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Mayoral poll politicking hit policies, development work in Chandigarh
With the fiasco surrounding Chandigarh mayoral polls continuing for months, no Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) meeting or general house meeting of the municipal corporation has been conducted since January
With councillors engrossed in intense politicking over the mayoral election for around two months, major policies and development works in the city have hit a snag.
With the fiasco surrounding the mayoral polls continuing for months, no Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) meeting or general house meeting of the MC has been conducted since January. Consequently, no new development project or policy has been initiated. Traditionally, the municipal corporation convenes its annual budget meeting in the first week of February, but it is yet to be conducted.
As per the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, as extended to the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the corporation shall, in its first meeting each year, elect one of its elected members to be the chairperson known as the mayor and the other two such members to be the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor of the corporation.
Soon after elections, the mayor elects a five-member finance and contract committee (F&CC), which holds the power to clear agenda items with a budget of ₹50 lakh each. Besides, the mayor convenes at least one general house meeting each month to discuss and approve agendas, policies, and projects estimated to cost more than ₹50 lakh.
“The projects can be further delayed because soon the code of conduct will be in place for the Lok Sabha elections, and during that time, no new development work can be started and no house meeting can be conducted,” said MC officials.
The projects and policies that were delayed include pet dog and community dog bylaws, property tax bylaws, a new policy on door-to-door garbage collection, and a policy on the functioning of community centers in the city, among others.
Mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor said, “We will call a budget meeting next week after we hold polls for senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor that are scheduled for March 4. AAP is committed to ensuring development in the city, and we are ready to call a general house meeting after the budget session. All pending projects will be tabled and approved.”
However, former mayor Anup Gupta said, “During my tenure, when the BJP was in power, all major projects got approved. They are in the process of being implemented, including smart parking and setting up an integrated waste management plant at Dadumajra. No crucial project is getting delayed.”
What is pending
“In October last year, a draft of “The Municipal Corporation Chandigarh pet dogs and community dogs bylaws, 2023” was tabled, but it was deferred after the city councillors suggested some amendments. The bylaws included a proposal to ban six “ferocious” dog breeds – American Bulldog, American Pit Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier, Cane Corso, Dogo Argentino, and Rottweiler. But after the bylaws were amended in December, no House meeting was conducted,” said a civic body official.
Besides, the civic body was working to introduce new property tax bylaws in the city with the aim of strengthening laws to recover property tax from government buildings. The bylaws were expected to be tabled in January this year, but the policy will linger for some more time.
The civic body had also lined up a policy on the working of community centres in the city, and other important agenda items that are yet to be tabled include new rules and an MoU for door-to-door garbage collection in the city. In December, councillors had said that garbage collection services are not up to the mark and stricter rules should be framed to ensure cleanliness in the city. The routine works, including repair works, laying of paver blocks, fixing of benches, or other things in parks and gardens, are also not being carried out as no F&CC meeting was scheduled.
