A BJP corporator from Ahmedabad’s Shahpur ward locked the office of an assistant city engineer on October 9, alleging that drainage, water supply and ward-budget works had remained incomplete despite repeated representations to municipal officials.
Jitendra Chauhan carried out the protest at the ward office near the Dudheswar water tank on Friday morning. He said residents from the ward’s densely populated settlements and slum areas had repeatedly approached him with complaints about drainage and water supply, but the problems had not been resolved.
According to Chauhan, some project-related works have been pending for six to eight months. He also alleged that works proposed through the corporator’s budget had not been completed. The office was locked to protest what he described as continued inaction by the engineering department.
“Shahpur is a working-class and slum area, so complaints about drainage and water problems continue to come from different settlements,” Chauhan said, according to Gujarat Samachar. He added that residents came to his office with complaints, while repeated representations to officials had not produced a solution.
Chauhan said the issue had also been raised with Dariyapur MLA Kaushik Jain, but alleged that municipal officials had not acted even after the legislator’s intervention. He said he had not made a direct representation to the mayor or the chairperson of the standing committee, although he claimed that the pending works had been raised during committee meetings without a resolution.
The corporator also called for Municipal Commissioner’s accountability, saying the commissioner should resign if officials could not be made to complete the work. He further alleged irregularities in road and footpath works and sought a vigilance inquiry into the officials concerned. Chauhan also demanded an investigation into officials’ assets and the sources of their funds.
The protest has raised questions about how municipal works are tracked after they are approved, particularly in wards where basic services such as drainage and water supply remain unresolved. It also exposes a gap between elected representatives who receive complaints from residents and the administrative machinery responsible for executing civic works.
The incident comes against the backdrop of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s long control of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Gujarat Samachar reported that the party has governed the civic body for 20 years and has 160 elected corporators. Chauhan’s protest therefore represents an internal challenge to the performance of the municipal administration rather than opposition criticism from outside the ruling party.
Chauhan warned that he would lock other municipal offices in the coming days if the pending works were not taken up. The report did not include a response from the concerned municipal officials to the allegations or indicate whether the locked office was reopened.
