North body mayor suspends 25 councillors for disrupting House

NEW DELHI: North Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor Avtar Singh on Monday suspended 25 councillors for 15 days for allegedly disrupting the functioning of the House. Of the suspended councillors, 18 are from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) while seven are aldermen (nominated members).

The councillors were marshaled out of the house meeting after an uproar in the house on the issue of dengue. AAP members demanded that the matter of the civic body’s crackdown against street vendors be heard before initiating the discussion on dengue.

AAP councillors alleged that the discussion on dengue was started in the house to “criticise” the Delhi government -which has started a campaign against vector borne disease. Before AAP councillors being suspended, the house proceedings were also adjourned for 10 minutes due to ruckus.

There are 22 AAP councillors in the north corporation.

“The AAP councillors were not letting the house function and were constantly protesting, despite several requests by the mayor to stay clam and cooperate in House proceedings. They kept using unparliamentary language and ignoring all requests and warnings, hence were suspended,” the north civic body’s standing committee chairperson Jai Prakash said.

Criticising the move, AAP leader of opposition in the house, Surjeet Pawar, called it a “black day”, saying the 25 councillors were suspended for simply demanding a discussion concerning street vendors.

Pawar said a discussion on problems being faced by the street vendors was listed in the schedule of the house, but once proceedings started, the mayor initiated discussion on dengue.

“It is a dictatorship. They (BJP) want to muzzle the voice of the opposition and shy away from healthy discussions on public welfare issues. Instead of discussing the problems of street vendors, they wanted to criticise the Delhi government on the issue of dengue, cases of which are under control due to efforts made by the government,” he said.

After AAP councillors were marshaled out, the north corporation passed a “ninda prastav” against the Delhi government for “taking credit” for controlling dengue cases this year without acknowledging municipal workers’ efforts in controlling dengue cases in the city.

A “ninda prastav” is a proposal brought to criticise any government or political party on a particular issue.