Alleging mistreatment, Ambala MC members stage walk-out at House meeting

Ambala MC submitted a written complaint to mayor Shakti Rani Sharma, alleging that the commissioner Neha Singh had remained inaccessible of late and sought action.

As many as 20 elected and three nominated members of the Ambala municipal corporation (MC) on Friday walked out of the House meeting, alleging misbehaviour at the hands of the civic body officials and employees including the municipal commissioner.

Twenty elected and three nominated members of the Ambala MC walked out of the House meeting, alleging misbehaviour at the hands of the civic body officials and employees including the municipal commissioner. (Bloomberg)

They submitted a written complaint to mayor Shakti Rani Sharma, alleging that the commissioner Neha Singh had remained inaccessible of late and sought action.

Congress member Mithun Verma, who was the first to highlight the grievance, said they had to wait for hours after for appointments only to return dejected.

“In the last meeting in September, it was assured that all the members will be called and their issues heard. Despite this, the members were not called and instead mistreated. Our ward members come to us with their problems after there is no response from the officials, but even then we are not heard,” he said.

Leading the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camp, nominated member Sandeep Sachdeva said such behaviour “demoralised” the House. Haryana Jan Chetna Party (HJCP) member Rajesh Mehta, meanwhile, said, “Even in the last meeting, required documents with the agenda were not provided by the officials who remained clueless. Residents are being hassled unnecessarily to get their no-dues certificate.”

Refuting the claims, the commissioner said she has welcomed every person coming to her office before denying giving VIP treatment to specific persons.

“I meet everyone on a first-come, first-serve basis and some have to wait till a meeting or video conference gets over. Despite the non-meeting hours, I meet people till late evening. On NDCs, we are giving special attention and staff have been deputed for long hours to clear the pendency before Diwali and so far 40% of around 1,400 pending applications have been cleared,” she told HT.

House nod to cleanliness-related agenda

The meeting, which was called after a gap of nearly a month to discuss the agenda from the last meeting, however, saw re-tendering of door-to-door garbage collection and proposal of estimate for street sweeping get approvals after unanimous agreement from the members.

Members, meanwhile, also highlighted issues of water logging even in Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) sectors and delay in getting the tender approval for garbage collection during the meeting.