An Ahmedabad municipal corporator from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party locked the office of an assistant city engineer in Shahpur on Friday, alleging that drainage, water supply and ward-budget works have remained incomplete despite repeated representations to civic officials.
Jitendra Chauhan, the BJP corporator for the Shahpur ward, locked the engineer’s office near the Dudheswar water tank during the morning to protest what he described as administrative inaction. He also demanded the resignation of the municipal commissioner and warned that other civic offices could face similar action if pending works are not taken up.
Chauhan said Shahpur includes working-class and slum settlements where residents regularly approach him with complaints about sewage and water. According to him, several project-related works have been pending for between six and eight months, while works proposed through the corporator’s budget have also not been completed.
The corporator said repeated representations to municipal officials had not resolved the problems. He also claimed that the issue had been raised with Dariapur MLA Kaushik Jain, but alleged that officers had not acted even after the legislator’s intervention. Chauhan said he had raised the matter during committee meetings, although he had not made a direct representation to the mayor and the standing committee chairman, according to the report.
His protest also extended to allegations concerning road and footpath works. Chauhan called for a vigilance inquiry into the functioning of concerned officials and sought an examination of their assets and sources of income. These are allegations made by the corporator, and the report did not include a response from the officials concerned.
The confrontation highlights the gap that can emerge between political control of a municipal corporation and the delivery of routine ward-level services. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has been governed by the BJP for the past 20 years, and the party currently has 160 elected corporators, according to the report. The complaint from a member of the ruling party therefore places the focus on execution, monitoring and the administrative chain responsible for completing local works.
At the neighbourhood level, delays in drainage and water projects affect services that residents rely on daily. In Shahpur’s dense settlements, unresolved sewage issues can also leave households dependent on repeated complaints to elected representatives rather than a predictable municipal response. The report, however, does not provide an official explanation for the delays, details of the sanctioned works, or their revised completion timelines.
Chauhan said he would consider locking other civic offices if the outstanding works were not initiated. The next steps from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and the concerned engineering department remain awaited.
