Lok Sabha polls are around the corner and the code of conduct would be in place as soon as these are announced. However, the Amritsar municipal corporation authorities are yet to convene its important meetings, including those which are required to be held at least once a month.
The other 'yet to be held' significant meetings include one pertaining to solid waste management project, for which the high court had given the MC six months' time, and another on streetlights. All these pending meetings have given the opposition Congress councillors a cause to lambast the MC ahead of polls.
While the MC is yet to convene its budget meeting, nearly 50 days have passed since January 3, when the last meeting of the Finance and Contract Committee (FNCC) was held. Thereafter, no meeting of the FNCC has been held though, as per the MC Act, the meeting of the FNCC should be held once a month.
Fearing that important projects pertaining to the development of the city might be held up once the code of conduct is implemented after announcement of elections, the opposition Congress councillors, while charging the MC authorities with laxity, have urged them to convene these meetings at the earliest.
Addressing a press conference here, leader of opposition in MC Rajkanwal Preet Pal Singh Lucky said that a number of areas in the city lie immersed in darkness each night in the absence of streetlights, while the city virtually stinks due to massive garbage heaps that had come up in the absence of the solid waste management project.
"These and many other projects are lagging behind because the MC authorities are yet to convene the meetings of the MC house and the FNCC," said Lucky.
He added that with the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, the code of conduct was likely to be imposed soon. "The contract for streetlights expired in January this year. The contractors had gone in for the tenders, but the proposal for streetlights could not materialise as the meeting of the FNCC could not be held," he said.
Lucky maintained that the same was true for the solid waste management project. "The mayor, who had promised to undertake the development of the city, has not been able to get the work on development projects passed in the previous house meet started," he said.
He added that with the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, the code of conduct was likely to be imposed soon. "The contract for streetlights expired in January this year. The contractors had gone in for the tenders, but the proposal for streetlights could not materialise as the meeting of the FNCC could not be held," he said.
Lucky maintained that the same was true for the solid waste management project. "The mayor, who had promised to undertake the development of the city, has not been able to get the work on development projects passed in the previous house meet started," he said.
The Congress councillor alleged that the mayor himself had said that contractors delaying development projects would be blacklisted. "Their promises are mere claims and come nowhere closer to the truth," they said.