MCL session lasts for 25 minutes: PML-N members protest against mayor's absence.

Byline: Khalid Hasnain

LAHORE -- The 25th session of the Municipal Corporation Lahore (MCL) lasted for only 25 minutes on Thursday after various groups representing mainly the PML-N started quarreling with each other over various issues such as absence of the mayor and issuance of tenders for launching various development schemes in the areas of 'favourite' UC chairmen.

'The mayor should have been in this important session to reply our questions. But it seems that he (the mayor) intentionally skipped the hearing since he knew happening of [today's] events in the session,' said a UC chairman after conclusion of the recitation of the Holy Quran at 11:10am.

But as soon as Chaudhry Bilal (deputy mayor), who was chairing the session for the first time, tried to read agenda, dozens of members stood up and started demanding presence of Mayor Mr Mubashir Javed. Some of them succeeded in reaching the stage where they chanted slogans and asked the deputy mayor to ensure presence of the mayor.

In the meanwhile, many UC chairmen also stood up in favour of the mayor and started shouting over those protesting in this regard.

'We want the mayor here, as he is liable to reply to our questions. Who are you to behave in such a bad way? We will see you. We will also see you,' MCL member Malik Abdul Sattar quoted groups' members as saying during the quarrel.

The opposition of the mayor within the party members of the MCL house of total 319 members continues to grow since long on various issues, especially the accord of approvals to the repair/maintenance and development schemes in the constituencies of the members close to the mayor, empowerment of deputy mayors and UC vice chairmen.

Some days ago, the MCL administration advertised tenders for executing many schemes worth million in various UCs of the city. Subsequently, it also held a tender meeting, but it ended without awarding projects to contractors after some representatives of a group comprising as many as 100 members protested there, terming the same a 'worst precedent of favoritism.'

'Since we have some problems with our mayor, he should have been in the session. But later we came to know that he skipped the hearing due to meeting with PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif in Kot Lakhpat...