A group of 12 councillors of the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) on Saturday came in support of mayor Chandrashekhar Agarwal, demanding a probe into the charges of corruption levelled against him by MLA, Raj Sinha.

The protestors, who held a meeting at Gandhi Seva Sadan under the chairmanship of Ward Number 39 councillor Shiv Kumar Yadav, also demanded a probe into the development works carried out during the six years under Sinha’s tenure, terming the achievement of mayor Agarwal during the last six years as unparalleled.

The Dhanabd MLA, earlier this week, charged the DMC board led by Agarwal as being knee-deep corruption.

The state government also gave the Anti-Corruption Bureau the green signal to probe into the Rs 200 crore development work of the DMC.

“Never was there such good condition of roads, drains and lighting in Dhanbad, which there is at present, due to the able leadership of mayor Agarwal,” said Priyanka Devi, Ward Number 52 councillor, who described the DMC work of the past five years as ‘exemplary’.

She listed parks like Bekar Bandh, Dada Dadi Park in housing colony, Birsa Munda Park as changed due to the development work carried out by DMC during the last five years.

“Crematoriums and burial grounds of Dhanbad have been developed by carrying out their massive beautification and renovation work. Intensive plantation and development of basic facilities like seating arrangement, lighting, drinking water facility etc have been developed as they are tourist places,” said Devi and adding that the quality of work of development of roads, drains, etc from the MLA fund is poor.

Echoing Devi’s sentiments, Yadav said, “Though the MLA has charged the DMC board of indulging in corruption, the MLA is also part of the board and very occasionally used to participate in board meetings.”

He added that levelling unsubstantiated charges makes no sense.

“We also demanded a probe into the work carried out during the last six years of Sinha’s tenure,” he said.