Lobbying intensifies over plan to upgrade Mohali Municipal Council

While Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal is likely to bound the SAD-supported opposition group of councillors, which was in majority in the Council, to support the move and ensure adoption of resolution by majority vote, local

Congress MLA Balbir Sidhu, AICC member Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha and several other leaders have launched a drive to mobilise the majority of councillors against the move to include Zirakpur, Banur and other outer areas in the proposed Municipal Corporation.

In the House of 30 councillors, 18 are in the opposition group owing allegiance to the SAD while the Congress supported ruling group was in minority with only 12 councillors.

With several councilors in the opposition group also not in favour of the government plan to include Zirakpur, Banur and outer areas in Municipal Corporation, Mohali District Planning Committee chairman NK Sharma, who was the main force behind the move, has reportedly urged his mentor SAD president Sukhbir Badal to intervene to make all the councilors in the opposition group to support the MC resolution.

It is learnt that Sukhbir is likely to hold a meeting with the opposition group councilors before the MC meeting scheduled for October 6 to prevail upon them to ensure adoption of resolution to demand Corporation status to Mohali with majority vote. 

Taking benefit of the difference of opinion in the opposition group, Sidhu and Garcha have appealed to all the 30 councillors to vote as per their own conscience and strongly oppose what they called as nefarious design of the government at the behest of Sharma to include Zirakpur, Banur and outer areas in proposed Mohali Municipal Corporation.

“We are not against creation of Corporation but we will not let include outer areas in its limits, which will adversely affect the future development of Mohali city,” vowed Sidhu and Garcha, while urging the government to include the entire Mohali urban estate and its surrounding villages in the proposed Corporation. Congress leaders are also apprehensive that once MC adopts a resolution demanding Corporation status to Mohali, the state government will immediately dissolve the present civic body, ruled by Congress. “After all its efforts in the past four years to snatch control over Mohali MC, the Akali government has now come up with this nefarious design to dislodge the democratically elected MC House in an undemocratic manner,” alleged MLA.

Pertinently, CM, while giving a go ahead to upgrade Mohali MC to Corporation , had asked the concerned civic bodies and village panchayats interested to become part of proposed Mohali Municipal Corporation to adopt resolutions and send it to the state government for formal approval. It was in 1984 when Municipal Council was formed in Mohali but still several parts of the city, including Sector 66, 67, 68, 69 and 74 onwards were not included in the local municipal limits. Spread across 23.84 square km area, the local civic body presently covers Sector 53, 54, 55, 56, 56-A, 61, 63, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 64, 65, 70, 71, 72, 73 and parts of Sector 66 and 67. As per the 2001 census, the population under municipal limits was 1,22,232, which has since increased manifold.

As per the government proposal, Mohali Municipal Corporation will include entire Mohali city, its adjoining villages Balongi, Barmajra, Sohana, Kumbra, Jagatpura, Zirakpur and parts of Banur.