Finally, election for civic body held this year
The year went by without a MC House and finally in the last month the MC elections were held after one-and-a-half years, which saw 46.95 polling.
Although Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the party with the highest number of seats, it fell short of seven councillors. Local units of the Congress and BJP hinted at coalition, but the BJP high command outrightly refused and now the situation is clear that AAP will form the House. At present, the stress is on to prove majority, form the House and elect the Mayor.
Just before the elections, many development projects for roads, tubewells, parks, bridges, etc. worth crores were inaugurated. But residents from various areas continue to face various civic problems like sewerage overflow, contaminated water supply, rainwater logging, broken roads and poor solid waste management among others.
Persistent issues like garbage management, illegal constructions, poor condition of parks, stray cattle and incidences of dog bites remain unresolved. Various cases in the National Green Tribunal are going on against MC and due to this the officials had to remain on the toes.
The lows
The bus stand flyover has been in a deteriorated state for quite some time and is dotted by various potholes and loose gravel, posing risks to vehicles. The work for its repair started in December. One side of the BRS flyover was also closed for a couple of months after it developed cracks. It was repaired and opened on Diwali. A portion of Lakkar overbridge also caved in.
The Ludhiana civic body had planned to recycle floral and coconut waste and convert it into incense sticks and ropes, respectively. It was planned to set up a small plant near the Jamalpur dump site, but the plan could not materialise. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the MC had planned to set up a plant for recycling floral waste.
In October, a century-old building collapsed at Bandeya Mohalla near Chawal Bazaar and a woman and her two-year-old daughter had a narrow escape. Surveys were conducted by the MC in 2021 and at least 156 buildings were declared as unsafe and dangerous and still the MC failed to take any action.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) appointed court commissioner identified significant flaws regarding unscientific handling of solid waste in the city. Court Commissioner, Bhanwarpal Singh Jadon visited 27 sites to verify the ground reality and identified Giaspura and an old primary dumping site on Hambran Road as the worst-affected locations.
The highs
Recently a major project worth over Rs 53 crore was launched to dispose of around 700 MT of waste generated in the city daily. Around Rs 77 crore have already been launched in the past for bioremediation of around 19.62 lakh MT of legacy waste at the Jamalpur, Tajpur road and Jainpur sites.
Project to install 6,000 streetlights at the cost of Rs 14 crore in different wards of the city has been launched. Under this project new streetlights will be installed and those lying defunct or stolen will also be replaced. Priority will be given to those areas where there are no streetlights.
The first street vending zone will be established near the Children’s Park at a cost of around Rs 47 lakh. Establishment of vending zones has been hanging fire for more than a decade. Despite notifying sites for vending zones, the work on it failed to start.
Making best use of the space under flyovers, sports courts are being built under flyovers and overbridges in the city. Basketball courts have been developed under the flyover near BRS Nagar alongside the Sidhwan Canal and badminton and basketball courts have been developed under the Lakkar Bridge.
