Pargat, CM spar over ''scrapped'' project

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jamsher (Jalandhar), December 20

Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh, now with the Congress, today reached Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal's Sangat Darshan function here and questioned him on the "scrapped" Solid Waste Management project.

Pargat was stopped outside the pandal by police personnel. Having waited outside for about 30 minutes, he and his supporters sat on a protest dharna. “How can an elected representative be stopped from from meeting the CM? I only wish to discuss important matters affecting the lives of residents of Jamsher village," an angry Pargat was heard saying.

Finally, the CM announced from the dais: “Let Pargat come in. There are others waiting to be heard, but first let me hear what he has to say.” Pargat walked towards the CM and asked him to accompany him to the proposed site for the Solid Waste Management Plant, less than a kilometre from the venue, to see for himself how the local people were suffering from unkempt dairies and the stinking sewage plant.

The CM refused to oblige the MLA, claiming the project had already been scrapped and that there were others at Sangat Darshan waiting to be heard.

Irked, Pargat shot back: “Your bureaucrats have been misguiding you. You have not gone through the file." To this the CM replied: "I am done with you. I have looked into most of the problems raised by you. But the ones (read Congress) to whom you have turned to now will not do likewise."

The conversation lasted less than five minutes. Pargat Singh left in a huff, alleging the CM was only offering lollipops to the villagers. "On paper, the project still stands. Five months after the CM’s assurance on scrapping the project, they have yet to move the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The officers have submitted wrong affidavits to the tribunal which they cannot undo now,” he was heard telling the bewildered gathering.