Chandigarh, June 10
The UT Estate Office has simplified the issuing of the no-objection certificate (NOC). In an investor-friendly decision, the Estate Office (EO) will now issue NOC irrespective of the violations of the building bylaws and the misuse of the premises. The new decision has already been implemented.

Clarifying that the NOC has not been done away with, a senior official said the owner of a property would no longer face harassment with the decision. The proceedings of any sort of violation would be de-linked with the issuing of the NOC. Earlier, the NOC was issued only when the violations were removed.

Earlier, the investors had to wait for months together to get the NOC so that they could get the property transferred in their name or apply for conversion from leasehold to freehold or mortgage their property.

In many case, the properties were bought and sold on general power of attorney (GPA). Complaints were often received that bribe had to be paid to get the objections cleared.

Apart from a source of harassment, it was an unnecessary formality. Often, the allottees had to repeatedly visit the building branch of the Estate Office to get the regular NOC, a mandatory requirement for the transfer of property, mortgage and the conversion of property from leasehold to freehold.

Chandigarh, June 10
The ongoing FIFA World Cup has given a great opportunity to business houses, corporate establishments, and small and big traders to cash in on the mania that is likely to continue during the month-long tournament.

Extensive media coverage during the buildup to the World Cup has generated a lot of interest in both young and the old apart from business establishments here.

Let alone multinational companies, even small traders here have introduced schemes linking their sales with the tournament.

Big companies like Samsung, Onida, Sony, etc. have come out with “no” or low interest schemes offering big-screen television sets on easy installments, luring people to watch Brazilian, German and Argentinian football stars come alive in their drawing rooms.

Enquiries from dealers in the city revealed that the sales of television sets, especially LCD and Plasma TVs, have gone up. Add-on like “Buy Back” offer of old television has further boosted the sales.

Small traders like Giny Johny and Ruff Garments in Sector 17, who otherwise have no linkage with football, have floated schemes that offer a free football with the purchases over Rs 1,500.

Similarly, companies like Adidas and Reebok are offering special discounts for “Celebrating the football month”.

Japanese electronic company JVC is selling its video cameras with slogan: “Capture the memorable moments during the World Cup with a JVC recorder”.

Even some juice shops are offering extra quantity of juice just “to infuse josh” during the World Cup.

The phenomenon is universal, while marketing wings of business establishments consider a great opportunity to make the most of it, the mass hysteria is catching on and paying rich dividends.

Chandigarh, June 10
The innate glory of the traditional purity and historical continuity of Indian classical music was brought alive by the young maestro, Dr Santosh Kumar Nahar, in his violin recital organised by the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademy at its auditorium here today.

The animated session of inspired music from the musical genius created elation in the minds of the audience with a live feel of swar, raga and its psychic habitation all through the captivating concert. Having performed extensively abroad, Dr Nahar is the one of most accomplished and cultivated violinist of the region.

Dr Nahar gave a majestic start to the musical soiree with the exposition of raga yaman in “Vilambat Ek Taal” which later melted into the faster tempo of teen taal. He established the raga form delving deep into the lower, middle and tenor of octaves to bring out the essence and melodic content of the evening raga.

Having established an instant rapport with the elite audience, Dr Nahar presented the captivating compositions in raga khamaz. Initiating with a thumri in romantic mould he went on to present dadra in the same raga.

He concluded the concert with compositions in raga Bhairavi. The city pride, young Avirbhav Verma, gave perfect accompaniment to the violin maestro and articulated the melody meter.

Chandigarh, June 10
Born with a musical vein, Dr Santosh Kumar Nahar never quite charted the course for his sensibilities. One of the three musically inclined sons of the celebrated vocalist Prof Prahlad Prasad of Mishra gharana (Banaras), he took off on a plane no one had ever expected or imagined.

And as he soared in unfamiliar musical spaces, he imbibed the skills needed to conquer them. Today he is the undisputed master of the violin - an instrument considered alien in origin as well as conception. For Dr Nahar, however, there is nothing as close to home and heart as the violin. "I love the humility of the violin, and also its timidity," he says.

In Chandigarh today to present a violin recital on the invitation of the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi, Dr Nahar spoke to The Tribune about the classicism of this foreign instrument which did not take long to get domesticated: "Violin is a very tough instrument to master. It challenges the aspirant with its minimalist structure which offers little or no support at all. Hence the addiction and the urge to strive towards excellence," says the musician, who is certainly among the best in the younger generation of violin players in India; veterans being the legends like Dr N. Rajam, M.S. Gopalakrishnan and L Subramaniam.

For Dr Nahar, the road to perfection has been long and tiresome, especially considering that the country still does not have an emotional response system towards the violin and the melodies it unleashes. The musician explains: "The myth is that the violin can only evoke pathos. That is not true. Violin is equally capable of invoking bliss through heartfelt, happy, inspired rhythms. That is one reason why it is so extensively used in films to create pieces to suit every possible setting - when the principal characters are separating, when they are meeting or when they are anticipating to meet. The greatest asset of this instrument is its power to express the "navrasas" with integrity."

Closer to human voice like its cousins, sarangi and israj, the violin is different from them only in one way. It does not have any supporting strings. The onus of composition thus lies squarely on the musician who is likely to get intimidated by the loneliness the instrument begets. But a seasoned musician will find company in the humble fingerboard of the instrument which can be truly charming if played with imagination and intuition.

Dr Nahar is one of the few friends the violin has in India. Committed to the task of enlarging the scope of the instrument, the musician is now planning to open a violin academy either in Allahbad or Delhi. He is also composing ragas which he plans to document in the form of books. Last but not the least in the list of Dr Nahar's engagements is another book on the relationship between vocal and instrumental music. "This is a fascinating field in which I will explore the compatibility of ragas and musical realms. It is common knowledge that certain ragas are best reflected in the vocal tradition while others are best expressed in the instrumental arena. The enigmatic question is "why"," the musician wraps up.

How do you rate Indian baseball players?

Chandigarh, June 10
The Chandigarh Administration will organise an awareness camp at Palsora on June 12 to create awareness about various welfare schemes for the weaker sections of society.

Ms Jean Rodrigues, wife of Gen S.F. Rodrigues (Retd), Administrator of Chandigarh, will inaugurate this camp.

The Administration will be providing financial help under various pension/welfare schemes for old persons/children and women/disabled persons and weaker sections of society. The Department of Social Welfare in collaboration with Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and Minorities Financial and Development Corporation and Chandigarh Child and Women’s Development Corporation is organizing this function for wider publicity and awareness of pension/welfare schemes.

This function will be organised at Government Primary School, Palsora Colony, Sector 56, Chandigarh from 9 am to 5 pm.

Mohali, June 10
Parks have become a bone of contention between the Municipal Council and the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA), with the former finding faults with the amenities being provided there and the latter accusing the council of coining “excuses” to avoid a takeover of the parks for maintenance.

The tug-of-war on the transfer issue has been hanging fire for some time and PUDA has failed each time to pass on the responsibility to the civic body.

Even an announcement by Kharar MLA Bir Devinder Singh on April 28 that all parks would be handed over to the civic body for maintenance has fallen on deaf ears.

Among other reasons why the council does not want to take over the responsibility of parks is that it faces fund crunch.

A meeting was held on December 30 last year, which was presided over by Additional Chief Administrator, wherein the council had agreed to take over developed Sectors in a phased manner but only after PUDA completed all development works in these areas.

As such PUDA completed development works in four green belts and parks falling in Sector 56 and informed the civic body in a letter on March 17 to take over the charge of these areas.

PUDA had even decided that no expenditure was to be incurred on these green belts and parks after March 31.

However, the council took over the charge of only four green belts on May 8.

These green belts fall along the roads separating Sectors 56-57, 55-58 and 58-59, and the one falling opposite Dara Studio.

Executive Officer in the civic body Amarjit Singh Sekhon today said parks could not be taken over till PUDA made provisions of water there.

He said the expectations of the residents were much more from the council than PUDA and it would be difficult to satisfy residents in the face of limited facilities.

It has been learned that PUDA wants to hand over 166 parks in the developed parts of the town to the council for maintenance. The area of the parks is around 163.08 acres.

Sources say efforts are now being made by the PUDA authorities to push through the transfer before fresh elections to the council, the date for which is expected to be announced soon.

At present, the council is functioning under an Administrator, who is also the local SDM.

Experience has shown, say PUDA officials, that elected office-bearers of the civic body are a hard nut to crack and it is hard convincing them to take over the charge of the parks. 

Zirakpur, June 10
Infamous for harassing general public, the Punjab Police seems to have lived up its reputation yet again.

In a step that may bring its functioning under a cloud, the police has been accused of shielding certain influential persons allegedly harassing the residents of Amrit Danga Peerat Colony on Zirakpur-Patiala road here.

In fact, the woes of the residents of the colony seem to be unending with police functionaries in the sub-division allegedly failing to take any action against certain persons, who injured Joginder Singh, a colony resident, last month. Instead the police allegedly started harassing the residents, including a restaurant owner and a property dealer.

The residents have now approached the SSP of Mohali and the DIG of the Patiala Range to come to their rescue. In their representation, they have also alleged threats to their lives by a resort owner, who flaunts his "high connections'.

It may be recalled that the 1984 riot-hit families were rehabilitated here by the SGPC.A trust under the chairmanship of Mr Gurnam Singh Sidhu was also reportedly formed to look after the welfare of the riot victims and the rehabilitated persons were not allowed to sell off the dwelling units.

However, one of the residents sold off his house to certain persons, one of them being the restaurant owner. These persons came to take possession of the house on April 19 this year, said Rajinder Singh, colony resident."When the possession was resisted by residents, these persons started threatening us and repeated pleas to the police fell on deaf ears," said Rajinder.

Colony residents alleged that the resort owner wanted to grab their land as it would facilitate a wider entry to his restaurant. They also alleged that the resort had become a source of nuisance as inebriated visitors misbehaved with the residents.

Mohali, June 10
Local leaders and workers of the Akali Dal held a protest outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner against the hike in prices of petrol and diesel here today.

They burnt an effigy of the Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, and demanded that the hike be rolled back immediately. 

Mohali, June 10
Two persons were injured, one of them seriously, when a group allegedly attacked them in the Phase VII market here today. The miscreants also reportedly took away Rs 5 lakh from the office of a property consultant.

According to reports, the group armed with swords and rods, forced their entry into the office of Sabharwal Associates property consultants. They allegedly entered into a heated argument with Mr Ashwini Kumar, a partner of Mr Bhupinder Singh Sabharwal. It is alleged that they even picked up a bag containing the cash, which was lying on the counter, and fled. When they were stopped from taking away the cash, they allegedly attacked the persons present at the office of the property consultants.

Those who sustained injuries were Mr Ashwini Kumar and Mr Nilesh Kumar. While Mr Ashwini Kumar was hit on the head with a sword, Mr Nilesh Kumar suffered internal injuries. Both of them were taken to Cheema Medical Complex in Phase IV.

Mr Bhupinder Singh Sabharwal said the alleged attackers took away a bag containing Rs 5 lakh. Mr Ashwini Kumar worked as a partner with him while Mr Nilesh Kumar was his employee. He said six persons had attacked them. While five of them had left the area in a black Accent car, one had left on a scooter.

It is reported that Mr Ashwini Kumar had a heated argument with Mr Gurnam Singh, a resident of Mundi Kharar, over some issue while making purchases at a shop dealing in mobile phones in the area. People of the area intervened and brought the situation under control. Mr Gurnam Singh then left the area and later returned along with others persons. He again allegedly confronted Mr Ashwini Kumar in his office, which made the situation take an ugly turn.

It is alleged that one of the attackers was also beaten up by some persons in the office of Sabharwal Associates.

The police has registered a case under Sections 307, 452, 323, 324, 382, 148 and 149 of the IPC against Mr Gurnam Singh and others on the complaint of Mr Sabharwal. Mr Gurnam Singh has been arrested by the police.

However, the police has expressed doubts over the allegation that the attackers took away Rs 5 lakh. 

Chandigarh, June 10
The Discovery Channel today announced its second collaboration with Nokia with the launch of the Mobile FilmMakers 2006 Awards.

With the first initiative completed in December 2005, the second contest gives consumers the opportunity to try their hand at mobile film-making and the chance to walk away with a prize of $10,000 and a three-month stint with the Discovery Networks Asia based at the channel’s Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore, during which he or she will be involved in the process of documentary film-making, a press note said here today.

The contest is open to residents of India, Australia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The closing date for submissions for the contest is June 30.