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Gurdaspur MC limits may include more villages
Gurdaspur, February 26
Chief Parliamentary Secretary and Gurdaspur MLA GS Babbehali has, in a political master stroke, not only "persuaded" the district administration authorities to increase the geographical limits of the local Municipal Committee (MC) by including some adjoining villages, but has also managed to bring in more SAD votes into his fold that will hold him in good stead in the next MC elections to be held in July.

Batala MC may remain headless
Batala, February 26
With the term of the Batala Municipal Committee (MC) coming to an end on June 30, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel for residents who have been left with no option except to fume and fret over the turn of events.

Ensure that no consumer is harassed by LPG agency: DC
Nawanshahr, February 26
Taking a serious note of complaints by LPG consumers from Banga in Nawanshahr, Deputy Commissioner Tanu M Kashyap has asked the District Food and Civil Supplies Department to ensure that no consumer is harassed by the agency.

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Gurdaspur MC limits may include more villages
Ravi Dhaliwal/ TNS

Gurdaspur, February 26
Chief Parliamentary Secretary and Gurdaspur MLA GS Babbehali has, in a political master stroke, not only "persuaded" the district administration authorities to increase the geographical limits of the local Municipal Committee (MC) by including some adjoining villages, but has also managed to bring in more SAD votes into his fold that will hold him in good stead in the next MC elections to be held in July.

This means the legislator may be in a position to get his own man installed as MC president. For the past several decades, the MC has been headed either by a BJP or a Congress councillor. The 21-member House will be increased to a 28-member one, once the move gets the approval of the Local Bodies Department.

Peeved at the lack of support he got from the BJP in the January assembly elections, Babbehali managed to pull of a coup of sorts by coercing six Panchayats to pass a resolution in favour of being made part of the MC.

"This is being done in the name of urbanisation. However, the bottom line is that the MLA has killed two birds with one stone. By bringing in diehard Akali votes into the MC fold he has sent the jitters in the BJP rank and file which did not whole-heartedly support him during the last elections.

" At the same time he has a chance to install an Akali councillor as the next MC president," claimed a sitting Congress MLA of the area.

Deputy Commissioner Dr Abhinav Trikha said he would be sending the requisite documents to the Local Bodies Department soon to get the decision ratified. In the same breath, he ruled out any political manipulation by Babbehali in getting these villages into the MC fold.

The panchayats who have agreed to be included in the MC are Nabipur, Kothe, Gharala, Pahra and Bariar.

Gurdaspur district BJP president Rakesh Jyoti said he was not happy by the way the MLA had coerced officials into adding the villages in the MC limits. He did not reply when confronted with the fact that 11 of his party's councillors were a signatory to the decision to increase the area in the MC jurisdiction.

Batala MC may remain headless
Ravi Dhaliwal/TNS

Batala, February 26
With the term of the Batala Municipal Committee (MC) coming to an end on June 30, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel for residents who have been left with no option except to fume and fret over the turn of events.

The 32-member House comprises 19 BJP councillors while six belong to its alliance partner SAD. Seven councillors are aligned with the Congress. Batala Congress MLA Ashwani Sekhri is an ex-officio member of the House. One BJP councillor, Rajbir Singh Bhullar, who was an undertrial, had died on February 6 in the Gurdaspur Central Jail that reduced the party’s strength to 19. The post of MC president has remained vacant ever since the previous president, Ambika Khanna, was forced to resign by halqa in charge and former SAD legislator Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal on April 18 last year.

On August 1, Lodhinangal had politically maneuvered the circumstances to get his blue-eyed boy, Jatinder Kalyan, installed as the president, but the development did not stand up to District Administration’s scrutiny.

Deputy Commissioner Dr Abhinav Trikha had declared the meeting as null and void following which Kalyan moved a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The next date of hearing is on March 5 and if the court decided to give yet another date, the term of the preset house may end without a president assuming charge. Experts claim that if the court decides Kalyan’s petition on the next date of hearing even then he may not assume charge following a technicality.

With the MC’s term ending on June 30, the code of conduct will be enforced from May 30. The DC refused to comment on the issue saying that the matter was pending in the Punjab and Haryana High court. “The matter is sub judice in nature and it will not be proper on my part to comment,” said Trikha.

Residents claim that there are many disadvantages of not having a MC president.

Harinder Singh, a BJP councillor from Ward 18, said tenders pertaining to garbage collection could be called for only if the House passes the estimate. “However, with the House not holding even a single meeting in the last nearly one year, garbage collection tenders have not been called for from contractors. There is absolutely no accountability and MC officials do not pay heed to our problems. The town is full of filth and garbage and another outbreak of gastroenteritis, like the one witnessed in October last year which claimed nearly 40 lives, can occur anytime.” There are hundreds of residents like Harinder Singh, particularly those residing in the Gandhi camp colony which was the epicentre of the gastroenteritis outbreak, who are feeling helpless at the turn of events.

Ensure that no consumer is harassed by LPG agency: DC
Our Correspondent

Nawanshahr, February 26
Taking a serious note of complaints by LPG consumers from Banga in Nawanshahr, Deputy Commissioner Tanu M Kashyap has asked the District Food and Civil Supplies Department to ensure that no consumer is harassed by the agency.

The consumers have alleged that the LPG agency harass them by not booking their refill requests on the pretext of not having Aadhaar cards. They have also accused the gas agency officials of not entertaining even the voter ID proofs.

The Deputy Commissioner gave the instructions while hearing public grievances at the sangat darshan programme here on Tuesday. As many as 11 different complaints were heard and the DC instructed the officials of the departments concerned present there to redress the grievances in a time-bound manner.