MC Commissioner Withdraws Charges Against Officials in Ludhiana Road Dispute
In a significant development in the ongoing controversy surrounding the registration of an FIR against a Congress councillor's husband over an alleged road construction dispute, Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner Neeru Katyal Gupta has officially withdrawn the charges from the junior engineer (JE) and sub-divisional officer (SDO) who filed the original complaint.
Background of the Road Construction Dispute
The matter pertains specifically to the construction project on the critical stretch from Saggu Chowk to Hambran Road in Ludhiana. According to reports, this particular road had remained in extremely poor condition for an extended period, causing significant inconvenience and trouble for local residents who depend on this route for daily commuting.
A few days prior to the current developments, activists and several prominent Congress leaders had publicly highlighted the deteriorating condition of the road, bringing the issue to wider public attention. The situation escalated dramatically when a video subsequently went viral on social media platforms, allegedly showing the councillor's husband physically assaulting a worker who was engaged in the road repair work.
Initial Complaint and Subsequent Withdrawal
The initial complaint was formally registered based on the detailed statements provided by JE Rupinder and SDO Avtar Singh. In their official report, these municipal officials had documented that a physical altercation involving several individuals had occurred directly on the road construction site, which prompted the concerned contractor to urgently request police protection to safely resume the essential repair work.
However, municipal officials have now revealed that the disciplinary action against the two technical officials was specifically taken because they failed to explicitly name the Congress councillor's husband in their official report, thereby leading to the filing of what authorities deemed an unclear and incomplete account of the entire incident.
Current Status of Officials
Following Commissioner Gupta's decision to withdraw their current responsibilities, neither JE Rupinder nor SDO Avtar Singh has been assigned any new official charge within the Municipal Corporation structure. This development leaves their professional status within the municipal administration temporarily uncertain as the broader investigation into the road construction dispute continues to unfold.
The withdrawal of charges against the technical officials represents a notable twist in this ongoing municipal controversy, which has drawn significant public and political attention to infrastructure governance and administrative accountability in Ludhiana's urban development projects.
