In a bizarre protest, Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam councillors today resorted to shoe-polish to raise money to "grease the palms" of district authority officials so that they release its pending Infrastructure Fund.
"To mount pressure on the district administration and get the Infrastructure Development Fund released, the protesting councillors today organised shoe polish programme at Rs 5 per pair. An amount of Rs 1,142 was collected and the money will be sent to Lucknow by draft to grease the palms of government officials to ensure an early release of fund," BJP MLC Rajender Tyagi said.
Mayor Teluram Kamboj and Councillors from all major political parties including BJP, Congress, BSP and Independents have been demanding release of Rs 160 crore Infrastructure Development Fund by the Uttar Pradesh government for the development of Ghaziabad city.
The MLCs have been on a sit-in since four days to protest at the District headquarters and decided to go for a shoe polish program on the fifth day of their protest today.
They also burnt an effigy of the district administration to protest against the lackadaisical attitude of the State Government in releasing the funds.
"Ghaziabad's development has come to a hault in the absence of IDF which is lying idle with the state government and people are being inconvenienced due to the civic problems," Tyagi added.
He said the protesting MLCs will beg for alms from advocates and litigants visiting the collectorate court compound to mount pressure on the state government.
