Sirsa ex-councillors protest removal of name boards

A group of former municipal councillors in Sirsa on Monday submitted a written complaint addressed to the Haryana Chief Minister, seeking action against officials who allegedly removed their name boards from outside their residences and dumped them as scrap.

The former councillors, who were attending a local grievance redressal camp, expressed resentment and said the name boards had been installed in 2017 by the Municipal Council at a cost of around Rs 8 lakh. These boards were recently taken down and discarded without any prior notice, they claimed.

They alleged while the boards of other political leaders who previously held various positions remain intact across the city, only the former councillors’ boards have been removed — a move they termed a “political conspiracy.”

The group demanded an inquiry into the matter and the reinstatement of the removed boards. They also questioned under whose orders the boards were taken down, as municipal officials are reportedly blaming each other and no one is taking responsibility.

The complaint further stated instead of removing the boards, the Municipal Council could have offered the councillors an option to retain them by paying a fee.

Led by former acting head of the council, Randhir Singh, the delegation also called for a probe by the Chief Minister’s flying squad into the handling of seized items — including hoardings, flex boards, vegetable weighing scales and other materials confiscated during anti-encroachment drives. They alleged there is no transparency in how these items are dealt with and demanded proper record-keeping along with a public auction of such materials.

Among those present were Gopiram Saini, Rajendra Kumar, Rajesh Gurjar, Khyaliram, Kaushalya Devi, Rohtash Verma, Mahavir Singh, Amit Soni, Daulat Ram Sukhralia, Karamjeet Singh, Bhushan Barod, Prince Poonia and Sunil Kumar.