Haryana Diary: Former minister Nirmal Singh says no to pension

Ambala: After four-time MLA Nirmal Singh, who recently joined the Aam Aadmi Party, announced to leave three pensions, similar claims of not taking benefits have started coming from other parties as well. A former councillor and local Congress leader Onkar Nath Paruthi has requested Congress’ state president Kumari Selja to ask former MLAs, who are getting more than one pension, to avail only one allowance in the public interest and set an example. On the other hand, the Haryana Janchetna Party has claimed that Ambala Municipal Corporation Mayor Shakti Rani Sharma has not taken honorarium or any other benefit ever since she assumed the charge in January last year.

MC payment scam raises eyebrows

Faridabad: The silence of political leaders of the ruling dispensation over the surfacing of a payment scam in the Municipal Corporation (MC) here has provided an opportunity to the Opposition to put a question mark over the so-called transparent and corruption free governance in the city. “The scam was highlighted after the arrest of a contractor by the state Vigilance Bureau (VB). It is the MLA of the Opposition party, who has approached the VB with documents pertaining to the scam running into several crores. No one from the ruling party has even condemned it or demanded a further probe,” say sources, who claim that this fuels speculation about the involvement of certain influential persons with direct or indirect connection of certain senior officials or politicians. It is alleged that inflated bills worth Rs50 crore or more for the works not done have been released. The arrest of one person (contractor) has not only been surprising, but doubtful due to stoic silence of those in power, as the issue pertains to corruption.

Civic body earns public praise

Rohtak: The Municipal Corporation, which has always been on target due to its sluggish functioning and politics among its councillors regarding the public issue, has finally succeeded to earn praise from every section of society by terminating the contract of towing vehicles from no-parking zone. Actually, the work had become a bone of contention as the contractor’s employees did not hesitate to misbehave with vehicle owners causing resentment. “Moreover, the contractor was also supported by a local influential leader and the MC had to take the decision following growing pressure of locals, including traders and advocates, among other persons,” reacted an advocate.

Tussle over panchayat secretary

Hisar: Two Haryana ministers got into a tussle over a panchayat secretary, who enjoyed the support of one of them in Hisar. The panchayat secretary was reportedly utilising funds at the behest of the minister in the Assembly segment represented by the ruling coalition MLA. This irked the MLA, who wanted utilisation of funds on development works, as per his wishes in his segment. Upset over the style of functioning of the panchayat secretary, the MLA raised the issue with another senior minister during the grievances committee meeting and got him suspended. However, the second minister instantly came to panchayat secretary’s support. It is yet to be seen, who will win this ‘tug of war’.

Media banned at MC meeting

Panipat: Questions are being raised over the General House of the Municipal Corporation (MC) scheduled on Tuesday. Ban on the entry of representatives of social media (YouTubers) at the General House meeting is cited as the reason behind this situation. The civic body authorities say some people associated with the social media create hurdles at the House meeting. City residents on the other hand say social media exposes official wrong doings.

Contributed by: Bijendra Ahlawat, Ravinder Saini, Nitish Sharma, Deepender Deswal and Mukesh Tandon