Members of both the Opposition and the ruling party raised issues of their respective wards on the second day of general assembly meeting of Jabalpur Municipal Corporation organised in Pt Bhawani Prasad Tiwari auditorium, on Friday. The Opposition members also grilled treasury bench and senior officials on the issue of corruption, scandals and arbitrary actions.

On the second day, corporators held prolonged discussion on uncleanliness, officials’ arbitrariness and stray dog menace. The Opposition members demanded reply from the Mayor, officials concerned and the Mayor-in-Council members. They received some satisfactory answers, while some questions got lost in assurance of investigation.

Discussion on important issues started after lunch break. Opposition BJP members raised issues of their respective wards. They accused contractors and officials of embezzling crores of rupees in dog sterilisation. The Leader of Opposition gave a warning of knocking the door of EOW and demanded to constitute a committee to investigate the matter. The Mayor welcomed the Opposition leader’s statement and he also accepted the demand for an investigation committee. However, discussion on contract of door-to-door garbage collection could not take place on Friday and now it is likely to be discussed on Monday. On the scam in sterilisation of stray dogs, Opposition members claimed that the Maan Seva Sai Samiti had been given the contract for sterilisation of dogs, with capacity to sterilise maximum 10 dogs per day within resources available to them. However, the Samiti is carrying out sterilisation of 40 to 50 dogs daily and getting issued money through bribing concerned officials. The issue of officers’ arbitrariness also echoed during the meeting. Expressing great resentment over absence of officials in the meeting, Opposition members said until the officers arrive, there should be no discussion in the House as there was no one to answer. However, the Chairman referred to rules and initiated the proceedings of the House.