Checking stray menace: House okays renting out 3.5 acres in Mohali villages to cattle breeders

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, September 28

Amidst uproar by Azad Group members as well as the ruling councillors, a meeting of the House of the Municipal Corporation today passed a resolution for renting out 3.5 acres to cattle breeders in Mohali villages to rid the city of the stray menace.

Both ruling as well as Opposition councillors raised slogans against each other. Mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu asked the Opposition councillors to state their objections to the resolution.

When Opposition councillors started speaking out against the resolution, the ruling group councillors showed pictures of cattle roaming in the city and said the Opposition was in fact anti-people, as it was questioning such an important resolution. They said it was not wrong to rent out land to take strays out of the city and this would not only save precious lives lost in accidents but also help in restricting the blockage of sewerage and keep the city clean.

Sidhu presented the resolution of leasing out the land to cattle breeders, which was passed unanimously by the House.

MC Commissioner Kamal Garg moved an amendment to the resolution to rent the land in lieu of lease, which was accepted by the members. Senior Deputy Mayor Amrik Singh Somal, Deputy Mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi, Joint Commissioner Harjit Singh Dhillon and SE Sanjay Kanwar were present at the meeting. Talking to mediapersons, some Opposition councillors said they were not against giving land to cattle breeders but want a permanent solution to the problem. They alleged that the photographs shown by councillors of the ruling party were that of a gaushala and not of the city.

After the meeting, the Mayor, while answering questions of mediapersons, said he would take care that the councillors of the Opposition and the ruling party did not create ruckus in the House but address the chair.