Dharamsala Mayor not happy over exclusion from Dasehra fest

Dharamsala Mayor Neenu Sharma has expressed her dissatisfaction after being excluded from the district-level Dasehra festival, which was inaugurated by Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena. Sharma revealed her disappointment to The Tribune, stating that she waited for an invitation from the district administration until the last moment but received none. She described the exclusion as an unfortunate oversight and plans to report the matter to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

Sharma highlighted that, as the first citizen of Dharamsala, her absence from such a significant local event is a concerning bureaucratic lapse. She intends to raise the issue with the state leadership for corrective action.

On other matters, Sharma noted several improvements in the city under the current administration, emphasising that many projects stalled during the previous BJP government had been addressed. She pointed out that staff shortages in the Municipal Corporation (MC), which had been hindering work, were being resolved with the clearance of posts for a permanent executive engineer and a sub-divisional officer. The Mayor has also requested two additional junior engineer positions to support the ongoing initiatives.

One of Sharma’s key focus areas is solving the city’s parking crisis. The MC has planned small local parking spaces across Dharamsala, including two new spots on Chari Road, to alleviate parking issues in Kotwali market. She also stressed the importance of completing pending Smart City projects, many of which had been delayed due to inefficiencies in the previous government’s handling. After taking office, the current administration cancelled tenders from incompetent contractors and reallocated the projects through open bidding, accelerating progress.

Sharma had previously voiced concerns about the lack of consultation with elected representatives in the planning of Smart City initiatives.