Ahead of elections, Jalandhar MC goes into overdrive, clears several projects
Right before the Municipal Corporation/Council elections in Jalandhar, the civic body has cleared projects worth over 60 crores across four urban constituencies of Jalandhar in run up to the polls. An estimated average at least 20 tenders per constituency (Jalandhar Central, West, North and Cantt) were passed in days preceding the elections. The tendering of many of these projects was finished right in first week of December.
MC officials have termed the repeated the election code of conduct during successive elections this year as a key reason for the delay in the tendering of projects.
Ironically, in contrast, projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore still await completion under the Smart City Mission in Jalandhar.
The stipulated deadline for the smart projects is March 31, 2025. It seems unlikely that works stalled for the past nine years (Jalandhar city was designated part of Smart City Mission in 2016) will be completed till that time.
The projects on which work started recently and is ongoing in many areas include the interlocking of tiles, road construction, LED lighting, rendering pucca and beautification of drain banks. Beautification works such as painting of dividers, underbridges, etc. has also been simultaneously ongoing.
Jalandhar Central MLA Raman Arora said, “Nearly 25 to 30 tenders for the Jalandhar Central constituency were passed in the first week of December. About 30 more tenders, worth over Rs 50 lakh, which need clearance from Chandigarh, are in the pipeline and will be passed after elections. We are confident of winning the MC elections.”
Asked on the hurry for tendering before the elections, Arora said, “This is as per the routine. Many works have been passed in my constituency all year through. More development works have been cleared during our government than previous ones. There was no special exception for elections.”
In the Jalandhar Central constituency alone, tenders worth over Rs 21 crore were recently passed. Works worth over Rs 20 crore were also passed in Jalandhar West and over Rs 12 and Rs 10 crore were passed for Jalandhar North and Cantt, respectively.
District Congress urban president Rajinder Beri said, “These last minute works right before elections aren’t going to profit the AAP as they have not done any work in the past two years. The perception among public has already been built. The Congress will win majority in the House again.”
MC Commssioner Gautam Jain said, “The tendering process is a long and continuous one, for which approvals are secured and projects are vetted. From March to May and July to August, none of the projects could be cleared due to poll codes in place. Out of 7-8 months this year, 4-5 months were lost in poll code. These ongoing projects were all then finalised in September and allotted after October.”
Jalandhar North Congress MLA Bawa Henry said, “The recent works of the AAP are merely gimmicks, which people can see through. Apart from tendering, they have also fragmented larger works into many smaller works while increasing the overall collective cost. The Congress, when it forms the House, will investigate that.”
Meanwhile, the AAP has also been on a joining-overdrive throughout the year, with many prominent Congress councillors and leaders joining the party ahead of every election. The last House with Congress’ majority had 65 councillors of the party. In the past one year, over 25 Congress persons have switched to the AAP. Today, even former Jalandhar Congress Mayor Jagdish Raja joined the AAP with his wife Anita Raja.
Speaking on Raja joining the AAP, he said, “That’s because he wasn’t getting a ticket from the Congress.”
