Hubbies tag along councillors for meeting

Barnala: Meeting of Barnala Municipal Council (BMC) was called off on Wednesday when spouses of women councillors barged into the venue in violation of the rules. The civic body has 31 members, out of which 11 are women. Spouses of most of the women councillors tried to attend the BMC meeting to which one male member raised an objection. This lead to the meeting being called off.It will now be held on Friday.
According to the Punjab Municipal Council Act, no kin is allowed to represent or accompany any elected member in the official meetings. However, a woman councillor claimed there was no harm in their husbands tagging along to such meetings.
Congress councillor Mahesh Kumar said, "An important meeting was called on Wednesday afternoon to discuss development of town. Kin of most of the 11 women councillors accompanied them. It was not acceptable to some members and arguments followed. Amidst din, the meeting had to be called off."
"It is disgraceful that men still think women weak and try to dominate by barging even into their domains. This behaviour completely defeats the very motive of the government of reserving seats to empower women. Women too need to assert their position and try to take independent decisions and must come out of the clutches of the male members," said All India Progressive Women Association activist Iqbal Kaur Udasi.
Barnala Municipal Council president Sanjeev Shorey said, "I have asked the kin of women councillors to meet me at any time if they have any issue but not come into the official meetings."