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| Wednesday,
March
20, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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MC to take over paid-parking lots today Chandigarh, March 19 As many as 200 staff members of the corporation drawn from the Building and Road, Public Health and Horticulture Departments will manage the parking from tomorrow till a fresh auction of the parking lots will be made, the Corporation Chief Engineer, Mr. V. K. Bharadwaj, said. The Chief Engineer said the visitors to the parking lot would not be charged on the entry point and the slips would be given once the visitor had parked his vehicle. Asked whose responsibility it will be for the loss of or to a vehicle, he said ‘obviously of the corporation.’ The protest against the paid parking had ultimately come down to opposition to entry charge and contractor’s refusal to take responsibility of the vehicle. The contractor yesterday withdrew his staff after refusing to make payment of monthly installment without informing the Municipal Corporation. The spokesman of the parking contractor, Mr Satpal, said the labour contractor had been informed yesterday about withdrawing the staff provided by him. The corporation, in a public notice, informed that the entire responsibility of getting a slip was of the visitor and the vehicles of those who failed to get the parking slip would only be returned after a proper verification and a penalty of Rs 20. The notice also said a pass holder should park his vehicle only in pass parking area and if the vehicle was found to be in the paid parking area the same would be released on payment of Rs 20 and proper verification. The corporation also stressed that none of the vehicles, including those of the government, was free from the parking charge. New passes would be issued from April 1, 2002. Those who had paid Rs 30 for lamination would not be charged at the time of renewal. The corporation did not clarify whether it would charge anything in future for the lamination or not, considering the issue had become a bone of contention. The corporation had reportedly directed the contractor not to charge the lamination expenses at Rs 30 for every pass. Indications were there in the corporation that the Mayor, Ms Lalit Joshi, would keep the committee, formed in the March 14 Finance and Contract Committee meeting, functioning to go into the issue of parking problems. The F&CC had earlier decided that the committee would work only if the contractor deposited the amount due to him. The committee was likely to prepare a detailed report in a month before the next contract for the parking lot was given. The committee would issue a public notice inviting suggestions from the people as to how the paid parking arrangement could be made most people friendly keeping in mind the revenue aspect in mind as well. The committee would finalise terms and conditions after undertaking an extensive exercise of talking to all sections of society — traders, common persons, employees and NGOs which specialised in creating public facilities. Mr Satpal, however, expressed cynicism on the possibilities of success of future auctions saying if ‘‘we could not manage the parking lots due to an uncooperative attitude of the people, police and the Municipal Corporation, no one will be able to run it.’’ He said though the parking business was good yet managing it was difficult in the wake of opposition from all quarters. Mr Satpal said the parking company had already paid Rs 45 lakh to the corporation as against the due of Rs 28 lakh. The corporation staff, to be deployed for parking arrangements, said the withdrawal of the staff from different departments would hamper the routine work in these departments. They also said it would be difficult for them to handle belligerent persons. The staff said police force should be provided to them initially till things stabilise after the change of arrangement and the police would have to tow away vehicles from those areas where parking was not allowed. |
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Admn directed not to regularise
encroachments Chandigarh, March 19 The Bench, comprising Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice M.M. Kumar, also ruled that they might issue a direction for the registration of a case by the Central Bureau of Investigation if a copy of the lease deed pertaining to the Chandigarh Club was not placed before the Court. The Judges further ruled that the non-availability of a vital document concerning property worth crores was a serious matter. The directions were issued after counsel for the Chandigarh Club, along with counsel for the UT Administration, expressed their inability to produce a copy of the lease deed, claiming that the same was not available. Meanwhile, the Judges also expressed dis-satisfaction on the steps taken by the Administration to check the cropping up of unauthorised structures on public land in various parts of the city. It may be recalled that the High Court, on the last date of hearing, had directed the Administration to take a policy decision regarding “regularisation, or otherwise,” of construction carried out without obtaining sanction from the competent authority. The Bench had also ruled that the Administration could take another decision on extending lease to the Chandigarh Club. Speaking for the Bench, Mr Justice Singhvi had added that at the present stage they did not wish to express their opinion on the lease matter. Earlier during the proceedings, counsel appearing for the Chandigarh Club had stated that even though the lease to the club had not been renewed, the Administration had been accepting lease money. Arguing before the Bench, he had added that the acceptance of lease money by the Administration should be treated as “implied extension”. Appearing before the Bench, the UT Deputy Commissioner, Mr M. Ramsekhar, had also given details of the action taken by the authorities against alleged encroachment carried out by the Chandigarh Club and also against the construction carried out in the club premises without obtaining sanction from the competent authority. |
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Two advocates to visit SAS Nagar Coming down heavily on Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority after receiving complaints regarding pick-and-choose policy, besides resurfacing of encroachments in SAS Nagar, the Bench today directed two advocates to visit the areas where unauthorised structures had been removed and indicate if they had cropped up again. Delivering the verdict, the Bench also asked PUDA to furnish the latest status report and also file an affidavit indicating whether all encroachments had been removed, along with the details of the encroachments that had resurfaced, besides policy on corner plots, and steps taken to protect the greenery in the area. In their detailed orders, the Judges ruled that the advocates could visit one or two phases where the encroachments had been removed for finding out if these had come up again. The case will now come up on March 21 for considering suggestions for maintaining the areas from which unauthorised structures had been removed. In their petition, the SAS Nagar’s Anti-Encroachment Committee through president N.S. Minhas had earlier sought directions for the removal of encroachments and obstructions. Describing the encroachments as “illegal and unlawful”, Mr Minhas had also sought directions to the government agencies for “enforcing the provisions of law to remove the encroachments”. He had added that the VIPs had initially started encroaching upon the land due to leniency on the part of PUDA authorities. Their example was soon followed by the other residents. Claiming that the Committee had been set up with the objective of watching the interest of the general public and for awakening the government agencies into removing the encroachments, counsel for the petitioner had contended on the Committee’s behalf that the residents, in the name of beautification, had grabbed land by encroaching upon the open spaces outside their houses. The land, counsel had added, was “meant for providing essential services like the laying sewerage connections, water pipes, electricity cables and telephone lines”. He had added that several complaints regarding encroachments had been addressed to the authorities concerned, including the Chief Minister and the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, but so far no action had been taken. |
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PUDA drive SAS NAGAR, March 19 Sources in PUDA said a JCB and staff of the enforcement wing had been called to start the drive from tomorrow before the status report was filed by officials in the high court. |
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Bravo! Yuvraj, scream fans Chandigarh, March 19 The Tribune received a number of congratulatory messages from prominent cricketers and other fans. The Governor, Punjab and UT Administrator Lieut Gen J.F.R. Jacob, congratulated for clinching series 3-2 due to excellent team work and superb performance in the Guwahati one day match. Further felicitating the team General Jacob said team work in general and scintillatting knocks of 158 and 75 runs by local cricket heroes Dinesh Mongia and Yuvraj Singh respectively and then four wickets by Harbhajan Singh were the turning points in the Guwahati one-day match. General Jacob said, every resident of Punjab and Chandigarh was proud of performance of our team. Desh Prem Azad, of Dronacharya awardee said it was really a great moment for Chandigarh and him, as city lads had impressed the whole world with their magnificent performance. Azad said the real credit goes to Yuvraj first as he put India back on the rails in Hyderabad match. His 80-run innings was a treat to watch. Azad said on March 21, the Indian team for the West Indies was to be selected so this win has turned out to be morale booster for India. Mohinder Singh, secretary of the Chandigarh Cricket Association affiliated with Punjab Cricket
Association termed the victory, as a big day for India. Singh said they would honour Dinesh and Yuvraj very shortly in a function to be held by the CCA. DK Mukerjee, former secretary of the Chandigarh Badminton Association and an ardent cricket fan said boys deserved this appreciation as they had worked hard for it. He hoped for more such fine performance from the local boys. |
PUDA marks 3 dump sites SAS Nagar, March 19 It was decided that the process of acquiring or taking the land on lease be expedited. The next meeting has been fixed for March 26. According to the information available, the officials wanted to acquire around 11 kilas of land in Barialli village. A resolution in this regard was passed by the panchayat, though Sarpanch, Mr Kulwant Singh had certain reservations. Mr Kulwant Singh sought adequate compensation, regular cover for the garbage with earth and raising of 7 feet wall around the dump. The Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Mrs Seema Jain, Chief Administrator, PUDA, Mr DP Reddy, Additional Chief Administrator of PUDA, SAS Nagar, Mr Yashvir Mahajan, Executive Officer, MA, SAS Nagar, Mr Bhagwan Garg were present. After the meeting the officials visited the three sites. An official of the Rural Development Department was asked to liaise with the residents. Earlier the Punjab and Haryana High court had directed the government to identify a landfill site. A site adjacent to Sector 66 was selected by PUDA. Now the garbage was being dumped at the site with the help of the police, said the President of the SAS Nagar MC, Mr Kulwant Singh. The residents are seeking ban on dumping garbage at the site. 
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Vasectomy operations on four lions Chhat Bir (Patiala) March 19 The operation theatre was set up in a tent right in front of the lions’ enclosure. After being given tranquilising drug, the ‘‘royal patients’’ were operated upon by a team of veterinary doctors headed by Prof. Simrat Sagar Singh from Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana. Dr Vinod Sharma, Chief Warden (Zoos) Punjab, Dr VK Bhalla, a local veterinary doctor and zoo veterinary staff also assisted the team of doctors operations. Dr Shushil Sood, a wildlife specialist from Shimla, and head of Renuka Zoo, in Himachal Pradesh, too, joined the doctors to know the operation techniques. The vasectomised lions were released in separate dens after being given antidote, antibiotic and anti septic vaccines. The lions regained consciousness after over 50 minutes. Dr Singh advised the Zoo authorities to keep the sterilised lions separate from lionesses for over three months. The vasectomised lions that were given tranquilising drugs would be released in the lion safari tomorrow, said Dr Sharma. With today’s operations the number of sterilised lions has gone up to 13. Two more lions would be operated upon on March 26. The zoo authorities had already operated nine lions in October last year. Five were sterilised in 1995. |
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Feud in SAD local unit
deepens Chandigarh, March 19 Mr Riar today rejected the election as “mischievous, illegal and intended to weaken the party”. In an emergent meeting yesterday, the SAD group opposed to Mr Riar also decided to make two units of the party—urban and rural. Mr Riar said Mr Minhas and few others were not even members of the Chandigarh unit as they were voters in SAS Nagar. Ms Kaur has been made the patron of the party. Mr Amrit Singh Chaudhary and Kulwant Singh Chadha have been elected Senior Vice-Presidents; Mr N. S. Brar, Mr Harcharan Singh Sahwney and Mr Ravinder Singh Khalsa General Secretaries; Mr Karnail Singh, Mr Malkiat Singh and Mr Tejinder Singh Teji Secretaries and Mr Sita Singh and Mr Inderjeet Singh Joint Secretaries. Mr Minhas said Mr Riar had been replaced for defying the party leadership and that full new units would be formed soon. Mr Riar said the unit could only be formed with the approval of the SAD President, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. |
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Body chief alleges trespass by police Chandigarh, March 19 In a statement issued here today, the president, Mr V.B. Khanna, has stated that the policemen had trespassed on his house, while he was away, allegedly at the behest of a neighbour against whom a complaint was made earlier and an inquiry was still pending. Mr Khanna added that despite a complaint being made to the Governor in this regard no action has been taken by the authorities against the persons concerned. |
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Telecom awareness for
consumers Chandigarh, March 19 The consumer associations in the country are planning to conduct awareness meetings, conferences etc in this regard. The main concerns of the consumers are those relating to services like lack of response from t he service provider, staff behavior etc , technical concerns and finance-related concerns like billing, said Mr Randhir Verma, president of the Chandigarh Telecom Subscribers Association (CTSA). Elaborating on the issues that major consumer associations across the country are taking up , he said that those relating to service can be failure on the part of the operator to meet promises, service availability in rural areas, service to target groups, operator-imposed changes and the most recent one operator collusion. The technical issues like time for repair, service gaps by the operator, equipment quality, non-availability of caller identification, congestion and various others also need to be looked into. Billing, pay phone billing and rebate mechanism failure are the finance related concerns, he said. "These are the primary issues which a consumer needs to be aware about. Many service providers fail to meet the promises and deal with these issues, and the unaware consumer continues being cheated which calls for the need to create massive awareness", said Mr Verma. |
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READERS
WRITE Why is it that compared to Chandigarh telephone subscribers, those in Zirakpur area find it difficult to get their grievances redressed? Is it because of the fact that Zirakpur does not fall in the Union Territory limits of Chandigarh and comes under the administrative control of the Punjab Government? In Chandigarh, for instance, phone connections are available within a month. However, in Zirakpur, even after years, applications for phone connection gather dust in the cupboards and no action is taken. I had applied for a connection as far back as October 1999 and am still waiting for the elusive connection. I had visited the telephone exchanges at Zirakpur and Panchkula so many times but in vain. When will I get my telephone connection? MEENA KUMARI,
Zirakpur Kudos to PGI My 12-year-old daughter, Jyoti, recovered from a major tumor problem recently. The case of my daughter was so serious that Dr
K.L. Narasimhan of Paediatric Department, PGI, Chandigarh, took the courage to operate my daughter for the large mediastenal tumour. Dr Pramila Chari helped the case by providing the necessary OT and monitors. By the grace of the Government and dedicated efforts of Dr
Narasimhan, my daughter was operated upon successfully for her chest tumor on February 4, 2002 and she is now recovering. I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to thank Dr Narasimhan and all other doctors for their excellent services. ASHOK KUMAR,
Dera Bassi Festival of gardens The photo exhibition in the Festival of Roses was quite interesting and impressive. However, I have a suggestion to offer. The prizes awarded to the photographs were highly subjective. Almost all the prize-winning photographs were static and the photo which was adjudged first in trhe professional category was of one flower and a few buds. Anybody with a good camera can take such a photograph. There were so many good photographs which caught the beauty of the changing moods of nature where great imagination and skill are required to capture a beautiful moment were completely ignored. Photographs should also be captioned. As Aristotle aptly said, “A picture must convey some meaning, otherwise it is simply a copy of the original subject”. V.P. MEHTA,
Chandigarh Schools in
kothis A few weeks back, it was reported in the newspapers that no educational institution will be allowed to run from the residential areas of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. A number of schools have been running smoothly in
kothis. These schools spread education in every house, street and mohalla of the area. If these schools are closed or shifted elsewhere, it will not be possible for economically weaker sections of society to get their children educated. These children have no money to study in convent schools and commute by buses or autorickshaws. It would be not possible for the poorer sections of society residing in villages near Mohali to send their wards to convent schools. Moreover, there are no enough government schools in which they can study. I request the
authorities concerned to keep this factor in mind. Weaker sections of society should not be deprived of getting their children educated in schools being presently run from residential areas or
kothis. BHUPINDER SINGH, Mohali |
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A path through dung
cakes Chandigarh, March 19 Mr R.K Mann, president of the LIG Residents Welfare Association, Sector 41D, urged the officials concerned to remove garbage and animal dung from the area. He informed that during rainy seasons the situation worsened as the storm water brought dung on roads leading to water logging in the area. According to Mr S.K Juneja, general secretary of the association, the association had made several representation in this regard to the officials, including the UT Administrator and Adviser to the Administrator, but to no avail. The association has also urged the Administration to earmark the government land lying vacant in the area and to remove the unwanted plants from around the school building. Chandigarh Tribune team noticed that some of the residents of Badheri and Baterla villages had tied their cattle and were drying animal dung cakes on government land lying vacant in various parts of the sector. ‘‘We have made several representations to the officials concerned to remove the encroachment from the government land but with any result,” alleged a resident of Sector 41-C. According to him whenever the government officials visited the area, the villagers temporarily removed their cattle but the animals were back as soon as the officials left the place. |
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MC panel chiefs elected Chandigarh, March 19 Mr Balraj Singh, Mr A S
Sekhon, Ms Geeta Rani, Mr K Atmaram and Mr Kuldeep Singh were elected unopposed as vice-chairpersons of these committees. Now there will not be any need of election for all 10 committees tomorrow and day after. Mr Bhatia and Mr Balraj Singh have been elected as chairperson and vice-chairperson, respectively, of the electricity committee, Mr Sawhney and Mr Sekhon of the house tax committee; Ms Anu Chathrath and Ms Geeta Rani of the art and culture committee; Dr K S Raju and Ms K Atma Ram of the legal affairs committee; Ms Pushpa Sharma and Mr Kuldeep Singh of the apni mandi committee. The Congress today made a last-minute change backing nominated member Dr KS Raju for the chairmanship of legal affairs committee, instead of its member Ms Anu Chathrath who has now been given the chairpersonship of the art and culture committee. The BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal had decided not to contest the election and the Congress had reached an understanding with nominated members and the 3-member strong Chandigarh Vikas Manch by giving its member Mr Jitender Bhatia the chairmanship of the house tax committee. |
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Chemists’ protest on March 21 Panchkula, March 19 In a complaint to the local Civil Surgeon, the association alleged that DI Deepak Puri, had again misbehaved with two chemists of Sector 6 here last night. They have demanded immediate suspension of the DI. In a press note, Mr Sanjeev Goyal, general secretary of the association, complained that the members of the association were to protest against the DI on February 21 but on the assurance of the district authorities they had to defer the protest. Even after repeated representations to the authorities, nothing had been done in this regard, said Mr Goyal. |
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Players booked for
assault Chandigarh, March 19 The team had scored 102 runs and required 22 runs in as many balls. The fracas erupted when the ninth batsman got run out. The other team, whose members were injured, had scored 123 all out in 30 overs. When the fielding team tried to save the umpire, Azad, a large number of spectators, said to be supporters of the batting team, also entered the fray. The injured, all belonging to the fielding team, have been identified as Vikas Ghai, Munish Sharma, Karam Saini, Navtej and Akash. The police has registered a case under Sections 147, 148, 149, 506 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code. |
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YOUNG
VOICE Vishal Kalia is a person who is in love with food. But then that is not all. At 29, already a faculty member at the Food Craft Institute, Sector 42, he is also a proponent of what he calls ‘food with love’. “I have the knack of being able to test whether any dish prepared has been made with love or not. And that is what I call food prepared with love,” he
says. Vishal, who has done his diploma in Hotel Management from the Indian Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 42, has also worked at Hotel Taj Jai Mahal, Jaipur and Hyatt Regency, New Delhi, before coming to FCI in 1995. A believer of “fusion food”, he likes experimenting with all that he can lay his hands at. “But nothing is unplanned, if Indian food is to be cooked using continental methods, we organise the ingredients first. Similarly, Italian flavours are being tried in Indian traditional gravies. Despite the fact that India has a wide variety of cuisines, one ends up getting some really exotic stuff at times,” he says. |
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Condolence meeting Panchkula, March 19 Five members of the family had died after the car they were travelling fell into a canal near Dehlon. Among others who were present in the condolence meeting include Col Inder Jit, Rakesh Aggarwal and Dalip Katyal, all office-bearers of the association. |
2 held Chandigarh,
March 19 According to police sources, a team lead by Inspector Satbir Singh, SHO, Sector 11 Police Station, nabbed Ravinder Kumar, a resident of PGI campus and Paul William of Naya Gaon. Three stolen motor cycles and a battery of Kinetic Honda were recovered from their possession. The recovered motor cycles were stolen from the PGI campus this year. The police was expecting more recoveries from the accused. Van stolen Sector 22 shop burgled House broken into Mobile phone stolen Car stereo stolen Mobike stolen Panchkula
Two held for gambling Mr Manoj Yadav, SP, said Babloo Kumar, a resident of Abheypur village, carrying Rs 850 with him, was nabbed from near a liquor vend in the village, while Vijay Kumar, a resident of Sector 4, was arrested red-handed while playing satta. The police recovered Rs 800 from his possession. Cases under the Gambling Act have been registered against the two at the Sector 19 police station. Three booked for negligent driving The police sources said the driver of the vehicle, Satnam
Singh, a resident of Raipur Khurd, and his accomplices Bhupinder Singh, Mohinder Singh and Ramdhari were arrested while travelling in a canter (CH-01K-1567) towards Madhwala village. They crashed into a police barrier near Lohgarh village and were apprehended near Surajpur village after a chase by the police. The three have been arrested and a case under Sections 279, 338, 114 and 506, IPC, has been registered against them. Youth robbed The incident took place when two youths stopped Ishan Aggarwal son of Rakesh Aggarwal, a resident of Sector 12, and took the chain from him saying that if he did not part with it his parents would die.
A case under Sector 420, IPC, has been registered at the Sector 5 police station. SAS Nagar Six booked for thrashing Theft: Gurpreet, a resident of Phase XI, complained to the police that Mehipal, a resident of Guru Nanak Colony, stole electrical goods worth Rs 14,000 from a shop at Kumbhra village. |
BIZ CLIPS Chandigarh Appointed Phone connection Panchkula Seminar |
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