Chandigarh: Bedlam marks new MC House’s first meeting

It was pandemonium all around in the first meeting of the newly elected MC House on Monday, even as four key agendas related to city’s solid waste management and another got passed amid the din without any discussion.

The meeting’s proceedings were stalled for around three hours as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress councillors sat in the well of the House, and indulged in sloganeering against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), shouting “Tanashahi nahi chalegi”, which were countered by BJP councillors’ chants of “Bharat mata ki jai”.

MC marshals had to be called in to restore order, and some AAP and Congress councillors had to be even physically removed from the well of the House to allow the meeting to proceed.

From the beginning of the meeting, both the AAP and the Congress voiced vociferous opposition to the agendas tabled by the BJP-led MC.

‘We don’t recongnise BJP mayor’

Both parties objected to the agenda regarding approval of minutes of the last House meeting on January 8, wherein the mayoral elections took place. They also demanded a vote on the agenda.

AAP councillors repeatedly declared from the well of the House that they didn’t accept Sarabjit Kaur as the mayor. To this Kaur retorted that they should maintain decorum in the House, as the case was pending in the Punjab and Haryana high court.

In the mayoral elections, the BJP had won the mayor’s post by one vote after an AAP vote was declared void by the presiding officer, who was from the BJP. Thereafter, the AAP challenged the election in the high court, where the matter remains sub-judice.

The agenda of the mayoral elections is crucial for both the AAP and the BJP as its approval would give added legitimacy to the election.

On the demand of voting for approving the mayoral election-cum-last house meeting’s minutes, senior deputy mayor Dalip Sharma, who was in the mayor’s chair for nearly an hour in Kaur’s absence, said the House rules didn’t allow for voting on the minutes of the House meetings. But the councillors could submit their objections to the mayor for consideration.

Ultimately, decision on the agenda was deferred as the chair directed officials to seek legal advice.

Meanwhile, Congress councillors rushed to the dais, where the mayor, MC commissioner and MC secretary are seated, when the mayor told them not to create fracas as they had abstained from the mayoral elections. Marshals were called in to push the Congress councillors away from the dais.

Amid high-pitch sloganeering by the AAP and the Congress, Sharma said another agenda, the election of five members to the finance and contract committee (F&CC), was approved.

Agendas passed amid opposition by AAP, Congress

The AAP and Congress councillors aggressively opposed the twin agendas of repair/overhauling of the existing solid waste processing plant in Dadumajra and the bio-mining project at the adjacent landfill. Both parties also abstained from voting when the agendas were put to vote.

When House secretary Rajiv Prasad asked councillors to show support, only BJP councillors raised their hands, while AAP and Congress councillors didn’t. On being asked to express opposition, the AAP and Congress councillors again did not raise their hands. Eventually, the agendas were declared as passed without any discussion.

MC will now undertake repair of the mixed waste processing plant, so that dry waste can be converted into refuse derived fuel. The ₹6.33-crore cost of the project is covered under the ₹8-crore budget provided under the sanitation head.

“The plant’s upgrade will take at least a couple of years. So in the meantime, its working has to be improved to curtail dumping of unprocessed waste,” said Sharma.

For cleaning up more than 7.5 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of legacy waste at the Dadumajra dumping site, which is not covered under the ongoing legacy mining work, MC will undertake a ₹78-crore bio-mining project.

The corporation has already submitted a funding proposal with the Union government under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM-2). Chandigarh Smart City Limited is already cleaning up another 5 lakh MT legacy waste at a cost of ₹36 crore. A total of 2.67 lakh MT has been cleared so far.

Agendas cleared

- ₹6.33-crore project for repair/overhaul of solid waste processing plant in Dadumajra

- ₹78-crore project for bio-mining of 7.67 lakh MT legacy waste at Dadumajra landfill

- Payment of hazardous/risk allowance with salary to sewer entry professionals

- House also approved to declare Chandigarh as a 5-star garbage-free city (preliminary resolution)

- Election of two councillors each from the AAP and the BJP, and one from the Congress to F&CC.