A BJP councillor from Ahmedabad’s Shahpur ward locked the office of an assistant city engineer on October 9, alleging that drainage, water supply and other civic works in the area had remained incomplete for six to eight months. Councillor Jitendra Chouhan also demanded that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation commissioner resign if the civic administration was unable to complete the work.
According to Divya Bhaskar, Chouhan carried out the protest at the municipal corporation office near the Dudheswar water tank. He alleged that residents from the ward, which falls within Ahmedabad’s walled-city area, had repeatedly complained about water and drainage problems, but that their concerns had not resulted in completed works.
Chouhan said project works and works funded through councillors’ budgets were still pending. He described Shahpur as a labour-dominated and slum area where water and sewerage complaints were frequent. He said groups of residents regularly approached his office and that representations had been made to civic officials.
The councillor told the publication that he had also raised the issue in committee meetings and approached the local legislator. He alleged that officials had not acted despite these representations. He said he had not yet met the mayor or the standing committee chairman over the issue, although the matter had been raised during committee proceedings.
Chouhan said the protest would continue if the pending works were not addressed, and warned that another municipal office could be locked the following day. He also demanded a vigilance inquiry into alleged irregularities involving road and footpath works, claiming that civic works in the ward were being left incomplete. These allegations were made by the councillor and were not independently established in the report.
The protest has brought an internal governance dispute within the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation into public view. Chouhan’s criticism is directed at the civic administration despite the BJP having controlled the corporation for about two decades, according to the report. The immediate issues raised involve the delivery of basic municipal services, the execution of councillors’ budget works and the monitoring of project implementation.
The report does not include a response from the municipal commissioner, the assistant city engineer, the mayor, the standing committee chairman or the local legislator to the allegations. It also does not specify the names, sanctioned amounts or completion deadlines of the individual water, drainage and project works cited by the councillor.
