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Time of India
04-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Free or fee? Parking lots stuck in neutral
Ludhiana: Almost two years have passed since the MC auctioned five parking lots in the city but fresh tenders are nowhere in sight. The civic body initially attributed the delay to the Ludhiana West bypoll. Now, they say that they are waiting for the finance and contracts committee meeting. Officials said that three sites were declared free for parking and it is unclear whether they will be included in the auction. The current parking contractor was hired for one year in October, 2022, but in the absence of an e-auction, he is still serving. Before his demise, former MLA of Ludhiana West, Gurpreet Gogi, made Sarabha Nagar market parking free of charge. When the bypoll was announced, AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora announced the Model Town Extension market and two parking lots as parking fee-free. This leaves the MC with the parking lot in Feroze Gandhi market, the multi-storey parking lot near Mata Rani Chowk, Bhadhaur House, and the remaining parking lots of BRS Nagar. Sources said that the MC prepared a proposal for auction and floated tenders in December last year but the tenders were withdrawn due to certain reasons. Officials said that they will flag the issue in the F&CC meeting, after which a decision will be taken. However, things may not be quite as simple. Members of Feroze Gandhi Market Association also want free parking. Their rationale — If Sarabha Nagar Market and Model Town Extension Market have been declared free for parking, why not them? They claimed to have requested civic authorities to hand over market parking lots to the association, as the lots belong to shopkeepers in the area but the civic body did not act on their requests. Demanding uniformity in parking policy, they asked the MC to make the parking free of charge. MC commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal said, "The decision is pending at the level of the mayor, and she has to take a call about the e-auction." Despite repeated attempts, mayor Inderjit Kaur could not be contacted for comments. Parking is a major issue in the city. With high vehicle density and limited parking space, it is common to see vehicles parked on roadsides. Also, there have been frequent complaints about overcharging and misbehaviour at parking lots managed by the existing contractor. Questions are being raised on the MC for not cancelling the agreement despite receiving complaints. Quotes Parking rates should be genuine so that people park in parking lots but here, people face serious issues. Authorities need to check irregularities Shifali Kapoor | Resident, Bharat Nagar Chowk Authorities hardly care about public grievances. They can check such issues only if they visit the field. Contractors do whatever they want to do Inderpreet Singh | Resident, Sarabha Nagar 2022 auction: 6 parking fetched Rs 3.57 crore The MC auctioned six parking lots for Rs 3.57 crore in 2022. Of these, Feroze Gandhi Market and multi-storey parking lots in Zone A were auctioned for Rs 1.29 crore and Rs1.11 crore respectively while Bhadhaur House and Sarabha Nagar parking lots were auctioned for Rs 4.71 lakh and Rs30.4 lakh. The BRS Nagar parking lot was auctioned for Rs 23.01 lakh and the Model Town Extension parking lot was auctioned for Rs 29 lakh. Failure to adopt a single policy for auction of parking sites may lead to major revenue loss. Unmet requirements Before handing over parking sites, the MC fixes certain conditions, including e-ticket machines, uniform with ID cards for employees, display boards showing parking fee, proper marking for parking of two-wheelers and cars and e-pos machines at the entrance of parking site. However, these conditions are rarely fulfilled. No penalties imposed Penalties ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 can be imposed for violations. If the contractor repeats the same mistake thrice, then the contract can be terminated. However, this has never happened despite several complaints of overcharging and misbehaviour by staff with people coming to the parking lots. MSID:: 122250422 413 |
Time of India
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Bypoll election results: AAP wins 2 seats, Trinamool & BJP 1 each; Congress wins in Kerala
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel New Delhi: In the assembly by-polls held for five seats across four states, AAP won two while the BJP Congress and Trinamool Congress won one seat Gujarat, the ruling BJP retained Kadi in Mehsana district, while AAP retained Visavadar in Junagarh. AAP also retained the Ludhiana West seat in Punjab. Trinamool Congress retained the Kaliganj seat while Congress snatched the Nilambur seat from the CPM in candidate Sanjeev Arora won the Ludhiana West assembly seat by a margin of 10,637 votes, an improvement over the previous margin of 7,512 votes in 2022. The seat fell vacant after the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi. Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu got 24,542 votes while BJP candidate Jiwan Gupta got 20,323 Gujarat, BJP's Rajendra Chavda defeated Congress candidate Ramesh Chavda by a margin of 38,904 votes in Kadi. In Visavadar, AAP's Gopal Italia bagged 75,906 votes against BJP's Kirit Patel's 58,325 votes, while Congress's Nitin Ranpariya got 5,491 votes. With this, BJP now has 162 members in the 182-seat assembly while Congress has 12, AAP five and there are three West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress retained the Kaliganj seat with party candidate Alifa Ahemed winning the seat by a margin of 50,049 votes. BJP candidate Ashish Ghosh stood second with 52,710 votes while Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh got 28,348 Congress wrested the Nilambur Assembly seat in Kerala, marking a morale booster for the United Democratic Front (UDF) against the ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the run-up to next year's assembly elections. The Congress candidate Aryadan Shoukath defeated CPM's M Swaraj by 11,077 votes.
Indian Express
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Ludhiana West bypoll: All eyes on how BJP factor will play out in this urban constituency of Punjab
With just two days to go before the Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll on June 19, all eyes are on how the BJP factor will play out in this urban constituency of Punjab, where voters largely come from elite, educated, and financially sound backgrounds. The primary contest is expected to be between Congress's Bharat Bhushan Ashu, a former minister and two-term MLA, and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s Sanjeev Arora, an industrialist and member of the Rajya Sabha. However, attention is focused on how the votes cast for BJP candidate Jiwan Gupta will impact both the Congress and the AAP. Since its establishment in 1977, the Ludhiana West assembly constituency has never been won by the BJP, even in independent contests or in alliances with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Out of the ten elections held in this period, the Congress won six times, the BJP's former ally SAD claimed two victories, and the erstwhile Janata Party won once. After the SAD-BJP alliance in Punjab ended over the three farm laws in 2020, the BJP contested the 2022 Assembly elections independently from Ludhiana West, with its candidate, Bikram Singh Sidhu, coming third with 23.95 per cent of the votes, and the AAP's Gurpreet Gogi winning. However, in this urban seat, dominated by the upmarket Hindu business community, industrialists and traders, along with scientists/professors from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), the BJP has made significant gains in the past year or so. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, former Congress Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu shifted to the BJP and contested on the party's ticket. Although he lost the election to the Congress's Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, the BJP led from the Ludhiana West segment, polling 45,000 votes, which was 15,000 more than the Congress received. The ruling AAP was pushed to third and polled just around 22,000 votes from Ludhiana West. The BJP claimed a lead in 66 of the 95 urban wards of Ludhiana in the Lok Sabha polls. Overall, AAP candidate Ashok Parshar Pappi finished a distant third with the ruling party's vote bank dipping below that of the BJP. Pappi blamed the defeat on the BJP's 'Ram Mandir' pitch. AAP had failed to lead from any of the six urban Assembly segments of Ludhiana, while five went to the BJP and one to the Congress. Despite the loss, PM Narendra Modi made Bittu the Union Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing, which he says 'was due to Modi's love for Punjab'. Then, in the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation elections, the ruling AAP suffered a major setback, as it failed to reach the majority mark to appoint its mayor. Of the 95 urban wards, the AAP won 41 (seven short of a majority), the Congress 30, the BJP 19, and the SAD 2. For the first-ever bypoll in Ludhiana West, necessitated by the passing of AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi, the SAD is the only party that has fielded a Sikh face: advocate Parupkar Singh Ghumman, known for fighting legal battles for underprivileged people pro bono. Political experts believe that while a victory for the BJP in the Ludhiana West bypoll may seem unlikely, the party is expected to impact the vote share of both the Congress and AAP. It remains to be seen which party will be affected more significantly. 'The BJP candidate, Jiwan Gupta, started late. His nomination was announced just a day ahead of the last day of nominations, but even then, their campaign has blossomed over the past week. Several leaders in the BJP, including state president Sunil Jakhar, Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta, and Union ministers Hardeep Puri and Anurag Thakur, came to campaign for him. The BJP might not be winning the seat, but they are going to severely dent our and the AAP's vote bank,' said a senior Congress leader. The AAP was the first to announce Arora as a candidate in February itself, followed by the Congress's Ashu. The AAP was also the first to start campaigning with its national convener Kejriwal and Punjab CM Mann hitting the ground in Ludhiana in March itself. A local resident said that 'financially well-to-do' people of Ludhiana city don't have much to do with CM Mann's populist schemes, such as free power and atta dal; rather, they are highly upset over erratic power supply and long power cuts that the city has been facing this summer. 'This is a major worry for the AAP. It has been over a month now that the CM is regularly staying at a five-star facility in Ludhiana, and the entire city faces massive traffic jams due to his security cover. Inside houses, there is no power, and outside, there are major traffic snarls. Unlike previous CMs, he never stays in government guest houses. But this party had promised to end VVIP culture,' said the resident. While the Ram Mandir was a key issue in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, this time it could be Operation Sindoor, which could hurt the AAP in Ludhiana, said another local resident. 'CM Mann mocking 'Sindoor' has not gone down well with the urban Hindu women in Ludhiana. The anti-incumbency against the AAP can favour both the BJP and the Congress. And even the SAD can improve this time,' said the resident. However, what remains in the AAP's favour is the advantage of being the ruling party, the power of administrative machinery, and the announcement by Kejriwal that if Arora is elected, he will be elevated as a Cabinet minister. Kejriwal has even announced that if any other party's MLA is elected, it 'will be difficult for him to get development works done in the constituency' as he 'won't have any power or money sans AAP government's support'. Since being declared a candidate, Arora has been portrayed as the face of AAP Ludhiana, leading inaugurations and laying the foundation stone for major projects. The AAP has also built its campaign around Congress candidate Ashu's behavioural traits —gussa (anger) and ahankaar (arrogance), a charge that Ashu has denied. But what the Opposition has accused the AAP of is 'plotting Kejriwal's backdoor entry into Rajya Sabha' by making Arora contest from Ludhiana. 'He is not campaigning for Arora, but his own entry into the Rajya Sabha. Arora is merely a pawn,' said a leaver, asking people not to vote for Kejriwal, 'who has been rejected by the people of Delhi'. However, both the Congress and the BJP have already announced that the bypoll would be a 'trailer' for 2027 Punjab Assembly polls, as they claim that 'people are waiting to throw out the AAP' and 'winds of change will blow from Ludhiana'. While the AAP's campaign so far has been led by its well-known faces, such as Kejriwal, Mann, Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh, former Delhi CM Atishi, and Mann's wife, Dr Gurpreet Kaur, among others, the Congress is relying mostly on its local leadership. Thanks to the wide-open rift between candidate Ashu and state Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, the latter had been conducting his own separate meetings and press conferences, although he accompanied Ashu on nomination day. Rather, Ashu has been relying on former CM Charanjit Singh Channi, Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh, and Jalandhar Cantt MLA Pargat Singh to lead his campaign. 'While till now, everyone is assuming numbers 1 and 2 to be between the Congress and the AAP, it will not be a surprise if the BJP ends up second,' said a local BJP leader. In 1980, when the SAD and the BJP were not allies, the BJP's Vishwa Nath had stood third with 21.49 per cent votes. In 1985, the BJP's Inderjit Singh again stood third with 8.86 per cent of the votes, and in 1992, the saffron party's Kailash Sharma finished second with 31.82 per cent of the votes. In 1997, after the SAD-BJP alliance was formed, the SAD's Maheshinder Singh Grewal won the seat. However, in 2002, the SAD's Avtar Singh Makkar lost to the Congress. In 2007, the SAD's Harish Rai Dhanda won. In 2012, the Congress's Ashu won while the BJP's Prof Rajinder Bhandari finished second with 30.17 per cent votes. In 2017, Ashu won for a second consecutive time, but with the AAP entering Punjab's political landscape, the BJP was pushed to third, with Kamal Chatly finishing third with just 18 per cent of votes. In 2022, after the SAD-BJP alliance ended, the BJP's Bikram Sidhu came third while the AAP won.
New Indian Express
25-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Ludhiana West assembly bypoll on June 19: AAP aims to retain seat amid stiff competition
CHANDIGARH: With the announcement of by-elections to the Ludhiana (West) assembly constituency in Punjab, to be held on June 19, the battle lines are drawn. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hopes to retain the seat, but given the recent electoral history of this segment, the bypoll is not likely to be a cakewalk for the party, especially after its rout in the Delhi assembly elections. According to the schedule released by the Election Commission of India, the official notification will be issued on May 26. The last date for filing nominations is June 2, and scrutiny of the papers will take place on June 3. Candidates can withdraw their nominations until June 5. The counting of votes will take place on June 23. The Model Code of Conduct has come into immediate effect. This by-election is being held following the demise of sitting AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi. All three major political parties in the state have already announced their candidates. AAP has named Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora, an industrialist now known for his work in social welfare. The Congress has fielded former minister and two-time MLA from this seat, Bharat Bhushan Ashu. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has nominated Parupkar Singh Ghuman, while the BJP is yet to announce its candidate. A few days ago, AAP supremo and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the party's campaign for the upcoming assembly bypoll.
Time of India
27-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Ludhiana civic body delays fresh auction of prime parking sites.
Ludhiana: The local civic body has failed to auction prime parking sites months after contracts expired, blaming elections for the delay. Residents and traders, frustrated by roadside chaos and contractor controversies, are threatening legal action. More than two years have passed since the civic body auctioned prime parking sites in the city. Since Nov 2023, the time period awarded to the contractor ended, but to date, a fresh auction has not been organised. Sources revealed that due to elections, the e-auction of the parking lots has been suspended by the authorities for some time. The civic body conducted an e-auction for parking sites, including Bhadhaur House, Sarabha Nagar main market, multi-storey parking, Feroze Gandhi Market, Model Town extension, and BRS Nagar market in Oct 2022. The agreement was for one year, and in Nov 2023, a fresh e-auction should have been organised instead of giving an extension to the contractor. The extension is still ongoing for reasons best known to the authorities. The MC, under pressure created by former MLA West, late Gurpreet Gogi, made Sarabha Nagar market free from any parking charges for the public in December 2024. However, when the civic body officials uploaded the document for the auction, this site was mentioned in the list of sites. Recently, Rajya Sabha Member Sanjeev Arora, while visiting BRS Nagar market, promised the shopkeepers of F block market that there would be no parking charges for the public in the market. There are five parking lots in BRS Nagar, while four others are still being managed by the contractor. Meanwhile, the Feroze Gandhi market association members are also up in arms against the civic body for creating a mess in their market. The members of the association claimed that around eight months ago, the chief vigilance officer of the local bodies department sought clarification about the parking agreement of this market from officials, and they are hushing up the matter. The members are now planning to approach the High Court over this issue. However, the MC Commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal, without divulging many details, claimed that the auction date has been extended further. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Experience three trade fairs with just one ticket Undo automatica 2025 Undo Laser World of Photonics Undo World of Quantum Undo Visit automatica: June 24-27, Munich Undo Parking is a major issue for the city, where people have a maximum number of vehicles, but there is hardly any place to park. The vehicles are parked at roadsides. The parking lots, where MC officials hire one contractor for running the parking sites, remain in controversy due to overcharging and misbehaviour with the public. Questions are raised about the silence of the civic body, which, despite receiving complaints, did not cancel the agreement. MSID:: 120667659 413 |
