A year of controversies, changes, compromises
By Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 27 — The year 1999, which is coming to an end in four days from today, witnessed the controversial ''missing files'' case, complete overhaul of the Administration and stabilisation of the local political scenario after the Lok Sabha poll.

Though not many new projects were approved or initiated, road network in the union territory got more attention than in any of the previous few years. On the other hand, there was considerable deterioration in garbage collection and disposal, leading to higher incidence of infectious and other diseases.

Though power and water supplies remained almost normal with a few exceptions, there was virtually no improvement in the upkeep of open spaces, sector greens and even in areas earmarked for development of parks and gardens.

A major controversy was a virtual showdown between the civil administration and the police over the missing files case, which saw the country’s first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi’s quick recall by the Home Ministry after her brief tenure as Inspector-General of Police here.

It was this year that the Union Territory of Chandigarh got new Administrator, new Adviser to the Administrator, Chairman of the Chandigarh Housing Board, Home Secretary, Finance Secretary, Joint Secretary (Finance), Deputy Commissioner, new Inspector-General of Police, all three Senior Superintendents of Police, new Chief Executive Officer of the Chandigarh Housing Board, several new Directors, including those of Public Relations, Public Instruction (Schools) and Industries, besides the Commissioner of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.

Besides, the city elected Mr Pawan Bansal as the new MP.

The new-look Administration decided to invite suggestions from the public for amendments to the existing building bylaws. A number of individuals, planners, architects and professionals, besides several bodies, NGOs and others, have already submitted their suggestions to the Administration.

The Administration and the Municipal Corporation continued to dilly-dally on the issue of setting up of ward committees as provided in the Municipal Corporation Act. Though the present team of councillors has already completed three years in office, work on constituting ward committees continues to hang fire.

Another important issue which has evoked severe criticism from general public has been the failure of the Administration to allot land to cooperative house-building societies which deposited the earnest money of 25 per cent nearly two years ago. Though the Administration promised to allot the land to all such eligible societies by the end of the current calendar year, allotment has not been made till date.

It was a year which witnessed unprecedented increase in incidents of unnatural deaths. There were seven electrocutions in the city, highest ever in a calendar year. Similarly, deaths in road accidents crossed the last year figure of 129, with four days still to go. The figures look alarming as the traffic police had throughout the year remained on challaning spree.

The year witnessed a large number of suspensions, reinstatements and inquiries. Though the reports of most of the inquiries, including the case of rape of a woman attendant of a patient by a couple of lift operators of the Sector 16 General Hospital and electrocution of two children in Bapu Dham Colony, were never made public, people did not know what action was taken against those against whom departmental inquiries were conducted before reinstating the suspended employees.

Though the Administration announced to implement the Central Vigilance Commission guidelines on rotating employees holding sensitive positions with those holding unsensitive positions, a little was done in this direction. Only some transfers were made in the Engineering Department, while the public dealing departments were mostly left untouched.

The anti-encroachment drive, too, was carried out irregularly. Though a major project of repair of roads was initiated and a number of V-6 and V-3 roads got fresh premix tops, nothing was done to provide footpaths.

Though work on the widening of some of the busy roads, including Purv Marg and portions of National Highway 21, has been taken up, work on some of the projects, which was to be completed early this year, is still incomplete. These projects include Beant Singh memorial in Sector 42, a portion of which was to be completed by March 31. Similarly, the second inter-state bus terminus could not be commissioned as per schedule.

Work on the Sukhna choe overbridge on the Chandigarh-Panchkula road has been moving at a snail's pace and in spite of claims, the work is yet to begin on the Transport Chowk flyover. Even wet dredging of the Sukhna Lake could not be taken up for the second consecutive year.

On the other hand, the Administration managed to get the second road to Panchkula cleared through the forest area. Similarly, the resistance of the Forest Department was abated, as it not only allowed widening of cycle track to a 10-ft road through the forest area but also made a deposit with the roads wing of the Engineering Department to complete this road. For all these years, the department had been objecting to widening of the cycle track beyond its existing width of 5 feet.

The city had a large list of art, culture, film, theatre and political personalities visiting here.

On the political front, things stabilised in almost all local units of various political parties. The BJP, after a rift in the local unit and among its Councillors, reunited to elect its all three nominees to the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Similarly, the Congress seems to be united now as one hears of little dissension within the local unit.

Eventful year for MC, industry
By Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Dec 27 — Groupism in the local Municipal Council and lackadaisical attitude of the local administration in tackling encroachments in the town were the main highlights of the year 1999. The year proved to be bad for the local industry, with some of the electronic giants passing through financial crisis.

The year also saw a rise in the white collar crime and failure of the police in solving at least two blind cases of murder and a couple of instances of snatching. A gang rape by Punjab police commandos at the Commando Complex in Phase XI also made headlines this year. Another sensational case of two minor schoolgirls being allegedly gang-raped over a period of nine days shook the city.

The Fire Department registered 183 cases of fire against 160 cases last year. This year, three persons died in fire-related cases as compared to eight last year.

Also, the Punjab School Education Board remained in news as standoff between the employees' union and the management over the contentious issues continued throughout the year. Several cases of fraudulent means used by certain employees of the board to help candidates appearing in examinations on the basis of forged papers were brought to light by the board authorities.

In a dramatic sequence of events, the President of the local municipal council, Mr H.S.Billa, was removed from the post only to return back in a few days while taking legal recourse. The groupism among the councillors, divided on political lines, leading to charges and counter-charges did lead to development works suffering in certain pockets — a fact contradicted by the officials of the council.

It was an eventful year for the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) as it came up with a number of welfare policies for the allottees. But it came under severe criticism for soft pedaling on the issue of removing hedges and fences grown by residents in front of their houses.

A major civic problem which remained unsolved was the selection of landfill site. The sanitation wing of the council continued to dump garbage of the town in the cremation ground here, creating an unpleasant scene. The issue of privatisation of sanitation in the town continue to hang fire.

Some of the major development works undertaken in the city were the start of construction of the SAS Nagar—Balongi alternative road. Also, the work was initiated on the missing road links between Chandigarh and this town under the integrated planning and development of the third phase sectors of Chandigarh, which partially fall in SAS Nagar.

In the industrial sector, the financial quagmire afflicting Punjab Wireless Systems Ltd (Puwnire) lead to an agitation by its employees' unions and subsequent sacking of the Managing Director (MD) and arrest of the Executive Director of the company. This industrial hub of Punjab, which has over 32 major units, passed through a bad phase with some other units like ESPL, Godrej, and others facing either financial problem or financial crisis.

Kerb channel work incomplete
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Dec 27 — The development works of laying poor quality of kerb channels in a pocket of Phase X, which was highlighted by the residents a month ago, have been lying incomplete. The portions of earth dug up to lay the kerb channels have been lying as such, posing grave danger to pedestrians and motorists.

Following the reports of poor quality kerb channels, the Municipal Engineer (ME) of the council had directed the contractor to replace the kerb channels. It was also highlighted in the report of the ME that the kerb channels in front of the row of houses from 1477 to 1943 and another in front of the row of houses from 1667 to 1707 did not meet the proper specification of the composite material.

The contractor had been given three day’s time to replace the kerb channels failing, which departmental action was to be taken against him. Whether any departmental action had been initiated or not against the contractor could not confirmed. The residents have been left to suffer.

They lamented that though the poor quality kerb channels had been removed, new kerb channels had yet to be laid. The dug up portions of earth were left as such, causing inconvenience to residents. Poor street lighting in certain areas further add to the woes of the people using the roads as they have to take extra care to keep off the dug up portions of the road.

Dead phones and harassed subscribers
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Dec 27 — Telephone subscribers in the town are yet again at their wits end. Complaints of dead telephones, missing dial tone and disturbance in the dial tone keep troubling the subscribers. An oft-repeated message “the lines are busy, please dial after some time” drills into the ears of the subscribers trying to dial a number of Chandigarh or Panchkula.

The local computerised complaint facility, which the officials of the Telecom Department claim had been repaired after being out of order for the past over two months, still conks out. A visit to the main telephone exchange building in Phase 4 reveals the complaints being lodged by the subscribers in a register being maintained there. On Monday at least 67 complaints — mostly relating to dead phones and missing dial tones — were entered in the register.

Sources in the department reveal that hundreds of telephone numbers of the 67 level had been out of order during the past week due to a technical snag in the exchange. A similar problem had occurred in Phase X due to damage caused to a telephone cable by workers of the Public Health Department.

A resident of Phase XI, Mr Sukhminder Singh, said: “The dial tone played hide and seek. One moment it is there and the next moment it is gone”. At times several calls had been wasted to dial a local number. Complaints of subscribers hearing a pre-recorded message “this facility is not available on your phone” were also common.

Mr Ajit Sailiani, a resident of Phase 3 A, lamented that the subscribers with the STD facility in their telephones had also problems in dialling the outstation numbers. The problem of the ring indicating an incoming call was not complete.

The other pre-recorded messages like “this number is not existing”, and “please dial after some time” trouble the subscribers.

The officials of the department, on the other hand, claim that such complaints were few. They say that the computerised telephone complaint facility had been rectified.

Apart from a new telephone exchange with 1000 connections which was recently installed in Industrial Phase 7 E, another telephone exchange with an initial capacity of 2000 connections was being installed in Phase 10. At present there were around 21,000 telephone subscribers in the township.

Colony cries for attention
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 27 — Insanitary conditions and absence of a proper boundary wall in the PGI residential colony, Sector 12, has made life miserable for residents of the area. Broken roads, poor lighting and wild growth of grass and hedges add to their woes.

Most of the residents in the area point out that in the absence of a proper boundary wall, bad elements have an easy access to their houses. Minor cases of theft and lawlessness are reported every now and then, says a resident. No security arrangements have been made either by the local police or the PGI authorities to check this. The chowkidar comes only for night duty.

Non-functional streetlights in parts of the colony, particularly on the stretch between research blocks and the workshop compound the problem of passersby. Women employees face difficulty in passing though this area for their night duties. Sources said some persons recently tried to misbehave with wives of two employees late in the evening.

The colony is plagued with insanitary conditions in the absence of a regular garbage disposal system. Pigs worsen the situation by scattering garbage. Residents complain that pigs, being reared by most of the safai karamcharis within the colony enter houses without gates and destroy plants.

These pigs have been responsible for accidents in the area. An employee says when someone tells them to get rid of pigs, they quarrel. All office orders in this regard have been ignored. They have accommodated pigs, goats and buffaloes within their houses.

Garbage is scattered, even adjacent to the gurdwara and the mandir. Wild hedges have grown all around. Some persons have been troubled by stray dogs and monkeys.

The presence of vegetable sellers near one of the entry gates to the colony also exposes residents to danger. Mr G.S. Khumbra says traffic bottlenecks after office hours can lead to a major mishap. Children crossing the road and other passersby can meet with an accident if vegetable sellers are not removed from this spot at the earliest, he adds. The burners used by them also cause pollution. The entry of school buses in the narrow lanes of the colony can cause accidents.

The poor condition of some main roads and the poor maintenace of houses exposes the inefficiency of the Hospital Engineering Department. Due to delay in repairs, water accumulates on patches on roads. Residents lament that complaints pertaining to house repairs are not attended to in time. The dampness in the walls of a serai building is proof of their inefficiency.

Residents have demanded that the government model middle school in the area should be upgraded to a high school. They have expressed the need for a market in the area as they have to go to Super Bazar near oral dental sciences block for making purchases.