Cong urban MLAs meet Sidhu, seek reduction in power tariff
CHANDIGARH : Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday held a meeting with party ministers and MLAs from urban areas during which several of them pressed for reduction in power rates and restoration of electricity connections disconnected due to non-payment of bills before next year’s assembly polls.
The three-hour meeting held by the newly appointed state unit chief at Punjab Congress Bhawan here for first-hand feedback from party leaders also saw the party legislators take up the regularisation of buildings and plots in illegal colonies, need to avoid confrontation and ensure round-the-clock power supply and easing the process of NOC for registration of property in urban areas among others.
Cabinet ministers Sunder Sham Arora and Bharat Bhushan Ashu and MLAs Pargat Singh, Amit Vij, Rajinder Beri, Surinder Dawar and former MLA Ashwani Sekhri were among more than a dozen-odd party leaders who attended the meeting, besides working presidents Kuljit Singh Nagra and Pawan Goyal.
Cabinet minister Balbir Singh Sidhu was also present, but he left early as the PPCC chief could not arrive on time and the meeting started late, said sources.
Several senior ministers and MLAs, who also represent urban areas, did not come for the meeting. A party leader said they probably had prior engagements or did not get intimation in time.
The appointment of a nonCongressman, who has been criticising chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, as an adviser was discussed by some members who stressed the need to work for unity in the party and avoid confrontation, said a party leader who did not want to be identified. Of the four persons named by Sidhu as his advisers, activist Malwinder Singh Mali’s attacks on the CM have riled a section of the party.
Another suggestion by a Congress leader was the need to constitute a state-level committee to mediate and settle the differences between party leaders, including MLAs, mayors and councillors, for smooth functioning.
A Congress statement said the meeting concluded with consensus that party and government must act towards a priority agenda to give relief to people of urban areas. The foremost demands were 300 units of free power to all domestic consumers, including general category, power at Rs 3 per unit for domestic consumer and Rs 5 per unit for commercial and industrial consumers, it said.