Probe 4 diarrhoea deaths in Kapurthala: MLA Rana

Speaking during Zero Hour on the concluding day of the three-day Vidhan Sabha session, Sultanpur Lodhi MLA Rana Inder Partap Singh on Wednesday said entire Punjab was facing problems related to cleaning of sewage and disposal of garbage.

“In Kapurthala, four persons had died recently due to diarrhoea, the outbreak of which was caused due to poor garbage collection and its disposal, after which Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh had visited the area and affected families. He had also brought the matter to the notice of Local Bodies Minister Balkar Singh”, Rana said.

He further said that the MC, Kapurthala, had passed a resolution for the purchase of super-suction machines for cleaning of sewage but no decision was taken for its purchase despite of the fact that the MC has a reserve funds availability of Rs 14 crore.

The MLA blamed Municipal Commissioner, Kapurthala Anupam Kler, for inaction for taking any action into the matter.

“We should fix responsibility for the laxity and have requested the Local Bodies Minister to suspend the Commissioner and an inquiry be conducted to fix the responsibility”, Rana demanded.

Kler, however, has been maintaining that there has been no laxity on her part and she instead had done everything in ensuring that the problem in the affected areas got sorted out at the earliest.

Speaking on another matter, he said that the previous government had given contract of streetlights to a company which had promised to reduce power bills. “Neither the bills have reduced now the streetlights are working, demanding that the civic bodies should stop making payments to the company”, he said.