Uproar in MCD over BJP posters’ removal
Municipal commissioner K.S. Mehra was on Tuesday cornered by the BJP councillors wanting to know how he got the hoardings, which were put up by the party against the alleged failure of the Delhi government to rein in the discoms on the power tariff issue, removed. The BJP councillors were further irked when the commissioner cited a Supreme Court order which said that posters which “hurt the sentiments of an individual or an organisation” should be removed.
Incidentally, the Congress in the MCD too has been using the same argument against the BJP putting up hoardings on power tariff issue.
As the meeting of the MCD House convened, the issue of removal of posters — in which the BJP had alleged that the discoms were exploiting people and yet the Delhi government was protecting them — was raised vociferously by the BJP councillors. The BSP and some of the independent councillors also joined the protest. The Congress councillors predictably kept quiet.
When the BJP councillors asked Mr Mehra who gave the orders to remove the posters, the latter maintained that it was done on the orders of the Delhi mayor. The leader of the House, Subhash Arya, however, said that the mayor had ordered removal of illegal hoardings, while the ones put up by the BJP were paid for and put up on legally allowed sites. The councillors also challenged the commissioner to produce a copy of the mayor’s order to that effect, if that was the case.
Further, the BJP pointed out that the Supreme Court order pertained to posters that “hurt the sentiments”. “The issue being raised by the BJP was not about sentiments. It pertains to a ‘scam’ of over Rs 1,000 crore,” said Mr Arya. He added that when the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission wanted to reduce the power tariff by 20 per cent, the government had prevented it from doing so. “Every year, the discoms were amassing profits but the government kept on increasing power tariff,” said Mr Arya. The meeting had to be adjourned following strong protests from the BJP councillors.
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Councillor on the roof!
Age correspondent
New Delhi
June 15: It was time for some high drama at Town Hall, the headquarters of the MCD, on Tuesday when a woman municipal councillor climbed on the roof top alleging that she was not being allowed to raise issues of genuine concern. After refusing to get down from the roof top for about an hour, the councillor agreed to climb down only if it was assured that her complaints would be looked into. Congress councillor from Vivek Vihar, Preeti, wanted to raise the issue of uniforms not being given out to the women sanitation workers through a point of order.
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