A BJP corporator locked the office of an assistant city engineer at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s Shahpur ward office on Friday, alleging that civic and corporator-budget works had not been completed in the area. The action triggered a political and administrative controversy, with the municipal deputy commissioner disputing the claims and the city BJP calling the corporator and three others for an internal meeting.
Shahpur corporator Jitendra Chouhan reached the municipal office in the Dudheshwar area on Friday morning and locked the assistant city engineer’s office. A worker accompanying him raised slogans against the municipal administration, according to Nav Gujarat Samay. Chouhan alleged that basic civic works, including water and drainage-related works, as well as projects proposed from the corporator’s budget, were not being carried out in the Shahpur ward.
The corporator said residents frequently approached his office with complaints and that he had raised the issues with the deputy municipal commissioner of the central zone and senior engineering officials. He also said the complaints had been brought to the attention of MLA Kaushik Jain, but that the officials had not acted on them. Chouhan said he had taken the step after becoming frustrated with the lack of progress and warned that other municipal offices could also be locked if public works were not completed.
He also called for the municipal commissioner to resign if the civic administration was unable to resolve the complaints. The incident subsequently circulated on social media, widening the dispute and placing the municipal administration and the ruling BJP in a defensive position.
Central zone deputy municipal commissioner Ramyakumar Bhatt rejected the allegation that the ward’s proposed works had been ignored. Bhatt said all small and large works to be undertaken through the municipal budget or the corporator’s budget had been carried out. According to his account, Chouhan had proposed 32 works, of which 28 had been completed. Of the remaining four, two had also been completed, Bhatt said.
The deputy commissioner questioned the reason for the lockout in light of the progress recorded by the civic administration. The contrasting accounts leave the immediate dispute centred on how the completed works were measured, which projects remain pending and whether the unresolved complaints relate to execution, approvals or timelines. The supplied report does not provide a project-wise list or independent status documentation for the 32 works.
The incident also comes amid references to similar lockouts involving elected representatives in other parts of Ahmedabad. Municipal sources cited by the report said a corporator in Asarwa and the husband of a woman corporator in Paldi had also locked municipal premises, although details of those incidents were not provided.
Municipal BJP leader Jashubhai Thakor said Chouhan and three other corporators were called to the city BJP office. The meeting was attended by city BJP president Prerak Shah and general secretary Umang Nayak, and the corporators’ submissions were heard along with details obtained from a municipal official. Thakor said the matter would be discussed at an internal coordination meeting, after which the party would decide on further action.
