The general house meeting of the Phagwara Municipal Corporation, presided over by Mayor Rampal Uppal and Commissioner Dr Akshita Gupta, was characterised by intense debates, administrative concerns, and unresolved matters, ultimately ending without a clear majority agreement. The session commenced with a homage to the victims of the Pahalgam attack. However, discord soon emerged when Congress councillors Sanjeev Bugga, Taranjit Singh Walia, Jatinder Vermani, and Sushil Maini raised objections over the delay in receiving the minutes of the previous meeting—a query that went unanswered by the Mayor.

During the proceedings, 22 agenda items were presented, addressing urban challenges such as the sterilisation of stray dogs, hiring retired patwaris through outsourcing, upkeep of public toilets, revenue generation via advertising spaces, regularisation of staff, and recruitment of safai karamcharis on a contractual basis. Although a few proposals were approved, discontent escalated among female Congress councillors, who criticised the lack of opportunity to voice their perspectives.

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Tensions between members of the AAP and Congress escalated into a political clash, resulting in the meeting being suspended. Amid the commotion, Congress councillor Bugga welcomed the greenlighting of critical proposals, such as paying safai karamcharis according to DC rates and transferring the management of street lights to the municipal administration instead of outsourcing it.

Concerns regarding blocked drains, unauthorised constructions, and procedural irregularities gained momentum as Bugga questioned the replacement of a Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) member without formal approval from the house. He also alleged that municipal officials were shielding illegal encroachments while creating hurdles for the approval of genuine building plans. In a related issue, Councillor Walia objected to the plan of setting up a public library in a bungalow assigned to the Executive Officer of the Municipal Corporation, arguing that the facility should be situated within official municipal premises.

Despite attempts to resolve infrastructure and governance challenges, the session—much like earlier meetings—ended in disarray. Multiple councillors, including members of the ruling faction, voiced dissatisfaction over malfunctioning street lights, citing examples where lights remained switched on during the day but failed to work at night, leaving residents in the dark.

With administrative conflicts ongoing, the continued failure to reach concrete decisions casts doubt on the municipal leadership’s ability to tackle Phagwara’s urgent civic problems effectively.