SECOND general house meeting of Municipal Corporation Ludhiana remains stormy

Ludhiana, August 3, 2013: A total 16 agenda items were tabled during the second general house meeting of Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana (MCL), which held on Friday, and most of them were cleared after a stormy session.
Interestingly the meeting started at 2 pm and ended at 7.15 pm.
Heated arguments took place among the municipal councillors on the issue of clash between the supporters of SAD MLA Ranjit Singh Dhillon and Independent municipal councillor Daljit Singh Grewal. The municipal councillors belonging to the latter’s faction demanded that the general house should pass a resolution against an FIR registered against Grewal. They also demanded that a copy of the general house resolution be sent to Commissioner of Police Ludhiana so that the FIR be cancelled.
When Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria said he would support a resolution seeking an inquiry into the matter many municipal councillors demanded that a resolution for the cancellation of the FIR be passed. Finally, a resolution was passed and it was announced that the same would be sent to the Commissioner of Police for the cancellation of the FIR. It may be mentioned here that following a clash between the supporters of municipal councillor Daljit Singh Grewal and MLA Ranjit Singh Dhillon, an attempt to murder case was registered against the former and he was recently released from jail.
On a question raised by Daljit Singh Grewal, the Mayor had to  announced that the development works should be carried out from councillor quota and not out of MLAs quotas.
A municipal councillor Swarandeep Singh Chahal misbehaved with the Mayor during the general house meeting following which the Mayor had to ask him to “mind his language”. Finally, Chahal left the general house meeting after which Gohalwaria urged the municipal councillors to pass a resolution against Chahal so that he could be placed under suspension from the house. BJP municipal councillor Gurdeep Singh Neetu supported the Mayor’s demand and said Chahal should be barred from attending at least two meetings whereas some other municipal councillors demanded that Chahal should not be allowed to attend five meetings.
The proposal of converting Shingar Cinema Road, Kashmir Nagar Road, Hambran Road into mixed-land use was put on hold after strong opposition by MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu and SAD municipal councillor Tanvir Singh Dhaliwal. Those opposed the proposal demanded that roads such as Pakhowal Road, Ishmeet Chowk Road, Kaka Marriage Palace Road and Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar Road should also be converted into mixed-land use.
BJP municipal councillor Gurdeep Singh Neetu took up the issue of mushrooming of illegal religious places across the city and demanded that these should be checked.
The issue of road cave due to the rains infront of Dhami Eye Hospital was also raised in the House. The road had caved in on June 13. Expressing his views on the issue municipal councillor Balkar Singh Sandhu said laying of underground cables had caused the road to cave in. Sandhu opined that underground cables were being laid in various parts of the city. As a result, lives of residents were in danger. In reply, the Mayor said a departmental inquiry had already been ordered into the matter. He categorically stated that the incident was not an outcome of laying of underground cables. On a demand of municipal councillors, Mayor agreed that a committee comprising of one municipal councillor from all parties would be constituted to inquire into the matter.
Addressing the general house meeting, the Municipal Commissioner, Ludhiana Rakesh Kumar Verma had to clarify that the Lakkar Bridge project could not be completed by July 31. Citing reason for the same, he said some of the prefabricated slabs to be used in the project had got damaged due to rain.