Cong protests road contract to Delhi firm

Congress leaders and workers staged a protest at Dr BR Ambedkar Chowk on Wednesday against the alleged corruption in the Municipal Corporation.

Rajinder Beri, who recently got elected for the fourth time as president of the District Congress Committee, blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for its alleged involvement in corruption in the Local Bodies Department. Party leaders alleged that AAP had spent Rs 1.75 crore on inauguration of the sports hub at Burlton Park. "Such an expenditure is unprecedented and is a sheer wastage of public money", alleged Beri.

Beri said, "The Municipal Corporation at its yesterday's meeting passed works worth Rs 400 crore in just four minutes without allowing councillors to speak. A private company from Delhi has been given a contract to offer consultancy for roads for Rs 15 lakh per km, which is a mere loot. AAP leaders' private companies are benefiting from this corruption."

Former Deputy Mayor Surinder Kaur and councillors Sharry Chadha and Balraj Thakur said, "We will not let the AAP loot public money. We have good engineers in Punjab. So why is AAP roping a Delhi-based firm for consultancy purposes. We may even resort to locking of the doors of the MC office. The wasteful expenditure from the tax payers's money will not be allowed. We appeal to the Director, Local Bodies, and other officials from the department to hold inquiries on the issue and get the approvals for projects stopped at the earliest"