Chandigarh, April 1
Chandigarh has got a new-look and a more representative Administrator’s Advisory Council (AAC) with the UT Administrator Shivraj Patil reconstituting a 43-member committee, which seeks to give representation to a cross-section of society.

While the Congress with three representatives — Union Minister Pawan Bansal, Mayor Anu Chatrath, and city unit president BB Bahl — is comprehensively represented, other major political parties, barring the BSP, are also being represented. BJP city president Sanjay Tandon, CPI president Devi Dayal Sharma and Akali Dal councillor Harjinder Kaur are other politicians on the list.

Besides politicians, it is the representation of eminent people from different walks of life which gives this body, constituted to advise the UT administration on development issues and policy matters affecting the city, credibility compared to the previous body constituted by the former UT Administrator SF Rodrigues, which was selectively represented.

The last time the AAC met was almost four years ago on May 7, 2006.

The legal fraternity is represented by retired judges, Justice SS Sodhi, a former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, and Justice Kuldip Singh, a former SC judge; and by lawyers ML Sarin and Chaman Lal Sharma.

The other prominent personalities include Chandigarh’s first chief architect MN Sharma, social activists Saudamini Bambah and Madhu Sarin and zila parishad chairman Bhajan Singh. The previous AAC was reportedly packed with retired bureaucrats and “favourites” of the powers, sparking off allegations of favouritism against the administration’s top brass.

Some more members of the new council are Father Sabastian Jose, Charanjiv Singh, Chand Nehru, Harbans Kaur Bahia, Gurbachan Singh, ML Verma, industrialist RK Saboo, Mansoor Ali, Vikram Sehgal, hotelier Manmohan Singh, retired IAS officers CL Bains, Sadanand, KS Raju, GPS Sahi and Deepa Jain Singh, Gurdeep Singh, SK Sharma, PU professor Manju Jaidka, Major-Gen MS Kandal (retd), theatre personality Neelam Man Singh, Harish C Sethi, former IPS officer VK Kapoor, Kiran Joshi, sports personality DP Azad, Partap Aggarwal, Sumitra Amarkant, president of FOSWAC PC Sanghi, and a representative of the ministry of urban development, Government of India.

Chandigarh, April 1
Sleuths of the CBI arrested five officials from the office of the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) located in Sector 9 here for allegedly accepting bribes from a Ghaziabad-based private contractor who was seeking payment for providing sports equipment worth Rs 85 lakh. The accused, who were produced in the CBI’s special court, have been remanded in police custody for two days.

Panchkula, April 1
An undiagnosed disease in various sectors of the town has baffled residents. At least two dozen persons are down with fever. They say impure drinking water is the cause.

Talking to the Chandigarh Tribune here today, Sidharth Wig of Sector 6, down with fever for almost three weeks now, said he had typhoid and was unable to attend office.

He said his elder daughter, who had fever about three weeks ago, had now been admitted to the PGI in Chandigarh.

He said some relatives from Delhi had visited them recently, but they had to return the next day as one of them was down with fever.

He said almost every household in the locality had been affected by the ailment due to unsafe drinking water, adding that his maid had gone on leave due to fever.

He asserted that despite repeated requests to the district administration for the supply of clean drinking water, nothing had been done so far.

Another resident, Dr Indu Gupta, working with the PGI, admitted that the area was badly affected with the ailment.

She added that the PGI’s microbiology department had taken samples of water in the area a few days back.

She said there was nothing wrong with the water, which might have been chlorinated more, though she was yet to see the final report.

VK Sood, former municipal councillor from Sectors 6 and 7, said Capt Ramesh Chand Sood (retd), president of the Sector 6 Resident Welfare Association, and he had met the Civil Surgeon two months ago.

He said they had sought the testing of water being supplied, adding that the department concerned had taken samples, but the report was awaited.

He added that the Civil Surgeon had assured them of effective steps for the supply of safe drinking water, but nothing had been done.

Sood said there were reports from other areas of persons being down with fever and warned of the outbreak of an epidemic if effective steps were not taken immediately.

Dr Praveen Garg, Civil Surgeon, when contacted, confirmed that there was a complaint from local residents, following which he had asked the authorities concerned to take samples of drinking water.

He stated that the samples were found fit for human consumption, nevertheless he was keeping an eye on the situation.

Chandigarh, April 1
Development is coming at a heavy price for the Industrial Area in Chandigarh. Conceived to be the industrial hub of the city, the Industrial Area (Phase I and II) is heading for a major infrastructural disaster in the backdrop of the controversial conversion policy of the Chandigarh administration.

With at least 77 office complexes and multiplexes-cum-shopping malls coming up in the area after the conversion of industrial plots, chaos is imminent in the area in the months ahead.

In fact, the Industrial Area has already become a scene of chaos as far as parking and other civic amenities are concerned, even though only one multiplex and around five commercial complexes have taken shape.

In its bid to turn the city into an entertainment hub, the UT administration had come out with the conversion policy in 2005 under which 77 plots were converted for commercial activities after paying the conversion fee.

The administration reportedly earned a whopping Rs 500 crore through the conversion fee and the money went to the Consolidated Fund of India.

A cursory look at the infrastructural facilities, including water, electricity, parking, roads and sewerage, reveals that the city administration is yet to gear up to meet the demands of the anticipated rush in the Industrial Area.

Phase I of the Industrial Area will be worst-hit as a number of large-sized plots measuring several acres have been converted. Of the converted plots, at least 16 measure one acre or above. In fact, the opening of Centra Mall last year has already demonstrated parking chaos in the area.

Charanjit Singh, a social activist, alleges that the administration has distorted the very character of the Industrial Area, which was primarily envisaged to boost industrial production in the city and provide employment opportunities to the youth.

“With commercialisation ruling the roost after conversion, the infrastructure will fall woefully short of the requirements in the future, stretching the civic amenities to their limit,” he quips.

Though the area has been christened as the Chandigarh Industrial and Business Park, it is still facing an “identity crisis”, as it is neither industrial nor commercial in the true sense of the term.

While industry has been alleging raw deal at the hands of the administration and its flight to neighbouring areas, including Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, continues unabated, the converted plot owners are also a dissatisfied lot. The latter’s charge is that although the administration is earning huge revenue by way of conversion fee, civic amenities continue to be at the receiving end of the authorities.

Chandigarh, April 1
It could well be called a day of inquiries at the PGI as the hospital authorities ordered two separate probes today -- one into the collapse of false ceiling of the mess on the old doctors’ hostel campus late last night and the other into the allegations of misbehaviour by some contractual sanitation staff with the attendants of a patient admitted to the advance cardiac centre for a bypass surgery.

According to officials, the PGI administration ordered a probe into the roof collapse in which resident doctors had a narrow escape. Though no one was injured, chairs and tables were reportedly damaged and it would have been worse if the mishap had occurred when the mess was full. It is learnt that resident doctors had earlier complained about the false ceiling not being properly fixed.

The second probe was ordered on a complaint filed by Seema who accused a sanitation employee, Prabhudayal, of misbehaving with her last evening while she was taking care of her aunt who was admitted for a bypass surgery.

Talking to The Tribune, the patient’s son, SC Vohra, said last morning he had made a verbal complaint about the toilets being unclean. When he complained to the staff nurse, she started shouting at him. Though the matter was resolved with the intervention of other staff members, later in the evening, Prabhudayal landed up in the ward with some other colleagues and misbehaved with Seema for raising the issue of unclean toilets. Vohra said he was at his hosue in Panchkula when the incident happened and he asked Seema to immediately report the matter to the hospital authorities.

The Tribune had recently reported about the unhygienic conditions prevailing in the emergency ward. 

Chandigarh, April 1
The UT Administration has initiated the e-tendering process from today.

The process has been started with the tenders of the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB).

In order to participate in the e-tendering process, the vendor has to procure a minimum Class-II Digital Signature Certificate from SIFY/nCode/TCS.

The CHB will publish seven tenders online, the highest of which values around 45 crore.

As per instructions issued by the finance department, all tenders above Rs 10 lakh will be accepted online.

The details of the tender will be available at <http://etenders.chd.nic.in/nicgep>, as soon as the uploading processes are completed and a link will also be provided on the portal of the Chandigarh Administration <http:// chandigarh.gov.in>. 

Chandigarh, April 1
A ‘tantrik’ landed himself in trouble while two associates of his managed to escape when an alert resident foiled their bid to befool him at his residence in Sector 39 here.

Suspecting the intentions of the trio, who told him that they could see after reading his face that he was going to have trouble in near future, Pardeep Kumar of Sector 39-B captured them on camera before calling the police.

Two of the miscreants managed to escape while their accomplice, Salim of Sector 52, was not so lucky. He was overpowered and handed over to the police. Pardeep told the police that the trio came to his residence with their heads swathed in green pieces of cloth.

Posing as followers of ‘pirs’, they made a ‘prediction’ that he would face trouble in the coming days. Pardeep asked them about the solution and they told him to bring 5 kg of flour, 5 kg of sugar and 5 kg of mustard oil.

Pardeep did as he was told. The trio told him to bury the items in the cremation ground. Pardeep requested them to take the things with them and do the same for him.

Before going with the things, Salim told Pardeep to hand over his mobile phone to them. Terming it a major source of trouble for him, they said they would bury it as well.

Panchkula, April 1
The worries for Dr Sumit Sofat, an accused of attempt to murder of his driver, are to increase again as the Panchkula police has decided to initiate proceedings to declare him a proclaimed offender.

Dr Sofat was booked by the local police after he lodged a complaint in July last year stating that he was robbed of Rs 33 lakh by Ramesh Pashan and his sons belonging to Ludhiana at Morni hills.

The driver of Dr Sofat suffered two bullet injuries in his chest in the incident. Sofat alleged that Ramesh Pashan and his two sons, Vinayak and Abhinav, with the help of their driver Ranjit and two other unidentified persons, attacked him and injured his driver Nelson who got two bullets in his chest. He alleged that the accused took away Rs 33 lakh lying in his Tata Safari.

Following this Pashan family produced evidence before the Panchkula police claiming their innocence in the case.

Later during investigations the police found out that Sofat, who was in a dispute over a piece of land since 2005 with Pashans, allegedly staged the dacoity to frame them in a criminal case.

Sofat had filed around 50 writ petitions against Pashans though in many of the cases he himself was booked by the police under Section of 182 of the IPC.

In addition to the attempt to murder case at Panchkula, Sofat was booked by the Dehradoon police allegedly for rape. The police claimed that Sofat, in connivance with a woman, raped someone at Dehradoon to frame Ramesh Pashan. His anticipatory bail was dismissed by the Dehradoon court this Monday.

Sofat did not even spare a former Ludhiana SSP and Panchkula Chandimandir SHO Jangsher and filed writ petition against them for contempt to court proceedings.

Now, after losing majority of cases he had complained against his lawyer at the Punjab and Haryana High Court and filed a complaint against him with the bar council alleging that he had connivance with the opposite party.

Panchkula superintendent of police Manish Chaudhary said the district police was on the trail of Sofat and conducted raids at his house and hospital in Ludhiana. “Now, we have decided to start the proceedings to apply in the court so that he could be declared a proclaimed offender,” he added.

Panchkula, April 1
In order to provide loans to agriculture sector and weaker sections of society in this district, the District Credit Plan (2010-11) was formally launched by Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Yadav here today.

Yadav informed that keeping in view the potential identified in the district by NABARD, total outlay of Rs 1,555.31 crore had been fixed for the next fiscal and out of this Rs 1,380.31 crore (about 88 per cent) had been planned for priority sector areas and Rs 175 crore in non-priority areas.

He said Rs 838.91 crore of the total planned outlay (about 54 per cent) would be disbursed in agriculture sector, which comprised of small and marginal farmers and the banks would disburse Rs 140 crore through Kisan Credit Card.

He said the banks had also finalised the plan outlay of Rs 21.25 crore for poultry segment in the Barwala area, which was known for poultry activity.

In order to give fillip to micro and small entrepreneurs, Yadav said banks had also planned to disburse Rs 78 crore in non-farming sector, which would help the small entrepreneurs to set up their own micro enterprises, particularly in rural areas.

Loans would be also provided to retail businessmen, professional self-employed and transporters, he added.

Urban Panchkula required assistance of banks for educating their children and also to construct houses.

Yadav said while Rs 91 crore would be allocated for higher studies, Rs 330 crore would be disbursed as loan for construction of houses.

Ashok Sangwan, Additional Deputy Commissioner, and TR Verma, lead district manager, Punjab National Bank, were among those present on the occasion.

Chandigarh, April 1
Panjab University students will have to continue waiting to get a “voice” in the university Senate with Vice-Chancellor RC Sobti ruling out any such “possibility” in the near future.

A student representative was supposed to have become a member of the Senate on Sunday.

Taking a complete u-turn over his earlier statement of having written to the Chancellor demanding immediate permission to make the Students Council president as an ex-officio member of the Senate, Sobti today claimed that some formalities were still pending on part of the Students Council.

“I had asked them to give me a list of universities where students have their say in the Senate or in a similar body. So far they have not responded, so what can I do?” the Vice-Chancellor said.

Interestingly, last December the Vice-Chancellor had claimed that the recommendation had been made to increase students’ participation in decision-making process.

He had revealed to the visiting UGC-fund deficit committee that a letter had been written to the Chancellor and a nod was expected soon.

Meanwhile, this flip-flop has agitated the student representatives, who are surprised that, while the Vice-Chancellor never cites examples while making beautification plans, he needs to refer to other universities to give this right to the students.

President of Panjab University Campus Student Council Amit Bhatia reacted to his response saying: “So far they promised that it will happen in the next Senate and now they are taking a u-turn. He had once asked us to prepare a document on the issue, but we had told him that it was the university’s job to prepare such documents.”

Amit said, leaving aside participating in decisions, the students have no access to the visitor’s gallery also. “They have gallery in Senate room which has not been used for a decade. We don’t know what happens there when these people decide the fate of the thousands of students,” he added. 

Chandigarh, April 1
In a peculiar case of impersonation and forgery, a Class XII student from Barnala was today caught appearing in a BA-III exam in place of another student.

The incident occurred at Sri Guru Gobind College, Sector 26, here when the student was caught with a forged identity card.

According to college principal HS Sohi, the incident came to light when they came looking for original candidate Parminder Sharma for some discrepancy in his dues. “The original student had forged the signatures of his teacher on a fine slip. When we reached the examination hall to question him, we found another boy appearing in his place in the centre,” said Sohi.

The college authorities got suspicious on finding a turbaned youth instead of Sharma. Following this, the college authorities immediately scrutinised all records and found that the boy was impersonating Sharma.

“Parminder had already violated the college rules and was fined. To get a relief from paying the fine for about Rs 1,500, he forged the signatures of his teacher. He did not stop here but made a Class XII student to impersonate him and appear in place of him in the examination,” added Sohi.

The police has arrested the Class XII student. A case of impersonation, cheating and criminal conspiracy has been registered. The police said efforts were on to trace Sharma.

Chandigarh, April 1
Vice-Chancellor RC Sobti, who was honoured by the President with a Padma Shri recently, became the “recipient” of a specially instituted award the “lifetime achievement award for enduring efforts in the field of befooling the entire university” on Thursday.

The announcement made at a specially constituted “April Fool Day award function” organised at the university’s Student Centre today left audience cheering as the president of Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC) felicitated an effigy of the Vice-Chancellor.

The “gesture of gratitude” organised by the PUCSC in collaboration with the Students’ Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) aimed at recognising the efforts of individuals, who have successfully befooled the university, especially the students for the entire previous year.

“The lifetime achievement award has been conferred on the Vice-Chancellor because he has been consistent in his performance. Ever since he assumed the post of VC he has been successfully befooling us by selling ambitious dreams. He always said that we were not showing him gratitude,” explained PUSC president Amit Bhatia.

When contacted, Sobti described the entire endeavour as “yet another prank by the students”. “The entire world knows what I do. So let the ‘kids’ play,” he said dismissively.

The other recipient was Panjab University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) president Manjit Singh, who was awarded laurels for “befooling everybody with his dilly-dally efforts on the issue of Central university status for Panjab University”. “Thanks sir for taking special efforts of consistently promising to start a crusade to get the Central status for the university but ending up with making a few committees. You are one of those who have till date maintained the tradition of fulfilling every promise with a committee,” read Manjit’s “citation”.

When contacted, Manjit Singh dismissed the award as a “gimmick” saying that the PUSC never cooperated with him ever since he formed the joint action committee, which had included the students’ organisation. “They ought to be giving such an award to themselves,” he said.

The third recipient was a team of students who went to attend the Boston conference, which has been declared as the “most sparking performer”. “The team made a debut on this front after one of the team members was accused of molestation at the Boston conference. The name of this team USOL (University School of Law) created conceptions about some “outsiders” posing as the students to go to Boston and unleashed a series of protests in the university. Officials got into the action and just when we thought that the committee would yield some result, they disclosed that they were independent candidates at the conference,” said Bhatia. 

Chandigarh, April 1
What is it that a class X student can do better than Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) officials? It is simple mathematics!

CITCO has, in bid to surge ahead, gone wrong in doing calculations on what can be termed as high turnover.

The board has released an official statement, claiming high turnover by its hotels, little realising that turnover and profit are different.

Instead of talking about profit in terms of figures, the board has given camouflaging figures of the turnover. A little analysis of the figures will bring out the reality.

In a press statement, CITCO managing director DK Tiwari, otherwise impossible to reach out to, has claimed all-round progress due to high-end initiatives and customer satisfaction drives undertaken at hotels Mountview, Shivalikview and Parkview.

While it has been claimed that Hotel Mountview has increased its turnover from Rs 2,422 lakh last year to Rs 2,591 lakh in the year ended March 2010, the rates of banquets, rooms and kitchen are increased in October every year.

The increase in tariff for rooms is between 10 and 15 per cent, which is 25 per cent for banquets. Even if 10 per cent is added to the earlier turnover, the figure becomes nearly Rs 2,666 lakh.

Hotel Shivalikview, it has been claimed, has also increased its sales from Rs 1,617 lakh to Rs 1,689 lakh with higher profit.

Applying simple mathematics here, taking into account an average 10 per cent increase, that comes out to be Rs 1,779 lakh. The high turnover, as claimed, is still less at both hotels.

The only saving grace is the budget hotel, Hotel Parkview, which has shown an exponential increase in turnover from Rs 678 lakh to Rs 945 lakh, with a massive increase of 40 per cent in the turnover than the last financial year.

Tiwari has said the increase in turnover has been due to concerted efforts of the CITCO team with hard work, dedication and improvement in professional skill sets of its employees, which has come about by means of motivation and upgradation of human skills through a number of training programmes held in collaboration with hotel industry professionals and experts.

“CITCO is re-ploughing its profits in their hotel properties to keep abreast of cutting-edge developments in the hospitality industry and be competitive as a major player of the tourism sector in Chandigarh,” avers Tiwari.

He says Hotel Mountview is in the league of international hotels and is the host hotel to IPL teams. Kings XI Punjab co-owner Preity Zinta has reportedly expressed happiness over the infrastructure and services being provided there.

Planned upgradation of infrastructure and facilities have enabled Hotel Mountview to retain its top position in the hospitality sector in Chandigarh. Hotel Shivalikview will undergo a major change in its look, with better facilities and amenities.

CITCO is planning to pump in Rs 6.50 crore from its internal revenue accruals without any loan from any financial institution, which indicates the financial strength of CITCO in the hospitality sector in Chandigarh.