RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, May 6: A section of outgoing ward councillors of Ranchi Municipal Corporation today met former Chief Minister and BJP legislature party chief Babulal Marandi requesting him to intervene in the matter of delayed civic body election in the Jharkhand capital.
The outgoing councillors urged him to take some political steps to ensure that civic body election gets conducted without delay and people in the urban area get their representatives at the grass root level to address their day-to-day problems like cleaning of drain, sweeping of roads, recommendation for birth and death certificates besides others.
The councillors took the action two days before hearing on a similar matter before the Jharkhand High Court. The petition was filed by a section of councillors demanding their tenure extension. They in their petition have raised the similar issue saying the government has deliberately delayed the civic poll and deprived people of their rights. According to them, conducting an election after the triple test is a time taking job and depriving people of their representatives till that exercise is not justified.
An RMC official said the state government is on the verge of losing over 1600 crore due to delayed election as the central government sends funds under several schemes for urban development only when there are elected representatives on ward level in urban areas.
The councillors, whose five-year tenure ended on April 28 this year, are of the opinion that when the tenure of people’s representatives in rural areas could be extended for a year why this is not happening in urban areas.
The councillors included Roshni Khalkho, Vinod Singh and Arun Kumar Jha among others.
