Mechanical sweeping tender row: Cong councillors protest outside mayor’s house

The meeting initially had 23 agenda items, but the number increased to 85 after the supplementary agenda was added

The differences within the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) of the Municipal Corporation have moved out into the public domain, with Congress councillors protesting the mayor’s decision to take the proposal for a tender for a mechanical sweeping project worth ₹82 crore. The Congress councillors have started a sit-in outside the mayor’s residence against the move.

Congress councillors staging a sit-in outside the mayor’s residence in Ludhiana on Wednesday. (HT Photo)

The F&NCC meeting on Tuesday dragged on till late evening amid intense discussions over municipal funds, tenders, development works and the supplementary agenda, with the only opposition member, councillor Gaurav Bhatti, raising several questions over transparency and the use of public money.

The meeting initially had 23 agenda items, but the number increased to 85 after the supplementary agenda was added. Bhatti refused to approve the additional items without examining them. “I will not pass any agenda without reading it,” he said, seeking time to study the proposals. Officials had to wait for around two-and-a-half hours while he examined the items and sought clarifications. The meeting started at 4 pm and continued until around 9.15 pm. Few of the agendas remained pending and another meeting was called for Wednesday.

Mayor Inderjit Kaur said that the F&CC convened a meeting on Wednesday and decided to refer the project to the House to make a decision.

Meanwhile, councillor Bhatti contested this, saying the proposal was rejected in the meeting and could not be taken to the House. He was sitting in protest outside the mayor’s residence until the filing of the report.

Bhatti raised serious objections to the mechanical sweeping tender worth around ₹82 crore, which was subsequently cancelled.

Questioning the proposal to wash 697 kilometres of roads with water, he asked why the Municipal Corporation needed to incur such a huge expenditure when it already had nine machines.

He also sought technical clarification regarding the use of water on roads and questioned whether the work could be carried out at lower rates.

Bhatti said every effort should be made to protect municipal funds and avoid unnecessary expenditure.

The mayor called the protest “baseless” and said that it was “against the development of the city.”

“You want better facilities. And when we come up with plans to better the system, you start putting up obstacles. They have a problem with everything,” the mayor said.