Navjot Singh Sidhu, Local bodies ministerSarbjit Dhaliwal and Sanjeev Singh Bariana‘My first response on assuming the charge is that the urban dwellings are in an absolute mess. I have learnt that only 12 per cent of the urban population has access to safe drinking water, 37 per cent to sewerage, 34 per cent to roads and just 4 per cent to parks,’ said Navjot Singh Sidhu, Local Bodies Minister.“I have communicated to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh that urban development will remain half-done job if the departments dealing with urban population are not brought under one roof and command,” he said.Explaining it further, Sidhu said: “As of now, there are multiple bodies like PUDA, improvement trusts, town planning and civic bodies dealing with cities, towns and nagar panchayats. The Centre has one department under the Ministry of Urban Development to handle all affairs related to the urban population. The same should be followed here.”About his mission, Sidhu said: “I will make my department serve people on their doorstep and spare them the inconvenience of making rounds of government offices. As a first step, I will ensure that no one has to visit the municipal body office for birth or death or for other such tasks. Such services will soon be available online.”On challenges facing his department, he said: “Raising funds will be a major concern. Most civic bodies hardly have enough money for development works. Besides, the supply of contaminated drinking water in the urban areas is a concern. I would like that canal water is provided to all cities and towns. It is shocking to learn that sewage is flowing in drinking water pipes at many places. A detailed plan has been sought.” “Being an elected representative of the constituency, an MLA has a better understanding of the problems of his area. I have asked my department to be an absolute facilitator for the public works.“There will be complete decentralisation of powers and the MLAs will communicate to the department about the works they want to get done in their respective constituencies,” he said.The minister said: “In Punjab, the process of urbanisation is the fastest in the country because of migration of population from rural areas to urban. By 2035, the urban-rural population ratio would be 50:50 against 40:60 now.”He said he would request the CM to ask the Centre to include two more cities, Patiala and Bathinda, in the smart cities project. In an important message to his staff, he said: “I have learnt that some employees are working in the houses of senior officers. If any employee on the rolls is found doing personal work of any officer, the authorities concerned will be held responsible and taken to task.”
‘I have no liquor or mining biz, I make money from TV shows’
CHANDIGARH : Sitting at the plush office of the local government department in Chandigarh, former Indian batsman Navjot Singh Sidhu, the new minister for local government and tourism in Punjab, does not seem on unfamiliar ground. On the second day of taking over as the minister, Sidhu has already held marathon meetings with his department officials and warned them against corruption. In an interview to HT, he says half of Punjab now lives in urban areas and his department can be the next matchwinner.
What has been your first job after taking over as the local bodies minister?
After the first cabinet meeting on Saturday, I took marathon meetings of local government and tourism departments on Sunday and asked officials to tell me both the problems and the solutions. This is a mandate of hope. And when people hope, they also expect. Like in a Test match, we have to bat well in the first innings — that is first six months of our government. Our work has to speak for itself.
There was talk of you becoming the deputy CM. Is the local government department not defunct in Punjab?
Which department was not defunct under the previous Badal government? The migration of rural population to Punjab’s urban areas was 1.66% between 1951 and 1961. It was 8.25% between 1991 and 2001 and 10.39% between 2001 and 2011. Half of Punjab lives in cities now and it is the urban voter that has brought the Congress into power. My department will cater to that voter. It can be the next match-winner.
But the municipal bodies are cashstarved. Where will you get the funds from?
Water bills in Punjab are still levied at a flat rate. People won’t mind paying more if we provide them clean water, a clean city and other facilities. There has also to be discriminatory taxation as per one’s consumption. If you tax them for living in cities with no proper sewage, waste management, clean water, good roads, parks and parking, why should they pay the government? In the first cabinet meeting, you
raised objection to disbanding of improvement trusts. Why?
What happens in the cabinet is sacrosanct. But some improvement trusts are “kamau putt” (earning sons). All I want is to go through facts and figures. Whatever is in the interest of Punjab will finally be done.
Your participation in The Kapil Sharma Show as a minister is raising questions of office of profit.
Going by this yardstick, Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher should have been suspended by now. I have no liquor, sand mining or transport business like Sukhbir Badal (former Punjab deputy CM). I make money through TV shows. I will be in Chandigarh from Monday to Thursday and in Amritsar from Friday to Sunday. What I do at nights should not be anyone’s concern. I will take first flight back to Punjab after TV shoots in Mumbai.
Any comments on BJP appointing Yogi Adityanath
as the new CM of UP?
As written in buses, “sawari apne saman ki khud zimmedar hai (passengers are responsible for own luggage). I’ve no comment.
HT PHOTO
