Nine months after the lone patwari for villages in Chandigarh was arrested on the charge of bribery in February this year, the municipal corporation (MC) is yet to appoint his replacement.
Balraj Singh was arrested by the anti-corruption branch of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 50,000. With nobody being appointed as his replacement, nearly 500 files of building plans for constructions to come up in UT villages are awaiting approval, shows data.
On Tuesday, SAD-BJP councillor Malkait Singh, under whose ward several UT villages fall, warned of a protest if the civic body did not appoint a new patwari. "Villagers are being harassed in the absence of a patwari," he said, adding: "I had raised the issue in the House on November 21 and also approached the MC commissioner several times, but nothing has been done."
MC joint commissioner Rajeev Gupta said they had already requested the UT administrator to depute a patwari. "Hopefully, it will sorted out soon," he said. On how the MC plans to tackle the backlog of building plans awaiting clearance, Gupta said, "The MC's building branch has been directed to get reports from the revenue staff of villages," he said.
A resident of Buterla village, Manjeet Singh, described the situation as yet another example of how UT villages got step-motherly treatment from the civic body. "We are being harassed for the past nine months. We fail to understand why officers are so insensitive towards villagers. Now we feel that we do not have any say in the city," he said.
{{/usCountry}}A resident of Buterla village, Manjeet Singh, described the situation as yet another example of how UT villages got step-motherly treatment from the civic body. "We are being harassed for the past nine months. We fail to understand why officers are so insensitive towards villagers. Now we feel that we do not have any say in the city," he said.
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