Punjab: Ahead of MC polls, Kejriwal, Mann review performance of civic bodies

Ahead of the civic body elections in the state, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann reviewed the performance of municipal corporations in Punjab on Monday.

Kejriwal and Mann held review meetings in Delhi with the commissioners of various municipal corporations, who were called one by one and asked about the progress of development schemes, financial status, and measures to enhance civic infrastructure and provide modern amenities, people familiar with the development said. Local government minister Dr Ravjot Singh, chief secretary KAP Sinha and additional chief secretary, local government, Tejveer Singh and director general of police Gaurav Yadav were also present during these meetings.

One of the people quoted above said the municipal commissioners were called to Delhi for the performance review, which primarily focused on the condition of roads, the supply of potable water, sewerage, health and sanitation, streetlights, and other civic amenities. “This was a general review, and discussions were also held on possible improvements. During these review meetings, district police chiefs also accompanied the municipal commissioners,” he added. The performance review meetings would continue, and some municipal commissioners have been called on Tuesday.

A press statement issued by the state government stated that Mann held a meeting with his Delhi counterpart for giving a facelift to the corporation cities of the state, and the meeting with the commissioners of all the municipal corporations was held under the knowledge-sharing agreement of the state government with Delhi government to boost urban development. However, the statement did not name Kejriwal or identify the Delhi counterpart.

The performance review of municipal commissioners came just days after Kejriwal had called the Punjab cabinet ministers to Delhi, held one-to-one meetings with them, and reviewed the performance of their departments. Mann was not present during the ministers’ performance review held in the first week of October, and his absence had raised eyebrows in political circles. This was followed by a shake-up of officials in the chief minister’s office and the state administration. Kejriwal has been closely monitoring the working of the Mann government ever since he resigned from the post of Delhi chief minister last month.

Mann, in the official statement issued in the evening on the Delhi meeting, said that the basic purpose of the meeting was to give impetus to ongoing development in the state’s municipal towns. He said another objective was to provide residents with modern civic amenities on lines of Delhi. “The AAP government in Delhi has set a new benchmark in delivery of citizen-centric services to people besides ensuring comprehensive development of the cities. Punjab government intends to undertake massive development in the cities on these lines for which expertise of Delhi government can be utilised well,” he said, calling the ‘Delhi model’ a lighthouse for the entire country in urban development. The chief minister said that it was decided to utilise artificial intelligence (AI) to identify the status of the roads, including potholes, broken patches, cracks and others, to ensure appropriate repair in a given timeline. The civic body elections are likely in the coming few weeks as the Punjab and Haryana high court recently directed the Punjab government and State Election Commission (SEC) to declare the poll schedule for the municipal corporations of Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, Phagwara and Ludhiana and 42 municipal councils/nagar panchayats within 15 days.