An unusual scene was witnessed on the roads in the city as the mayor Anita Sharma was found moving in a battery-driven auto-rickshaw and visiting places. Quizzed, she said that she had been forced to move in the auto-rickshaw after the district magistrate had withdrawn the vehicle given to her by the district administration two days ago. “It was done because of the enforcement of the model code of conduct, but I have not been provided with any alternative conveyance. Hence I am moving from place to place in the auto-rickshaw,” the mayor said.
Former councillor and a district Congress leader Ashok Sharma, who is also the mayor’s husband, said that their question as to why such a rule had been applied against the mayor here exclusively following the enforcement of the model code of conduct. “We are asking every officer we meet from the district magistrate down the line as to why the mayor has been discriminated against when the mayors of Dehradun and Rishikesh are using the official vehicles. But our question has remained unanswered,” Ashok Sharma said.
He further alleged that the discriminatory treatment meted out to the mayor reeks of the ruling BJP’s malicious strategy.
A senior district officer said while insisting on anonymity that the mayor should have been provided with an alternative mode of public transport with her official vehicle being withdrawn as per the official norms.
