Karnal MC General House backs ‘One Nation, One Election’

The General House of the Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC) unanimously passed a resolution in support of the “One Nation, One Election” (ONOE) initiative during its meeting which lasted for three-and-a-half-hour at the KMC conference hall on Thursday.

The meeting was chaired by Mayor Renu Bala Gupta, while Karnal MLA Jagmohan Anand, Indri MLA Ram Kumar Kashyap, KMC Commissioner Dr Vaishali Sharma, councillors and other officials were also present in it.

Although a letter of support was already handed over to Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on April 22 during his visit to Karnal under the pan-India outreach campaign, the Mayor said the House’s formal resolution lent collective strength to the endorsement.

“Earlier, we got consent of the councillors by way of circulation and handed it over to the Union Minister, but now it has been passed in the General House meeting with a voice. Simultaneous elections are crucial for the country’s development. The recurring electoral cycles stall growth, delay policy implementation, and drain both financial and human resources,” said Gupta.

The meeting began with a review of the progress on works approved during the last meeting on April 8. During the session, over 100 agendas were discussed, with a majority being approved.

Key among the resolutions passed were the regularisation of illegal patches in Rajiv Puram and Shivaji Colony. The KMC will forward the agenda to the Department of Urban Local Bodies for further action.

The House placed special focus on city beautification, resolving to make all fountains functional and initiate a laser light show in city parks, including Karna Tal and Karna Park. A resolution was also passed to address traffic congestion by developing multi-layer parking facilities, said the Mayor.

The House passed a resolution allowing the division of commercial plots of the Improvement Trust to ease commercial activities. “There are several big shops and plots which can be divided but due to lack of provision, it cannot be done at present. We have passed a resolution and a case will be sent to the government,” said Gupta.

She said the House also passed a tender of night sweeping to clean the city. “Our motto is to make the city cleanest and our emphasis is also on it. We will make efforts to bring our city in the top 10 under the Swachh Survekshan,” she added.

The agenda for developing Mughal Canal Commercial Space 2 and 3 was also passed, but the construction of an air-conditioned slaughterhouse was not passed.

MLA Jagmohan Anand proposed forming a five-member committee to explore the establishment of a construction & demolition (C&D) waste plant and a horticulture waste plant on four acres in Phoosgarh. He also emphasised the need to address the pending issue of a garbage transfer station, which would be taken up in the next meeting.

Anand directed officials to pass the agenda of those roads which were required and highly needed. The meeting also saw the approval of initiatives to develop vending zones—pending a NoC from the HSVP—and the improvement of street lighting infrastructure across the city.

“Under the motto of ‘Haryana Ek, Haryanvi Ek, we will ensure inclusive development of all 20 wards without any discrimination. We will ensure all residents of the city will get pure drinking water and proper sewers. Overall development of the city was on our agenda in today’s meeting,” said Anand.

All development-related agendas proposed by the 20 councillors and the Mayor were passed.

Haryana Tribune