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Amid objections from 17 municipal councillors of the SAD-BJP combine, the Congress approved a Rs 35.18-crore budget for 2009-10 and Rs 4.17 crore worth development projects, besides several other agenda items at both the MC meetings, chaired by its president, Rajinder Singh Rana (who belongs to the Congress), at the Municipal Bhawan in Sector 68.
Neither the dissenting notes of the majority group of councillors, led by senior vice-president Harman Preet Singh Prince, were recorded nor was a representation, duly signed by 17 of the total 31 municipal councillors, against the proceedings of the meetings accepted by MC Executive Officer (EO) A K Goel.
Alleging major bungling, Prince demanded a Vigilance Bureau probe into the allotment of advertisement and sanitation contracts in the city since the present MC House was elected in July 2006.
Congress-supported MC president Kharar MLA Balbir Sidhu and MC EO walked out from the meeting hall while announcing that both the meetings were over and the budget and other agenda items had been passed.
Irked over the turn of events, the opposition group staged a demonstration refusing to accept the proceedings of the meeting and demanded to declare the decisions taken as “null and void”.
OPPOSITION TO MEET CM
Councillors from the opposition are contemplating ato take up the matter with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Panchkula MC approves Rs 46-crore budget
Panchkula:The Panchkula Municipal Council approved a budget of Rs 46 crore for the year 2009-10 in a meeting at its Sector-4 office on Friday. The council proposed to spend a major chunk of its income on development woks, like road repair, more streetlights and parks. MC President Ravinder Rawal said: “The approximate income of the council that would be generated from house tax, stamp duty, electricity duty, its share in extension fee being charged from HUDA and the interest accrued on fixed deposit receipts would be around Rs 40 crore. Moreover, the council’s opening balance has been proposed at over Rs 6 crore.” The civic body has decided to spend Rs 20 crore on roads, half of its income during the next fiscal. “Nearly Rs 4 crore would be spent on the maintenance of parks in town and streets, electrical installations and other related works. Moreover, Rs 2 crore have been earmarked for the new building of the civic body and Rs 2 crore has been left for the closing balance,” added Rawal. The budget, however, came under strong criticism from senior BJP leader V K Sood, councillor from Ward Number 4. Terming it as the fudging of accounts, Sood said, “The council has failed to conceive even a single imaginative project. Moreover, no relief had been extended to the public despite the fact that the council was being run and controlled by the ruling party of the state.” He added that the council has estimated its income for advertisements at Rs 3 crore for the next fiscal, but there was no mention of the income from the same source during the previous years, which points towards embezzlement in funds.
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