Ludhiana: Opposition snubs mayor’s lunch, cites bias, no development in a year

“The civic body has been working for the development of the city without any discrimination and will continue to do so, rising above party lines,” says mayor Inderjit Kaur

Opposition councillors on Wednesday skipped a lunch and get-together hosted by mayor Inderjit Kaur to mark the first anniversary of General House of the municipal corporation to protest what they called biased functioning and the lack of major development works in the city over the past year.

Mayor Inderjit Kaur (HT File)

Councillors from the Congress said their decision to stay away from the event was a mark of protest against what they described as selective approval of works and discrimination against Opposition-ruled wards. They claimed that because of this alleged bias, development in several parts of the city had come to a standstill, leaving residents to suffer.

Congress councillor Sham Sunder Malhotra said that despite a year having passed since the mayor assumed office, there had been no visible improvement on the ground. “Not even basic civic works have been taken up in many areas. The mayor has failed to take all councillors along and has not asserted her authority in the civic body, which has directly affected development,” he said.

Deputy leader of BJP councillors Rohit Sikka said the mayor’s tenure had been marked more by confrontation than governance. “This is the only tenure where opposition councillors had to sit on a prolonged protest and FIRs were registered against them. While there has been no development work on the ground, attempts to threaten councillors were frequent,” he alleged.

Mayor Inderjit Kaur said, “Several initiatives have been taken over the past year to bring positive change on the ground. The civic body has been working for the development of the city without any discrimination and will continue to do so, rising above party lines.”