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Chandigarh: BJP councillors skip all-party protest, only mayor shows up
On the councillors’ call, people from different walks of life, including auto dealers, had gathered at the UT secretariat and protested for around an hour
Though all Chandigarh councillors, cutting across party lines, had put up a united front against the administration’s electric vehicle (EV) policy during the municipal corporation (MC)’s General House meeting on Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillors, except mayor Anup Gupta, skipped the planned protest at the UT secretariat on Wednesday.
On the councillors’ call, people from different walks of life, including auto dealers, had gathered at the UT secretariat and protested for around an hour. Among them were 12 city councillors, including mayor Anup Gupta, Congress’ Sachin Galav, Jasbir Singh, and Taruna Mehta, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Damanpreet Singh, Ram Chander Yadav, Neha, Suman, Anju Katyal, Prem Lata, Kuldeep Dhalor, and Jasvinder Kaur.
Congress councillor Gurpreet Singh Gabi attended the protest for the last few minutes.
In the 35-member MC House, the BJP has a clear majority with 14 councillors, one more than AAP’s 13. The Congress has seven seats while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has one. The city also has nine nominated councillors.
On Tuesday, all 35 councillors had unanimously rejected the UT administration’s proposal to install electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in 44 MC-run parking lots and decided to stage a protest. The councillors had said that instead of 50% revenue, CREST should have offered 100% revenue to the MC as it is their space that is proposed to be used. Besides, they would face revenue loss if the space allotted for parking is used for setting up charging stations.
“Also, the UT had not sought recommendations from the House before drafting the EV policy,” the councillors had contended.
During the protest, Sachin Galav said, “The UT administration is forcing its decisions on the public. EVs cost is almost doubled the cost of fuel-based vehicles. Also, its battery needs to be replaced every fourth year, adding to the owners’ expenses. This is not an economical or practical solution for a middle-class family. Besides, Chandigarh is not ready for such experiments as the administration cannot provide the requisite infrastructure to the public. The already existing charging stations are also not functioning.”
“Everyone supported the mayor and agreed to join the dharna, notwithstanding party lines. But the BJP had no strength to protest against its own government,” said councillor Prem Lata.
A BJP councillor, who did not wish to be named, said, “The new city BJP chief, Jatinder Pal Malhotra, and other party officials, had sent a message to us, stating that there is no protest tomorrow as the problem has been resolved. We were not aware that Opposition councillors would protest, otherwise we would have joined too.”
Interestingly, the mayor was accompanied by the BJP chief during the protest. The Opposition councillors, meanwhile, said the BJP chief should have not interfered in MC affairs.
“The UT administration had on Tuesday proposed to allow registration of 1,600 more fuel-based two-wheelers in the city and they are also planning to end the capping on registration of non-electric vehicles. This served the purpose and BJP councillors decided not to protest. But to show my support to the Chandigarh residents and city councillors, I decided to join them,” said mayor Anup Gupta, adding that he will continue to request the administration to completely remove the capping.
