Municipal Corporation Chandigarh

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Municipal Corporation Chandigarh
Type
Type
Municipal corporation
of Union Territory of Chandigarh
History
FoundedMay 24, 1994 (1994-05-24)
Leadership
Sarabjit Kaur Bharatiya Janata Party
since 8 January 2022
Municipal Commissioner
Anindita Mitra, IAS
Structure
Seats36 (35 elected + 1 member of parliament)
Chandigarh Municipal corporation December 2021.svg
Political groups
Government
  •   AAP  (14)

Opposition

Others

Length of term
5 years
Elections
Last election
24 December 2021
Next election
December 2026
Meeting place
New Deluxe Building, Sector 17, Chandigarh
Website
www.mcchandigarh.gov.in

The Municipal Corporation Chandigarh (MCC), also known as Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, is the civic body that governs the city of Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab and Haryana.[1][2][3][4]

History[]

The Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh, India was formed within the Union Territory of Chandigarh under the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act in 1976. The corporation was later extended to the union territory, Chandigarh, by the Punjab Municipal Corporation Law (Extension to Chandigarh) Act, 1994 (Act No.45 of 1994), which came in effect on May 24, 1994. Under a provision of Section 47 of the act, M.P. Tyagi was appointed as first Commissioner of the Corporation w.e.f. on June 19, 1995. Tyagi continued to exercise mayoral powers until December 23, 1994, when the first meeting of the elected body of the Corporation was held. Tyagi was succeeded as Commissioner by S.K. Gathwal on August 8, 1996.[5]

In the Municipal Corporation, BJP candidate Arun Sood defeated Congress' Mukesh Bassi by 21–15 votes for the post of Mayor, while BJP's Davesh Moudgil and SAD's Hardeep Singh defeated Congress' Darshan Garg and Gurbax Rawat for the posts of Sr. Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively, in the Municipal Corporation's mayoral polls in January 2016.[6]

After the 2016 Chandigarh Municipal Corporation election in January 2017, BJP's Asha Kumari Jaswal was elected as the mayor, BJP's Rajesh Kumar Gupta and Anil Dubey were elected as senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor respectively. In January 2019, Mayor elections, BJP candidate Rajesh Kumar Kalia was elected as the Mayor by defeating the independent candidate Satish Kainth by securing 16 votes out of the total 27 votes.[7]

Ravi Kant Sharma served as Mayor of Chandigarh till 2021.[8] upon succeeding Raj Bala Malik.[9]

2021 Chandigarh Municipal Corporation election were held on 24 December 2021.

Mayor[]

Mayor is the Head of the Municipal Corporation. Of the five-year term of the MC House, the MCC mayor seat during the first and fourth years is reserved for the women.[10]

Ravi Kant Sharma was the last mayor serving as the 27th mayor of the city.

List of Mayors of Chandigarh
S. No. Name Term
1. Kamla Sharma 23 December 1996 – 22 December 1997
2. Gian Chand Gupta 23 December 1997 – 22 December 1998
3. Kewal Krishan Addiwal 23 December 1998 – 22 December 1999[11]
4. Shanta Hit Abhilashi 23 December 1999 – 22 December 2000
5. Raj Kumar Goyal 23 December 2000 – 21 July 2001
6. Gurcharan Dass (Acting) 22 July 2001 – 17 August 2001
7. Harjinder Kaur (1st term) 18 August 2001 – 22 December 2001
8. Lalit Joshi 1 January 2002 – 31 December 2002
9. Subhash Chawla (1st term) 1 January 2003 – 31 December 2003
10. Kamlesh (1st term) 1 January 2004 – 31 December 2004
11. Anu Chatrath (1st term) 1 January 2005 – 31 December 2005
12. Surinder Singh 1 January 2006 – 31 December 2006
13. Harjinder Kaur (2nd term) 1 January 2007 – 31 December 2007
14. Pardeep Chhabra 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2008
15. Kamlesh (2nd term) 1 January 2009 – 31 December 2009
16. Anu Chatrath (2nd term) 1 January 2010 – 31 December 2010
17. Ravinder Pal Singh 1 January 2011 – 31 December 2011
18. Raj Bala Malik (1st term) 1 January 2012 – 31 December 2012
19. Subhash Chawla (2nd term) 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2013
20. Harphool Chander Kalyan 1 January 2014 – 5 January 2015
21. Poonam Sharma 6 January 2015 – 7 January 2016
22. Arun Sood 8 January 2016 – 31 December 2016
23. Asha Kumari Jaswal 12 January 2017 – 8 January 2018
24. Davesh Moudgil 9 January 2018 – 18 January 2019
25. Rajesh Kumar Kalia 19 January 2019 – 9 January 2020
26. Raj Bala Malik (2nd term) 10 January 2020 – 7 January 2021
27. Ravi Kant Sharma 8 January 2021 – 7 January 2022
28. Sarabjit Kaur 8 January 2022 – incumbent

Composition[]

According to the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh's website, the Corporation is composed of the following members:

1 "Members to be directly elected, representing wards."[5] 35
2 "Members with voting rights to be nominated by the Administrator, from amongst the people who are eminent of distinguished in public affairs or those who have special knowledge or practical experience in respect of municipal administration."[5] 10
3 "The Member of the House of the people representing the constituency which comprises wholly or partly, the Municipal Area, with the right to vote. (Member of Parliament from Chandigarh)"[5] 1

Administration[]

The Commissioner is the apex of the municipal administrative hierarchy who runs its administration. He is a senior government official (usually an I.A.S officer) and is appointed by the Central government. He is the chief executive officer who is responsible for the passing and implementation of the annual Municipal Corporation budget, its policies and programmes. All personnel of the Municipal Corporation work under the Commissioner's supervision and control.[12]

The current Municipal Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh is Anindita Mitra.[13]

Chandigarh being a city-state, and a Union Territory does not have a legislative assembly of its own, even though it hosts the legislative assemblies of two states Punjab & Haryana, being a common capital of both states. It has its own Municipal Corporation (MCC), which acts as local governing authority of the City Beautiful (Chandigarh). The MCC is one of the most powerful local authorities in Republic of India as it serves both as a regional and local authority.

Departments[]

Public Health Department Planning & Building Branch
Health & Sanitation Department Horticulture Department
Building & Roads Department Fire and Emergency Services Department
Electrical Department Finance & Accounts Department
Legal Department Pensions & P.F.Department
Audit Department Urban Poverty Alleviation & Livelihood Cell
Architecture Department Estate Department
Booking Department Public Relations Department
Enforcement Department I.T. Department
Agenda Department Taxation Department
Paid Parking Department

Composition of MCC House[]

Contesting the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections for the first time, Aam Aadmi Party won 14 seats and became the single largest party in the council of total 35 elected seats.[14] Sitting mayor Ravi Kant Sharma from BJP lost his seat to AAP candidate Damanpreet Singh.[15][16]

Composition of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation after 2021 Chandigarh Municipal Corporation election.

Composition of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation
Party Seats Seats +/−
Aam Aadmi Party 14 Increase14
Bharatiya Janata Party 13 Decrease 7
Indian National Congress 7 Increase4
Shiromani Akali Dal 1 Steady
Nominated 10 Increase1
Member of Parliament 1

Current members[]

Ward
No. 		Councillor[15][16] Party Note
1 Jaswinder Kaur AAP
2 Maheshinder Singh Sidhu BJP
3 Dalip Sharma BJP
4 Suman Devi AAP
5 Darshana INC
6 Sarbajit Kaur BJP
7 Manoj Kumar BJP
8 Harjeet Singh BJP
9 Bimala Dubey BJP
10 Harpreet Kaur Babla BJP Elected as INC candidate, joined BJP after election.
11 Anup Gupta BJP
12 Saurabh Joshi BJP
13 Sachin Galav INC
14 Kuljeet Sandhu BJP
15 Ram Chander Yadav AAP
16 Poonam AAP
17 Damanpreet Singh AAP
18 Taruna Mehta AAP
19 Neha AAP
20 Gurcharanjit Singh INC
21 Jasbir Singh AAP
22 Anju Katyal AAP
23 Prem Lata AAP
24 Jasbir Singh INC
25 Yogesh Dhingra AAP
26 Kuldeep Kumar AAP
27 Gurbax Rawat INC
28 Nirmala Devi INC
29 Manaur AAP
30 Hardeep Singh SAD
31 Lakhbir Singh AAP
32 Jasmanpreet Singh Babbar BJP
33 Kanwarjit Rana BJP
34 Gurpeet Singh INC
35 Rajinder Kumar Sharma BJP


Civic utilities[]

The prime responsibilities of the civic body are to ensure cleanliness and sanitation in the city, illumination of street lights, maintenance of parks, and sewerage disposal.[17]

Water Supply[]

The city has both brick and pipe sewers laid in four phases.[18] In September 2020, the civic body announced that it would upgrade and renew the 50-year-old sewerage system.[18] The pilot project for the 24x7 water supply is expected to begin in Chandigarh in May 2021, which was initially to start in September 2020 and end in March 2022. On 8 April 2021, the Chandigarh Smart City Ltd (CSCL) opened the bid by the joint venture firm between SB Engineering and Tap Presstressed Pvt Ltd that quoted a value lower than the reserved price of ₹162 crore. The CSCL board is yet to take the final decision.[19]

Tariffs[]

In 2021, the BJP ruled corporation had increased the water tariff by 200 times. This created a widespread discontent among the residents. AAP promised to provide free water up to 20,000 litres to each family in Chandigarh every month.[20]

In 2021, there was an acute shortage of parking space. As the problem aggravated BJP led corporation increased the parking charges in the city. The increase in the waste collection charges, water tariff and property tax rates during the last five years made the voters against the incumbent BJP.[20]

The increased expenditure for the basic amenities and these tariff hikes led to a strong discontent among the voters.[20]

Cleanliness[]

In 2016, Chandigarh was the second cleanest city of India. In 2016 BJP came to power in the corporation. In the years that followed, garbage from the city was not disposed off properly. Lack of a proper process or mechanism led to the garbage piled up at Dadu Majra garbage dump site.[20][21]

In 2021, Chandigarh fell to the 66 position in the cleanest cities of India. The city had always taken pride in the fact that it was one of the cleanest cities of the country. The fall in cleanliness became an important poll issue. The residents were upset with the downfall in the cleanliness.[20]

Covid-19[]

The government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in India damaged BJP's image as the voters felt that they were not given desired help in getting the hospital beds and medical oxygen from their elected representatives. The sitting Councillors were found to be unapproachable when the public needed support. No major relief measure was taken by the local government.[20]

References[]

  1. ^ "History of MCC". Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Chandigarh Municipal Corporation likely to charge for advertising on cinema houses, multiplexes".
  3. ^ "Chandigarh Municipal Corporation engineering wing told to wind up work on multilevel parking by Dec 22".
  4. ^ "Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Newly elected mayor rajesh kumar alias kalia January 2019".
  5. ^ a b c d "Official Website".
  6. ^ "BJP-SAD wins all top posts in Chandigarh MC polls". The Tribune. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Rajesh Kalia new Mayor of Chandigarh". The Hindu (in en-IN). 18 January 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  8. ^ "The Ragpicker Who Would Be Mayor: Chandigarh's Rajesh Kalia is an inspiration for all | Trending & Viral News". www.timesnownews.com (in British English). Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  9. ^ "From clerk's son to Chandigarh mayor: BJP's Davesh Moudgil". Hindustan Times. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Chandigarh Mayor Election 2022 on January 8; AAP, BJP in race". The Financial Express. 4 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Jain men elected Mayor, Dy Mayor". www.tribuneindia.com. Tribune News Service. 23 December 1998. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  12. ^ "Composition of a Municipal Corporation in India". PublishYourArticles.net - Publish Your Articles Now (in American English). 19 July 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  13. ^ "Directory - The official website of Municipal Corporation Chandigarh,Chandigarh Administration, India". mcchandigarh.gov.in. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  14. ^ "AAP Wins Most Seats In Chandigarh Polls On Debut, BJP Mayor Among Losers". NDTV.com. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  15. ^ a b "AAP emerges as leading party as Chandigarh MC poll throws up hung house; BJP's sitting mayor loses". Tribuneindia. Tribune News Service. 28 December 2021.
  16. ^ a b "Chandigarh Municipal Polls: AAP Emerges Leading Party; Party's Damanpreet Singh Defeats BJP Mayor". outlookindia.com. 27 December 2021.
  17. ^ "How Chandigarh's four-pronged strategy is helping the city fight COVID-19 | Citizen Matters". 17 August 2020. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  18. ^ a b "Plans afoot to revamp Chandigarh's over 5-decade-old sewerage system – chandigarh – Hindustan Times". 11 September 2020. Archived from the original on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  19. ^ "Pilot project for 24x7 water supply in Chandigarh set to begin in May". Hindustan Times. 9 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  20. ^ a b c d e f "Explained: 5 reasons why AAP scored big in Chandigarh municipal polls". The Indian Express. 27 December 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  21. ^ "Dadu Majra dump in Chandigarh poses a threat to lives of 50,000 citizens: PIL in Punjab and Haryana HC". The Indian Express. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.

External links[]

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