Ghaziabad municipal corporation board condemns J&K attack, lends support to ONOE bill
Different groups such as traders, businessmen, and resident welfare associations (RWAs) are also coming forward to support ONOE, says the city mayor
The Ghaziabad municipal corporation in its board meeting on Monday passed two proposals: one, to condemn the terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22 in which 28 people were killed, and two to express support for the proposed “one nation, one election” (ONOE) bill of the Union government.
However, the agenda items were criticised by some councillors.
“The meeting ended within 15-20 minutes and was followed by snacks and lunch. I opposed the board’s proposal for ONOE as a joint Parliamentary committee is looking into the issue. The corporation has many issues regarding city development but none was discussed. On the one hand the entire nation is grieved by the terror attack in Pahalgam, and on the other the board was taking up the agenda of ONOE. It is politically motivated,” said Ajay Sharma, councillor from ward 67 of Kamla Nehru Nagar/Sanjay Nagar (1).
City mayor Sunita Dayal, said that she put forward the two proposals.
“We condemned the attack in Pahalgam and also paid tributes to the victims. The second proposal was to support the ONOE. I had put forward the two proposals and these were unanimously approved by the board. It is not an issue if the corporation board takes up ONOE. Different groups such as traders, businessmen, and resident welfare associations (RWAs) are also coming forward to support ONOE. It was a scheduled board meeting, and we have at least 80 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillors on the board,” said Dayal, who is also BJP’s state unit vice-president.
Vikramaditya Malik, the municipal commissioner, said, “The board cleared the proposal to support ONOE, and such a proposal can be discussed by the board.”
At the end of the 2024 winter session of Parliament, the Lok Sabha adopted a resolution to refer the constitutional amendment bills for holding Lok Sabha and assembly elections simultaneously to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
Under the ONOE proposal, the first phase of the plan will align the election dates for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Subsequently, municipal and panchayat elections will be synchronised with these, taking place within 100 days in the next phase of the plan.
“The board of the corporation has many important agendas to discuss, and one of these includes the increase in property tax, which affects all citizens. Instead of discussing ONOE, the board should have been called to discuss the property-tax issue so that citizens are not burdened,” said Himanshu Mittal, former councillor from Kavi Nagar.
