Streetlights non-functional in CM City: Cong’s Sumita Singh Virk

In a late-night initiative to connect with voters and raise awareness about local problems, Congress candidate from the Karnal Assembly segment, Sumita Singh Virk, took a scooter ride in the city on Tuesday. As per Virk, the ride was aimed at highlighting various civic issues that the ruling government had failed to address. Virk said the streetlights were non-functional, which posed a safety risk to residents at night.

“The lack of proper streetlights makes the city unsafe for residents, particularly women and children. The government has neglected this issue for far too long,” said Virk. Besides, she said the closure of the emergency gate of Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC) was causing inconvenience to patients.

“The emergency gate should be operational round the clock, but it remains closed. This negligence at a hospital shows the government’s disregard for the well-being of people,” Virk added.

Criticising the city’s condition despite having two Chief Ministers in the past decade — Manohar Lal Khattar and Nayab Singh Saini — from the area, Virk said that they had failed to transform Karnal into a “true CM City”.

“Karnal has had the privilege of being the CM City, but our residents are still running from pillar to post for basic facilities,” she said.

However, her midnight scooter ride drew criticism from BJP candidate Jagmohan Anand, who dismissed the move as a mere “publicity stunt.”

“This is nothing more than a tactic to grab headlines. The city does not need such stunts. Our government has developed the city in an inclusive way, without any discrimination. Both the CM and all leaders and workers remained among the people of Karnal in the past 10 years. The Congress candidate was unavailable during the Covid pandemic,” said Anand.

He highlighted various development works of the BJP government for the segment in the last 10 years.