 |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Windfall for Dera Bassi farmers as land prices shoot up
Dera Bassi, December 27 With big real estate developers set to launch mega housing projects, the land in these villages has suddenly turned into a gold mine for the farmers, who never had it so good. In fact, the big colonisers are making a beeline for the not-so-productive land in these villages, including Madhopur, Sheikhpura Khurd, Dadrala, Gulabgarh and
Sadhemajra. The land, which had been selling for peanuts till last year, is selling on a premium bringing smiles on the faces of farmers. A random survey of these villages today revealed that land was selling for about Rs 1.25 crore per acre. The rate of the same land was about Rs 20 lakh per acre last year and about Rs 10 lakh in 2003, said Mr Sita Ram, a farmer from Madhopur. Another farmer from Gulabgarh informed that it was a hand-to-mouth existence for a majority of the farmers as agriculture was rain-dependent in the
area. However, the arrival of the real estate companies to Dera Bassi has turned even marginal farmers into well-to-do farmers, he added. Inquiries revealed that since large chunks of land are available at a cheaper rates in Dera Bassi than Zirakpur, the coloniser are taking a fancy for the town. And in the process, the small farmers, whose land falls between two chunks, land, stand to gain the maximum. The colonisers, it is learnt, are offering maximum rates to owners of the interlinking small pieces of land with a view to consolidate their large chunks and maintain continuity. Explaining the sudden spurt in the land prices, Mr Bhupinder Saini, a Dera Bassi-based property consultant, stated that with Zirakpur going out of reach of even the big colonisers, Dera Bassi was the best bet for them. Strategically located on National Highway, the four-laning of the Zirakpur-Ambala stretch, including a flyover at Zirakpur, would further cut the distance between Chandigarh and Dera Bassi. In fact, Dera Bassi offered better infrastructural facilities than two other neighbouring towns — Zirakpur and
Lalru. With the local Municipal Council, led by Mr Amritpal Singh, focusing on the provisions of basic amenities, primarily sewerage system and drinking water in big way, Dera Bassi is emerging as the next destination for the colonisers and general public, Mr Saini added. It may be mentioned here that major real estate players particularly the Ansals, the Parasnath, Silver City, the Raglans, the Motiaz, had bough large chunks of land in and around Dera Bassi and are set to launch mega housing projects.
|
|
8 youngsters held after brawl
Chandigarh, December 27 Nothing else can explain the incident of violence that took place in the Sector 35 hotel, late last night in which two women and four boys were injured. The police arrested eight youngsters from various places in Mohali on the charges of picking up quarrel, eve-teasing, criminal intimidation, and rioting following a complaint made by Mr Parmod Diwan, the Director of a Sector 8 based saloon. Sources in the police said Mr Diwan had thrown a party to his employees in Hotel Monarch on Monday night. The women employees were also there and they were dancing together. At the same time Amik Singh Virk, a non-resident Indian, was also giving a party to his friends and they were having drinks at the hotel bar. They allegedly barged into the other party in an inebriated condition and began making filthy comments and also indulged in eve-teasing. Mr Diwan and his employees objected to their misdeeds, but the accused carried on and both the parties entered into a brawl. Soon the situation went out of control and the accused hurled cup, plates and jugs on the other party, causing injuries to two women and four others and broke the window panes, beside damaging property. The injured were taken to the Sector 16 General Hospital and were discharged later, said the police. The police was informed about the incident at around 12 in the night. The hotel staff caught two of the accused and they were handed over to the police. The police arrested the other accused after conducting raids in various places in Mohali. The accused are, Amik Singh Virk, Sachin Gandhi, Gaurav Jit, Harpreet Singh, Ankus Kaushal, Rajbir Singh, Amrit Lal and Himanshu, all residents of Mohali. A local court today sent them to judicial custody till January 10. Efforts to trace the remaining three accused are in progress. Sources in the Sector 36 police station said every other day such incidents occur in
Quoting rough figures, sources say a total of 53 cases of causing hurt were registered by the Chandigarh police till November 30 this year. As many as three such cases were registered in November only. Out of the total, a substantial number of cases were registered after the youngsters clashed late in the evenings after having a drop too much. In almost all the incidents, girls were either directly or indirectly involved. A senior police officer said the administration should think of late night timings of such joints. He also added that in an effort to curb such incidents private security should be introduced in the joints serving drinks and around the hangout of youths.
|
|
Administration’s directive to pubs
Chandigarh, December 27 In a signed order, Mr R.K. Rao, Deputy Commissioner, said “commercial establishments /shopkeepers engaged in the business of restaurants, pubs, wine shops, discos, clubs and vendors sitting by the roadside and at public places operating till late in the night are disturbing public peace leading to a harmful influence on public order”. The order will not apply to coffee shops in hotels, hospitals, chemist shops and petrol stations. Restaurants, pubs discos and clubs are allowed to be open upto 2 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Cyber cafes are allowed to be open up to 2 a.m. on all days.
|
|
Octroi collection on contract likely
Mohali, December 27 The auction will be held under the supervision of the Deputy Director, Urban Local Bodies, Ludhiana. The reserve price and the conditions of the auction will be announced on the same day. It is reported that the reserve price for auction is likely to be more than Rs 20 crore as the estimated income of the civic body from octroi during the current financial year was Rs 18.72 crore. Last year the civic body had fixed the reserve price for octroi collection work at Rs 16.90 crore against an income of Rs 17.52 crore. The work was given on contract for Rs 16.91 crore. A municipal councillor, Mr Sham Bansal, had then approached the court against the decision of the civic body. He had alleged that the council had indulged in irregularities while giving the work on contract. The court then issued stay orders in this regard. Later, council employees were able to collect revenue more than the amount that would have seen given to the council by the contractor. Mr N.K. Marwaha, former Municipal Councillor, is of the opinion that the new elected body should have taken a decision on giving the work of octroi collection on contract. He said the issue was put up in the House thrice earlier and the former elected body had kept it pending each time. He said that though the Administrator of the council was a government official, he should have acted as a representative of the people of the town and kept the proposal pending so that decision in this regard could be taken by elected body after fresh elections were held. Secondly, employees of the council had earned an income from octroi which was much more than the amount that the contractor would have given to the civic body.
|
|
International award for Tribune lensman
Chandigarh, December 27 In a communication to Mr Tewari, Photoshare Staff, Lavina Velasco and David Alexander have said that Mr Tewari’s picture on promotion of awareness on HIV/AIDS has been selected for an award and would find an “Honourable mention in the HIV/AIDS category”. The 2005 Photoshare contest was aimed at promoting global effort to improve healthcare and save lives. Mr. Tewari has been invited to participate in the ongoing collaboration in development photography, a project of ‘Information and knowledge for optimal health’ (INFO) that communicates health and development issues through photography.
|
|
Prohibitory orders
Chandigarh, December 27 The orders will remain effective till February 26. Taking out processions, making speeches, raising slogans, staging dharnas and carrying “lathis” from Sectors 1 to 12 and Sector 26 have been banned. In a separate order, the Deputy Commissioner has made it mandatory for business houses to furnish details of the persons employed by them. The order will apply to those who are giving employment in petty
non-formal trades or services or as contractual labour. The sale of sub-standards helmets, which do not qualify as per the standards, has also been banned.
|
|
Woman robbed
Mohali, December 27 According to the police, Mrs Amarjit Kaur, a resident of Phase VII, had withdrawn Rs 10,000 from the post office located on the premises of the Punjab School Education Board. She was going back to her house on foot when she was stopped by two persons, one of them a woman, near the gurdwara. The woman engaged Mrs Amarjit Kaur in a conversation and later the other person hypnotised her and asked her to take off her ring and the kara. She did so and handed over both the items to the persons who later fled from the area. The police is investigating.
|
Numismatic society’s annual conference
Chandigarh, December 27 A general body meeting was held in the afternoon session in which office bearers for the 90th annual session of the Numismatic Society of India were unanimously elected. Prof Sri Ram Goyal from Jodhpur would be the president of the 90th annual conference of the Numismatic Society of India. Prof. J.P. Singh was elected chairman of the 90th session of the Numismatic Society of India and Prof Ashvini Agrawal, vice-chairman, Prof P.N. Singh, general secretary and Mr O.N. Singh was elected treasurer for the session. The executive members include Dr C.D. Singh, Dr Arun Kesarvani, Prof Chandrashekhar Gupta, Prof H.D. Pathak, Prof Manmohan, Dr Suman Jain, Dr S.K. Bose, Prof Kulkarni, Dr Jagdish Agrawal The general body meeting was followed by valedictory function. Prof S.S. Bari, Registrar, Panjab University, was the chief guest. In his valedictory remarks he appreciated the efforts of the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology for organising the conference. Prof Ashvini Agrawal, Dean, Faculty of Arts extended thanks to all participants, colleagues and students. Prizes were distributed for the best exhibits in the exhibition put up in the museum of the fine arts. First prize went to Mr Ashok Singh Thakur, Mr Narinder Pal and Mr Prafful Bhai Thakkar got the second and third the prize respectively. Mr Ashok Kapoor got the consolation prize. Prof N.K. Ojha, chairman, Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology proposed a vote of thanks.
|
|
Punjab Raj Bhavan gets new mural
Chandigarh, December 27 The task of designing the mural was assigned to the college by the Governor Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd). A project team was constituted under the leadership of Principal Rajnish Wattas along with Prof Bipin Malik and three students — Preeti, Mohita Garg and Aneesh Sharma. The team prepared 15 designs with the feedback of General Rodrigues and his wife, Jean Rodrigues. The team first prepared a model of Raj Bhavan and then on its facade a scaled down printout of the mural design was superimposed for study of its compatibility with the architecture, colours and textures of the building. The mural is a little over 36 feet by 5 feet in size and has been placed on the front facade of Raj Bhavan. It has been executed in designer ceramic tiles. The concept of the mural design has been taken from Punjab’s vernacular architecture suggesting that “a house is a celebration of life and its ornamentation a manifestation of this joy”. The mural is thus conceived as symbolic of the folk traditions of art in architecture of Punjab as well as representative of Chandigarh. Keeping these two objectives in mind, a study of motifs on the traditional mud houses of Punjab reveals that the dominant elements of these are birds and plants. These motifs are also visible on the murals and frescoes on the walls of “havelis”. Among the birds the peacock stands out as the most popular motif. According to Mr Wattas, Le Corbusier, the architect-planner of Chandigarh, also had a great predilection for art in architecture and employed various art forms to embellish his creations. Most significant among these is the monument of open hand. His use of art forms is also conspicuously visible on the painted gate of the Assembly building in the capitol complex, comprising elements of nature and cosmos. These elements are also recurring in the tapestries designed by him for the high court and Assembly interiors. Besides, a number of bas reliefs on the themes of birds and animals can also be seen on the wall surfaces of structures designed by him. Le Corbusier himself was inspired for these creations, from the folk motifs that he saw in the surrounding villages of Chandigarh. The mural design with a background of earth colours of burnt sienna/hues of terracotta has three major elements — stylised and symbolic forms of the peacock, trees and the open hand placed together in a subtle visual balance. While the peacock and trees are in shades of green, also symbolising the panoramic greenery of the fields of Punjab, the open hand has been depicted in yellow to manifest the radiance and blessings of sun. Both the peacock and tree forms have been translated into geometrical shapes with play of lines, against the backdrop of earth colours, to manifest the grid-iron planning of Chandigarh and its cuboid architecture. Also the two trees joined together form an archway which in the traditional “phulkari” work of Punjab is known as the ‘Darshni Dwar’ — meaning the gateway of auspicious viewing. The symbols of peacock and trees are also popular motifs in “phulkari”. The mural is as such intended to embellish the austere and restrained architecture of Raj Bhavan, infusing palpable colour and vibrant spirit of the land of Punjab, expressed in a mellow symphony, in consonance with the dignity and majesty of Raj Bhavan.
|
|
Banks not to give jobs on compassionate
grounds
Chandigarh, December 27
A cadre-wise ceiling on the relief has been prepared, with the maximum ex-gratia amount of Rs 8 lakh and minimum of Rs 2 lakh. This amount will be paid if the total monthly income of the family is less than 60 per cent of the last drawn gross salary of the employee. The scheme will be applicable for families of employees dying in harness. Employees seeking premature retirement due to incapacitation before reaching the age of 55 years are also being covered under the scheme. The ex-gratia relief will be granted at the sole discretion of the bank, where dependents of employees are left in penury and without any means of livelihood. Official sources say that the employees who had attained the age of 60 years at the time of death, but had not actually retired (on account of retirement on last day of month) will not be covered under the scheme. Employees seeking premature retirement due to incapacitation before 55 years age, but whose service records are blemished because of disciplinary action being taken against them, too, are not covered in the scheme. This relief will paid within three months of the application being accepted by the bank. The dependents must apply for the relief within six months of the employee’s death, or within two months after pre mature retirement because of incapacitation. It may be noted that all public sector banks were uniformly implementing the scheme for appointment of dependents of deceased employees on compassionate grounds since year 1979. However, this scheme created problems for the families of the employees, too, as the process for recruitment used to take a lot of time. During this period, the family had to take care of itself, out of the terminal benefits received. In some of the cases, none of the dependents of the family is eligible to take up the job immediately and as such there is no immediate support to the dependent family.
|
|
Rs 2
lakh ESI aid for hip replacement Chandigarh, December 27 But lady luck smiled on him after two years when his plea for financial aid to the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation was finally accepted. Helped by his wife, Suresh today came to the Sector 19 office of the ESI to accept the cheque of Rs 2 lakh from the Regional Director of ESI, Mr J.C. Jena. As he walked up to the director to accept the cheque, he was excited about being able to walk again after surgery at the PGI. The financial aid was given after relaxation in rules by the ESI. Problems for Suresh started in 1991, when he was working at Bhushan Industries and he fell ill. He was under medication in 2003 when he felt pain in his hip and was referred to the PGI. And the cost of surgery was put at Rs 2 lakh. “Since he was unemployed and had no money in his account, he was unable to generate the funds”, said an officer in the ESI.
|
|
HUDA refunds ready
Panchkula, December 27 Officials in HUDA say that the cheques will reach the applicants by the first week of January 2006. Of the total cheques being dispatched, almost 10,000 cheques are being dispatched to eight banks, who had financed the earnest money for the applicants. An interest for one year, at 5. 5 per cent rate of interest, is being given to the applicants. Sources say that Rs 5969 in interest is being given to applicants for 10 marla plot, Rs 8568 interest for 14 marla plot and Rs 13195 interest to the applicants of one kanal plot.
|
|
Mourned
Chandigarh: Staff members of Panjab University mourned the demise of Jagdish Lal Ahuja, Assistant Section Officer, who died on Sunday. A condolence meeting was held in the senate hall.
— TNS
|
Drug peddlers’ gang busted
Chandigarh, December 27 Giving details, sources in the NCB said the arrests were made during a special campaign against the drug mafia active in the region. On the basis of information, sleuths of NCB zonal units at Chandigarh and Jammu in a joint operation arrested Tarsem Raj and Narender Kumar, both residents of Gangyal in Jammu and Raj Pal Sharma of Amritsar. Sources further said during search, the sleuths recovered 24336 capsules of Spasmo Proxyvon, 3600 capsules of Proxyvon and 780 capsules of Pyrevon from their possession. They were booked under various sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, in this regard.
|
|
Woman duped of Rs 7,000
by youth
Panchkula, December 27 The incident took place around noon, when Ms Surinder Kaur of Haripur village had gone to the post office. A youth standing outside the post office approached her and offered to deposit her money. Thinking that he was an agent, the victim handed over the money to him. He, however, said his sister was waiting nearby and would just go out to call her. When he did not return for the next few minutes, Surinder grew suspicious and went out. She saw him speeding away on a scooter and screamed for help, but the youth had vanished. In another incident, three scooter-borne youths snatched a purse from Ms Jagat Sharma on the road dividing Sector 9 and 10 yesterday. Her purse contained Rs 1,000 cash and some documents.
|
|
Cash stolen in daylight burglary
Chandigarh, December 27 Sources in the Sector 36 police station said, Brigadier (Retd.) Kushwant Singh, a resident of Sector 43 lodged a complaint alleging that Rs 10,000 and $ 400 were stolen from his house after breaking the locks in the morning. He was away to the golf club and the theft came to light when he found the locks of the main door broken on his arrival. He told the police that his house was ransacked and the locks of cupboards were also broken. In another incident, thieves struck at three shops last night in sector 32. They stole goods worth Rs 15,000 along with cash from a shop and broke locks of other two in the same area. Mr Harish Chandra Bhatia, owner of booth number 38 in Sector 32-C reported to the police that Rs 4000, chocolate worth about Rs 3500, chips worth Rs 3500 along with packets of ghee and refined oil were stolen.
|
|
Maruti car stolen
Chandigarh, December 27
|
Bonanza on anvil for mobile phone users
Chandigarh, December 27 After Spice Telecom announced its lifetime pre paid card scheme for Rs 3,300 almost two months ago, its arch rivals Airtel and Hutch announced similar offers for Rs 999, with a lifetime validity. Tata Indicom, too, is wooing the lower-middle class and the low end subscriber with its two years free incoming scheme. All these schemes are for the low end subscriber. Officials in all cellular companies feel that since the expansion in the elite, middle class and lower middle class has already reached a saturation point, subscriber base can be best increased in subscribers like electricians, painters, plumbers, milk men etc. “Since these consumers need the mobile so that their customers can call them, they prefer a package where they do not have to pay on the incoming calls. It is for these consumers that these lifetime pre paid cards have been introduced,” said a senior official in Airtel. Under the schemes launched by Hutch and Airtel, the subscribers can pay Rs 999, and use the connection for life, without having to recharge or worry about the validity period of the card or coupon. The lifetime pre paid card also offers the user full talk time on every future recharge of any denomination. However, the call rate (while making a call) is Rs 1. 99 per pulse. On the other hand, the offer by Spice Telecom, though expensive at the outset, has a call rate at least four times less than that offered by Airtel and Spice. The call rate is 45 paise from a mobile to mobile and Rs 95 paise from a mobile to a landline number. Value added services, too, are being added by the cellphone operators each day. Spice recently launched ‘Pay4Me’, a service by which a subscriber can make calls even if his outgoing calls are barred, if the person he is calling is willing to pay for the call. The service has been launched for emergency use, between two Spice subscribers only. They have also launched Spice Karaoke, wherein subscribers can hone their singing skills by downloading the soundtracks of latest chartbusters along with rolling lyrics on their mobile phones. Not to be left behind, Airtel today announced Airtel future messaging, a special way to wish New Year to loved ones by recording their own voice alongwith a greeting or a song. This can also be used for sending birthday and friendship greetings. Message can be recorded anytime and automatically delivered on the date specified by customer.
|
|
RBI to issue new notes of Rs 100
Chandigarh, December 27 An official press note said that Rs 100 denomination notes with inset letter ‘E’ in numbering panel in Mahatma Gandhi series- 2005, bearing the signature of Governor of RBI will be issued shortly. Except for the change in inset letter, the design of these notes will remain similar in all respects to the original notes. However, new security features will be added in the bank notes. Similarly, Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination notes in Mahatma Gandhi series without inset letter panel bearing the signature of the Governor of RBI will also be issued shortly. However, all Rs 100 denomination notes issued by RBI in the past will continue to be legal tender. There will also be no change in design, images, size and colour of the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 bank notes. All Rs 500 bank notes issued by the bank after 1987 and all Rs 1000 notes issued after 2000 will continue to be legal tender.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
This
scheme is in supercession of the earlier compassionate appointment
scheme. As per this scheme, request for appointment on compassionate
grounds will not be entertained, and instead an ex- gratia lump sum
will be paid to the dependents of employees.