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Who cares about High court orders?
Zirakpur, December 8 As officials of the National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) and the state government dabble over the issue, the instructions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court seem to have been put on the back burner. Unauthorised parking of vehicles, illegal stoppage of buses and poor traffic management are only adding to the inconvenience of commuters. Officials of the NHAI admit that one of the major reasons for the problem is the narrow road section -- 25 feet one side and 23 feet on the other side-- beneath the Chandigarh-Zirakpur flyover. But despite several meetings between the NHAI and the local administration, the issue remains unsolved. Ironically, a few lakhs of rupees are required to carve out a 17-ft-wide and a 13-ft-wide road section on either side beneath the flyover, but for the last one year the file relating to the case has been shuttling between the NHAI and the Zirakpur MC as there is a dispute over the sharing of cost and earning from the roadside advertisements. The project director of the NHAI, Anil Dahia, said the local administration had been asked to get the road section widened by the Zirakpur MC. “We are working on a proposal to solve the issue of traffic congestion at Zirakpur,” he added. The much-delayed widening of the Zirakpur-Patiala road section is another major source of
congestion as the state PWD department is stuck on official procedures before the widening work begins. Mohali Deputy Commissioner Varun Roozam said the MC had been asked to widen the road section beneath the flyover. He said to tackle the problem of illegal stopping of buses, work on the construction of a bus stand at Zirakpur had already begun. The NHAI and the local administration were working on some proposals to block the illegal direct access by marriage palaces and commercial establishments on the national highway.
Proposed foot bridges (Zirakpur-Kalka)
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Chaos on Kalka section
Panchkula, December 8
Taxi drivers and autorickshaw drivers are violating rules with impunity and parking vehicles in a haphazard manner at the Shimla “moud” and the Nagarpalik road. As a result, there is a perpetual bottleneck for vehicular traffic. The NHAI had also filed an affidavit before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, stating that commercial establishments on either side of the highway in Pinjore and Kalka were contributing to traffic chaos. It will take some time before the Pinjore-Parwanoo bypass is completed and until then, commuters will continue to be harassed. “Till a few months ago, the traffic police had been keeping a strict vigil on taxis and autorickshaw drivers, but gradually it started getting lenient,” claimed Manmohan, a local resident. At Pinjore, in addition to the congested road passing through the town, two level crossings have proved a bane for commuters as well as the locals. When the traffic moves on the level crossings -- one on the Nalagarh road and the other on the Kalka road -- vehicles get stuck near Dharamandal which is the narrowest
point on the national highway and in the middle of a busy market. On June 4, a patient had died as it took hours to take her to a hospital due to a traffic jam in
Pinjore. Rajinder Pal, a resident, rushed his ailing mother to a nearby hospital, but a jam on the Pinjore-Nalagarh highway consumed a lot of time. When they reached the hospital, it was closed on account of a holiday and he had to take her to
Kalka. A long queue of vehicles from the housing board to Gandhi Chowk cost his mother her life as she was declared brought dead at the hospital.
Foot bridges proposed
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Warmest day in last five years
However, the lowest temperature on the same day during the last five years was recorded in 2007 when the minimum temperature touched a low of 4.6°C. The maximum temperature on that day was also the lowest during the last five years with 20.6°C. Director of the meteorological department Surinder Pal said this was not an unusual occurrence as whenever there were westerly disturbances, these generated moisture in the climate, which further led to an increase in
the temperature. But the warm weather would not last long. The temperature would start falling gradually in the coming days. After a rather hot day, the evening was pleasant. Dr Avaninder Sehgal, a general practitioner, said: “The weather is very tricky as people tend to take off the woollens in the evening. A cold wind could lead to seasonal infections.”
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Close shave for 4 as gun goes off
Chandigarh, December 8 The police said Sukhchain was on duty when the gun slipped from his hand and went off. The bullet hit the iron barricade kept at the
parking lot, which is at a distance of 25 metres from the jewellery showroom. Ram Pal, the parking contractor, was sitting near the barricade and had a narrow escape. Three other persons stood nearby. The gunshot triggered panic in the busy Sector 17 market for some time before
it was realised that it was fired accidentally. “The security guard did not realise that that the gun was unlocked and the trigger was pressed when the gun slipped from his hand. No one was injured as the bullet hit the iron barricade. We have recovered the sprinklers of the gun from the barricade and arrested the guard,” said Inspector Ranjodh Singh,
SHO, Sector 17 police station.
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MC POLL 2011
Chandigarh, December 8 In case of ward 14, that comprises Sector 45 and Burail, the Resident Welfare Federation of Sector 45 has decided to lend conditional support to BJP candidate Chandrawati Shukla. “We have made the candidate sign a contract, using the right to recall. If she wins and fails to perform in one year, we will recall her,” said ederation president Ashok Nabhewala. He claimed that the past two tenures of the Congress councillor had failed to impress the residents of Sector 45, following which they had decided to go in for another party. Satish Chandra Sharma, general secretary of the Chandigarh Social Welfare Council of Sectors 49, 50 and 51, falling under ward 13, said they had decided to go for a Congress candidate due to the non-performance of the BSP councillor. “Southern sectors are the most neglected areas in the city. There has been no development here in the past five years. We have now decided to vote for Congress candidate Harpool Chander Kalyan,” he said. Justifying the decision, Sharma said, “Kalyan is a sitting councillor from ward 7. We feel that he has carried out development works in his current ward. We expect him to take up major issues of these sectors in the House.” Playing safe, RWAs were also analysing promises and claims of various candidates in their wards, on the basis of which they were deciding on the candidates to support. Iqbal Singh Dhesi, president of the Resident Welfare Association of Sector 36-D, said nobody had approached them yet, but they would unanimously support a candidate who had development on the agenda. At present, Surinder Jagota of the BJP was the councillor from ward 4, which comprised Sectors 23, 24 and 36.
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Door to door they go
Chandigarh, December 8 Arun Goyal, BJP candidate from ward 3, went door to door and discussed problems of residents. His Congress rival Pardeep Chhabra also campaigned in Sector 22 and met residents to garner support. Three associations came forward to extend support to Congress candidate Arshad Khan in ward 26. The Motor Mechanics Welfare Association pledged support to him. They shared their problems like the anti-encroachment drive carried on in the area. The Safai Karamchari Union and the Mani Majra EWS Resident Welfare Association also rendered support to Khan. The election campaign of Arun Sood, BJP candidate for ward 8, focused on the participatory reach of party workers to each household in the ward. The campaign was carried out by three teams, comprising senior citizens, women and the youth. Mukesh Bassi, Congress candidate from ward 17, was going all out in his election campaign. He went for a door-to-door campaign, joined by a large number of supporters and friends, and interacted with many residents. Davesh Moudgil, BJP candidate from ward 22, was busy throughout the day, along with party workers, campaigning across the length and breath
of ward 22. A meeting of residents of Universal Enclave, Sector 48, was held in the evening, which was addressed by BJP leaders Satya Pal Jain and Kiron Kher.
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Sanitation Lucky’s top priority
Chandigarh, December 8 Stating that his was the only ward which had no rift, rebel or opposition within, he said he was sure that he would win by the biggest margin. Revealing his manifesto, he said streamlining sanitation in the ward would be the main issue for him. He stated that he would speed up construction of the ‘sehaj safai kendra’ in the ward, which had been approved long back, but work on which was yet to begin. Other issues included the maintenance of parks, drainage system, community centres, government houses and bus queue shelters, he said. A check on the stray dog menace, musical fountains in parks and modern streetlights would also be taken care of, he added.
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Opposition harps on bias
Chandigarh, December 8 At the same time, councillors in the Opposition have been carrying an equally long list of
works approved in their wards, which could never take off ‘because of political reasons’. During media interaction here today, Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee president BB Behl highlighted the achievements of his party in the past five years. He stated that the non-performance of sitting opposition councillors in their respective wards was the main reason for the wards lagging behind in the overall development
of the city. The Opposition had been carrying a list of projects in the wards, which were duly approved by the House during the Congress regime, but had
never materialised. An example was ward 16, represented by BJP councillor Rajesh Kumar Bittu. The renovation of infrastructure at the community centre in Sector 36 had not commenced, though funds were sanctioned under MPLAD Fund. Till date, even drawings have not been approved. The project of the community centre in Hallo Majra, part of ward 23, for which land had been allotted six years ago, was another example of work not seeing the light of the day. This ward was represented by BJP councillor Ram Lal, who kept raising the issue in the General House, but to no avail. Another instance was the re-carpeting of a road at Hallo Majra, with work allotted in February, but yet to begin. Even in ward 9, represented by rebel Congress councillor Jagjit Singh Kang, all approved development work had been hanging fire for the past one year as he had opposed the Mayor. Around a year back, internal roads of Sector 40, a part of this ward, were dug up for re-carpeting, but till date, only some portions had been carpeted. Ram Lal alleged that development agenda items of opposition leaders were not even tabled in the General House during the Congress tenure. Referring to the change of water pipeline to Ram Darbar, he said an estimate of Rs 1 crore had been prepared more than a year ago, but not tabled in the House till date. He said the lack of development in wards of opposition councillors clearly showed the bias of the Congress against residents of
those areas. Harjinder complains
SAD councillor Harjinder Kaur complained to the Election Commissioner that Additional Municipal Commissioner and MC Vigilance Officer Lalit Siwach was hand-in-glove with ruling party councillor Chander Mukhi Sharma. She accused the official of stopping development works in ward 15, which had been going on since June. The latest example she cited was of carpeting of V-6 roads and footpaths at Sector 44-D, which were stopped past
night.
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3900 policemen on poll duty
Chandigarh, December 8 DSP Ashish Kapoor said 31 polling stations in the city had been recognised as sensitive, where extra force would be deployed. Police sources said the polling stations at Dhanas, Mauli Jagran colony, Chaman Colony, Hallo Majra, Ram Darbar,
Pandit Colony at Kajheri, Dadu Majra colony and village, Sector-25 colony, Babu Dham colony, Colony Number 4, Indira Colony, Nehru Colony and Colony Number 5 had been identified as sensitive. “The sensitive polling stations have been identified on the basis of population density, narrow approach roads and political rivalry intensity. Of the 3,900 policemen, 2100 are deputed at polling
stations while 270 will be patrolling in ward areas and 50 will be deployed for distribution and counting,” said the DSP. On the basis of intelligence reports, the police had not ruled out the possibility of any untoward incident. There was no polling station in the hypersensitive category. In each ward, the Chandigarh Police had constituted five-membered patrol parties, headed by an non-gazetted officer and a head constable.
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misuse charges
Chandigarh, December 8 UT Finance Secretary VK Singh admitted that the charges were high and so, most violators went in for appeal, resulting in pendency and non-recovery of fine. Another senior official was of the view that the high misuse charges were not meant for revenue collection. “It is a deterrent so that owners of the sites do not dare to flout rules,” he said. The fine recovery rate before the revision in 2007 was 13.34 per cent. After revision, it fell to 1.36 per cent. The authorities had recovered Rs 2.87 crore at earlier rates. After the revision of rates, they had recovered Rs 49.06 crore. Another predicament was the status of about 50 violators who had paid up under revised rates. The estate office had collected Rs 65 lakh from the violators as misuse charges. VK Singh said the issue was complex and needed to be studied in detail. “I am studying the issue and we will hold a meeting to decide,” he said. The proposal was put forward on August 25 to then UT Home Secretary Ram Niwas as the department was then under the office of Home Secretary. The Home Secretary headed a meeting on September 22, two days before his repatriation to his parent state Haryana. The meeting did not yield any result as he sent the proposal back to the estate office for reconsideration. He suggested logical deliberation on the issue again. The same proposal was sent to the office of the Home Secretary in mid-October.
Local traders, industrialists up in arms
Local traders and industrialists are up in arms over the rates of misuse charges. The fines imposed for minor violations run into lakhs, enough to ruin any businessman, say members of the Joint Action Committee of Chambers of Chandigarh Industries. The Administration has modified the Estate Rules, under which misuse charges have been revised, just two years after enactment in 2007, and made those effective retrospectively, they rue.
Higher and across the board as well
In 2007, the office had revised misuse charges to Rs 500 per sq ft. Prior to that, the charges were lesser. For residential and institutional premises, those were Rs 50 per sq yd in case of less than 25 per cent of the site and Rs 100 per sq yd in case of 25 per cent or more of the site. For commercial purposes, those were Rs 20 per sq ft on ground floor, Rs 10 per sq ft on upper floors and basement and Rs 40 sq yd for open area.
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Special audit to begin from Monday
Chandigarh, December 8 “Initially, a team of auditors will go through the account records of last year. If needed, previous year records will also be scrutinised,” said sources. Today, the team met Parshuram Kavle, UT Registration and Licencing Authority, and apprised him of the requirements. The auditors have asked for accounts of one year, a rooms and staff members’ assistance. “The department, which has already been reeling under staff crunch, will not be able to provide employees to the auditors,” said an official of the RLA. It is to be noted that an embezzlement of about Rs 5.60 lakh was unearthed during an inspection by former UT Additional Deputy Commissioner ML Sharma in October. The amount in question, concerning as many as 11 transactions, was not deposited in the treasury as per rules and regulations. When the fraud came to the light, an unidentified depositor all of a sudden had deposited the amount of Rs 5.60 lakh in the UT Administration’s Treasury under the RLA head on November 1. Recently, the UT administration constituted a one-member committee, consisting of CL Lakhanpal, a retired IAS officer, Haryana cadre, for conducting an inquiry. The UT Police has also been investigating the matter following the registration of an FIR against 10 officials of the department, including seven contractual employees (all data entry operators), under Sections 409 and 420, IPC at the Sector 17 police station on November 9. Lakhanpal is yet to begin the inquiry. Misappropriation
An embezzlement of about Rs 5.60 lakh was unearthed during an inspection by former UT Additional Deputy Commissioner ML Sharma in October. The amount in question, concerning as many as 11 transactions, was not deposited in the treasury as per rules and regulations.
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Police tightens noose around drunk bus drivers
Chandigarh, December 8 Two barricades were set up last night near the Tribune roundabout and at the transport light point. Around 85 bus drivers were checked for the alcohol content in their blood. Out of them, only one bus driver belonging to a private bus was challaned. The police impounded a Libra bus ( PB 13 Y 0047) and challaned the driver identified as Mahinder Pal. The alcohol content in his blood was found to be 107 ml, while the permissible limit is 30 ml. Deputy Superintendent of Traffic (DSP) Vijay Kumar said they had started the drive to curb the menace of drunk driving following the accident reported last week in which a bus and a Toyota collided in Sector 49 and 25 persons were injured. “We checked a number of CTU, Punjab and Haryana Roadways bus drivers for alcohol content in their blood and have challaned the driver of a private bus. The drive has been initiated keeping in view the increased number of accidents involving bus drivers,” he said.
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ASC celebrates 251st anniversary
Chandigarh, December 8 On the occasion, Maj Gen GP Singh, head of the ASC Branch at Command Headquarters, paid tributes to logisticians, who laid down their lives in the line of duty, and laid a wreath at the Veer Smriti War Memorial. Several functions, including a Barakhana and a social get-together for serving soldiers and veterans, were also organised. Lt Gen SR Ghosh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, also extended his greetings to all ranks, civilian employees, their families and veterans of the Corps on the day. He appreciated the professionalism displayed by the personnel of ASC both during war and peace. The corps has also contributed handsomely to the field of sports and adventure.
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Man electrocuted
Chandigarh, December 8 Hailing from a remote village in Uttar Pradesh, Ram Kumar was living alone in a one- room rented accommodation in Halo Majra. He is survived by his wife and a son who live in the village. Inspector Jaspal Singh, SHO, Sector 31 police station, said the body of the victim was lying on the floor and his foot was entangled with a wire and the toe was charred. A knife and a heater was lying nearby and the electricity meter was also open. “While repairing the heater the fuse went off and he perhaps tried to check the wires when he came in contact with a live wire and died on the spot,” he said. Ram Kumar was employed as a labourer at a factory in Industrial Area. The police have initiated inquest proceedings.
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Healthy food habits
Nurturing values of healthy food habits, the nursery wing of Saupin’s-32, conducted an educational session to promote awareness among kids to eat healthy and nutritious food. The children were introduced to green vegetables like peas, carrots especially available during the winter season and were told about the facts of eating right and avoid junk food as far as possible. An interesting power point presentation was also shown to the children.
Felicitated
Prof RJ Dash, DM, FRCP (London), fomer head, department of endocrinology, PGI, Chandigarh, was felicitated by Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India, for his pioneering work and scientific contribution to the field of endocrinology at the 41st Annual Conference of the Endocrine Society of India , held at Pune. Dash is the first DM in Endocrinology in India and has served PGI from 1969 - 2003. He is a recipient of Dr BC Roy National Award for developing endocrinology as a superspeciality. His major research awards include: Shakuntala Amir Chand Award (1976) and Raja Ravi Sher Singh of Kalsia Memorial Award (1980) from ICMR.He is a founder member and former president of the endocrine society of India.
Doc awarded
The Indian Rheumatology Association awarded the Zydus oration for the year 2011 to Dr Aman Sharma, assistant professor in the department of internal medicine at PGIMER, Chandigarh. Aman delivered the oration on uncommon rheumatic diseases at the recently concluded national conference of Indian Rheumatology Association IRACON 2011 held at CMC Vellore.
Sanitation drive
Sanitation drive was launched on Thursday in Vikas Nagar and Mauli Jagran Colony by the sanitation wing of the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh. Residents’ cooperation and awareness in management of solid waste is of utmost importance to sustain the sanitary conditions in these areas.Proper disposal of solid waste by the residents through door-to-door collector or by self depositing in the garbage containers placed at frequent intervals will ensure proper sanitary conditions and keep the area free from fly menace and diseases.
— TNS
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Exams put off, but college students land up at centre
Chandigarh, December
8 Since morning, the students who had their exams scheduled for today started reaching the colleges, only to find everything shut. Nidhi Singh, one of the students at DAV College, said that the day was marked with utter chaos and confusion. “Earlier I thought that the college was yet to open, however, after waiting for over 30 minutes we came to know that the exam had been postponed”, she said. Mandeep a student of Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, said that as the college management had not declared the postponement of exams they had come to the college. “The students didn’t want to take a chance by not coming to the college, in case the exam was held”, he said. The exams scheduled on December 8 and 9 postponed due to the teachers’ strike are expected to be re-scheduled after the winter vacations in January. The seven city colleges that are hit by the teachers strike include, DAV College, Sector 10, MCM College, Sector 36, GGDSD College, Sector 32, Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Sector 26, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, Dev Samaj College for Women, Sector 45, and Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36. The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of teachers and non-teaching staff is waiting for the outcome of two meetings held with the Punjab government on December 6. The general secretary of JAC, Dr Jagwant Singh, said that they had decided to wait for the government’s response. In view of these meetings JAC has decided to wait for sometime before intensifying their protest. The students have been at the receiving end due to the ongoing teachers’ strike, following which the students had also demanded postponing of exams. Exams re-scheduled in January Exams scheduled on December 8 and 9 postponed due to the teachers’ strike are expected to be re-scheduled after the winter vacations in
January.
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‘Youths of India, Pak can bring about change’
Chandigarh, December 8 Sonia, a Kuwaiti born Pakistani, is founder of Miss Canada Pakistan Inc. also known as Miss Pakistan World and well known in the international beauty and talent pageant industry of Pakistan. Sharing her ideas and dreams with the children, Sonia Ahmed said that living in Canada she considered herself a driving force for the "progression” and "liberation" of Pakistani women on a global scale. She considers their event as a sort of civil rights movements with a mission to find positive, energetic role models who will represent and inspire the Pakistani youth within their great community as well as internationally. When students asked her questions on India and Pakistan relationship she said that for a peaceful and stable South-Asia, people in both the countries should live in harmony. She further added that the situation in both countries had undergone a sea change. The people no longer were willing to be mute witness to their future being written and unwritten and destroyed by governments. She said she saw hope and confidence among young people who could become the agents of change. y Sonia, a Kuwaiti born Pakistani, is founder of Miss Canada Pakistan Inc. also known as Miss Pakistan World. She is well known in the international beauty and talent pageant industry of Pakistan.
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Schools told to submit self-declaration forms within three months
Mohali, December 8 The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, had come into force from April 1, 2010, and is to be fully implemented by March 31, 2013. The aim was to give basic education to all children falling in the age bracket of 6 to 14 years. Sources said all schools that were set up before the enforcement of the Act had been asked to submit relevant details to DEOs in the specified time for getting recognition. It is learnt that after getting self-declaration forms from schools, the DEOs will be inspecting these institutions. Recognition certificates will be issued by officials concerned only if these schools are found to be working in accordance with the norms and standards specified under the Act. Those schools which are not working in accordance with the norms will be asked to remove 40 per cent of the shortcomings within one year after which they will have to inform the authorities concerned about the improvements brought about. But all shortcomings, however, will have to be removed within three years of the implementation of the government rules. Schools which fail to fulfil all norms and conditions within the specified time will be closed down. As per reports, any school established after the enforcement of the rules will also have to fulfil all norms and conditions laid down by the government for the implementation of the said Act. It will be mandatory for the management to submit the required self-declarations to the DEO concerned. The institution can start functioning only after getting the recognition certificate from the official concerned. RTE ACT
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Chandigarh, December 8