Chandigarh: Elections to 42 municipal bodies in Punjab, including the key municipal corporations of Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Amritsar, will be held in December this year, state local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said here today.  

The date of the elections to the four MCs and 38 municipal councils, whose tenure has already come to an end, will be announced after consulting Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Sidhu said. The local bodies minister said that the ward-delimitation exercise in Amritsar, Patiala and Jalandhar was already complete, and would take a couple of more days in Ludhiana.  

The minister informed that ward rationalisation had been conducted this time, where each ward would comprise a population of 11,000-13,000. Asserting that his government was committed to providing better facilities to the people, Sidhu said his department has prepared "vision plans" for the cities to implement development projects.  

"We have already decided not to impose tax for one year. A sum of Rs 125 crore will be spent in Amritsar and Rs 135 crore in Ludhiana, according to vision plans," the 53-year-old minister said. The minister lashed out at the previous SAD-BJP regime for accusing the Congress-led government of "doing nothing" in its six months. "They (SAD-BJP) are questioning our six-month tenure. But they themselves have looted Punjab for the last 10 years," Sidhu alleged.  

"You gave them 10 years. You should at least give us 10 months," he urged. He also hit out at the Centre for the delay in the release of funds to Punjab from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections. "The Centre has not sent us the GST money. There has been a definite delay in the release of money," he said, adding that his department earlier received Rs 1,200 crore out of VAT collections. PTI