Absenteeism & protests mar Solan Zila Parishad meeting

Six of the 17 members absented themselves from this year’s first quarterly meeting of the Zila Parishad (ZP) held in Solan today.

With elections due to be held later this year, the meeting was supposed to be crucial to resolve the pending issues of development works. The proceedings of the last meeting were confirmed and a detailed review of income and expenditure was also undertaken at the meeting. Chairman, Zila Parishad, Ramesh Thakur, presided over the meeting.

Solan Additional Deputy Commissioner Rahul Jain said the district administration was aiming to resolve public problems by establishing coordination with the elected representatives.

Zila Parishad member of Salogra ward Manoj Verma questioned the significance of the meeting when the officials failed to find solution to the agenda items listed four years ago in 2021. Fed up with the “lax approach”, six members abstained from the meeting. Though around 40 new agenda items were proposed to come up for discussion at the meeting, only six new items could be proposed by the members initially and three were added later on the insistence of some members. As many as 51 old items some dating back to 2021, continued to figure in the meeting in the absence of any solution, highlighting the “tardy approach” of the officials to resolve these.

There was a ruckus in the meeting regarding the plying of HRTC buses, where HRTC representatives and RTO also came face to face.

Zila Parishad Salogra Ward member Manoj Verma took up an issue concerning the deteriorating condition of road at Kebagar and Amber Kothi on Solan Dharja via Jaunji road. The Assistant Engineer PWD responded that the process of the acquisition of this land had begun, but this was contested by Manoj Verma who asserted that the formalities had not been completed and the task was yet to begin indicating communication gap.

Members alleged lack of coordination between the Block Development office and the Zila Panchayat office which hampered the smooth functioning of this body.

A show-cause notice had been issued to five department heads who were absent from the meeting. Zila Parishad Chairman Ramesh Thakur said action would be taken against those who were absent under the Panchayati Raj Act.