Chandigarh, Nov 29: Chandigarh’s stalled pan-city 24×7 water supply project will now be examined by the Union housing and urban affairs ministry before returning to the municipal corporation (MC) House for a final vote. The move followed a heated exchange in Friday’s House meeting, where opposition councillors again urged the corporation to scrap the proposal.
Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla said the administration wants an independent assessment of the escalating cost and feasibility. “We have sent the project to the ministry, which can review the status of funds and its viability. Their report will be more detailed and will help us decide better,” she said.
Approved in 2022 at ₹576 crore, the French-funded project has ballooned to ₹1,741.28 crore, more than triple the original estimate. According to Friday’s agenda, lessons from the Manimajra pilot and subsequent reviews show the corporation needs a more data-driven plan before attempting a citywide rollout.
Congress councillor Gurpreet Singh Gabi said the project “is a white elephant” that will drain civic finances. “There are too many ifs and buts. Instead of this, we should take up the agenda of replacing old water pipelines. We do not wish to go ahead with this project,” he said.
Deputy mayor Taruna Mehta echoed the criticism, saying the proposal “failed terribly” and would remain an embarrassment in the corporation’s record. Former BJP mayor Anoop Gupta, meanwhile, said the House had only seen a status note and the complete plan must be presented again.
The House had rejected a proposal to scrap the project in September.
Tempers rose when Congress and AAP councillors demanded an apology from Chandigarh BJP president JP Malhotra for allegedly calling colony residents “anpadh” during a press conference. The members trooped into the well of the House with placards, raising slogans for nearly 20 minutes. “He is not even here, whom do you want to apologise?” Mayor Babla asked, denying the remark was made in that sense.
Responding to allegations that development work was being withheld in opposition wards, Babla said, “I convened a meeting last week and the opposition, except one Congress councillor, boycotted it. I want to tell the public that Congress and AAP are not interested in development.”
BJP councillor Saurabh Joshi flagged repeated extensions to M/s Lion’s Services Agency, which held the ₹264-crore sanitation contract for 2017–2021-22. He said the firm continued to get extensions without competitive bidding, affecting transparency and accountability.
The House passed 30 agendas on Friday, including road re-carpeting in several sectors, extending GIS-based sweeping to southern areas, door-to-door garbage collection in 13 villages and Manimajra’s commercial belt, a one-time settlement of pending property tax for charitable and public bodies, installation of signages on V4 roads and e-auctioning 75 advertising sites.
