E-Paper
Chandigarh: Congress councillors skip meet on new waste plant
The councillors termed Chandigarh MC’s move of calling separate meetings for each political party unethical, alleging that the ruling BJP already held a confidential meeting and important project details may not be shared with other parties
Congress councillors skipped the Wednesday meeting called by the mayor and municipal corporation officials to give a presentation on the proposed new integrated waste processing plant in Dadumajra.
The councillors termed MC’s move of calling separate meetings for each political party unethical, alleging that the ruling BJP already held a confidential meeting and important project details may not be shared with other parties.
Congress councillor Gurpreet Singh Gabi said the mayor and MC officials conducted a meeting with BJP councillors and party leaders on May 23, despite a public holiday on account of the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev: “The officials planned to hold a confidential meeting, but when its news broke out, they missed no chance to say that Congress and AAP will be invited too.”
“Since the project pertains to city residents’ interest, only one meeting with councillors of all parties should have been conducted. We denied attending the separate meeting and will oppose the project till equal details are shared with each party,” Gabi added.
AAP councillor Damanpreet Singh, the leader of opposition, said, “The mayor is lobbying for separate meetings that could have been a joint meeting. MC officials have sought time from AAP and we are ready to attend the meeting for people’s welfare, but MC should answer as to what progress has been made so far in waste processing after spending crores of rupees.”
Meanwhile, mayor Anup Gupta said, “This is not a compulsory meeting for the parties. We just wanted to share the project details with each councillor and clear their doubts.”
In the General House meeting on May 13, the House had turned down the civic body’s proposal of setting up the plant at the Dadumajra landfill, citing that the mayor was not included in the “high-power committee” to frame the project proposal.
Aimed at effectively tackling the city’s daily waste generation of 550 MT, the new plant, with a capacity of 600 tonnes per day, is proposed to comprise three facilities – one each for dry, wet and horticulture waste. Proposed to be spread over 20 acres, it will be set up on a part of the Dadumajra landfill after clearing the area.
