No business transacted in Chandigarh MC House, high drama

Sandeep Rana

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Chandigarh, March 29

None of the seven important development agenda items could be passed today as AAP and the Congress united against the ruling BJP over the issue of the water tariff hike in the city.

The hike is currently on hold till March 31. The decision in this regard is to be taken by the UT Administrator. Councillors of the two opposition parties created high drama. Councillors of the BJP and AAP also had heated arguments as the saffron party raised the issue of AAP councillor Prem Lata protesting during the national anthem at the last meeting. She later apologised.

AAP leaders, who sat in the well of the House for a brief period, said a week before the House meeting, they had written to the MC with signatures of seven councillors that the agenda regarding reconsidering the water tariff should be brought in the House, but it was not done.

“Rather than increasing the rates, the MC should work on fixing the water leakage, which is around 45 per cent. Even illegal work related to water supply is being done outside the lal dora. We did not let any agenda item pass as the water rate issue was not resolved,” said AAP’s Yogesh Dhingra, Leader of the Opposition. Congress councillor Gurbax Rawat said, “The MC has not been listening to us regarding the issue for a long time. They should raise the price only when they provide 24×7 water supply. We will not pass agenda items if they do not roll back the water tariff hike.”

BJP councillor Maheshinder Singh Sidhu said, “AAP and the Congress today deliberately joined hands to oppose the development of the city. They had already planned to vote and reject the agenda items today. Why did they reject the agenda items when the water issue was already discussed in the first hour of the meeting.”

Mayor Sarabjit Kaur replied, “Today, it has been proved that the Congress is the B-team of AAP. They should know that an agenda regarding something that is already lying pending with the Secretary, Local Government, cannot be brought in the House. The Local Government is expected to issue a notification in a day or two.”

“Secondly, opposition councillors should know that by fixing the water leakage, we cannot make up for about Rs125-crore annual expenditure on the water supply. The leakage issue will, however, be fixed under the 24×7 water supply project. It is sad that they did not let even development agenda items of their own councillors’ wards pass,” she said. Later, when the agenda items were taken up, opposition councillors sought voting. While the BJP councillors voted in favour of all agenda items, the opposition councillors, who were more in number, voted against these. Thus, they were not approved.

SAD’s lone councillor Hardeep Singh had a mixed response to the agenda items. Another exception was Congress councillor Gurpreet Singh, who did not raise his hand against some of the agenda items.

Agenda items that were rejected

• Revision of rates for registration of pet dogs
• Disposal of properties on a freehold basis
• Hiring of two chain dozers for maintenance and upkeep of sanitary landfill site
• Fixing of rates for lifting of construction and demolition waste in the city
• Expansion of cattle pound in Raipur Kalan
• Sewerage-related work at Raipur Khurd
• Improvement in property tax system

The MC House passed a resolution requesting the Administration to bring the land pooling policy for erstwhile villages of Chandigarh