Tenure of Advisory Council Extended for Another Six Months, Officials Directed to Resolve all Pending Issues – Administrator
Chandigarh, 22nd February, 2022 : The Administrator’s Advisory Council meeting was held today under the chairmanship of Sh. Banwarilal Purohit, Governor of Punjab and Administrator, Chandigarh in the presence of Sh. Satya Pal Jain, Additional Solicitor General of India, Sh. Dharam Pal, Adviser to the Administrator, Smt. Sarabjit Kaur, Mayor Chandigarh, members of the council, and senior officials of Chandigarh Administration at Hotel Mountview.
The Administrator appreciated the role of the members of the council in putting forth the issues affecting the lives of people and resolving them in the best interest of the city.
The members of the ten standing committees of the Advisory Council i.e., Education, Urban Infrastructure & Planning for the City committee, Environment, Health, Art Tourism, Culture and Heritage, Law and Order, Sports, Social Welfare, Transportation and Environment voiced the issues before the chair. Considering the importance of the pending issues, the Administrator extended the tenure of the existing Advisory Council for another six months.
The Council raised the issue of improving the overall infrastructure in schools, which also included the recruitment of teachers. The Administrator emphasized the need of recruiting the teachers only on merit basis.
Sh. Purohit desired the Education department to chalk out a plan with Resident Welfare Associations to use the school playgrounds of each sector after school hours for children. The committee on Sports also apprised the Council that the draft Sports Policy will also be prepared and submitted in next 2-3 months.
The members appreciated the move of Chandigarh Administration to initiate the auction of commercial properties from leasehold to freehold. The Administrator assured that the issue pertaining to the properties already auctioned to various stakeholders on leasehold will also be resolved soon after deliberations with Ministry of Home Affairs. On the prevailing issue of FAR, conversion of properties from leasehold to freehold, usage conversion policy in respect of Industrial Area sites, Sh. Purohit asked the traders to comply with the process of survey. He assured that a comprehensive policy will be formulated for the redressal of existing issues of traders of Industrial Area after the completion of this survey.
The Environment Committee shared that the Administration has been following the aggressive approach to make the complete use of tertiary treated water for agricultural, industrial etc purposes by the end of this year. The committee also highlighted the need to create more door-to-door awareness about the waste segregation, as this is the joint effort of public and Administration. The Administrator has urged the social workers and NGOs to show their support to educate the residents about the problem in hand.
The Council also appreciated the Electric Vehicle Policy brought out by the Administration. The Commissioner Municipal Corporation shared receiving the first instalment of funds from Government of India for legacy waste management. Hence, the work of remediation of legacy waste mining will not suffer.
Considering the rising issue of beggary on the city streets, Sh. Purohit directed the Police and Social Welfare officials to work in tandem with each other. “We shall be sympathetic towards these children and think about ending this issue from its roots,” said the Administrator.
In his concluding remarks, Sh. Banwari Lal Purohit asked all the officials of Chandigarh Administration to resolve all the pending agendas raised in this meeting within six months. The new committee shall be formed only after the chair has dealt with all the pending issues
