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31 agendas passed by Panchkula MC House amid furore by opposition
Accusing the BJP-dominated MC of doing nothing since coming to power in December 2020, Congress councillors showed up in black clothes to lodge protest
Being held after a long gap of seven months, the general House meeting of the Panchkula municipal corporation (MC) on Monday was mired by chaos.
Accusing the BJP-dominated MC of doing nothing since coming to power in December 2020, Congress councillors showed up in black clothes to lodge protest.
Amid the uproar by the opposition, as many as 31 agendas were passed in the House meeting, which saw presence of all 23 councillors.
Discussions on old agendas continued for 3.5 half hours. Congress councillor Salim alleged, “In the last 2.9 years, there are over 60 such agendas on which nothing has been done. Even the CM said three days ago at Jan Sabha, that Panchkula roads were in bad condition.”
A female councillor, Usha, broke into tears over “MC’s failure to provide residents basic amenities, such as sewerage system”.
Panchkula MC has a total strength of 23 members, including three nominated councillors. BJP enjoys the majority with 10 elected councillors, two councillors are from the Jannayak Janata Party, seven from the Congress and one is independent.
The discussion on new agendas started at 2.30 pm, of which, the first was to name two important points in Panchkula “Tiranga and Shiv Shakti” in celebration of Chandrayaan-3’s landing on the moon.
The agenda was passed, but not without ruckus. The opposition councillors objected to the agenda, questioning how it would help the over 2-crore population of Panchkula and why a national achievement was being given political colour.
Another agenda passed was carpeting of A and B roads in entire Panchkula.
The agenda to allot land for religious shrines was objected to by Congress councillors, who wanted the land to be handed over to educational and sports institutes instead. Following this, a resolution was passed to allot the land to sports academies and educational institutes by calling expression of interest.
The House also okayed construction of a statue of Shaheed Udham Singh at the Sector 4/5/10/11 chowk and beautification of Ambedkar Chowk.
Among other approvals were allocating 40 acres in Jaloli village for construction of a district jail, no solid waste charges with property tax for FY2022-23 and installation of CCTV cameras outside community centres.
Congress councillors also objected to MC’s proposal to allot 10 acres in Jaloli village for setting up a cow shelter.
They said earlier a chunk of land was allotted in Sukhdarshanpur to solve the stray cattle menace, but it had only worsened. While the agency concerned was allotted 4 acres, they had occupied 15 acres.
They alleged, “MC gives land to private parties, pays them lakhs monthly and even foots their electricity bills. But the contractors are only misusing the funds.”
Another councillor alleged that some people were breeding and milching cattle from Punjab in Sukhdarshanpur and letting the stray cattle out.
Seeking an inquiry into this case, with the mayor as the chairperson, the opposition demanded that MC run the cow shelter itself.
To this, the mayor said an inquiry will be marked to look into the matter and a notice will be issued to the contractor. Following this, a resolution was passed that MC will construct and run another cow shelter in Jaloli.
‘Don’t give permits to nightclubs to operate till 8 am’
Looking to curb drug peddling in the city, the Panchkula MC House on Monday passed a resolution to write to the Haryana government not to issue any more permits to night clubs and restaurants for operating beyond by 2 am.
Earlier during the House meeting, the clueless MC officials submitted an agenda “to close the restaurants and bars by 12 am”, unaware that such establishments are allowed to operate till 2 am as per government’s excise policy.
Councillors from the opposition Congress were also quick to correct them that MC has no powers to bring down the timings.
An officer from the excise department also added that MC cannot change the timings, as the policy allowing restaurants and bars to operate till 2 am was approved by the Haryana cabinet. Also, those wanting to operate till 8 am can do so by paying a fee of ₹20 lakh fee.
On this, the MC House passed the resolution to write to the excise department not to issue more licences till 8 am and not to renew the already issued permits. MC will also request police to take action against those operating beyond the 2 am deadline without permission.
Mayor Kulbhushan Goyal said there were around 25 nightclubs in the city, of which eight had the permit to operate till 8 am. These include The ESCAPE, MOBE, Da Bodega and Veda in Sector 5; Alif Laila and Coco Cafe in Sector 11; Purple Frog in Sector 9 and The Posh in Sector 20.
Councillor Omwati Punia from Ward 11 also objected to opening of clubs in residential areas. To this, the mayor said they will request that no new permission be given to open clubs in residential sectors.
