Councillors polish shoes, beg and play flute for a buffalo to get Ghaziabad govt attention

On a crowded road outside the Ghaziabad collectorate on Monday, they placed a banner around the buffalo. The banner proclaimed that the district administration was “mute, deaf and conscienceless”.

“There is a proverb in Hindi which says bhains ke aaage bhi bajana… We are doing exactly the same. The protests seem to have fallen on deaf ears and the state government seems to have no interest in solving our problem,” Mukesh Tyagi, spokesperson for the protesting councillors, said.

Councillors argue that the state government has not released funds intended for infrastructure development of the Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam since 2011. The fund comes from two per cent of the total revenue raised by the state through stamp duty to the tune of around Rs 152 crore. Tyagi alleged that the funds were not being released because of “corrupt”officials.

“Officials at the district and state level want a “commission” to release the funds. Therefore, we are adopting these forms of protest. The money we collect in the process we can possibly pay as “commission” to these corrupt officials. We demand that the state government take notice of the delay in projects in Ghaziabad because of the delay in release of funds. We also demand that action be taken against corrupt and non-performing officers,” he said.

The protesting councillors included 24 members of the BJP, 17 from the BSP, 14 from the Congress and others.  Councillors of the ruling Samajwadi Party have largely stayed away from the protests.  Early last week, seven councillors had also gone on “hunger strike” to register their dissent.