In Sector 22 of the “City Beautiful,” the majority of parks are under the management of an association led by a BJP leader Prince Bhandula. The Amrut Residents Welfare Association, headed by Bhandula, maintains 44 out of 70 parks in the sector, receiving a monthly payment from the Chandigarh civic body for park maintenance.
Prince Bhandula, also the president of the BJP’s Medical Cell in Chandigarh, contested the civic body polls in December 2021 on the BJP’s ticket but lost to Congress’s Sachin Galav. Despite notices being served on the association for not adequately maintaining the parks, Bhandula receives an average monthly payment of around Rs 2 lakh, totaling approximately Rs 26 lakh annually.
Senior officials from the engineering wing confirmed that notices were issued to the Amrut Residents’ Welfare Association three times for not adhering to the terms of the memorandum of understanding. The Municipal Commissioner questioned why the MoU wasn’t canceled if the association repeatedly failed in park maintenance.
Chief Engineer N P Sharma stated that the association received payments after meeting specified norms, including pruning, grass maintenance, and other criteria. However, Bhandula defended the association’s performance, claiming that the parks were well-maintained, and the criticism stemmed from political motives.
Interestingly, the payments disbursed for park maintenance, totaling Rs 2,08,619 in July, Rs 2,29,514 in August, and Rs 1,79,438 in September, are not audited. Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra emphasized the need for auditing the funds given to residents’ welfare associations to ensure transparency in the use of government money.
