Chandigarh: Councillors revisit demand for personal staff

In a rare bipartisan move, both the majority Bharatiya Janata Party councillors and the opposition Congress supported the resolution

Even as only three months remain for the term of the current General House of the Chandigarh municipal corporation to end, the councillors once again passed a resolution demanding appointment of personal staff — stenographer and peon — in their offices located at community centres.

Chandigarh councillors have passed a resolution to appoint a stenographer and a peon at their community offices.

In a rare bipartisan move, both the majority Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillors and the opposition Congress supported the resolution proposed by the BJP state president and councillor Arun Sood. In December 2019, too, the House had passed a resolution to attach one data entry operator and one peon with each of the elected councillors.

During the House meeting on Tuesday, BJP councillor Shakti Prakash Devshali said that no staff has been deputed so far despite that resolution. To this, MC officials claimed that the UT administration is yet to approve the resolution.

However, Sood claimed that making the MC staff available to a councillor does not require approval of the administration. “This has been done intentionally to obstruct the work of councillors,” he alleged.

Sood also raised objection to the wording of the December 2019 resolution, specifically use of the word “attach”. “This is pure twisting of the words by the MC officials to defeat the purpose of the House resolution,” he said.

As some councillors pointed that the personnel would be available for only two months as the MC election code of conduct would be imposed in November, senior deputy mayor Maheshinder Singh Sidhu said: “The code only restricts personnel from doing any election-related work and not other MC-related works.”

Congress councillor and leader of opposition Devinder Singh Babla also supported the demand, and said that even if it for just two months, these personnel should be made available to the councillors.

Councillors, thereon, requested MC commissioner Anindita Mitra to make two personnel available to each of them from among those working on contract. “The commissioner can appoint contractual employees for six months. This provision should be used to give staff to the councillors,” said Sood.

Notably, even offices for councillors are not formally cleared in the bylaws governing community centres where they are housed. Councillors somehow managed to retain them on the ground that they need public space to meet area residents. Earlier, the councillors had also passed a resolution for free fuel for their personal vehicles to attend meetings.