Opposition councillors skip Chandigarh Mayor’s meet to review development works

The Congress and AAP councillors boycotted a meeting convened by Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla today to review and accelerate development works, including essential road repairs and projects related to drainage, parks, green belts and sanitation. While Babla condemned the opposition councillors for skipping the meeting, the latter termed the meeting as “drama”.

The Mayor said the meeting was called on the lines of the one held for BJP councillors and officials recently, ensuring inclusive governance. Only one Congress councillor attended the meeting today. Babla said it was not merely a political boycott, but a direct dereliction of duty and a grave insult to the voters of Chandigarh. The opposition councillors showed how disinterested and carefree they were about the development projects in their own wards.

City Congress president HS Lucky said the so-called “development review meeting” was scheduled unilaterally without proper consultation, without sharing agenda points in advance and without ensuring the presence of relevant officials responsible for ward-level works. He said the Mayor called the meeting merely as a formality to create a photo-op similar to the one held for BJP councillors, and not as a serious exercise for the city’s development. He claimed that a majority of development works under ward-wise fund allocation had not even started despite funds being sanctioned months ago.

AAP councillor and party spokesman Yogesh Dhingra said they stayed away as the “BJP was doing politics over the meeting”. If they were serious, the Mayor should have called the meeting of Opposition councillors on the day she had held one with BJP councillors. He alleged that all development works had been stuck due to lack of funds.