Tewari seeks resolution of 5 pending Chandigarh issues, some over 25 yrs old

Tewari was speaking after inaugurating a CCTV surveillance project in Sector 19 to strengthen public safety and security

The member of parliament (MP) Manish Tewari on Wednesday urged the administration to resolve five long-pending issues affecting city residents, alleging that officials had failed to provide relief despite the Union home ministry seeking the administration’s views on the matter.

The member of parliament (MP) Manish Tewari during a project inauguration in Chandigarh on Wednesday. (HT photo)

Tewari was speaking after inaugurating a CCTV surveillance project in Sector 19 to strengthen public safety and security.

The five issues include the ban on share-wise sale of property, ownership rights for residents of relief and rehabilitation colonies, need-based changes in Chandigarh Housing Board flats, removal of the Lal Dora around the city’s 22 villages, and demands raised by residents of cooperative and other group housing societies.

Tewari said he had repeatedly raised these matters in Parliament and through parliamentary standing committees, besides pursuing them with the Punjab governor and the UT administration. He alleged that despite the home ministry seeking the administration’s views, progress remained slow.

He called for priority in granting ownership rights to residents of rehabilitation colonies, saying there had been movement on the issue following his efforts.

Questioning the administration’s functioning, Tewari said basic civic and property-related issues had remained unresolved for decades despite Chandigarh’s extensive bureaucratic structure. He also compared governance in Chandigarh unfavourably with neighbouring Mohali and Panchkula, claiming that the latter delivered better services with fewer senior officers.

Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky and Sector 19 Residents’ Welfare Association president Bhupinder Singh Gill were among those present at the event.