*Disunity among Cong, Ind members came in open
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 10: Disunity among Congress and Independent Councillors of Jammu Municipal Corporation came in open today as some of these Councillors of the urban local body attended the 13th general house meeting of JMC for which some of their colleagues had announced a boycott.
The meeting was held on virtual mode for three hours from 2 pm to 5 pm.
Those boycotting the meet had resentment regarding the virtual mode of the meeting and they had cited the example of recently concluded Parliament session and Independence Day celebrations which were held offline while the JMC said prevailing COVID-19 guidelines was the reason for the meeting to be on virtual mode.
However, many members of the House had joined and then left the meet after raising their issues.
Bhanu Mahajan, Congress Councillor said she joined the virtual meet and demanded social audit to see how many resolutions were passed and decisions taken by JMC in last three years and how much works on those have been executed on ground by the urban local body.
She said that many Councillors has raised the issue that after 74th amendment JMC got the management of health centres, parks etc but none of these infrastructure is in good shape which is a failure.
“The meeting was conducted after five months on a day when Congress national vice president, Rahul Gandhi was on Jammu visit and request by Congress Councillors for postponing the meet was turned down by the Mayor,” she maintained adding that the Mayor does not wanted Congress Councillors to attend the function of Rahul Gandhi.
“I joined and exited the virtual meet as I had to attend Rahul Gandhi’s function,” she said adding that three hours virtual meet for taking issues of 75 Wards is nothing more than eyewash.
Mahajan also said that while many big political and other functions are being held offline then why not the general house meeting.
“They would have conducted it at some other place if there was a space problem at JMC Hall for maintaining social distancing,” she continued.
Independent Councillor, Inder Singh Sudan of Ward 44 (Nanak Nagar) said about three years back when the elected Councillors assumed the office, he made estimate of the work on Nanak Nagar Nallah in his Ward and submitted it to UEED and the document moved to the office of JMC Commissioner and then that of Principal Secretary but nothing has been done on it so far.
“The Nallah swelled last year and this year too causing huge damage to property at adjoining houses as its water gushed out and entered many residential houses,” Sudan said.
He informed that this year the Mayor and JMC Commissioner visited the site during flood at the Nallah and they assured that some emergency work will be done there soon but nothing has been done so far.
“Today when I raised the issue in virtual meet, the Commissioner said that they have forwarded the case to higher-authorities,” he said
Gorav Chopra of Congress claimed that all Congress and independent Councillors have boycotted the virtual meet as they demanded it offline.
Dwarka Nath, Congress Chief Whip in JMC House said he had not boycotted the virtual meet but joined it when it was about to finish as he was to attend Rahul Gandhi’s function.
Another independent Councillor Sham Lal said that he was out of station so can’t join the meeting but there was no boycott from his side.
Another Independent Councillor, Yudhvir Singh said he joined the meet and there was no boycott from his side.
BJP Councillor of Ward 12, Jeet Angral said that he raised the issue of Nallahs at Krishna Nagar which require immediate reconstruction.
“The Nallah from Ranbir Canal Head to Jewel Chowk remain blocked and needs repair while another Nallah from Regional Research Laboratory to Shani Mandir near GGM Science College is also in similar state and still one more Nallah from back side of Guru Ravi Das Mandir to Jamnga Mandir needs immediate repair and detail project reports of all these works have been submitted to JMC offices long back,” Angral said.
He further said that tube well in his ward has been passed in the general house but not made so far while his Ward also require new pipes to be laid by Jal Shakti Department as
the old ones have been damaged being too old.
He also said that renovation of Guru Ravi Das Chowk and slab over the Nallah there were other issues he raised today.
At the outset of the meeting JMC Mayor, Chander Mohan Gupta briefed the House about various recent and upcoming development issues.
“Subsequently, various proposals which were held up for want of approval of the House, were taken up during the session and after due deliberations, were approved by the House,” JMC handout claimed.
It also stated that a discussion on various general issues of public importance was also held wherein the Councillors presented problems of their Wards.
“Observations of Councillors were taken note of and all the concerned officers were directed by the Chair to take up all such matters on priority especially those which directly impact the common public,” it further stated.
The virtual meeting was also attended by Deputy Mayor, Chairmen of various Committees and Senior Officers of JMC including Municipal Commissioner, Joint Commissioner, Secretary, Assistant Commissioner (Rev), Chief Accounts Officer and others.
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