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8 councillors sign integrity pact, reluctantly
Eight councillors of the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) signed an 'integrity pact' on Sunday. Vimal Chander Joshi reports.
Eight councillors of the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) signed an 'integrity pact' on Sunday. At an interactive session hosted by the Joint Action Forum of Residents' Association (Jafra), only 11 of the 35 recently-elected councillors turned up. Jafra finally managed to convince eight councillors to sign the pact.
The pact has four points. First, the councillors will perform their duties with honesty. Second, they will not resort to horse-trading. Third, they won't succumb to corruption. And lastly, they will ensure transparency and efficiency while working with the MCG.
The participants appreciated the initiative taken by Jafra. "It's good that they (councillors) have promised to work with integrity," said Lt Gen. (retired) JBS Yadav, a resident of Sector 23.
“The draft integrity pact is an excerpt of a pact used by Transparency International, a global civil organisation leading the fight against corruption,” said BR Lall, former director general of Haryana police and the pact’s architect.
“Though it doesn’t have any legal binding on the councillors, it is expected to have some moral influence on the signatories,” he added.
Councillors who signed the pact are Seema Pahuja (ward No. 11), Lakhpat (ward No. 9), Nisha Singh (ward No. 30), Parminder Kataria (ward No. 6), Khajan Singh (ward No. 22), Yahspal Batra (ward No. 12), Gaje Singh (ward No. 5) and Subhash Singla (ward No. 18).
Councillor’s husband turns up
The husband of the councillor of ward No. 28, Poonam, came to represent his wife at the event organised by Jafra. The organisers directed him towards the stage where the councillors were seated. A Jafra representative said they didn't want to embarrass him.
Last week, ward No. 29 councillor Saroj Yadav's husband also turned up at a meeting organised by Real Estate Developers' Council. Then he went on to criticise the builders, much to dismay of the organisers present at the venue.
