Chandigarh advisory council meets, leaves without any major decision

Held after nearly 18 months, meeting ends with presentations by UT police and chief engineer, leaving resident and trader bodies miffed

Organised after nearly 1.5 years, the Administrator’s Advisory Council meeting, held here on Wednesday, ended without any major decision for the city.

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The around two-hour session, organised at Hotel Mountview in Sector 10, started with UT administrator VP Singh Badnore addressing the members, following which law and order, and infrastructure development projects were taken up.

The DGP made a presentation of around 15 minutes on the former, while UT chief engineer OP Ojha took 45 minutes for a presentation on the latter.

Thereon, only some council members, mostly political leaders and bureaucrats, got the opportunity to speak for two minutes each.

As a result, after the meeting, vexed representatives of the market, resident and industry associations sought changes in the format of the session.

Suggestions were also made for action-taken reports to be tabled before the council members, to apprise them of the measures taken by the administration on the previously-issued recommendations by the council and its sub-committees.

Fresh recommendations of the sub-committees were taken on record and members who didn’t get the time to speak were asked to submit their comments in writing.

Council met last in Sept 2019

The council had last met on September 13, 2019 after it was reconstituted in August 2019.

Headed by the UT administrator, it is responsible for advising the administration on development issues and policy matters affecting the city, and gives a platform to the residents to air their views on a range of issues concerning the city.

In addition to all senior UT officials, it includes current and former members of Parliament, mayor, resident and business association representatives, and other prominent citizens. It also has 10 standing committees, which are subject-matter-related groups headed by a chairman.

‘Presentations were a waste of time’

Terming the around one-hour-long presentations made by the UT police and engineering department a waste of time, Baljinder Singh Bittu, chairman, Federation of Sectors Welfare Association Chandigarh (FOSWAC), said, “Such presentations could be instead provided as reports in advance. But, instead most of the meeting was dedicated to them, which was mostly an exercise in self-praise.”

Bittu, who was not allowed to speak because of “paucity of time”, added, “The real objective of the meeting is to allow people to connect with the authorities and air their views. They, and not officials, should be given precedence during the meeting.”

The business community also expressed disappointment at not being given time to speak. Anil Vohra, former president and patron of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, said, “The administration not only ignored the business community, but also resident associations and industry representatives. The meeting should not be only about giving political leaders or bureaucrats another platform to speak. In fact, the administration should allow the resident and trader associations to express their views first.”

Questioning the working of the council, Sanjay Tandon, BJP national council member and co-incharge of Himachal Pradesh BJP, said, “I have been attending the council meeting for the last 10 years and same issues are brought before us repeatedly. Why doesn’t the administration decide on issues on merit?”

Tandon also demanded that before the meeting, the UT departments should give a closure report on the recommendations made by the sub-committees of the council. “I have worked in the sports committee for more than a year and we had suggested several measures to the sports department, like giving awards to local sportspersons. But, there has been no follow-up from the department.”