Moga In a turf war between the local municipal corporation (MC) and the Moga Improvement Trust, the development of the city has taken a back-seat. The state’s local government department has revoked its approval for at least six development projects that the improvement trust had started, on the recommendation of the MC.
The projects halted include beautification of flyovers, maintenance of parks, which also include installation of swings, LED lights and open gyms etc. The government departments have been at loggerheads due to a rift within the Congress party’s district unit
Mayor Nitika Bhalla has also written a letter to the local government department, stating that the MC will carry out development of the city with its own funds. HT has copies of these letters. Before she assumed the charge of mayor, however, she had written to the trust to maintain parks in her ward.
Sources claimed that trust chairman Vinod Bansal is an aspirant for a Congress ticket from Moga and wants to replace the present MLA, Dr Harjot Kamal. Sensing this, Kamal has started calling the shots in the MC to ensure Bansal does not gain prominence in the public eye.
Bansal said, “I started with these development works after locals approached us. We have already developed five parks in the city. Act 69 of the Improvement Trust rules allows us to carry out development works anywhere in the city. We passed resolutions and then got approval from the local government department. Now, the permission has been cancelled.”
{{/usCountry}}Bansal said, “I started with these development works after locals approached us. We have already developed five parks in the city. Act 69 of the Improvement Trust rules allows us to carry out development works anywhere in the city. We passed resolutions and then got approval from the local government department. Now, the permission has been cancelled.”
{{/usCountry}}Mayor Nitika said, “We are planning to carry out these works as these fall in jurisdiction of the Moga MC. There is no need for the trust to get involved.”
MLA Kamal said, “The trust’s work is to develop colonies. Maintenance and development of parks is the duty of the MC. We will do these works on our own and installing open gyms in parks.”