SAS Nagar, August 2 - Progressive Welfare Association (Reg.) Mohali has sent a letter to the Deputy Commissioner Mohali demanding action against former and current councilors of Phase 4 who disconnected and did not reconnect solar lights installed in Phase 4 during the blackout.
The letter written by the Association's President Mr. H. S. Kanwal and Senior Vice President Karan Johar states that due to the efforts of Progressive Welfare Association (Reg.) Mohali, 23 solar street lights were installed by MP Mr. Manish Tewari at various places in Phase 4 Mohali in the year 2023 from his MPLAD funds.
He has written that during the recent escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan, a blackout was imposed in Mohali by the administration and during this, the current and former municipal councilors of the Phase 4 area cut the wires of the lights from the batteries to switch off these solar lights on their own without the permission and knowledge of the association.
He has written that this blackout ended after a few days, but despite a long time, the wires were not reconnected by the said former and current councilors. The result of this has been that the batteries have deteriorated due to not being recharged for such a long time.
He said that the residents of Phase 4 are contacting the association to get these solar lights switched on again, but there will be a huge cost to switch on these lights and they do not understand who will pay this cost.
The letter has demanded that the current and former councilors of the Municipal Corporation be instructed to get these lights switched on again and the expenses incurred in this regard be recovered from them.
When contacted in this regard, Municipal Councilor Rupinder Kaur Reena said that during the blackout, the residents had demanded to switch off these lights, on which they had taken the Municipal Corporation staff along and disconnected the connections of four-five lights, while the connections of many lights were disconnected by the residents themselves by hitting them with sticks or cutting the wires. She said that in this regard, they have been asking the Municipal Corporation officials and employees for the last three months to connect the connections of these lights and switch them on, but the Municipal Corporation employees have been delaying and they will soon switch on those lights whose connections were disconnected by them.
Many attempts were made to contact Gurmukh Singh Sohal, former councilor of Phase 4, in this regard, but contact could not be established with him as he did not pick up the phone.