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Admin’s no to changes in Sector 17 buildings
Chandigarh, October 3 In other words, requests from the owners of cinema houses located in Sector 17 for raising the height of the buildings to accommodate at least three small cinema theatres besides a modern shopping mall in the revised building plans will not be entertained by the Administration. There are four cinema houses in Sector 17. These include Jagat, Neelam, KC and Anand. All four of them have prime locations and at least three of the owners have evinced a keen interest in converting their cinema halls into multiplexes. Two cinema halls, Jagat and KC, have also submitted revised plans to the Architecture Department for the multiplexes but there has not been much progress as regards their approval from the Administration, apparently because of a lack of clarity with regard to the UT’s stand on architectural control. “How can we build a multiplex without disturbing the existing building?” exclaimed one of the owners of a cinema house in the city who submitted revised plans for his multiplex building several months ago. “It is
impossible to accommodate three or four cinema theatres plus a shopping mall in the existing structure. The elevation of the building will have to be raised by at least 15 feet. The UT Administration must consider all aspects of the problem before making up its mind on changes in the architectural control.” As things stand today, owners of cinema houses in Sector 17 are stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. “On the one hand, the Administration is not permitting any changes in the existing structures. On the other, cinema house business is no longer viable. No movie lasts beyond a week or so in a big cinema hall. We suffer constant losses.” However, the experiment of Fun Republic multiplex, which opened at Mani Majra last year and has been doing well ever since, has shown that a multiplex is a viable option. A multiplex has the potential of becoming an entertainment destination for the entire family. Those who want to spend some quality time watching latest flicks from Hollywood and Bollywood and combine it with exotic food, burgers and dosa-idlis as well as do some shopping can find it all under one roof. Hence, the popularity of multiplex.
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Admin needs MC to finance 3 street lights!
Chandigarh, October 3 It’s learnt that in case of installation of street lights on V-6 roads, although the UT Administration is responsible for the final execution, the funds have to come from the MC. However, instead of approaching the MC directly in the interest of public convenience, the UT Administration, in a recent case, asked the complaining party to take up the matter with the MC authorities. Replying to a letter in which a Sector 21-A resident requested for installation of three street lights, citing inadequate lighting as a cause of increasing number of thefts, the UT official concerned asked the complainant to approach the MC himself. Written by the UT Executive Engineer, Division no 3, the official reply in possession of The Tribune pertains to a complaint regarding inadequate street lighting in the lane comprising one kanal houses numbering 230 to 236 in Sector 21- A. Over the past few months, many cases of thefts have been reported from this V-6 lane which has just one street light. In his complaint to the Executive Engineer, Electricity, Operation Circle, Sector 17 (copies of which have been sent to the UT Administrator as well as the UT Chief Engineer), Mr Ajay Jagga had stated that senior citizens could not go for evening walks due to lack of proper lighting in the lane. He had requested the Administration for installation of three street lights at the earliest. The UT Administration’s reply has, however, caught the complainant by surprise as it requires him to ask MC officials concerned to release funds to the UT Administration so that streetlights can be installed. The point to ponder over is “whether the MC would be generous enough to release funds to the
UT, on directions from a common man”. Also whether it is the job of a common man to ensure that the UT Administration gets the funds it needs to provide for civic amenities.
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CBSE to upgrade its regional office
Chandigarh, October 3 The upgradation becomes mandatory as per the board’s rules. This year the number of candidates registered with the regional office, covering schools in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh, had touched 1,50,000. The candidates are of Classes X and XII. Sources in the board reveal that some of the interested officers were vying for the post of the Joint Secretary. Once a least preferred station after last year’s case of tampering of answer sheets, is once again high on the preference list of the eligible officers. Following the scam, the board had transferred three officers, Mr Yograj Sachdeva, Regional Officer, Mr Rajbir, Assistant Secretary and Mr S.P. Sharma, a Section Officer. Due to the scam, the board was vary of posting those officers, in the regional office, who had already worked here. Though the board had not yet decided on the name of the Joint Secretary-level officer to be posted here, there was possibility of the regional officer, Mr P.I. Sabu, being asked to continue. Two other officers, Mr H.R. Yadav and Mr Rajbir Singh were also “eyeing” for the post. Both officers have remained Assistant Secretary in the regional office here.
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Public suffers inconvenience at rly counter
Chandigarh, October 3 The railway staff had a tough time pacifying the agitated persons, who queued up at the counter at around 8 am. Sources said the system failed as there was technical snag in the computer network at the national-level. Tempers ran high with the staff apparently failing to pacify agitated persons, who alleged that they had been made to suffer for no fault of theirs. The Railways should have made an alternative arrangement following the failure of the network, they demanded. Mr V.T. Kalyani, who came to reserve a seat from Agra to Indore by the Malwa Express, alleged that no correct information about the resumption of the computer reservation service was provided by the staff. At round 8 am people were informed that the system would start functioning from 9 am. However, the system failed to start even at 11 am. By that time most of the persons had left the ISBT.
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Mobile subscribers a harassed lot
Chandigarh, October 3 Subscribers alleged that it took days together before their routine complaints were attended to by the staff forcing them to make rounds of the BSNL offices. Despite the BSNL’s claims about its “rural commitment”, the rural subscribers continue to be at the receiving end. Mr Arvind Puri, a resident of Mullanpur Garibdass village in Ropar district, alleged that though he had paid the bill of his mobile phone (94172-99888) on September 23, the BSNL was yet to “activate” the number. “I have been visiting the BSNL office in Sector 34 at regular intervals but nothing concrete had been done so far,” he added. So much so that when Dr Shakeel Ahmad, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, was in the city for reviewing the performance of the BSNL, he was grilled by journalists about the poor complaint redressal system. The minister firmly supported the BSNL. He did not agree that there had been a decline in the number of BSNL mobile connections. The BSNL had recently reported a decline of about 3,000 mobile connections in the Punjab circle alone. A senior BSNL official conceded that the performance of the public-dealing services needed much to be desired. “It was basically a problem of attitude as the staff was still living in the era of BSNL monopoly while the fact is that the private operators had revolutionised the grievance redressal system”, he said adding that regular courses were being conducted to make the staff “subscriber-friendly.”
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‘Shame awards’ for CITCO, Chandigarh police
Chandigarh, October 3 The Chandigarh police through its IG Rajesh Kumar, the Delhi Government through its Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO) through its M.D. S.P. Singh are among the recipients of the “Red and Black Awards” announced by the society. “We have selected organisations which are in a pivotal position and should have set example by properly implementing COTPA, but they preferred to ignore the law and on the contrary extended tacit patronage by their acts of omission and commission. All state governments and police organisations were equally eligible but in some cases the acts of commission and omission were more pronounced,” Mr Hemant Goswami of the society said. Chandigarh being a planned city is suitable for the enforcement of law, especially laws such as the one related to advertisement and promotion of tobacco products. The Chandigarh police and its officials prefer not to enforce the law and on the contrary provide patronage to the tobacco companies resulting in enhanced promotion of tobacco products, he alleged. If this is not enough, the statutorily mandatory board reading “No smoking area - smoking here is an offence” are not put up even at the police headquarters or police stations in open defiance of the law, said Mr Goswami. Talking about the reason for selecting CITCO for the award, Mr Goswami, said despite being a 100 per cent government-controlled tourism organisation, CITCO has failed to follow the law and prefer not to put mandatory boards containing the warning “No smoking area - smoking here is an offence” at various places. Hotels controlled by CITCO are also selling tobacco products which requires that the tobacco products are not sold to minors and a board declaring “Sales of tobacco products to a person under the age of eighteen years is a punishable offence”, in Indian language(s) be displayed at the point of sale. This too has been ignored by CITCO. The Delhi Government had passed the “Delhi Prohibition of Smoking and Non-Smokers Health Protection Act” in 1997 but it has not only failed to enforce it in full but on the contrary has been giving sale-tax exemption to one of the leading tobacco companies for its paper products. One such paper product carries the logo of a brand of cigarette. The benefit which comes at the cost of the public money is helping the tobacco company to promote its brand of cigarette among the unsuspecting young people. We are declaring these shame awards on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary to remind the government about the stand the Father of the Nation took against intoxicants and the values for which he fought. “If observing Gandhiji’s birth anniversary as liquor-free day symbolises Mahatma’s fight against intoxicants then why should the government limit itself to alcohol and why not tobacco too? Tobacco is consumed many times over and kills many times more people than alcohol, besides its relation with poverty is now well-known. We request the government to consider declaring October 2 as a no-tobacco day too,” Mr Goswami added.
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Don’t misinterpret Gurbani: Vedanti
Mohali, October 3 Such persons should not be allowed to attend religious ceremonies and address the congregation. Jathedar Vedanti also criticised the so-called “katha vachaks” who were not following the teachings of the gurus and misinterpreting Gurbani during their discourses. They should also be boycotted by the community. The Jathedar urged youth to shun drugs and become true Sikhs. He regretted that youth were showing a bias towards the English language. He said he was personally not opposed to English, but that bias should not be at the cost of the Punjabi language because this ultimately affected the “shudh ucharan” of Gurbani.
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Roohani Gurmat Samagam ends in Balongi
Mohali, October 3 The huge four-day samagam was organised in connection with the three “shatabdis” related to the Sikh religion falling this year and in memory of Sant Baba Waryam Singh of Ratwara Sahib. A large number of persons partook of “amrit” during the samagam. At the conclusion of the samagam, Baba Lakhbir Singh gave a discourse on Guru Granth Sahib, Guru Angad Dev and the two Sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh. He also focussed on the life of Sant Waryam Singh. Among those who attended the samagam were the Jathedar of Akal Takht, Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti; the Jathedar of Takht Patna Sahib; the Jathedar of Takht Kesgarh Sahib; and the Jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib. A number of sants were also present. The samagam was also attended by various political leaders, including Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Deputy Chief
Miniser, Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, Minister for Animal Husbandry, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, SAD general secretary, and Mr Harsukhinder Singh Babi Badal, spokesman for the Youth Akali Dal. A free medical camp was also organised at the venue of the samagam. Medicines were given free of cost to patients.
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Seminar on Sikh women
concludes
Chandigarh, October 3 This was the third seminar in India after Amritsar and Mumbai. The council has decided to arrange 1,101 such seminars till 2008. The Gurmat Prasar Seva Society would also conduct seminars in rural areas of Punjab to spread the message of Gurbani.
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Skipping for Guinness Book of World Records
When he skips, he skips in a sprinting style. The string becomes invisible and only a stormy, rustling, shrill whistling sound is heard. The 43-year-old well-built Mr Ranjit Pal got his name entered into the Limca Book of Records by skipping rope 136 times just in 15 seconds! Sounds unbelievable? But Mr Pal has prepared a CD of his performance and he claims to have improved upon his own record. He now skips 150 to 160 times in 15 seconds, he claims.
He has sent his claim for entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. When told that skipping was mostly a domain of girls, he said that as a young boy he started with wrestling. "As I was doing a diploma in an ITI, my institute's timings clashed with my wrestling practice. Then I decided to go ahead with body building," he explained, adding that he took to skipping very late. He said that his interest in skipping was aroused when he was asked to be a judge of a skipping competition held at a Jalandhar college in 2002. "The contestants were skipping 130 to 170 times a minute. I did not say anything there but felt strongly that the skipping rate was not impressive. After returning home, I started skipping and in the very first attempt, I skipped 250 times in one minute," he claims. Then he improved it to 350 times a minute after two months of practice. He contacted the Limca Book of Records but was told to show his performance for a short period of time. He showed it to the Phagwara SDM, Mr Pritam Singh, and the Nagar Council President, Mr Malkiat Singh Ragbotra. But a problem surfaced - he skipped so fast that the number of skips could not be counted. J.S. Gandam
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Grewal, Goel in Limca Book of Records
Chandigarh, October 3
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Rotary Governor visits Aashiana
Panchkula, October 3
He also visited the Bal Sadan- orphanage in Sector 12-A, and distributed sweets and stationery items among children. Mr Vij was also taken to Rotary House, where he visited Rotary Vocational Training Centre, Woman Empowerment Project and a free homoeopathic dispensary. Later, he installed solar-powered studs on the road leading to Rotary House in Sector 12- A. Brahmin Directory: Sri Brahmin Sabha, Panchkula, held a meeting recently where it decided to prepare a directory of all its members. The directory would be released around Divali. The families of its members have also been asked to send particulars of young boys and girls of marriageable age, so as to include their bio-data in the matrimonial register.
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CTU driver assaulted
Panchkula, October 3. One injured:
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Scooter thief held
Chandigarh, October 3
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Youth commits suicide
Panchkula, October 3
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Biz Clip Felicitated: AirTel today announced that it has crossed the 1,00,000 customer mark of Hello Tunes users in Punjab in a record time of just 50 days. Felicitating Ms Mandeep Kaur, a Chandigarh-based student, the 100,000th Hello Tunes subscriber, Mr Vinod Sawhny, CEO and Director-Mobility, Bharti Mobile Ltd said “We are happy that through state-of-the-art technology, we have been able to bring excitement into the lives of our customers. — TNS
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