Giridih Municipality

Giridih, Sept. 9: A storm is brewing in the Giridih Municipality with 20 out of 29 ward commissioners threatening to resign if development works were not undertaken and if the chairperson and her deputy did not mend their ways. They have decided to take up the matter with the governor.

After about 22 years, municipal polls were held in Giridih, along with several other major districts, in 2008. But trouble has started within just 16 months as no ward commissioner, especially the young ones, are not happy with the functioning of chairperson Poonam Prakash and vice-chairman Vibhakar Pandey.

“No cleaning work is undertaken, the streets do not have lights, bleaching powder is not sprinkled during the rainy season and no houses have been constructed under Valmiki Awas Yojana. In fact, the Rs 20 crore that was disbursed by the state for development of urban areas has not been properly used,” fourth-time ward commissioner Babul Prasad Gupta said.

Gupta went on to add how less work was done by the municipality in the past 16 months. Records say that out of the 48 hand pumps, only 15 were installed. Sixty stand posts were to be fixed at different locations for water supply, but not a single has been installed till date.

“A sum of Rs 1.20crore was sanctioned by the Centre to construct 300 houses for BPL families under the Valmiki Awas Yojana. But only half the number has been built. But the most important irregularity is that the Rs 70 lakh that was granted to construct urban roads has been used to build Chaitadih-Dumri Road. This is a rural road,” Gupta said. “In the past 16 months, only four board meetings had taken place. But the decisions taken at the meetings had never been implemented,” said another ward commissioner Mangal Singh.

In her defence, Prakash said: “After the board was formed, there was only nine months’ working period because of the model code of conduct during elections and strikes in the municipality.”

The ward commissioners will meet deputy commissioner Vandana Dadel tomorrow.