Not in hurry to conduct municipal polls: Sidhu
Monday, 03/07/2017
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=178177&boxid=58695&uid=&dat=2017-07-03
Chandigarh : The Congress is not in a hurry to hold municipal elections in Punjab. The elections for four Municipal Corporations and 32 Municipal Councils will be held after September 10 when the tenure of the Mayors belonging to the SAD-BJP alliance will end, claimed Punjab Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Sidhu held a meeting with Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, MLAs, Congress Municipal Councilor from Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala here on Sunday. The main agenda of the meeting was civic elections.
The leader claimed that the Congress would go to polls on development agenda. The Congress government would restore the “Rule of Law” and would strengthen the democracy by holding MC elections in a transparent manner.
“We have decided to let the present incumbent complete their term and elections would only be held after September 10,” said Sidhu adding that the elections may be further delayed to enable the state government to show up development works.
Sidhu said that Congress government had made certain promises with the people of Punjab and they would like to go to seek votes after promises are fulfilled.
On GST, Sidhu said that there was no dearth of funds with local self government and revenue would increase with the GST regime. He said that they were getting Rs 1,600 from its 11 per cent share in VAT. The center government has promised to increase the committed revenue by 14 per cent. He said that a plan of development works was being chalked out and every city will get its due.
Sidhu said that they would request the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to give four days for each of the Municipal Corporation to visit the four cities and present roadmap of development of urban areas.
Jakhar said that Capt Amarinder Singh government would address the issues of traders who are confused and scared after implementation of GST.
He said that GST was baby of Congress but BJP presented it in different model. He said that government would reach out to traders to remove their grievances on the GST.
