Udayvir Dhillon elected Zirakpur MC president
The election was held during the first meeting of the newly elected members of the House, amid a boycott by the Shiromani Akali Dal councillors
Udayvir Singh Dhillon, 32, son of Mohali Congress president Deepinder Singh Dhillon, was elected the president of the Zirakpur municipal council for a five-year term on Wednesday.
The election was held during the first meeting of the newly elected members of the House, amid a boycott by the Shiromani Akali Dal councillors. No polling took place for the posts of senior vice-president and vice-president.
The Congress had won 23 out of the 31 seats in the civic body elections held in February, grabbing the majority from the Shiromani Akali Dal, which had been in power for two decades but managed only eight seats this time.
NK Sharma, Akali MLA from Dera Bassi, said the party boycotted the meeting as its demand to conduct elections on all three posts was ignored.
Udayvir said the elections to other posts were not held as it was decided by all members. “We will hold the elections for the two posts in the next meeting,” he said.
‘Will remove all encroachments’
Udayvir, who is also the Punjab Youth Congress general secretary, won from Ward No. 12. He did his schooling from St John’s High School, Chandigarh, and completed a five-year law course from Punjabi University, Patiala.
After getting elected as the council president, he listed removal of encroachments from Zirakpur his top priority.
“Before the elections, we gave the slogan of Smart Zirakpur, and we will work towards achieving it,” he said, adding that a committee comprising both councillors and officers will be constituted to identify and remove encroachments.
Udayvir said that after more than a decade of unplanned development, the city finally got a master plan in 2009, which has not been implemented yet. “The population is expected to shoot up to 8 lakh by 2030, but now we will change the picture of Zirakpur,” he said.
The new council president said even though the MC collected ₹170 crore as development charges from builders, it has failed to elevate the infrastructure, which will be looked into. On unauthorised buildings, he said: “We will first conduct a survey and accordingly take action.”
Among other priorities, he listed better waste management, making Zirakpur pollution-free, automated traffic signals at intersections, and construction of community toilets.