Ludhiana: The municipal corporation’s general house meeting scheduled Saturday was postponed to Monday following the death of AAP councillor Usha Kalyan of ward 47, who had been battling cancer. The decision was taken after councillors gathered at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan and urged mayor Inderjit Kaur to defer the meeting as a mark of respect.Before the meeting could begin, Congress councillors staged a protest against the MC’s proposed Rs 82-crore tender for mechanised road sweeping. Congress councillor and finance and contracts committee member Gaurav Bhattiarrived carrying a sack of fake currency notes, symbolically offering them to the mayor and ruling party while demanding that the proposal be dropped.Another councillor, Bhupinder Kaur, protested against the proposed one-year extension of services of 1,208 sanitation workers. Sitting outside the venue in a wheelchair with placards, she alleged that details of the workers had not been shared despite repeated requests and warned of legal action if the proposal is approved on Monday.Earlier, former councillor Mamta Ashualso questioned the civic body’s plan to engage a private agency for road washing, raising concerns over water use, groundwater depletion and the project’s cost-effectiveness. She sought details on the type of water proposed to be used and comparisons with similar projects in other cities.
