kamal Garg and SE Sanjay Kanwar were also present on the occasion.

On Monday, councillors from the Azad Group, including Sukhdev Singh Patwari and Sarabjit Singh Samana, had issued a letter to the media saying that the Local Bodies Department had directed the MC that no work should be done by the F&CC without getting it passed by the House.

The Opposition also termed it a major setback for Health Minister and local MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu.

Meanwhile, Municipal Commissioner Kamal Garg, while responding to a query from the media, said he agreed with the Mayor, and as per the Municipal Act, the F&CC could meet as before and pass development resolutions.

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