Chandigarh, August 22
Another life was snuffed out on a city road when a scooterist hit stray cattle near Sectors 31/32/46/47 roundabout on August 17.

The deceased was identified as 42-year-old Atma Ram, who was the sole breadwinner of the family. Atma Ram, a resident of Sector 46-A, was working as mess cook at the 229 transit camp, APO, Hallo Majra. He was on his way back home when the scooter he was riding rammed into stray cattle. He was rushed to the GMCH-32. Atma Ram’s younger brother Milap Chand said his brother suffered head injuries and he breathed his last this evening.

He blamed the Mayor and MC officials for their failure to check the stray cattle menace. The body will be handed over to the family after post-mortem tomorrow.

Milap Chand said he would file a police complaint against the Mayor and MC officials for not performing their duties. 

Chandigarh, August 22
Unaware of his death, the family of 42-year-old Atma Ram, who succumbed to his injuries at the GMCH-32 today, is still praying for his life.

Atma Ram’s brother Milap Chand said they had not informed the family about his death. “We will inform his wife and children after we get his body after post-mortem,” he said.

Atma Ram’s wife and children were still praying his life. Atma Ram’s wife said her husband was battling for life at the GMCH-32.

Atma Ram’s relatives were coming to his house to inquire about his health.

Atma Ram’s brother Milap Chand said the elder daughter of his brother was married and his brother was planning to the marriage of the second daughter. “I don’t know how to tell my bhabhi and children about Atma Ram’s death,” he said. 

Chandigarh, August 22
Residents of the city continued to reel under acute water crisis due to leakage in the pipeline of the Kajauli Water Works, Mohali. Residents complained of low water pressure throughout the day. Many sectors had to go without water.

Rajinder Pandey, a resident of Sector 44, said the water supply had been disrupted since Thursday and the authorities concerned were yet to swing into action.

Sanjeev Singh of Sector 10 said the authorities should rectify the fault so that the water supply could be restored.

MC Commissioner Vivek Partap Singh said they were in touch with officials of the Punjab Government and were hopeful that the damaged pipeline would be repaired soon.

Residents said the MC tankers were seen supplying water in some of the ‘VIP’ areas of the city.

Sham Kumar of Sector 46 said the MC should supply water through tankers in all sectors.

Chandigarh, August 22
Dead flies and mosquitoes were found in the mid-day meal served to students of Government High School, Colony No. 4, today. Perturbed at the unhygienic food being served to students, residents of the colony gathered on the school premises and raised slogans against the administration.

The students were served rajmah, chapattis, flies and mosquitoes. The food was prepared at centralised mid-day meal kitchen of the Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 42.

The school staff spotted dead flies and mosquitoes in rajmah and informed the supervisor who came to deliver the food. The officials of the education department and the institute were also apprised of the situation.

Principal of the school Surinderpal Kaur said the food was not served to the children. Food from another centralised kitchen was given to the students. Officials of the UT Health Department also collected the samples of the adulterated food, said the principal.

Deputy DEO Shiv Kumar Sharma and mid-day meal inspector posted at the hotel management institute Ajit Singh Sethi reached the school but failed to pacify the protesters. Activists of the BJP also joined the protesters.

Member of school management committee Shashi Shankar Tiwari said it was a serious issue and it showed the laxity on the part of the institute and demanded an inquiry.

A member of local unit of the BJP, Rajkumari Mishra, said if the administration could not provide hygienic food to the students, the scheme should be withdrawn and the students should be given money to buy food.

Bharati Tyagi, head of the Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, however, maintained that the institute was not at fault. She said the meal was supplied to 25 government schools today and no one else complained. The mid-deal meal inspector inspected the food before it was sent to schools.

“There is a possibility that the food may have got contaminated during loading or unloading or when it was being served in the school,” she said.

“The institute had been preparing food for over 20,000 students everyday for the past five years and we have not received a single complaint to date about the quality of food,” claimed Bharati Tyagi.

Meanwhile, the UT Education Department has expelled the mid-day meal supervisor, Amrik Singh for negligence. The department would also order an inquiry into the incident. 

Chandigarh, August 22
All is not well with the financial health of the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO), if the performance report from April to June is any indication.

Coinciding with the decision of the board of members of the corporation not to given extension in service to retiring employees, the report states that barring four units, Steel Depot, Park View Hotel, Chef Lakeview, boating and petrol pumps, the other major units have reported losses.

The flagship hotel of CITCO, Hotel Mountview has reported losses to the tune of Rs 3 crore due to decrease in profitability. The unit turnover at Rs 4.20 crore was about Rs 2.95 crore low than the turnover of Rs 7.15 crore achieved during the corresponding period last year. The turnover decreased due to a drop in room sales that were down by Rs 2.02 crore. The room occupancy was about 30 per cent and the sales from food sales and banquet hall went down.

Similarly, Hotel Shivalik View has shown a dip in profits by Rs 24 lakh. The revenue from rooms fell by Rs 16 lakh. CITCO spent Rs 8 crore on the renovation of certain amenities at the hotel last year and again an agenda of spending Rs 97 lakh for the renovation of rooms has been approved.

At a time when the two main hotels of the corporation are suffering losses, the budget of Park View Hotel has shown an increase in the revenue.

"When the occupancy dropped at Hotels Mountview and Shivalik View, it rose in Park View Hotel. Against 10, 519 rooms booked till June 2012, 12,274 rooms were booked during this period. After accounting for expenses, the unit earned a profit of Rs 1.50 crore as against Rs 1.15 crore achieved in the corresponding period last year.

Due to the inflow of weekend revellers, Chef Lakeview shows an increase in profit from Rs 46.38 lakh to Rs 77.26 lakh. However, once a popular eating joint of the corporation suffered losses to the tune of Rs 5.29 lakh due to the decrease in the franchise fee and increase in expenses. Similarly, the CITCO canteen at the UT Secretariat has reported losses to the tune of Rs 21.55 lakh against Rs 19.17 lakh in the corresponding period last year. 

Chandigarh, August 22
Missing a hatrick in the Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) elections the Akshaya-Kahlid group lost the polls against the Devinder group that won four out of the total five posts of office-bearers and 12 seats out of 13 seats of executive members.

Devinder Singh of the Department of Law became the new PUTA president after defeating sitting PUTA president Mohammed Khalid of the Department of Evening Studies.

While Devinder bagged 366 votes, Khalid managed to secure 223 votes only.

Devinder group has promised to get the retirement age of teachers enhanced from 60 to 65 years and recruitment of faculty at all levels at the earliest.

The only post Devinder group lost was that of the secretary, which was bagged by Jayanti Dutta of Khalid group who got re-elected on the post after defeating Parveen Goyal with a margin of 22 votes. While Jayanti bagged 306 votes Goyal managed only 284 votes.

Chandigarh, August 22
UT Adviser KK Sharma today inaugurated the 41st Community Centre of the city, developed by the municipal corporation at Sector 27-B.

The Adviser appreciated the efforts made by MC officials. He said that he had discussed regarding opening of E-Sampark Centre within the community centre campus with the Secretary, IT, Chandigarh Administration, and after completing the formalities it would be constructed shortly.

On the stray cattle issue, the Adviser assured that a police force would be provided to the MC whenever required during the cattle catching drives. Talking about the stray dog and monkey menace, the Adviser said that recently a meeting was held to tackle the problem, in which the Mayor and senior officials of the MC and Animal Husbandry Department were present. He said that the issue was discussed at length during the meeting and it was decided that UT Administration and MC would take necessary steps to tackle the stray dog and monkey menace.

Chandigarh, August 22
On the stray cattle menace and recent deaths, City Mayor Subhash Chawla today said that elected representatives should not be named in police complaints lodged by family members of accident victims as have been done in the recent deaths.

The Mayor said that when Harpeet had died he had thought of meeting his family members, but when the family lodged a police complaint against the Mayor and others, he maintained a distance. Same thing happened in the case of Avinash. “We have full sympathy for the family members and we also want to solve their problem. But holding the Mayor or any other elected representative responsible for the death of the victim is not the right thing to do, he added.

On his decision to leave the Mayor’s office yesterday, he said that he was upset due to the death of Avinash. Therefore, he left his office to take rest at home, but he was in constant touch with his staff, he added. — TNS

Chandigarh, August 22
In the wake up of contaminated mid-day meal (MDM)found at Government High School of Colony Number 4, Upkar Singh, DPI (School), held a detailed meeting with all stakeholders involved in the process of preparing and distributing the mid-day meal and decided to make the process of supervision, distribution, transportation, interim storage and distribution more effective.

Upkar Singh said that in the past, they had not received any complaint in the preparation and distribution of mid-day meal, but after today’s incident more attention would be paid to supervision in the city.

“It is decided that the daily inspection reports by the inspectors have to be more thorough and in writing. Also, the supervisors (while receiving the meals from the kitchens) and MDM incharges (while receiving the meals from the supervisors) will give a detailed written receipt that the meals thus received is good from the point of view of quantity, quality, hygiene and taste, he said.

He said that the place of the MDM storage in the schools had to be covered, neat and tidy and that there would be no laxity on the part of supervisors and the MDM incharges in checking the meals and all the containers they received respectively from the inspectors and supervisors.

In Chandigarh, four centralised kitchens, including Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, Chandigarh Institute of Hotel Management, CITCO and Rajiv Associates prepare the food for most city schools. The heads of these four institutes were present at the meeting.

Chandigarh, August 22
Seven doctors of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, today put in their papers and later revoked the decision.

They cited immense work pressure as the reason behind the step.

It came as a shocker for the hospital that has been reeling under an acute staff shortage.

Director-Principal Dr Atul Sachdev, who happens to be from the same department, later sorted out their issues and convinced them to withdraw the resignation.

Dr Atul Sachdev said, “It was a trivial issue related to the roster. The problem has been solved now."

This is not the first time that the hospital has faced such a situation. In the past one year, six consultants (Assistant Professors) from three departments have left the hospital. A few others are planning to quit.

The hospital is reeling under staff crunch. There are 250 doctors attending to more than 3,000 patients in the OPDs and over 200 indoor patients in the Emergency.

The selection of doctors for appointment at the institute requires a direct recruitment by the Union Public Service Commission in New Delhi which implies that no city-level recruitments are allowed.

Sources in the GMCH said due to consistent shortage of staff, senior residents in almost all departments remained under immense work pressure.

The hospital caters to a large number of patients from the region and sometimes the doctors work for over 24 hours at a stretch.

Among the total sanctioned posts of 432 Group A employees (doctors) at the GMCH-32, 168 have been lying vacant, 61 of the 255 posts of Group B staff (paramedics) have continued to be vacant since past many months.

Chandigarh, August 22
The Standing Finance Committee (Upper), which approves projects/schemes costing between Rs 10 crore and Rs 50 crore, today approved the construction of a multi-level parking lot at the ISBT, Sector 43, Chandigarh.

The project will come up at a cost of Rs 18.33 crore. It will be a two-storeyed building with a three-tier parking floor. It will accommodate 376 cars and 336 two-wheelers. The total floor area of the parking lot is 85,000 sq ft.

The committee also gave a green signal to the construction of a central judicial archives building of the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Industrial Area, Phase II, Chandigarh. An amount of Rs 29.26 crore has been earmarked for the project. It will be a five-level building (three storeyed) with 2 level basements. The total carpet area of the building will be 85,000 sq ft. It will help the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the shifting of decided cases to the record room. It will have a reprography room, weeding and fumigation room, preservation room, scanning/indexing operator room, project manager room, digitisation hall, digital media room, server and network control room and conference hall. The committee also approved the construction of an NCC complex, Sector 31, costing Rs 23.61 crore. It is a five-level building (four storeyed) with one basement.

The total carpet area of the building is 73,000 sq ft. The building will have a counselling room, clerical staff room, commanding officer room, administrative officer room, conference hall, multi-purpose hall, ship modelling room, aero-modelling room, classroom, medical instructor room, training officer room and group commanding officer room. 

Chandigarh, August 22
The UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has penalised Big Bazaar for overcharging. The company has been directed to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to the complainant.

Deepak Uppal, a resident of Panchkula, complained that the opposite party (Big Bazaar) charged Rs 90 for a tomato ketchup priced at Rs 59 and Rs 20 each for two units of macaroni priced at Rs 15.

He said when he showed the MRP printed on the items to the staff present at the counter, they expressed helplessness and said they had to charge the amount as fed in the billing system.”

In its reply, Big Bazaar stated that after the complainant brought the matter to their notice, they apologised to him.

“The store manager offered to return the amount, but the complainant declined to resolve the matter. The opposite party (Big Bazaar) even offered a free coupon worth Rs 1,000 to the complainant, but he did not accept it," stated the Big Bazaar in its reply. The forum held penalised the company for deficiency in services and unfair trade practice.

Big Bazaar at Elante Mall, Industrial Area, was directed to refund the overcharged amount of Rs 41. Apart from Rs 10,000 as compensation, the forum asked the company to pay Rs 5,000 as litigation costs to the complainant. 

Chandigarh, August 22
The face-off between Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Shayin and PCS officer Amandeep Kaur cost her three important positions, as in a reshuffling of the UT departments, she was only given the charge of the CGM, CITCO.

Amandeep Kaur has been given the charge of the chief general manager (CGM) of CITCO. Earlier, she was holding the charge of the SDM (South), joint secretary, food and supplies, and secretary, Red Cross.

Tilak Raj, who was holding the charge of CGM CITCO, has been given the responsibility of the SDM (South) while Balbir Singh Dhol has been given the charge of joint secretary, food and supplies, and secretary, Red Cross.

Recently, PCS officer Amandeep Kaur had shot off a letter to UT Adviser KK Sharma asking him to relinquish her of the charge of the SDM (South) as Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Shayin was "biased against her" and was issuing her explanation notices. Shayin had maintained that it was well within his power to seek an explanation from the officer for a delay in the issuance of the SC/BC certificates. After the incident, Amandeep Kaur had reportedly lodged a protest asking the top brass in Chandigarh and Punjab to repatriate her and went on leave.

Chandigarh, August 22
The Group Housing Cooperative Societies Welfare Council has opposed the imposition of residential property tax in the UT. The MC notified that the tax would be levied on residential property of more than 125 sq yds.

While computing tax that can be levied on cooperative society dwelling units, the entire land will be taken as a single unit and thereafter tax will be divided against the individual flat/dwelling units depending upon their respective area. Members of the council said the computation formula worked out to assess property tax on flats should be disproportionate to the original view of the draft of the residential property tax.

The group housing societies are allowed to carry out construction on the land allotted to them. The infrastructure created by the societies themselves is, now, languishing due to inadequate funds at their disposal and due to policies pursued by the Chandigarh Administration. 

Chandigarh, August 22
Paying no heed to the directions of Panjab University (PU) barring parties from holding road shows on the campus, supporters of different parties reached the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) to drum up support for the student council polls.

In a bid to ensure peace on the campus, Dean Student Welfare (DSW) Navdeep Goyal, in a recent meeting, had told the students that not more then three vehicles belonging to a single party would be allowed to move on the campus for campaigning or any road show. However, SOPU organised a rally with more than 20 cars that moved from the Sector 14 campus to the south campus in Sector 25.

Similarly, supporters of PUSU, NSUI and Hindustan Student Association also moved on the campus in more than three vehicles.

The huge number of vehicles choked the parking lot at the UIET and led to a snarl-up that could be cleared only after the police arrived.

The DSW, when contacted, said all the student parties would be issued a warning. He said the parties would be asked not to include outsiders and to move in small groups on the PU campus during the campaigning.

Chandigarh, August 22
The Chandigarh Police today held a meeting with the student leaders of Panjab University at the Sector 11 police station.

The meeting was called at 11 am; however, at the designated time only the representatives of the Students’ Federation of India turned-up for the briefing on the student council elections. An hour later, members of Student Organisation of India (SOI) too reached the police station. The remaining parties failed to attend the meeting.

Later, the police again summoned the leaders of the remaining parties, who attended the meeting in the evening.

Gurmukh Singh, station house officer, Sector 11 police station, said the student leaders had been warned against indulging in incidents of violence. The leaders were also asked to restrain themselves from inviting outsiders on the PU campus, the SHO said. The student leaders have been directed to inform the police before holding any gathering.

“We want all the parties to follow the university directives,” the SHO said.

Chandigarh, August 22
Putting a question mark on the preparedness of the Panjab University security staff for the student council elections, two closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at an entry gate to the south campus in Sector 25 were stolen on Saturday night in the presence of a guard.

The cameras stolen from the entry gate opposite Sector 24 were among the 40 recently hired by the university to keep a close watch on the students’ activities at sensitive locations. The cameras were installed at the gates to capture the images and registration numbers of vehicles.

The security guard, who is a daily wager, was suspended on Tuesday. The officiating chief security officer (CSO), PU, Prof Anil Monga said an explanation had been sought from him.

Dean Student Welfare (DSW) Navdeep Goyal said a committee had been formed to inquire into the case nd further action would be taken on the basis of it’s report.

A senior teacher said the university should pull up the security staff and fill the post of CSO.

Chandigarh, August 22
The Education Department has approved the construction of six new schools to ease the pressure of ever-increasing number of students in the peripheral areas.

Officials said the move will address the issue of lack of infrastructure, especially on the periphery, where there is an acute shortage of rooms and excessive enrollment of students.

The department has reportedly begun the exercise of scouting land for constructing the new schools. Among the six, a government school has been planned at Mauli Colony. Three government schools are already running in the Mauli Jagran area. Despite this, the classrooms in these schools have a strength of nearly 80 students.

“A new school will ease the pressure on these schools and will be vital for providing quality education to students there,” said a government official.

Another government school has been approved for Sarangpur. Officials said there was a vacant land in the area that could be used for the purpose. It could also cater to the Khuda Alisher area, officials said.

The department is also mulling a school for Raipur Kalan, which too is facing the problem of excessive students. Another school has been approved for the Dadu Majra and Maloya area that faces similar problems.

For constructing a school in the Daria and Makhan Majra area, the department will soon write to the Rural Development Department seeking help for finding suitable land.

The department has also taken the cognisance of the poor infrastructure in the Hallo Majra and Karsan area, and there is the possibility of another government school coming up near Government High school, Hallo Majra.

Besides these schools, the department has approved an additional block for Government Model High School, Sector 38 (West) and Government High School, Sector 39. A new block for Government Middle School, Palsora village, has also been approved.

Officials said infrastructural development has been going on a war footing. Four schools are already under construction in Pocket Nos. 1, 6, 8 and 10 of Mani Majra besides at Kishangarh, Sector 48 and Sector 49. The construction of two schools in Dhanas is about to begin.