Ludhiana MC House to meet in person on July 14

Earlier, Sandhu had announced that the meeting will be held virtually, which the opposition councillorshad opposed

With the opposition parties raising objections against the announcement to hold a first-ever virtual meeting of municipal corporation (MC) general house, mayor Balkar Sandhu rolled back the decision on Saturday. He announced that a physical meeting will be held at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan on Wednesday.

Mayor Sandhu said that the decision to hold the virtual meeting was taken keeping in view the ongoing pandemic. (HT File)

Earlier, Sandhu had announced that the meeting would be held virtually, keeping in view the restriction on gatherings imposed by the government amid the pandemic. But the opposition slammed the move stating that the mayor and the civic body are avoiding answering the queries of elected representatives regarding improper solid waste management and hike in water-sewer tariff, among other issues.

All the opposition parties in the house including, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), and Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) opposed the move on Friday and stated that a physical meeting should be held to discuss the issues in detail.

Leader of opposition Harbhajan Singh Dang and leader of BJP councillors Sunita Rani stated that two physical MC house meetings were held when the Covid cases were on a rise— one at the Rose Garden on November 10 and the other at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan on March 24. Now when the situation is under control, the civic body wants to hold virtual meetings to avoid answering the queries, they added.

Sandhu said that the decision to hold the virtual meeting was taken keeping in view the ongoing pandemic and the gathering restrictions. As the government has eased the restrictions, and the opposition has been demanding a physical meeting, we have decided to hold a physical meeting at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan, he added.