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MC Staff Crunch Aarti Kapur Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 12 According to sources, the fact that several regular posts in all MC departments have yet to be filled has affected the pace of development work in the city. There are 330 posts lying vacant in the public health department, 350 in the buildings & roads department, 431 in the medical health officer’s department, 72 in the fire & emergency service department and 97 in the Manimajra division.
On the other hand temporary 1,029 posts in the daily wage category, 248 posts of purely work charged and 117 posts of contract workers have been filled up. MC commissioner Roshan Sunkarai proposed a budget plan of Rs 178.41 crore for the next financial year, lower by Rs 78 crore as compared to last fiscal’s budget of Rs 256.19 crore. He ascribed the reduction to the civic body’s lack of capacity to spend over Rs 100 crore in a year due to the staff shortage. It may be mentioned here that in a number of MC house meetings last year also, when the councilors raised concerns over the delay in completion of projects in their areas, Sunkaria had categorically stated the projects could not be completed on time due to a paucity of staff. A MC official said this issue had been taken up with the commissioner a number of times. The official stated, “In many cases work contractors do not even bother to prepare projects reports as they know they are not answerable to anyone”. “Filling up temporary posts might be a standby arrangement for the civic body but till regular staff is appointed nothing can be streamlined”, the official added. MC officials felt just by sanctioning huge funds development projects could not be undertaken unless there was a dedicated staff to implement them. They added last year the UT administration had not sanctioned the full grant in aid to the civic body as it doubted whether the MC would be able to utilise it properly.
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Cong panel fails to decide Babla’s fate
Chandigarh, February 12 Over a month after a five-member committee was constituted by the local Congress unit president BB Bahl to decide the fate of the senior leader, the panel has failed to submit its findings. The committee, which ran into rough weather from the very start on the issue of Chander Mukhi Sharma being named as the chairman, is unlikely to take an early decision on the matter, sources said here today.Besides Sharma, the committee consists of Subhash Chawla and DD Jindal, both Congress vice-presidents, Pardeep Chhabra, a former MCC Mayor, and Vijay Singh Singh, MCC councillor and Congress secretary. In fact, till now the committee had been able to hold only a couple of meetings. Even as the beleaguered councillor, who brought huge embarrassment to the Congress, cools his heels in the Burail jail, the committee seemed to be
divided over taking any decision on Babla. While a viewpoint in the committee was that Babla's continuation in the Congress was not in the party's interest and law should take its own course, another viewpoint favoured going slow on the issue. Earlier, the top leadership, including Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources Pawan Bansal, had rallied around his close confidant on the plea that he was being victimised by former Punjab Governor-cum-UT Administrator SF Rodrigues for raising voice against the controversial mega projects. A senior Congress leader said the party was caught in a Catch-22 situation on the councillor. It cannot straightaway show the door to the councillor as he was considered close to Bansal. However, the continued presence
of the councillor in the party was a sources of embarrassment for the Congress, the leader added. In fact, the Congress leadership has adopted a wait-and-watch policy on the councillor and hopes that the issue dies its natural death. With change of guard at the Punjab Raj Bhavan, the Congress feels that the "direct monitoring" of the case from Raj Bhavan was a thing of the past. Babla, who was first booked in the shed allotment case, was subsequently booked in four cases. Recently, he got some relief in one of the cases.
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Breather for Parsavnath
Chandigarh, February 12 According to official sources, earlier to sort out the issue, the tribunal had also held a meeting on February 1 at Hotel Taj in Chandigarh for a hearing and the tribunal granted a stay order to the builder on the default notice. Officials claimed that after serving the default notice, the board was supposed to issue a termination order to Parsavnath, but in the wake of the stay order, they could not do the same. The Chandigarh Housing Board had signed an MoU with the Parsavnath builders for a housing and commercial project near IT Park in 2006. This project was supposed to be completed within a timeframe of three years, but neither the project was completed nor the builders paid the remaining amount to the board. Following this, the housing board even appointed an arbitrator to look into the project. A default notice was then served to the realtor for not starting the project in time and neither completing the same. It was further stated in the notice that the remaining amount of Rs 314 crore had also not been paid. A reply was then sought from the realtors. In its reply, the realtor stated that the notice was not only unjustified but also one-sided. It must be added that even before this notice, another show-cause notice was also served to the realtor, following which the owner of the company, Pradeep Jain, had stated that the delay in starting the project was not their fault at all. It was due to the late allotment of the land to them and later the drawings were also not approved. In their previous reply, the realtors had alleged that only the land allotted to them was already in litigation but there are high-tension wires right above the allotted land and much time was taken to get these removed. It must be recalled that the said land was allotted to Parsavnath in Rs 814 crore. First the company paid Rs 517 crore and an amount of Rs 314 crore was still to be paid. It was a few months ago when both the board and Builders had appointed former justice DP Wadhwa and
former justice Amar Dutt as their respective arbitrators to sort out the matter. By agreement, the board and Parsavnath had appointed Justice SC Aggarwal (retd) as common arbitrator. Parsavnath had also claimed prior to this that now that the arbitrator had been appointed so there was no need for issuing such default notices by the board, especially in the wake of the ongoing talks.
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Utsav granted bail
Chandigarh, February 12 The police had arrested Utsav on February 8 outside the court premises after he had assaulted Rathore. He was sent to a day’s police remand on February 9 and to judicial custody on February 10. The defence lawyer, Harish Bhardwaj, told the magistrate Utsav was a “brilliant student and belonged to a reputed family. He didn’t have any criminal record”. “Utsav was arrested under section 324 of the IPC but the police had added section 506 later on just to make it a nonbailable offence. The pretrial detention will not serve any purpose”, Bhardwaj added. The next hearing for the case has been fixed for February 24.
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My Name Is Khan Chhavi Garg
Chandigarh, February 12 “We have already sent a message across to the local bodies of the Shiv Sena, warning that no nuisance will be tolerated in the city. We have deployed security personnel outside all malls and have even asked the mall owners to beef up the security on their part,” said the SP Madhur Verma. “The city is different from Delhi or Mumbai, both in terms of clientele and the residents. We have never experience such protests, but still have beefed up security for this movie, at least till the Valentine’s Day,” said a mall owner. “Though there is no threat, we have stepped up security as a precautionary measure. The internal security force has been doubled and the police is also keeping a close eye,” said BP Das, security officer at the Centra Mall, Industrial Area, Chandigarh. Shiv Sena has called for a ban on the movie after Shah Rukh refused to apologise for his comment on Pakistani cricketers being kept out of the IPL-3. Former Lok Sabha Speaker and senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi said the party would not allow any of Khan’s movies to be screened in Maharashtra till he apologised. His comments came shortly after the actor told television channels that he stood by his statement on Pakistani cricketers.
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Symbiosis of love, money
Kirti and Nidhi
Chandigarh, February 12 On being asked whether love is being commercialised, he replied, “Various days in the Valentine’s week are celebrated like chocolate day, teddy bear day, etc. just to keep consumers happy and occupied.” Special packages and combo offers at the eating joints and coffee shops followed the “push strategy” to attract the customers to loosen their pockets. Sanjay Abbot, owner, Softy Corner, Sector 17, said, “We introduce new ice-cream flavours and special combos for the couples on Valentine’s Day. This gets us a good response. Sales go up by 30 to 40 per cent. Though the occasion is for every relationship, but we mainly stress on the couples.” Valentine’s Day was limited to the lovers when it became popular in India 12-13 years ago. But from the last two-three years, it has been accepted as a festival of love for all relationships. Abbot added, “These days every age group celebrates this day. But still the market depends upon the youth and we get maximum sales from them.” Though the businessmen are expecting huge profits, the celebrations are a low-key affair for some. Aanchal Narwal, a student of MCM, said, “There are no special plans yet. May be my boyfriend gives me a pleasant surprise.” Her friend Sarina Malhi quipped, “I will stay at home as I do on any other Sunday.” Tamana, a student of BSc nursing, said, “We are celebrating the day today only. It will not be possible to get out on Sunday. There are no ready excuses to help us this time.” There are singles, who plan to have a day out with parents’ permission. They are not in the mood to splurge. Raghav Bhardwaj, a student of MCA, said, “I’ll enjoy the day with my friends either on Sukhna Lake or on gehri route.” Looking at the trends, it seems that the cupid strikes two targets in one go. Cash flows in the businessmen’s pocket and it fills the hearts with love.
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Oz company projects widening of roads
Tribune News Service
Mohali, February 12 For the past six months, the consultant has been giving presentations before the officials of the PIDB, Town Planning Department, and GMADA. “After the final presentation, the consultant will be asked to give the final concept plan”, said a senior official. The facelift includes beautification of roads and landscaping features. There are proposals for better circulation area around the PCA traffic junction, regulating traffic at the traffic junction of Phases III and V, and providing arterial road, passing through Phases IV, V, III-B1, III-B2 and VII. The idea behind the beautification project was to create material palate for future and a new urban corridor for newly developing sectors to the south of the existing area. Seven roads to be covered include shopping centre road, NIPER road, roads dividing Phases IX and X, X and XI, III and VII, YPS road and the PCL-Madanpur road. The roads are to be widened, designated public transport corridor provided, traffic control points and public domains will be upgraded, pedestrian pathways created, and landscaping will be done.
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Pensioners’ body seeks revision of tax slabs
Mohali, February 12 At a meeting held under the chairmanship of Jagtar Singh, it was stressed that the income up to Rs 2.75 lakh should be exempted from taxation from the current limit of Rs 1.60 lakh. In case of women, the limit should be raised from Rs 1.90 lakh to Rs 3 lakh and for senior citizens from Rs 2.40 lakh to Rs 3.75 lakh. Senior citizens should be allowed a higher exemption, as prices of medicines had gone up drastically. The government should reintroduce the system of standard deduction. The association said the long term effects of Bt brinjal should be analysed thoroughly for the benefit of humanity. Genetically modified products were completely banned in several countries around the world. Such crops could contaminate others crops as well. The association expressed its gratitude to the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority for undertaking the work of channelising the foul-smelling nullah at a cost of Rs 1.75 crore. The nullah had made life miserable for those living in Sector 67 and nearby areas. GMADA had also decided to construct a community centre in Sector 67 at a cost of Rs 4 crore. The community centre was a long-pending demand of residents of that area and it would provide a scenic beauty to the airport road. The centre would benefit people who were unable to bear the cost of holding social functions at private halls. A number of existing community centres were being used by the government departments.
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Seminar on Hindi literature, media
Panchkula, February 12 “The young generation needs a direction at a critical juncture when ethical values are depraving. The affluent rich are gaining control of the media. Literature only can help to build an ideal society,” opined Shiv Ramnan Gaud IAS, director public relations, Haryana. Speaking at the seminar, he urged all to revive and rebuild the relationship between literature and media, he added. Earlier main speaker Radhey Shyam Sharma, former editor of Dainik Tribune, delved deep into various aspects of the subject, tracing genesis of literature influencing the media from time to time. Literature had a long time influence on life than the media with a short span effect. Unfortunately, it is not the editor but management who hold the key. Expressing agreement to some of the facts, noted poet journalist Dr Chander Trikha, however, maintained that literature defined the social structure of society from time to time and even today but commercialisation of the modern media after 1990 had resulted in the depravation of ethical values in society. It is imperative to associate the visionary literary luminaries in the media, he added. Editor of a Hindi daily, Uday Kumar Sinha was more articulate, expressive and aggressive to point that society was either not alive or daring enough to point the irregularities happening everywhere. He advocated a perfect liaison between the government, media and society. Akademy director Dr Mukta proposed a vote of thanks.
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Power generation building opened
Panchkula, February 12 Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today inaugurated the structure located in Sector 5, built in compliance with the energy conservation building code. Financial commissioner and principal power secretary Madhusudan Prasad said the four-storied building is a “totally IT enabled structure with 148 networked computer workstations with Local Area Network (LAN) and a 5 mbps dedicated Internet connection provided by Hartron”. Providing technical details, he said the building is equipped with an efficient rainwater harvesting system based on the Central Ground Water Board’s design. “To conserve energy the building has been insulated with double toughened glass and a 500 litre capacity solar water heater to meet the requirement of hot water. In addition to normal treatment, Styrofoam, polystyrene boards and white glazed tiles on the top for reflection of heat have been used for better insulation. To prevent fire accidents a latest sprinkling system has been provided in the basement and on other floors along with heat and smoke detectors, a fire alarm system as well as fire extinguishers and weatherproof hose cabinets. There is fire hydrant at each corner of the building,” Prasad stated. Earlier the chief minister also inaugurated the new office building of the Haryana directorate of prosecution in Sector 14.
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‘Ahata’ close to school a nuisance
Chandigarh, February 12 The establishment is not only flouting all directives but if the claims of students and staff members are taken into account, it is also proving to be a sheer nuisance. “This theka is right next to the boundary wall of the school and at any point and time we can catch unwanted elements passing lewd comments. Moreover, having such a theka near any school is a big hazard to the desired academic environment. Many times we have apprised the department about the problem but even they have not been able to do much,” revealed one of the teachers of the school. When contacted, DPI (S) Sunil Bhatia said, “That area falls in Punjab so we cannot take any action against the vend owner. This vicinity rule is also applicable in Punjab so they should be following it.” However, it may be noted that in the vicinity of the school, there is another liquor vend right across the road which falls under the UT territory and apparently is as objectionable as the other one. It may be noted that is not the lone case, but many schools on the UT border face a similar problem where both the states have their own vends to reap the maximum out of the ‘prized’ area. “This cannot go on, I shall ask fficials concerned to survey all such schools and shut down any such vend that violates the prescribed vicinity limit,” said Home Secretary Ram Niwas.
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Prem Chand’s ‘Qaidi’ staged
Chandigarh, February 12 The story structured into Russian rule and directed by Mohneesh Kumar depicted the transition of hatred to love and internal psychological conflict of protagonist Helen’s psyche pitted against external situational pressures. As a revolutionary, she considered Governor Romnaff, a cruel and resolved to kill him with the help of her husband Ivon. Under a planned strategy, she established the relation with Romnaff only to realise Romnaff to be a fine human being, but somehow failed to prevent the planned attack on him by her husband, who was caught and underwent a life imprisonment. Angry Ivon planned to take revenge but his love attained new high learning that the guilt had taken her life. Neha, Ravinder Ravi and Vivek Sharma played lead roles. Adakar Manch’s Punjabi play “Suraj di koi pithh nahin hundi” will be presented tomorrow.
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Rotary committee constitutes task force
Chandigarh, February 12 Terming shortage of staff, poor hygienic conditions and lack of awareness as major impediments in making India polio free, Ashok Mahajan, trustee, Rotary Foundation, and Shub Karan Gupta, member, INPPC, said the organisation had constituted a task force of volunteers so that all children in the 0-5 age group were administered polio drops. In order to curb diarrhoea, a zinc oral hydration therapy had been launched in North India, he added. While appreciating the contribution of 355 million dollar by the Gates Foundation, Gupta said Rotarians had raised over 105 million dollar fund as a part of matching grant of $ 200 million. Gupta said the health authorities had been directed to ensure availability of zinc tablets at all hospitals and health centres of the state. “Even if the government officials do not extend desired cooperation, we will persuade them to do the needful. Instead of waiting for the deadline to arrive, we will put in efforts to make India polio free by next year,” said Mahajan.
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Entrepreneurs attend CEO Forum
Chandigarh, February 12 Sandeep Goyal, chairman, Dentsu India, an advertising agency with capitalised billings of over Rs 1,200 crore addressed the CEO Forum. Based in Mumbai, Sandeep belongs to Chandigarh. Talking about team building, Goyal stated: “You must first decide how many ‘hunters’ and how many ‘farmers’ you need. The hunters would be the ones who would be aggressive, ambitious and go out and get business for you. The farmers would be the ones who would be happy doing the routine things that are important to keep the business moving. Invest in the best talent you can get, empower them and reward them well for good performance. At the same time, do not accept anything but the best quality work. Your team needs to be success driven and must be aware that you expect them to be winners.” In the discussion that followed, Sandeep answered a number of questions on how to do business with the Japanese and how to present business propositions to international corporations.
— TNS
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Newcastle Mayor meets Chatrath
Chandigarh, February 12 Mayor welcomed the delegation at the UT guesthouse and the Additional Commissioner gave brief introduction regarding various projects and functions of the corporation. Cookson said he was here to hold talks regarding a cultural exchange programme between Newcastle and Chandigarh. He said in Newcastle they had two universities and a highly developed medical centre where a large number of Indians particularly from North India were studying and working. He said culture was integral to every human being and should not be neglected. Cookson said an effort was being taken to start a dialogue between Chandigarh and Newcastle city to have frequent culture programmes.
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Prabhdeep crowned Miss Mountview
Zirakpur, February 12 Students presented a cultural programme. Various events like skits, dance and songs marked the function. Bhangra by senior students stole the show. Jatinder Singh was declared Mr Mountview and Prabhdeep Kaur bagged the title of Miss Mountview. Gurcharan crowned the winners.
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Advocate invited to attend conference
Chandigarh, February 12 He will present a paper on “Whether the EVMs in its present form are reliable and meet the legal requirements”. The event is being organised by the Centre of National Renaissance. He will be leading the discussion on “EVM deployment-current international practice and law”.
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Inter-college play contest on HIV/AIDS at GCG-11
Chandigarh, February 12 The competition was inaugurated by Ajoy Sharma, IAS, special secretary, finance-cum-director, higher education. He said, “Out of over one billion youngsters in the age group of 15-24 years, about 10 million are HIV positive. Everyday, around 6,000 persons get infected with the virus. The age group of 15-29 years accounts to 31 per cent of AIDS burden. The epidemic of HIV/AIDS continues to shift towards youngsters.” Dr Vanita Gupta, project director, said in order to combat the problem, the Chandigarh State AIDS Control Society has established 18 Red Ribbon Clubs in various colleges of the city. These clubs aim at harnessing the potential of the youth by equipping them with correct information on HIV/AIDS prevention, care, support and treatment. They also aim at building their capacities as educators in spreading messages on positive health
behaviour. Awards were given to the winning teams by Prerna Puri, IAS, SDM (S). She said youngsters should think globally but act locally. Madhu Bhullar, a prominent theatre personality, Gaurav Gaur and Archana Mohan were the judges. A blood donation camp was also held, wherein 103 units of blood were collected. Results: Postgraduate Government College (GCM), Sector 11, 1, Government College for BEd, Sector 20, 2 and Government College, Sector 46, 3. Teams from Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Government College for Girls, Sector 42, Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology, Sector 26, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Pharmacy, Sector 26, Brahm Rishi Yoga Training College, Sector 19, Government College of Commerce and Business Administration, Sector 42, won the consolation prizes.
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Screening of documentaries marks ‘Glitterati’
Chandigarh, February 12 Three documentaries prepared by the students of the Functional English department were screened on the occasion. “Sparsh”, the first documentary, which won second prize in the PU media fest “SOCH”, touched upon the lives of mentally challenged children, their innocent aspirations and zeal without any resentment. The second documentary worked around drug a
ddiction, while the third documentary “Paradise on earth- Manipur” took everyone to Manipur- a literal paradise. The documentary showcased
unbelievable sights and colours, cultural heritage, lilting rhythm of songs and dances and sheer abundance of all things beautiful. The event concluded with a cultural show. Placement drive
As a part of the placement drive, Corporate Channel of LIC, Sebiz Infotech, Matrix Cellular and Unicorn visited GGDSD College, Sector 32, to recruit the final year students as technical associates in their firms. Around 250 students sat for power point presentation following which they appeared for a written test. As many as 108 students were shortlisted for the second round of personal and telephonic interviews. While 10 students were shortlisted by Corporate Channel of LIC, Sebiz Infotech, Matrix Cellular and Unicorn shortlisted 20, five and 73 students, respectively.
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ETT teachers burn govt’s effigy
Bassi Pathana, February 12 If the state government did not stop the atrocities, all schools, including senior secondary in the state, would be closed from February 15, warned Jagtar Singh Manaina, state president ETT Teachers’ Union, while addressing a protest rally of the ETT teachers here today. The teachers raised slogans against the government and burnt its effigy. He said the government had been backtracking after making promises to fulfill their genuine demands. He said the government was working in dictatorial manner. They were not allowed to hold the rally at Lambi. He said in spite of all odds, they succeeded in getting all schools closed yesterday.
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