Threats fail to deter this councillor from fighting against corruption

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 22

In the very first meeting of the Municipal Corporation, Congress councillor Rohan Sehgal took the bull of corruption by the horns by exposing a big alleged scam. Since then, he is continuously grappling with the issue.

He says he has a big dream which he hopes would come true soon. His dream is to see a corruption-free MC for which he has been fighting fearlessly since the day he became a councillor for the first time.

Such is his zeal that despite getting threatening calls for raising voice against the alleged LED light scam, which has become the major issue in the city, Rohan Sehgal, the first-time Congress councillor, is not ready to back off.

Under the LED light project worth Rs 274 crore, as many as 65,000 sodium lamps of streetlights were to be replaced with the LED lights, the Congress councillor of Ward No. 26 has been alleging that the company had been installing substandard lights at double the rates as compared to the infrastructure installed in Ludhiana.

The issue prompted Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu to order a Vigilance probe into the alleged scam. Besides, Sehgal has been showing dissatisfaction with his own party leaders for not cooperating with him and for not helping him.

The councillor says: “I once googled the term politician, and the results left me taken aback. It was written, ‘ a seeker or holder of a public office, who is more concerned about winning favour or retaining power than about maintaining principles.” I think we need to change this whole perception about our office.”

Sehgal says that before becoming the councillor, he had thought that he would get a magic wand in his hand and would solve problems that were earlier prevalent in the corporation due to which people were suffering.

“But after becoming the councillor, I raised the most important issue of LED light scam. In return, not only me but my wife has also been getting threatening calls. I have a three-month-old daughter, but still I am not going to stop at any cost. I know why I got elected and will continue the fight. What if I am fighting alone, I know my intention,” says a confident councillor.

Besides, he has problems in other areas too. “While going from the Johal Market towards the Urban Estate lights, a plot near Satkartar Nagar has become a garbage dump and the MC is unable to lift the garbage due to various issues, which I am trying to resolve,” he said.

Another problem includes presence of a slum area in a posh locality near the PPR mall.

The councillor said there were as many as 18 localities in his ward but there were only 13 safai karamcharis due to which such problems persist. Despite various problems coming in his way to fight the odds, he is continuing. His Facebook post reads, “Ek khwab dekha hai, khwab ki corruption mukt ho meri Municipal Corporation” (I have a dream, dream of a corruption-free Municipal Corporation.

The issues

• Alleged LED light scam that has become the major issue in city.
• Plot near Satkartar Nagar turns into a garbage dump.
• Presence of slum area in posh locality near PPR mall.
• Lack of requisite safai karamcharis in ward.