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Chandigarh: Mayor calls councillors ‘non-serious’, suspends special meet in 30 minutes
After Punjab governor and UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria called a meeting of senior officials from the Chandigarh administration and the civic body on Thursday to discuss the budgetary concerns of the MC, mayor Dhalor had on Monday evening called a special house meeting of the MC to discuss the situation
Citing that Chandigarh councillors are “non-serious” about the financial crisis upon municipal corporation (MC), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor suspended the special house meeting in just 30 minutes on Tuesday, without any solutions for the ongoing fiscal turmoil.
After Punjab governor and UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria called a meeting of senior officials from UT administration and the civic body on Thursday to discuss the budgetary concerns of the MC, mayor Dhalor had on Monday evening called a special house meeting of the MC to discuss the situation.
However, the special meeting started with a welcoming ceremony for new MC commissioner Amit Kumar, who joined earlier on Tuesday, followed by heated arguments between the mayor and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillors.
BJP councillor Saurabh Joshi started the proceedings by questioning the validity of the special meeting. “As per the MC Act, a notice of at least 48 hours should be given to councillors before holding the special meeting but in this case, the invite was sent on Monday evening (not even before 24 hours). So, is this meeting valid?,” Joshi asked municipal secretary Gurinder Sodhi, who was quick to respond, “The meeting has been called as per the rules and the act, and this is not the first time when a special meeting has been called on short notice looking over the urgency of the situation.”
Soon after this, AAP councillor Hardeep Singh asked MC officers to present the figures related to MC’s receipts and expenditures done this fiscal but before Sodhi could explain the financial position, BJP councillor Harpreet Kaur Babla said, “These figures are going above our head. The mayor should have provided us with the meeting agenda on Monday so that we could have read it thoroughly. At least, the agenda should have been provided at the start of the meeting. The AAP always tables development-related agendas worth crores of rupees during the proceedings of the house. The proper protocol should be followed.”
The allegations, however, infuriated the mayor, who responded, “All councillors were given the copy of the MC’s budget and if figures were not presented to you now, you could have patiently listened to the officers. But councillors are non-serious over the MC’s financial conditions and I believe I made a mistake by calling this meeting. Our new commissioner has to join the UT adviser’s meeting so let’s meet after a few days.”
Yet another example of mayor’s immaturity: Ex-mayor Gupta
The Congress and AAP councillors were stunned by the meeting suspension. “The mayor should have discussed the financial crisis and ignored the BJP’s interference, who had planned to disrupt the proceedings,” they said.
Former mayor Anup Gupta called out the mayor for failing to provide a prior agenda. “When councillors inquired about official figures on MC’s expenditures and receipts, Dhalor had no satisfactory response so he abruptly suspended the meeting without addressing the concerns raised by the elected representatives. This is yet another example of the mayor’s immaturity and disregard for the democratic process,” Gupta said, adding that “the mayor should present a detailed report of the total expenses incurred for the suspended meeting at the next house session. He wasted taxpayers’ money and now Dhalor should bear the costs from his pocket.”
Mayor awaits invite to guv’s meeting
Dhalor is still awaiting an official invitation from the governor or UT administration to attend the key meeting on Thursday. “If given a chance, I wish to request the governor to give us a special grant so that we can resume pending works across the city. Also, I wish to recommend some ways to increase revenue for MC,” Dhalor said. Meanwhile, Congress president HS Lucky and city MP Manish Tewari have also sought time from the governor to discuss MC’s financial situation.
