The first meeting of the newly formed House of the Mohali Municipal Corporation was held under the chairmanship of Mayor Sarbjit Singh Samana, but it was his father and Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh who ruled the roost.
Taking a swipe at the MLA, district BJP president Sanjeev Vashisth said if he wanted to relegate his son to the background and conduct the House, he should resign as MLA and become a Mayor instead.
The MLA can attend MC meetings by virtue of being the ex officio member of the House. However, questions are being raised over his active participation in the proceedings of the House, especially when he attended a meeting after a long time.
Unlike previous meetings which saw heated exchange between members of the House, the session on Friday was held in a very congenial atmosphere. The leader of Congress councillors, advocate Narpinder Singh Rangi, and the leader of SAD councillors, Kuldeep Kaur Kang, were seen assuring the newly elected Mayor of their full support.
Senior Deputy Mayor Rajinder Prashad Sharma, Deputy Mayor Harpal Singh Channa, Commissioner Sandeep Singh and other officers were also present in the meeting.
A resolution passed in the meeting empowered the Mayor to form the Finance and Contract Committee and other panels. Rangi demanded representation of the opposition in all committees.
In the second resolution, it was decided to form a committee to facilitate the task of handing over the responsibility of Mohali’s parks to Resident Welfare Associations.
Councillors Sunny Singh Ahluwalia, Sukhdev Singh Patwari, Harjit Singh Bholu and Rangi lamented that the condition of the parks was very bad. Ahluwalia said, “Several residents have complained of poor maintenance of parks by Gill Contractor, a firm owned by Jaskaran Singh.”
Ahluwalia also demanded the installation of CCTV cameras at resource management centre (RMC) points to check dumping of Chandigarh garbage in Mohali.
Patwari, Gaurav Jain and Gurpreet Kaur flagged the increasing head of stray cattle in the city and demanded an inquiry into it.
Paramjit Singh Kahlon flagged the shortage of electricity staff and increase in the stray dog population. He also demanded that tall and old trees be axed.
Councillors Kuldeep Kaur Kang, Naseeb Singh Sandhu, Anuradha Anand, Parvinder Kaur, Parminder Kaur, Ravinder Singh Bindra, Kuldeep Singh Bittu, Sharanjit Kaur, Harvinder Singh, Upinderjit Kaur, Amarjit Singh, Aruna Vashisht, Bachan Singh Boparai, Satvinder Singh Mithu and Gurjit Singh Mataur raised issues pertaining to their respective wards.
On Paramjit Kahlon’s demand, the MLA assured the House that the motor market in Phase 7 would be shifted to Kambali.
