By IANS,
Chandigarh : Chandigarh got its first Rs.300 million solid waste processing plant Wednesday, but the city’s mayor and several councillors boycotted the launch function.
Spread over 10 acres and jointly installed by the city’s municipal corporation and Jai Prakash Associates, the plant is the first of its kind in any city in north India.
However, Chandigarh Mayor Pradeep Chhabra, city senior deputy mayor Anju Beniwal and the deputy mayor stayed away from the event along with 12 other Congress councillors.
“We boycotted the event to protest against the lowering of the dignity of the mayor’s office by the bureaucracy. The mayor was not even consulted by the officials for the planning of the inauguration event,” senior councillor Chandermukhi Sharma told IANS.
He said the mayor and the councillors had nothing against Chandigarh administrator S.F. Rodrigues inaugurating the event, but were upset at the way the mayor and elected representatives were being treated by bureaucrats.
Rodrigues, at the inauguration, said that Chandigarh residents should adopt the “Putting Chandigarh First” slogan in doing something for the city. He added that public-private participation projects were needed for further development of the city.
The project will help in removal of garbage and provide better sanitation. With the installation of the new plant, the entire garbage of the city will no longer be dumped in the open.