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MC Budget
A decision has also been taken to build primary schools in the nine villages under MC, besides offering festival bonus to employees. Councillors will get extra -- their study tour funds are up from Rs 30 to 50 lakh and ward development funds from Rs 20 to 30 lakh. Mayor turns out the richest at the end of the day; his funds up from Rs 40 lakh to 80 lakh. The house also decided to form an enforcement committee to curb enforcement inspectors who challan people arbitrarily. The department is in for a reshuffle to break the unholy nexus between staff and violators. The decision came on concillor’s demands. Back to the budget, 30 per cent more than last year, it promises urban development -- stronger, wider roads, better lighting, more parking places, a new-look Sector 17, more water and greens and finally two night food streets. It, however, rules out property tax on houses and villages as earlier proposed. Mayor Pradeep Chhabra rejected the proposal even
before
But the mayor feels otherwise: “We are opening our balance at Rs 430 crore and will be saving Rs 422 crore after the completion of this year. We have spent only Rs 4.5 crore out of 11 crore we got under the JNNURM. When we have money, why burden people?” The house was also in no mood to resent, with most councillors (expect former mayor Harjinder Kaur who called the figures “fictitious”) hailing the budget as people-friendly. The budget went through with least resistance and few suggestions from Congress councillor Chandermukhi Sharma and nominated councillors Amrit Bolaria and Arshad Khan. The latter wanted money for the social sector, poverty alleviation, disaster management and complaint redressal. There are no provisions in the budget under these heads. Bolaria felt the budget was arbitrary with no scientific study to back it. “We should get professionals to do ground level assessment for us so we know what to spend where and how. Also, we need to pay councillors better,” she said. The budget for its part looks ambitious; it seeks to save more and spend less. Larger expenditure is to be done on planned works — Rs 65 crore on widening of roads, 5 crore on improving markets, Rs 2 crore for sprucing up Sector 17 and 9 crore for a modern bird slaughter house. Parking in Sarangpur for 130 tourist and 400 school buses will cost the MC Rs 2 crore.
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Home-makers want PC to trim kitchen bill
For Rani Masih, a professional cook and resident of Mauli Jagran, the main concern is the rising prices of daily commodities. “There has been a sharp rise in prices of wheat flour, rice, refined oil, pulses and spices. “The entry of corporates in the fruit and vegetable retail business has led to a sharp increase in their prices. For a lower middle-class family like mine, the kitchen budget constitutes over 90 per cent of the total household budget. I hope that the FM initiates some drastic measures to control the rising prices.” Says D.M. Kapoor of Sector 8 : “The recent hike in petrol and diesel prices has hit us hard. At a time when there is a severe shortage of LPG, the FM should ensure that there is no future hike in petro prices, at least for a year.” For senior citizens like S.K. Nayar, a resident of Sector 15, Panchkula, the primary concern is an increase in rebate on income tax. “The government should raise the slab for IT rebate on senior citizens from Rs 1. 80 lakh to Rs 2. 50 lakh. The interest rates offered to senior citizens on bank deposits should also be raised by one per cent, so that they have an assured and steady income in their twilight years.” The youth in the city, ever fascinated with foreign lands for higher education, hopes that some concessions are granted to them for availing education loans. Hardeep Kaur, a student of mass communications in MCM DAV College, who plans to go abroad for a management course this year, says the government should initiate steps to extend the limit of security- free education loan from Rs 4 lakh to
Rs 6 lakh.
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Night patrol-less
Chandigarh, February 27 The residents are virtually left to fend for themselves during the night. This is evident from the shocking incident of rape of a 40-year-old
woman near Raj Bhawan in the wee hours of February 21. Had a PCR vehicle been deployed at Hira Singh rotary, the woman might have been saved the agony she underwent. A scooterist was killed after being hit by a Maruti Zen car a little after midnight today near the Sector 43 and 44 rotary. The car driver escaped as there was no police on the road to chase him, said a police officer pleading anonymity. After studies indicated a rise in late-night accidents, the traffic police launched a special drive and booked a large number of violators in a single night. However, the police failed to sustain the drive with only eight motorists booked till date this year for drunken driving against 207 booked last year. The situation on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway is worse as motorists coming from resorts in Zirakpur tend to speed up as they near Chandigarh. Similar is the scene on roads in Sectors 36 and 26 where there are chains of restaurants and pubs. but the police has seldom set up nakas at these places to catch drunken drivers. Inspector B.S. Negi admitted that the police had of late not set up night nakas or launched special drives. He said this was due to shortage of staff. But drives would be launched soon. According to figures with the police, as many as 16,681 motorists were booked for overspeeding last year as against 1,478 till February 26 this year. As many as 15,130 motorists were challaned for jumping red light last year. The challans for the offence till date this year was 3,036. Similarly, 7640 motorists were booked for using high beam last year.
As many as 1,241 persons were booked for the offence till February 26 this year.
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At last, plots for hockey players
Mohali, February 27 In 2001 a young Indian team comprising mainly Punjabi players won the junior hockey World Cup. The then Chief Minister decided to reward the hockey players with a residential plot each in Mohali. The announcement made in October, 2001, was not implemented till the department of sports reminded the chief minister of the same recently.The matter is now part of the agenda of GMADA’s next meeting to be held under the chairmanship of Punjab chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh. But there is a catch and a big one at that. Who will pay for these plots? With the cost of residential plots hiked to Rs 10,000 per square yard by the authority, allotting plots free of cost is not going to be an easy task. Who pays for these plots will be discussed at the meeting. Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur, penalty corner specialist Jugraj Singh, Prabhjot, Rajpal, Tejbir, Kamalpreet and two others are expected to be allotted the plots at Mohali.
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Stung by bees, JE dies
Chandigarh, February 27 Bhandari came to the PGI at 2.30 pm to inquire about the health of a colleagues admitted there. At the gate near Kairon Block , he was attacked by the bees. Bhandari was rushed to the emergency wing of the hospital in critical condition as he developed breathing problems. He died before he could be shifted to the ICU, said the doctors. There was chaos at Kairon Block with the bees attacking everybody. Attendants of patients sitting in the lawns near the block ran for safety.
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SGPC funds ‘misused’ for SAD rally
Mohali, February 27 Addressing a press conference here today, Sidhu said that all sections of society, including employees, farmers and industrial unit owners, were fed up of the government as it had failed to provide any benefits to them. As such March 1 would be observed as a black day even as the government would be celebrating it to announce its achievements made during the past one year. Condemning the Insaf rally held by the SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal in Delhi yesterday, the MLA alleged that the government had resorted to large-scale misuse of official machinery for the rally. He alleged that even the SGPC funds were misused for the Delhi rally, which was more of a political drama. He said as far as the issue relating to the waiving of bank loans of farmers was concerned, it had already been taken up by Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, president of the Punjab unit of the Congress, and the central leadership had assured to help farmers of the state. Talking about estimates for development works that were stayed by the government, Sidhu said that the estimates were cleared by the majority of councillors and were related to the town’s development. He alleged that Capt Kanwaljit Singh, cooperation minister, Punjab, had a role in getting development estimates stayed. He further alleged that the minister was interfering in the civic body’s matters and that was why elections for the posts of senior vice-president and vice-president were being delayed. The minister wanted his own person to become the president of the council but this would never happen as majority of the councillors backed Rajinder Singh Rana who was heading the civic body at present, added
Sidhu.
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Now, DTO to dispose of challans
Mohali, February 27 Directions have been issued to challaning officials to refer cases to the DTO’s office for disposal. Keeping the convenience of the public in mind it has been decided to give seven to 10 days time to get the challans cleared from the date of the offence. Sources said the state transport commissioner in a letter dated February 8 had directed that the challans done by the traffic police would be sent to the DTO for disposal. The DTO was asked to fix a time for disposing of the challans and also to inform the public in this regard. He had also been asked to be present in his office during the time fixed for disposing of the challans. In the letter the state transport commissioner further said the matter relating to challans was taken up at a meeting held under the chairmanship of the chief secretary, Punjab, on December 14 last year when issues relating to traffic management and transport were discussed. It was pointed out that cases relating to challans were sent to courts where they remained pending for a long time causing harassment to vehicle owners. As such it was decided that the cases relating to traffic challans should be disposed of by DTOs concerned. Copies of the letter have been sent to all DTOs in Punjab. Police officials said that approximately 5,000 cases relating to traffic offences for the Mohali district were lying pending in the courts. On an average 70 to 80 persons were challaned daily for various traffic related offences. Earlier, challans of persons living in Mohali and surrounding areas were sent to local courts, those relating to Kharar and Kurali areas were presented in the Kharar court while those relating to Zirakpur, Dera Bassi and Lalru areas were sent to courts at Rajpura. Mohali DTO Balbir Singh said a meeting with senior police officials of the traffic wing was held yesterday to work out modalities. He said he would be disposing of cases related to traffic offences in his office from 4 pm to 5 pm on all working days. The work would start when the police begins depositing challans in his office and people started approaching for getting these cleared. He said the afternoon time was selected so that his office work did not get adversely affected and moreover he would be able to devote more time, if required, for clearing challans every day. He said as his office was already short of staff, he had requested the police officials to provide two police personnel to assist him in the task till the work was streamlined.
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Stress on renewable energy sources
Chandigarh, February 27 This was revealed by N.R. Raje, director, Centre for Alternative Energy Research, University of Petroleum, Dehradun, during a seminar on Renewable Energy and Climate Change, being organised by International Law Association (ILA) at PHD Chamber House here this evening. The Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Vijender Jain, who is the patron-in-chief of the ILA, was the chief guest on the occasion. Raje said of the 146.55 million metric tonnes of petroleum product consumption in India, the country produced just 33.99 million metric tonnes, while 110.86 million metric tonnes was imported. “This means that the import bill was an astounding $45 billion. As the demand for the fossil fuels increases, this import bill will also increase. The only alternative is the utilisation of new and renewable energy and use of energy efficient equipment and practices. In this context, India is marching ahead to tap various alternative renewable sources of energy like wind, biofuels and bioenergy, solar energy and hydrogen,” he said. Raje said already India ranks fourth in the world for promoting wind energy, and after USA, India is the second most preferred destination for investment in renewable energy. “The country is also working towards planting jatropha - a bio fuel - on 11 million hectares of wasteland across the country by 2012. Being the second largest producer of sugarcane, there is a tremendous scope for production of ethanol - another biofuel. It has already been decided that by October 2008, 10 per cent ethanol will be blended in petrol. Though we are way behind Brazil, where ethanol production started in the 70’s and 25 per cent ethanol is blended in petrol,” he added. Earlier, while addressing the seminar, the Chief Justice said even as we expect all fossil fuels to be exhausted in the next 40 years, we are still looking for alternate sources of energy. Justice M.M. Kumar, who was the guest of honour, said it was time that the Punjab government bring in a legislation to introduce CNG fuel for auto rickshaws, especially in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Bathinda, where pollution levels
were high.
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City PFA unit best in country
Chandigarh, February 27 The unit has been declared the best out of 65 PFA units in the country. The award, started this year, was given to Payal Sodhi, the founder trustee of the local unit, at a function in New Delhi on February 19. Talking to The Tribune from New Delhi, Maneka Gandhi said she was happy that the hard work the unit had done all these years had got acclaimed, which would also motivate other units. “The trophy has been given keeping in view the number of animals taken care by the unit during a year, the number of members enrolled, achievements during the year as well as relationship with the local administration,” said Maneka Gandhi. The organisation functions round the clock, catering to calls from the tricity and picks up and gives adequate treatment to stray dogs, cattle, cats, birds, rabbit, goats, etc. With an X-Ray machine installed at its administrative office-cum-treatment centre in Sector 11, the unit is riding high and claims to be the first one in the city to have a separate machine for animals. “While the winning of the trophy definitely feels great, the unit has also been receiving calls from Pinjore, Kalka, Lalru, Kharar, Dera Bassi and sometimes Ambala too,” claimed Payal Sodhi.
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Haryana sends panel of 3 for home secy’s post
Chandigarh, February 27 The panel has been sent on the instructions of the Union Government, which recently wrote to the UT administration that the present incumbent Krishan Mohan must be repatriated to his parent state, Haryana, after March 31. The Union Government also wrote to the Haryana government to sent the panel. The names of Roshan Lal of the 1984 batch, Jyoti Arora of the 1987 batch and R.K. Khullar of the 1988 batch have been recommended by Haryana to the UT administration for the post of home secretary.
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‘Guru Manyo Granth Yatra’ in city on March 1
Chandigarh, February 27 The yatra has assumed special importance as the tenth guru, Sri Guru Gobind Singh, had directed all his followers to revere Guru Granth Sahib as their guru in 1708. This year marks the completion of 300 years of this historic event. The sacred weapons of Guru Gobind Singh, which he used in wars against Mughals, and the hand-written Bir of Guru Granth Sahib are parts of the
yatra.
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Check beggary
The write up titled “Beggars work under Big Brother” that was published in Chandigarh Tribune on February 21 was hundred per cent correct and apt. The reporter, Ruchika M. Khanna, must be lauded for exposing a racket. I am connected with the promotion of tourism in the city for the last more than four decades. Tourists from abroad on their arrival at the Sector 17 bus terminus are continuously chased and harassed by women beggars along with children, even in the presence of police personnel. I have written to the administration on this issue several times. Will the administrator pass orders for banning beggary in the city and give directions to the inspector general of police, Chandigarh, for rounding up all the beggars from the city? They should be sent to welfare homes being run by the social welfare department of the administration. Narinder Singh
International Readers are invited to write to us. Send your mail, in not more than 200 words, at
news@tribuneindia.com
or, write in, at: Letters, Chandigarh Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh – 160 030
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City kids win national talent hunt
New Delhi, February 27 Other two winners were Rishabh Arora from R.S. Junior Public School, New Delhi, and Vansh Khanna from DPS, Panipat. The competition was titled, ‘Primary Plus Multiple Intelligence Awards’ and was held in the capital recently. Students were judged on the basis of eight factors of intelligence i.e. language, logic, visual, body language, nature tick, musical and intra-personal skills. It was a rather toughly paced competition where over forty thousand students were interviewed by the judges and only five made it to the finals of the competition. The winners were gifted a Malaysia tour and the last 60 contestants got ‘Fire Fox Bike,’ a Dr Woods game
as prize. Eight year old Pragati from Chandigarh on winning the competition said in a voice filled with emotion, “This is unbelievable for me. I can’t describe my emotions. Before the camps, I never thought I would win. Only when I get back to Chandigarh, it’ll sink in. It is just a great feeling.” The children were also entertained by the famous pop singer Shibani Kashyap, gazal vocalist Penaaz Masani and stand up comedian Gurpal Singh and Raja Rancho. The finals were preceded by a three-day national camp where students and a panel of educationists interacted in order to further hunt talent in participating students.
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From Colleges
Chandigarh, February 27 As many as 432 students were awarded prizes for excelling in the field of academics, sports and co-curricular activities. Amarjit - Beena Memorial and Baba Kundan Singh Trust Scholarships awarded 19 students for academic achievement with cash prize of Rs 500. Shatakshee of B.Sc III (biotech honours) was declared all round best student of the college. Principal Shashi Malik said from the coming academic session, new academic programmes, B.Sc bioinformatics (elective) and UGC sponsored career oriented programmes in the field of bioinformatics, environmental auditing and tourism and travel management, will be introduced. Lecture: A lecture on ‘Mathematical Skills’ was today held at Government College of Education, Sector-20. Dr K.S. Saluja, principal of the college, threw light on the wonders of ancient Indian mathematics and emphasised that Indians should take pride in their rich treasure of knowledge. She further added that it was mandatory for students of all disciplines to learn the basics of mathematics. Pritpal Halwarvi presented vote of thanks. Symposium: A national symposium on ‘Recent Developments in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics’ was held in GGDSD, Sector 32. Dr Karamjit S. Rai, Prof Emeritus, department of biological sciences, University of Notre Dame, USA, inaugurated the event. The symposium included two technical sessions. Dr A.C. Vaid, principal of the college, highlighted that science can both be a boon or a bane so it should be used only for the welfare of mankind. Valediction: The geography department of Government College, Sector-11, organised a valediction function for the outgoing batch. Students presented cultural items related to various religions of India. Principal Dr A.L. Gauba blessed the students. Meanwhile, department of commerce and business administration organised ‘Faculty Development Programme’ in collaboration with ICFAI. Annual prize distribution function was also held. Prize distribution: State Institute of Education, Sector 32, organised its prize distribution function for the academic session 2007-08 today. S.K. Setia, DPI (S), was the chief guest. The students also presented a cultural programme. Dr Surinder Singh Dahiya, director, State Institute of Education, applauded the participants for their excellent performance.
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From Schools & Colleges
Panchkula, February 27 These tests will be introduced after sixth standard onwards. Placement drive: Sixty students from various engineering and technology colleges of Haryana were recruited on the concluding day of a two-day joint campus recruitment drive conducted by Larsen and Toubro Infotech, Mumbai, at Swami Devi Dyal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Barwala, today. R.L. Jindal, chairman, board of governors, said 1,037 pre-final students of B.Tech and MCA appeared for aptitude test and group discussions conducted by the company. The selected students have been offered the packages of more than Rs 3 lakh.
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Centre for Science inaugurated
Chandigarh, February 27 Ray Roman, vice-president, global consumer services and support, Dell Inc, inaugurated the centre in the presence of Ganesh Lakshminarayan, managing director, Dell International Services. Set up with funds from the Dell Foundation at an approximate cost of Rs 10 lakh, the centre comprises of state-of-art general science laboratories for physics, chemistry and biology and has been designed as a space where children can experiment and participate in scientific demonstrations. The center meets the Central Board of Secondary Education’s mandatory requirement of a laboratory facility where students of seventh standard and above can conduct experiments.
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Ravigeet does best analysis of budget
Chandigarh, February 27 The seminar was organised to declare the result of pre-budget survey conducted by ABS’s MBA students in tricity. Renowned management experts, including Prof S.P. Singh, former chairman, UBS, PU, and Dr K.K. Mangla, former chairman, UBS, were the chief guests. In the survey, MBA students went door to door to know the public opinion
on budget. Following were adjudged as winners for the analysis of survey: 1 Ravigeet, 2 Kiran, 3 Wahid Jilani.
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High Court
Chandigarh, February 27 The petitioner, Dharamender Singh Randhawa of Sector 43, argued that the advertisement issued by the Chandigarh administration in the media on January 9, 2007, and September 11, 2007, made no reference to provisions of the All-India Council for Technical Education Act, even though it frames the criteria of selection for higher courses. The administration, through the advertisement, had invited expression of interest for allotment of sites for setting up world-class educational institutions. The petitioner, through counsel Balbir Singh Sewak, said the expression of interest had been invited on the basis of vague criteria so that the respondents, including UT Education Secretary, UT Tourism Secretary, Union Home Ministry and Union Human Resources Development Ministry, could allot land to parties of their choice without reference to the AICTE criteria. The proposed Educity is intended to have an institute of design, high level of courses in retail management, knowledge management, supply chain management, financial services, hospital administration, bio-technology, IT and tourism. After the preliminary hearing, the High Court Division Bench of Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia issued notice of motion for March 10 to the Chandigarh administration and others. Law officers appointed Three more law officers were today appointed in Punjab Advocate-General’s office with immediate effect. The officers to be appointed Additional Advocates-General are Gurinder Singh Attariwala and Ajay Bansal. Attariwala is at present the vice-president of Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association. Raj Preet Singh Sidhu has been appointed Assistant Advocate-General. Hailing the decision, Bar Association Secretary Onkar Singh Batalvi said the appointments would go a long way in streamlining the functioning of the AG’s office.
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Rediff.com told to pay damages
Chandigarh, February 27 The petitioner, Saurabh Puri, resident of Sangrur, stated that he had purchased a leather wallet along with a complimentary table alarm worth Rs 200 through Internet. The product was available on discounted price on the occasion of Father’s Day. He averred that it was mentioned on website that delivery of the products was free in Ropar, Chandigarh and Patiala. Saurabh stated that for delivery of the products he gave his Ropar’s address. The order was registered by the company and he got a mail confirming it. Furthermore, he got the confirmation of receiving the payment of the product. Saurabh alleged that the product was not delivered to him though he reminded the company several times. However, he received a mail dated July 12, 2007, stating that his delivery address was not serviceable and the amount would be refunded. The company stated that on being informed that the product was not delivered to them the sum of Rs 200 was refunded to the petitioner. The forum headed by Jagroop Singh Mahal stated: “There are many errors in providing the service by the company to the petitioner. Order by the complainant was made for offering the gift to his father on Father’s Day. The order was accepted by the company but by not delivering the product on the specific date as was desired by the petitioner that it was a clear case of deficiency in service.”
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Chandigarh, February 27
Chandigarh, February 27