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Licence to private builder may cost govt crores Mohali, June 24 The Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) had on June 15 rejected the company’s request for the licence. The firm then filed an appeal with the Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Mr
K.B.S. Sidhu, to reconsider the decision. The appeal was to be heard today by the Secretary, but a decision on the matter has been put off till July 2. The firm, in its appeal, had demanded responses from PUDA, the Chief Town Planner
(CTP), Punjab, and the Punjab State Industrial and Export Chafferer (PSIEC). In its reply filed to the Secretary, the PSIEC today pointed out that Janta Colonisers stood to gain over Rs 123.85 crore from the project. And in case the construction firm wanted to make use of PSIEC’s infrastructure, it would have to share a part of its profit with the
PSIEC, other than paying for a part of PSIEC’s expenditure in developing the facilities. The reply filed by the PSIEC also pointed out that since it had not been approached at all by the firm for anything, it was legally untenable to demand a response from them through an appeal filed to the Secretary, Housing and Urban Development. PUDA is yet to respond to this. It is learnt that the Chief Administrator (CA), PUDA, Dr
A.S. Chattwal, has asked for more time from the Secretary before filing a reply in this case. Though the
CTP, Punjab, had been asked to respond to the appeal again, in an earlier note on June 14, the CTP had found Janta Colonisers’ application for licence invalid. In a controversial decision, the Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Mr Raghunath Sahai Puri, had in October, 2003, granted Janta Colonisers the permission to use over 120 acres of land in Mohali. The minister took a decision in favour of Janta Colonisers, a firm owned by Mohali Municipal Council’s President Kulwant Singh, despite the then CA PUDA, Mr Suresh Kumar, having forthrightly rejected his request. Mr Kulwant Singh had proposed for the use of land for developing a residential colony. The land demanded by Mr Kulwant Singh fell within the local planning area of PUDA within Chandigarh’s periphery and a part of it also fell under the notified forest area. The land constituted most of Sectors 90 and 91. Following the unprecedented decision taken by the minister, the former CA, PUDA, in his note dated June 1, had questioned the validity of the minister’s order on the grounds that such decisions did not fall within the minister’s jurisdiction. He had added that the land within Chandigarh’s periphery should not be touched till the committee constituted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court laid down a policy regarding the land use and its change in the periphery.
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Bank manager falls
to death in para-gliding mishap Chandigarh , June 24 K. K. Tandon (45), a resident of Sector 44 here, went for tandem gliding with pilot Raj Kumar at the Billing Para-Gliding Club.The two were flying at a height of 1500 feet when the mishap took place. However, the pilot survived unscathed. Reports from Kangra, quoting the pilot, said that over the guest house of the Forest Department, Tandon tried to set right the leg strip but in the process pressed a wrong button to unlock a hook, untying the bank manager from the glider. The pilot noticed the grip loosening around the manager and tried to help him but could not save him. Tandon fell straight into a stream near the rest house and died on the spot. The family of the manager said Tandon was an amateur and had not ever tried para-gliding. He had gone to the Beer area for a meditation tour along with his friends of the Alpha Mind Power Meditation group. The body was brought to the city today by Tondon's son Ravi, who went to Beer on getting the information that his father was involved in an accident. A friend of Mr Tondon, Parminder, accompanying him, said he was informed that para-gliding could be risky, but he insisted on a joy flight. Parminder said he saw Tandon flying with binoculars but within minutes, he lost track of him. He saw the pilot coming back and narrating the incident to the friends of Tandon. Parminder said he did not see Tandon falling from the glider. The cremation of the body took place today. |
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Eve-teasing incident at Hot Millions, 1 hurt Chandigarh , June 24 Parminder Singh of Sector 18, the girl accompanying him and two others were in the restaurant when the youths reportedly passed some indecent remarks at the girl while she was going to toilet. The girl complained to Parminder Singh and others about how the two allegedly tipsy youths behaved with her. Parminder Singh and his friends got up and went up to the two youths, asking them to behave. This enraged them and a no-holds-barred scuffle started in which two group threw bottles and glasses at one another. The youths had allegedly followed the girl to the toilet in the basement and tossed a mobile phone with a slip pasted on it at her. They also allegedly made indecent remarks at the girl. Parminder Singh was accompanied by Suraj of Panchkula and Ashish. Parminder was taken to hospital, where he had eight stitches on his head. However, the attackers fled from the scene, leaving behind a mobile phone and a Scorpio vehicle, bearing registration number PB-08-AL-0013. A case has been registered in the Sector 36 police station under Sections 324, 427 and 34 of the IPC. A Sector 36 police station team has gone to Jalandhar to find out to whom the vehicle belonged. The police has identified the vehicle to be registered in Jalandhar. |
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Una man held for forging answersheet Chandigarh, June 24 Karnail Singh wrote the answers of his typing test on a signed answersheet which had not been distributed for the examination. Even the answers he gave were those asked during a June 19 examination of one of the batches of the same clerical test. He had allegedly forged the signature of an Assistant Registrar. The Police Station (North) has registered a case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 109 of the
It is suspected that the accused allegedly typed the text of the June 19 examination on an fabricated answersheet in alleged collusion with somebody. This was noticed by an examiner. He noticed that Karnail Singh had not answered the question posed to the candidates of the fifth batch of clerical examination held on June 22. It was found that the answer he typed was of the sixth batch of the examination for the same posts held on June 19. The candidate allegedly procured a question paper of the same examination and typed it on an allegedly forged answersheet. He allegedly gave this instead of the original one given for the fifth batch of the same examination. It was found out that the answersheets for the fifth batch of the examination held on June 22 were computerised, while the one used by the accused was a typed one. Twentytwo-year-old Karnail Singh has done his matriculation from the Himachal education board and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management and Information Technology (BMIT). |
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No agency for road
safety engineering in India: expert This startling revelation was made by Mr Rohit Baluja, President of the Institute of Road Traffic Education, a premier New Delhi-based non-government organisation engaged in sensitizing and educating the people, private and public sector organisations and government authorities about the growing menace of road accidents in the country and the ways to control it. "The biggest problem is that traffic management has not been defined in India", said Mr Baluja in an interview with TNS here today. "Therefore, there is nobody who is responsible for road safety engineering, enforcement and education. You go to any country of the world and you will find that all movement on the roads is governed by the civic authorities. But here in India, every thing is put in the lap of the traffic police. "The police is sometimes forced to dabble in such areas in which it has no expertise. Traffic police has done a wonderful job by taking over the job of others but there are bound to be problems. How can it be expected to indulge in traffic engineering -- a field in which it has neither the expertise nor capability?" Mr Baluja who is also vice-president of the World Road Safety Network has recently been elected fellow of Ashoka -- the Global Association of Leading Social Entrepreneurs in Washington, USA, in view of the outstanding work undertaken by him in the field of road safety in India. He is also recipient of the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award, UK and the National Road Safety Award by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India. The government had hired foreign traffic and transportation planners as consultants for various highway
projects. These planners had since completed their jobs and gone back to their countries. "The Centre now feels that the states should manage the traffic on these
highways. The states pass on the problem to their transport departments which, in turn, hand the baby over to the police. Civic bodies feel that they have little or no role to play. In this confusion, hundreds of people continue to die in road accidents". First all, says Mr Baluja, they must define the management authority and responsibility for traffic safety has also to be established. A traffic engineering department should be created in the civic bodies, proper training of drivers, especially of heavy vehicles should be undertaken. It must be borne in mind that heavy vehicles are responsible for 50 per cent of the serious accidents taking place on the roads of the country. There should be a traffic transportation plan by which movement of traffic on roads may be optimized.
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Protest march by BJP men Panchkula, June 24 The BJP members submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Ms Neelam P. Kasni, to be forwarded to the President, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. They are demanding that all tainted ministers in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre be removed. They also urged the President to direct the Central Government to withdraw the enhancement of rates of LPG, petrol and diesel in the interest of poor and common people. They also prayed that the President should ensure the completion of the Satluj Yamuna Link canal. The party leaders submitted another memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, to be forwarded to the Haryana Governor, demanding that the latter order a high level probe into the government job appointments being made by Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) during its regime. Citing the case of the selection of JBT teachers in the state, which is currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), the party has demanded a probe into all appointments made by the present regime. They also demanded that Value Added Tax (VAT) be withdrawn; rolling back of the fire tax and the house tax, rehabilitation and allotment of houses to the slum dwellers; and subsidised power tariff to the farmers. Mr Gian Chand Gupta, former Mayor of Chandigarh, was also accompanying the BJP leaders. |
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Burst pipeline leads to water shortage Chandigarh, June 24 While ground floor residents received water at very low pressure, those on the first and second floor were the worst hit by the leakage. They had to go without water since last night and the better part of the day. To tide over the crisis, the Public Health Department arranged water tankers to cater to the demand in the sector. Six water tankers were pressed into service and supplied water at regular intervals in different pockets. The Superintending Engineer, Mr Swaran Singh, said the fault arose since the pipeline was very old and developed cracks. “Our men are already on the job and the replacement of the pipe will take another two to three hours. Water supply will be restored by tomorrow,” he said. Meanwhile, alleging that the MC officials were indifferent to the disruption in water supply created by the leakage yesterday, the residents said it was only around noon that “help and relief” came by way of water tankers. “Till noon today, we were left to fend for ourselves. Some borrowed water from the ground floor residents while others were forced to get water from the adjoining sector since the pressure on the ground floor was all very low,” a resident rued.
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Low water pressure Chandigarh, June 24 In a press note, here today, the Executive Engineer, Public Health, Municipal Corporation, said that water supply from Kajauli on these days would be low to enable rectification of a leakage near Roorki village . |
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Staff found absent during surprise check Mohali, June 24 The SDM, who raided the institute around 9.10 a m checked the attendance register and found that four staff members were not present and nor had any leave application been received from them. Apart from this, two more instructors had not marked their attendance in the register. Out of the four staff members Mrs Harbans Kaur, instructor, and Mr Amarjit Singh, draughtsman, reach-ed the institute at 9.20 a m while Vineeta Sharma, computer instructor, reach-ed at 9.30 a m. Mrs Karam-jit Kaur, clerk, reported for duty at 9.40 a m. The SDM said staff members would have to give an explanation for coming late for duty. The institute starts functioning at 8.35 a m while the administrative block starts at 9 a m. Mr Sharma said Quark company had made some changes in the syllabus so that training could be provided to some students in such a way that they could be later employed by the company itself. He said that the Directorate of Technical Education and Industrial Training was keeping a good rapport with the local industrial units so that students who passed out from the institute could be absorbed locally. Earlier, the SDM raided the Government Public Library in the Phase I Industrial Area and found it locked. He was, however, told by an employee that the library remained closed on the last Thursday of each month. |
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Panchkula Diary Panchkula, June 24 Rs 4 cr for govt schools:
Free medical camp:
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Colourful
performance
by Sanjivni kids Chandigarh, June 24 Another 10-day long painting workshop, going on at Lajpat Rai Bhavan in Sector 15 concluded. Workshop for five to 18 was organised free of cost by Servants of the People Society in collaboration with Pidilite Industries Limited. |
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PSEB wires’ theft detected Chandigarh, June 24 An Industrial Area police had noticed that the wires were being unloaded from the government truck to the private one. He informed his senior officers who immediately reached the spot. A case has been registered under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC. A team of the police station today went to the PSEB office, Patiala, to collect information regarding the trucks. The police added that despite the owners of the trucks being informed, nobody had come to claim them. |
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Gang duping jewellers give cops the slip Panchkula, June 24 The team led by CIA Inspector Rathi, raided the suspected hideouts of the gang in Faridabad, Ballabhgarh and Purvi, but found the houses of the gang members locked. The team reached here in the evening. It may be noted that the police had arrested a member of the gang, Mittu Lal, from old Panchkula almost a fortnight ago. The accused was caught while he was trying to dupe a jeweller in old Panchkula by selling him 1 kg of brass as gold. It was during his interrogation that he confessed that they had duped several people and that he was part of a 15-member gang. The police said the gang comprised four brothers of Mittu Lal, his five nephews and six cousins. This 15-member gang had reportedly taken rooms on rent and would work under the cover of migrant labourers. Stolen: A sum of Rs 50,000, a mobile phone and other important documents were reportedly stolen from a car (HR-03E-5100) parked in the Sector 16 market late last evening. It is learnt that Jagjit Singh had reportedly gone to the market for work around 8.30 pm yesterday and he left his bag containing the cash and mobile in the car. When he returned, he saw that the glass window of the front door had been removed and the bag was stolen. The Sector 5 police has started investigations in the case. |
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Cop crushed to death Panchkula, June 24 It is learnt that the victim was trying to cross the road when he was hit by the Tata 409 vehicle. The driver of the vehicle escaped. Krisan Kumar was admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he succumbed to his injuries. Police sources say he belonged to a village in Hissar. Meanwhile, a case of rash and negligent driving causing death, has been registered against the driver. |
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Theft in Sector 7 house Chandigarh, June 24
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Student wins AirTel SMS contest Chandigarh, June 24 A visibly excited Jaswinder said: “I just could not believe it when I got a call from AirTel informing me that I had won Rs 50,000. I use SMS a lot – for getting information on the syllabus from other students to exchanging jokes and fun messages with my friends. I am very glad that I use SMS and that I am a customer of
AirTel.” To participate in the AirTel SMS Karo Aur Jeeto contest, all that an AirTel customer had to do was send at least 1 SMS to anyone every day during the contest period (May 7 – May 31). Over 50,000 customers participated in this exciting contest and the winner was chosen by a draw of lots. Congratulating the winner, Mr Vinod
Sawhny, CEO & Director-Mobility, Bharti Mobile Ltd said, “We are pleased to announce and reward the winner of the ‘AirTel SMS Karo Aur Jeeto Sachin’ offer. AirTel truly values relationships and this initiative is an effort to reward our valued customers and appreciate them.”
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Chandigarh, June 24
