Residents suffer as officials’ inaction halts development in Sirhind-Fatehgarh

Residents of Sirhind-Fatehgarh have been suffering due to the lack of basic civic amenities such as cleanliness, streetlights, proper drinking water, sewerage facilities.

Area residents are the most troubled by the condition of the roads of the town.

Officials of the municipal corporation have allegedly been reluctant to float tenders for development works — many of which had been given the nod by councillors in the last six months.

According to sources, numerous complaints against MC officials have been pending with both the state Vigilance Department and the Local Government Vigilance Department.

Further complaints could be lodged against the officers if they decided to float the tenders, causing their reluctance to do so, sources added.

To add to residents’ woes, tenders floated for various works had been cancelled repeatedly — some more than five times.

MC President Ashok Sood said the civic body had not been able to initiate development projects because of these constraints.

Officials were in no mood to work due to the complaints pending with the Vigilance Department, and were just biding their time until they were transferred, he added.

He said the MC was helpless and could not do anything regarding people’s grievances due to

the “system”.

He added that he had appealed to the local MLA make use of his office to start pending projects.

When contacted, Assistant Municipal Engineer Narinder Kumar said he was not aware about the pending tenders. Officials were floating tenders as per the requirement, he claimed.

He refused to comment regarding the Vigilance Department complaints.