First two hours wasted over status of June 21 meeting

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, December 14

After a gap of nearly six months, a meeting of the Panchkula MC House was held today but over two hours were wasted on arguments over the legality of the previous meeting held on June 21. Still, the status of the meeting remained unclear.

At the onset of the meeting today, Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia and Congress councillors demanded that the minutes of the previous meeting be first confirmed. BJP and INLD councillors, Panchkula MLA Gian Chand Gupta and Kalka MLA Latika Sharma were in favour of discussing other issues first.

At the end, the Mayor said she, along with 14 councillors, were proposing approval of the minutes of the June 21 meeting.

MC Commissioner Rajesh Jogpal, however, said he would record the minutes of today’s meeting only after watching the videography of the House proceedings. About the June 21 meeting, he said he would act as per law and the MC Act only. Jogpal also informed the House that he had sent the report of the June 21 House meeting to the government and was waiting for its reply.

The June 21 meeting was attended by 15 councillors, including the Mayor. The BJP and the nominated councillors had stayed away. Even Panchkula and Kalka MLAs did not attend it.

In the meeting, which was chaired by the Mayor, a total of 30 agendas were passed while the decision on three was deferred. The meeting had lasted over an hour. As there were no MC official present, the Mayor’s PA had marked the attendance of the councillors and recorded the proceedings of the House.

Executive Officer, councillor trade barbs 

Panchkula: The Panchkula MC House meeting witnessed heated arguments between Executive Officer (EO) OP Sihag and independent councillor Ravi Kant Swami over the removal of vendors in Sector 19. 

• On Thursday, MC officials, along with the police, had removed vendors, creating obstruction in the movement of pedestrians and motorists, as per the court directions. 

Councillor Ravi Kant Swami asked as to why the MC was removing vendors only in his ward and why no action was being taken in other wards? He even accused the MC Executive Officer of manhandling him and other people. 

• Replying to the allegations, Sihag said, “Ulta chor kotwaal ko daante”. Swami got infuriated on the use of the word “chor” and warned Sihag not to use such words as he was an elected councillor. 
• Sihag replied that it was just an idiom and nothing else. But he accused Swami of allowing illegal vendors operate in his ward. 
• Even MLA Gian Chand Gupta said it was wrong for a councillor to indulge in such an activity. Thereafter, Swami and Sihag again had a heated debate. In the end, other councillors and Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia intervened to end the discussion on this issue. 
• Later, the Panchkula police booked Ward No. 13 councillor Ravi Kant Swami for stopping government employees from discharging their duty. Some employees of the civic body lodged the complaint against Swami with OP Sihag, who then forwarded it to the police. TNS