Panipat: Councillor protests at MC office

Panipat, November 17

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Enraged over delay in releasing work orders of 22 development works of nearly Rs 5 crore, the councillor of Ward 18 has staged a dharna at the office of the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation (MC), here for the past four days.

Councillor Balram Makol was demanding the release of work orders in his ward at the earliest. Scores of residents, including women of Ward18, reached the dharna spot on Friday and supported him.

Makol won the election as an Independent candidate from Ward 18 in December 2018. After winning the election, he gave external support to the BJP in Assembly and parliamentary elections. The elections were held on December 16 and the result was announced on December 19, 2018. Makol said the people of Ward 18 were facing problems due to damaged streets, sewerage and poorly maintained parks. He further said on the demand of the people, he gave a list of 18 development works, including construction of 10-12 streets, maintenance of five parks, construction of five dharamshalas and construction of sewerage, in the ward.

The MC allotted tenders of 18 development works in May and now, the work orders were to be released by the MC in the last phase of the tender process, but the MC had stopped it, Makol alleged.

He further alleged that he met the Commissioner, MC, and Mayor Avneet Kaur over the issues but the work orders were not released. He further alleged that the MC officials stopped the release of work orders on the directions of MLA Urban Pramod Vij. He said people were facing problems in their daily life and he had raised the issues at almost all platforms.

Refuting the allegations MLA Pramod Vij said, “As per my knowledge, development works of around Rs 12 crore have been done in Ward 18 after the COVID pandemic,” he said.

Rahul Narwal, Commissioner, said the MC always worked in public interest and no work order had been stopped.