Demanding 20,000 litres of free water for every household in the city, the Chandigarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CPCC) today staged a protest against the BJP-ruled Municipal Corporation (MC) outside the civic body office in Sector 17.
The protest was led by HS Lucky, president of the CPCC, along with Chetan Chauhan, secretary of the All-India Congress Committee and co-in-charge of Chandigarh. Members of the district and block units, Youth Congress, NSUI and the Mahila Congress also took part in the protest.
Carrying Congress flags and placards reading “20,000 litres of free water is our right” and “Fulfil the promise made to the people”, the protesters marched towards the MC office. As they attempted to lay siege to the office, the police stopped them by putting up barricades. The Congress workers tried to push through the barricades, resulting in a brief scuffle with the police. They raised slogans against the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Addressing the gathering, Lucky said though the proposal for providing 20,000 litres of free water to the residents was earlier passed by the MC House, it had not been implemented due to the alleged collusion between the BJP and AAP.
The MC has had nine BJP Mayors and one from AAP in the past 10 years, yet neither of the two parties made any sincere effort to fulfil this important promise made to the public, said Lucky. He accused both parties of making attractive promises during elections but abandoning public welfare after coming to power.
The city Congress president said the party councillors had been instructed to strongly raise the matter in the House meeting.
Launching a sharp attack on the BJP’s policies, Lucky said the party was continuously increasing the financial burden on the residents of Chandigarh — it first raised property tax, then increased water tariff and now proposes to enhance parking charges.
Chetan Chauhan warned that if the BJP-ruled MC failed to take a positive decision on the issue at the earliest, the Congress would intensify its agitation.
