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Day II of Rose Festival washed out
Chandigarh, February 23 The second day of the festival saw the cancellation of several competitions while chaos and mismanagement was witnessed in other events held after a brief lull in the rain. The venue for one of the competitions was also changed. The major casualties were the star-studded evening performances, which included “Mr and Ms Rose Chandigarh”, a fashion show and a night full of laughter with famous comedian Rajiv Thakur. Rajiv Thakur’s performance has been rescheduled for tomorrow evening along with Kunal Ganjewal’s musical performance, said the officials concerned. Vendors said they had suffered losses due to a thin crowd visiting the venue for the second day. The Chandigarh Administration is mulling extending the festival by one more day till Monday, which is a holiday. A senior official said since the second day was a massive washout and vendors were incurring losses, they were planning to extend the festival. But, the final decision will be taken tomorrow, he said. The wilted roses and damaged flowerbeds greeted the visitors. The kite flying competition and Rose Quiz were cancelled. The venue for the Rose Prince and Princess competition was shifted from the Rose Garden to Home Science College, Sector 10. There was a chaos during the competition due the absence of several participants, who failed to turn up due to the rain. Mismanagement was also seen in the Rose King and Rose Queen competition held for senior citizens. Now, the on-the-spot painting competition (final round) will be held at the Art Museum, Sector 10, at 10.30 am.
Festive spirit visible
After the rain stopped for a brief period about 11.30 am, people were seen enjoying the events even though these were not in order. One event that hogged the limelight was the model competition for senior citizens, which was introduced for the first time in the rose festival. Old women and men, all aged above 60, sashayed down the stage amid a cheering crowd.
Tomorrow’s schedule
10.30 am: On-the-spot painting competition (final round); Art Museum, Sec 10 11.30 am: Antakshri at Rose Garden 3.00 pm: Prize distribution function at Rose Garden 7.00 pm: Musical evening at Leisure Valley
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Coldest Feb in 5 yrs
Chandigarh, February 23 Met Department Director Surinder Pal Singh said after five years, February had been recorded as the coldest month as the normal temperature of the day was five notches below the normal during daytime. He said more rain was expected on February 26 and 27, which will cause a further fall in the temperatures. According to the Met forecast, the weather will improve tomorrow. Partly cloudy sky, rain and thundershowers, accompanied by strong winds, are expected. The department attributed the change in the weather to western disturbances over North Pakistan and neighbourhood. Power supply hit
The intermittent rain resulted in disruptions in power supply and water logging across the city. Traffic jams were witnessed in Sector 22, Piccadilly Chowk and Tribune Chowk. The residents have been experiencing unscheduled power cuts in sectors 21, 30, 35, 38 (West), 45, 47 and 50 and in the rehabilitation colonies on the periphery of the city since last evening. In Panchkula, power supply was disrupted in Sector 9 when uprooted trees fell on a power line.
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Golf Club can't be compared with other bodies, says UT
Rajinder Nagarkoti Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 23 At a recent meeting of the officials of the UT Administration and the management of the CGC, which was convened to resolve the issue of rent to be charged from the club, the representatives of the CGC had claimed that the demanded lease money was "discriminatory" and the Administration was charging less/nil rentals from other such clubs/institutions in the city, including the Lake Club, the CLTA and Mountview. The UT officials pointed out that the CLTA was not having any permanent members. Students are enrolled for a course/tennis classes and after acquiring a particular level of competence or on the completion of a course, they graduate to the next level or move to other circuits. The facility is open to all the tennis aspirants on equal terms. The CLTA is charging a similar fee from all of its players. The CLTA has no policy like that of the Chandigarh Golf Club, which charges Rs 350 per month from its members, and Rs 500/1,000 per day from non-members. As far as the Lake Club and Mountview are concerned, both these organisations are owned and run by the government itself and are purely public in nature where everybody has equal access to them. Regarding the CGC, the UT Administration maintained that the CGC was largely an exclusive domain of its members. It added 132 acres of land was a big public resource kept at the disposal of the CGC. There was no extension clause in the old lease deed, which expired in 2008. The club has no vested right for the extension of the lease on the old terms. The CGC had also contended that the Delhi Golf Club has executed a lease with the Delhi Government wherein only Rs 4 lakh was being charged from it annually. Therefore, the Administration, which is also a part of the Central Government, should apply similar rates here. The UT officials maintained that the rental of the Delhi Golf Club appeared to have been fixed in 1991. Today, property rates have skyrocketed in Chandigarh. Therefore, the Administration had to apply a formula to fix a rent for the CGC. The CGC had contended that it was not a commercial organisation and was exempted under the IT Act. They had produced many international level players, sponsored poor children and was helping in maintaining the green belt in the city. The Chandigarh Administration replied that the contribution of the CGC in promoting golf was to be appreciated. The proposed lease/rent is still low and per member liability will remain modest at about Rs 800 per month. The representatives of the CGC were reminded that considering the "sports" nature of the club, the Administration had already applied concessional rates. In a letter issued by the Administration, the club has been asked to deposit Rs 9.27 crore by January 16, 2012. The lease period has been proposed for five years only with an annual enhancement of 7 per cent in the rent. The lease was to become effective from March 16, 2008. At present, the matter is pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
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Admn sees dengue, malaria threat
Chandigarh, February 23 The Deputy Commissioner has declared that the city is threatened with dengue, malaria and other vector-borne diseases and preventive measures are to be ensured by the residents. More than 350 cases of dengue were reported at the city hospitals in 2012 during the rainy season, breaking the five-year record. The number of malaria cases, on the other hand, went down. The fact that the virus causing dengue breeds in the artificial collection of water, stored usually in flowerpots or buckets, adds to the officials' concerns. Until last year, we restricted our actions to serving notices on the defaulters. However, the Administration has taken a stringent approach towards the prevention and control exercise. The punishment under section 188 of the IPC extends to either a fine of Rs 1,000 or six-year imprisonment, said an official of the Health Department.
One more tests positive
for swine flu
Taking the number of swine flu cases to 32 in the city, another city resident has tested positive for H1N1 virus. On Saturday, a three-year-old boy has been diagnosed for the flu from Daddu Majra. He has been admitted to the PGI.
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Spicejet passengers harassed
Chandigarh, February 23 Nearly 100 passengers boarded the Spicejet's Chandigarh-bound flight number SG152 from Srinagar at 4 pm, but around 5.15 pm the flight was diverted to Delhi due to an inclement weather. Passengers said when the flight landed in Delhi around 6.15 pm, some Delhi-based passengers left with their luggage. The rest of the passengers, who re-boarded the aircraft around 7.15 pm and reached Chandigarh around 8.15 pm, were in for a shock when they found the airline had mistakenly unloaded their luggage along with the luggage of those who left from the Delhi airport. "How can they make such a goof-up," said an angry passenger, Sandeep Singh, who said they were inconvenienced throughout the flight. "First, the flight took off over an hour and half late from Srinagar. Further, we were made to wait for over an hour at the Delhi airport," he said. Among the passengers, there were those who had to leave for far-off cities in Punjab and Haryana. A passenger from Faridkot, Shamsher Singh, said he had no option but to stay here till the time he got his luggage. Ambala resident Ajay Kumar said the airline staff showed no courtesy to the passengers and did not provide refreshments too. Among the passengers were small children and women, who also were inconvenienced, he said. Heated words were also exchanged between the passengers and the airline officials at the airport till the late hours, but till the filing of this report no assurance came from the airline as to when the luggage would arrive.
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Exam cancelled ‘without notice’
Panchkula, February 23 The students who had come from far off places said that they were not informed in advance. The irrigation department said they can’t tell the exact reason of the cancellation and had already advertised in the newspapers about the cancelation. According to sources, it was after some applicant approached the department for special favours that the exam was cancelled. If they had to cancel the exam then why were we given the call letters? said one of the students. Another student said, “It’s an injustice with us? In the first place we were not informed about the cancellation and now they are not answering our query as to why the exam was cancelled.” He said, “No such declaration was there in the newspaper.” Harmail Singh, engineer-in-chief of the irrigation department, said: the news of cancellation was published in newspapers about a month ago. When asked as to why the exam was cancelled, he said: “I can’t comment anything on that.”
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Be polite with commuters: IG
Chandigarh, February 23 The IG also asked the personnel to be polite while interacting with people in order to avoid any confrontation. — TNS
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Traders oppose power tariff hike
Chandigarh, February 23 Charanjiv Singh, president of the CBM, said: “Such an unjust hike in power tariff will lead to further hike in inflation and burden common man.” Vinod Joshi, member of CBM, said: “We will submit an objection letter to the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC).” Diwakar Sahoonja, chief patron of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, said the tariff was increased last year only. There is no reason to increase it further. Anil Vohra, general secretary, CBM, said: “The imposition of fixed charge of Rs 25 per KW for domestic consumers and raising the fixed charges for commercial consumers from Rs 70 to Rs 110 is an additional burden over and above the charged electricity consumption.” The delegation of Chandigarh Business Council in a meeting with SK Chadha, Chief Engineer, discussed the issues related with power tariff. The meeting was attended by traders: Jagdish Arora, Kamaljit Singh Panchhi, Neeraj Bajaj, LC Arora, JPS Kalra and Arun Talwar. The Chandigarh Residents Social Welfare Federation also flayed the proposed hike in electricity tariff for the city consumers.
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Accused wants B-class facilities in jail
Hina Rohtaki Tribune News Service
Panchkula, February 23 He said that he has retired as a major from the Indian Army and should be allowed B-class facilities in the jail. The Panchkula police has been sent a notice in this regard. Harish has been accused of physically abusing three minors, two five-year-old twin girls and an eight-year-old girl in his locality in Sector 12, Panchkula. — TNS
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Cancellation of school function annoys parents
Chandigarh, February 23 Though the rain played spoilsport in the function, the parents agitated that the school should have taken the cancellation decision a day in advance considering the weather conditions and inform the parents accordingly. A parent, requesting anonymity said, while weather conditions were out of human control, its consequences however could have been averted with better management. Several working parents said, they had especially taken their day off for to this event. The annual day function has now been rescheduled till February 28.
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Art critic’s lecture marks 6th day
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 23 Sadanand Menon spoke about art and the problem of representation in media. He has been exploring the space linking politics and culture for several decades through his work in media, pedagogy and activism. He is a nationally reputed arts editor, a popular teacher of cultural journalism, a widely published photographer, arts curator and prolific writer and speaker at seminars on politics, ecology and the arts.
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Lecture on ‘paediatrics through a genetics lens’ delivered
Chandigarh, February 23 The first session was held today in which Prof Ishwar Chandra Verma from New Delhi delivered a lecture on “Paediatrics through a genetics lens”. Prof BNS Walia was instrumental in establishing the Advanced Pediatrics Centre, a hospital exclusively for children within the PGI. He has been a renowned teacher and researcher.
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In a major goof-up by a private airliner, over 50 passengers were stranded for hours at the Chandigarh domestic airport after they found their luggage was left at the Delhi airport.