Amritsar has turned into hell: AAP MLA highlights city's poor amenities

AAP MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh on Tuesday raised the issue of poor civic amenities in Amritsar, such as sewerage, drinking water and garbage collection, claiming the "city has turned into hell".

Raising the issue on the second day of the three-day long Punjab Assembly session through a call attention notice, the ruling party legislator also pointed out the "lackadaisical" attitude of the officers concerned, claiming that they were not following the directions of ministers.

"I would like to call the attention of the importance which is related to the basic civic amenities like sewerage, drinking water and garbage lifting in Amritsar City. Complete failure of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation in tackling these issues has posed a life threat to the citizens as they have been suffering from waterborne infectious diseases," he said in the House.

"People of Amritsar are living in a pitiable condition because of lack of basic civic amenities mentioned above," he said.

"Today, this city has turned into hell," Singh, who is the MLA from Amritsar North, alleged.

Residents are not getting clean drinking water and there is no one to collect garbage from houses, he said.

Replying to the call attention notice, Local Government Minister Balkar Singh said Amritsar holds a special place in the hearts of all Punjabis for its religious, historical, and cultural importance.

The government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is fully cognizant of these challenges faced by Amritsar and is taking multiple steps to upgrade the provision of civic amenities in the city, he said in the House.

The Amritsar North MLA said the biggest issue which the city was facing was garbage collection, sewerage and drinking water.

It is a sorry state of affairs as officers are not listening even to the minister concerned, he said, and demanded that the accountability of the officers be fixed in the matter.