The credit row over the canal water supply scheme in Manimajra continued on Tuesday as former mayor and Congress leader Surinder Singh claimed the project was initiated during his tenure. BJP councillor Gurcharan Dass Kalaa of the BJP had on Monday alleged that Congress was trying to take credit for a scheme that was initiated during mayor Harjinder Kaur’s tenure.

The scheme that was inaugurated on Monday would provide canal water for the first time to the residents of Manimajra. Kalaa had said that by inaugurating the project Mayor Kamlesh was trying to give credit to the Congress which had nothing to do with the scheme. He said that he had taken Harjinder Kaur, an Akali leader, to the area and after seeing how the residents were suffering due to shortage of water supply, she envisaged the scheme.

Terming Kalaa’s claims as baseless, Surinder said that the Congress has full right to stake claim as the scheme was mooted during his tenure. “The estimates for the works were approved in 2006. Nothing new was sanctioned in 2007 when Kaur was the mayor. During the tenure of another Congress mayor Pardeep Chhabra, the funds to be given to Railways were released. The project has been completed now. Also, it was during the tenure of the Congress at the helm that additional water was released to Chandigarh from Punjab,” he said.

This is not the first time that a row over credit has arisen in the civic body. Recently during the dedication of greenbelt in Sector 35 to senior citizens, Kaur had objected to Kamlesh’s name being on the invitation cards.