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VIPs getting away with illegal farmhouses
Seonk (Mohali), March 26 Rather than serving as green lungs for the city, the lush green zones are being turned into mansions that boast of the latest flooring, swimming pools and hi-tech gadgetry. Of late the farmhouses are being used to throw expensive and ostentatious weddings. What began in the early eighties as a cluster of farms in Chandigarh’s periphery behind PGI has swelled into a large number of farmhouses, big and small, being developed by business scions, politicians, socialites and bureaucrats who have mercilessly eroded the green cover and are tampering with the natural flow of seasonal rivulets flowing through the Shivalik Hills, illegally occupying several hectares of land. There is a definite nexus between the land-grabbing mafia and local authorities who allow construction. On paper, notices are served to those who violate the regulations. However, the ‘VIPs’ are seldom targeted. The way the GMADA and forest officials are handling the issue, the days are not far off when the authorities would be faced with situation like that in Mehrauli in south Delhi. Explaining the dynamics, officials said farmhouse developers targeted entry to a village ‘abadi’ or close to village roads. In Seonk, Perch, Jyanti Majri and Kasauli villages, illegal access roads are built - sometimes through other properties. Construction activity resumed at a farmhouse in Seonk village last Tuesday, two days after GMADA’s regulatory branch officials got it halted. Marble flooring was being laid. Similarly, a tubewell was being bored and a boundary wall was being raised on a piece of land in Perch village. Most of the farmhouses are unauthorised and have come up without permission for change in land use from the Punjab town & country planning department. A survey of the area revealed the modus operandi of the developers was to identify a parcel of land, divide it into one acre or bigger sized plots and sell it to moneyed people as a farm. These transactions are ideal for those who hide black money transactions by getting the land deals registered at officially lesser rates against the actual deals touching crores of rupees. “Once the officials find that the owner of the property is a VIP, the former come and go just as a mere formality and only to complete their paperwork. Very few of such VIP violators have been fined or punished as per the provisions of the law. The law is only for the common man”, said a businessman who owns land in Perch village.
Notices issued in 20 cases
GMADA estate officer Indu Rose said during the past two years notices were issued in 20 cases in Mullanpur, Seonk, Tira, Milk, Togan, Boothgarh, Khizrabad and Jyanti Majri villages where structures have been raised in violation of the Periphery Control Act. However, Rose had no idea about the exact number of farmhouses dotting Chandigarh’s periphery.
Norms on farmhouses
The area requirement for farmhouses has been brought down from five to 2.5 acres and construction has been permitted within the 8-km belt surrounding the city’s periphery. However, the construction of farmhouses cannot be allowed in the area notified under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 or the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and under sections 4 & 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900, or under any other law that prohibits such activity.
Fines for violations
The regulatory branch of GMADA has stated through a public notice that those who do not take permission for change of land use in the city’s periphery can attract a fine of Rs 50,000 and, in case of continuity of violation, the fine would be Rs 5,000 per day. Any construction activity in violation of the provisions of the New Capital (Periphery) Control Act, 1952 could be demolished under section 12(2) of the act with police assistance. A criminal case can also be registered against the violator in a court of law under section 12(1).
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Miraculous escape for patients after fire erupts at GMSH
Chandigarh, March 26 All the patients in the ward were evacuated in time and luckily no one was injured in the mishap that occurred at about 8:40 am. However, the airconditioning system where the fire broke out was completely gutted. Call it coincidence or just plain luck, the fire erupted instantly when a staff nurse, Nirmal, switched on some electric points in the trauma centre. Smoke immediately started billowing from the switch panel and within seconds flames enveloped
the place. A stunned Nirmal immediately started shouting for help and her shrieks alerted the patients and staff at the centre, who informed the fire department. Had the fire erupted after Nirmal had walked away from the panel, it would have been an altogether different story as the trauma centre had no fire alarm system or water sprinklers installed in it. Surprisingly, neither were there any fire extinguishers. According to fire officials, they were told about the fire at 8:50 am and three water bowsers were sent to the scene. The fire was brought under control within 30 minutes. Talking to The Tribune, Nirmal said, “The fire broke out almost instantly when I switched on some electric points. I just didn’t know how to react so I began shouting for help,” she said. According to some other eyewitnesses, there were over a dozen patients in the trauma centre when the mishap occurred. All of them were evacuated on time. Hospital officials claimed “short circuiting” in the airconditioning system was the apparent cause of the fire. Enquiries by The Tribune revealed the trauma wing was renovated two years ago, so the wiring was apparently in good shape.
No fire precautions
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Teachers irregular, indifferent to student needs
Sumedha Sharma Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 26 These are just a few of the special comments penned by students of Panjab University on the teacher feedback form distributed by the Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC). The unique initiative, undertaken by the council in response to the university’s delay in implementing teacher evaluation, seems to have been quite a hit.
Claiming to have given a voice to the students, the PUCSC has collected its first sample of over 100 forms and will very soon be ready with the faculty report cards. Sources say most of these forms talk about teachers not being regular in some classes or not attending to student problems as an when apprised of those. Some forms also have interesting mention about some teachers not dressing up or behaving smartly as per the individual needs of a particular course. “What the university has not been able to do in three years, we have done in just a couple of weeks. The response is quite surprising as several things, like a teacher asking students to confine their answers to the notes prescribed, have surfaced. The introduction of teacher evaluation was promised a long time ago. The university adopted a dilly-dallying attitude initially and then Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) created trouble. So we decided to take things in our hands,” said PUCSC president Amit Bhatia. The council had distributed forms which asked students to mark their teachers on a scale of one to 10 on parameters such as content knowledge, punctuality and regularity. The response to these forms would be cumulated in the form of a report card for each teacher, which would then be forwarded to PUTA and the Vice-Chancellor for their reference. Repeated attempts to contact Vice-Chancellor RC Sobti during the day proved futile. When the last contact was made at 10:05 pm, he came on the line to say, “I am busy in a meeting, cannot talk now” and immediately placed the receiver back. “We are never against this kind of feedback but did not want the teacher evaluation to become a tool to humiliate teachers or settle scores. We are in support of evaluation without any third-party intervention. It should be a two-way communication between students and the faculty,” said Prof Akshay Kumar, PUTA general secretary.
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Whodunnit, asks Mayor
Chandigarh, March 26 Suddenly the National Anthem commenced and Dr Roshan Sunkaria, MC Commissioner, got up in a hurry. The House meeting ended even before it began and the Mayor looked confused.
After the Mayor came out, she expressed surprise that the National Anthem was played without her directions and the House had to be adjourned. She said when the National Anthem began, she stood to respect it. A number of nominated councillors objected to the issue being taken up in the House when it was not under the purview of the corporation, pointing out that important issues like the cement scam, the management of community centres, the amendment in the notification on stray cattle and the report on the garbage processing plant should have been discussed.
Nominated councillor Pallav Mukherjee said the Mayor could have called officials and asked for new developments in the Mishra case. He asked why the meeting was suspended for the whole day and why the councillor affected had not taken up the issue with the Mayor three days back. Another nominated councillor, Dr AP Sanwaria, stated that he had prepared a list of the points he wanted to raise in the House today, but the meeting ended in 10 minutes without giving him time to raise those. He asked why lakhs were being wasted on organising House meetings when they discussed only personal agenda items. After the adjournment of the House, the Mayor held a meeting with councillors and decided to send a communique to UT Adviser Pradip Mehra and IGP PK Srivastva to ask them what action they had been taking in this regard. After this, DSP (East) Jasbir Singh Cheema and DSP (Central) Jagbir Singh assured the Mayor that action would be taken after investigation. The councillors were unanimous on adjourning the House, but when holding meetings with police officials, most of them started pointing out their party grievances of not having been heard on important issues earlier. A Congress councillor pointed out that before discussing the Mishra issue with police officials, all councillors should be assured of support by all in case of any such mishap in the future.
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Cattle auction fair postponed
Mohali, March 26 While the bidders lamented that the department had altered the terms and condition of the auction to benefit certain Dera Bassi-based slaughter houses, the department said the terms and conditions had been amended to check evasion of fee pilfered by those who bought cattle without paying the duty. The official said the cattle auction fair in four districts had been postponed to March 29 as it did not attract enough biding amount. Meanwhile, the department was able to hold the cattle auction fair for Mukstar, Moga, Ferozepore, Faridkot, Mansa, Bathinda.
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Councillors force cops into action
Chandigarh, March 26 Sources said the arrest was made in the wake of protests by the councillors, who condemned police inaction in the case. It was being alleged that the police remained mute spectators to the ruckus at the police station. Today, during the House meeting of the Municipal Corporation, the issue was raised with the councillors seeking removal of the SHO of the Industrial Area police station for lapse of duty on his part. City Mayor Anu Chathrath then rang up UT Advisor Pradip Mehra and UT IGP PK Srivastva and discussed the issue. Within minutes DSP (East) Jasbir Singh Cheema and DSP (Central) Jagbir Singh reached the Mayor’s office and said they had arrested 10 persons and assured her of a fair probe. Police sources said Gurdev alias Guru, Raj Kumar, Surinder alias Lala, Ravi Shankar alias Pahari, Santosh alias Khalli, Vinay, Avdesh, Sanjay, Rama Shankar Yadav and Lachman had been arrested in two cases registered against them. The police had earlier arrested Om Parkash and Biru from the spot on Tuesday night and they had been sent to judicial custody. The police had registered a case of rioting, causing grievous hurt, criminal trespass and criminal intimidation against the accused on a complaint lodged by Mishra’s son Anup Mishra. Later, the miscreants came to the police station claiming that Anup had given names of persons who were not involved in the incident and created a ruckus there. They pelted stones at the police station, which damaged the windowpanes there. The police then registered another case of rioting, causing hurt and criminal intimidation along with Section 3 of the Damage to Public Property Act.
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Action to be taken against erring officials
Smriti Sharma Vasudeva Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 26 The direction has come following an enquiry report submitted by the office of the Deputy Commissioner recently. The Additional Deputy Commissioner had conducted the enquiry and had submitted his report recently. Incidentally, the enquiry report had revealed that the two officials were found guilty of misusing their official position for illegally selling the flat. A police official who was hand in glove with the two in getting through the deal has also been found guilty and an action against him has also been recommended. It must be recalled that in March, 2009, a 70-year-old widow of a defence personnel found that her flat in the group housing society was allegedly sold to another person without her knowledge. Saroj Sharma, who was allotted a B category flat in the Universal Cooperative House Building First Society, Sector 48, stated that the flat was transferred in her name in 2008 after the death of her husband RR Sharma. She had alleged that she was robbed of her share by one Harsimran Kaur, in connivance with the officials of the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Chandigarh. She also lodged a complaint with the SSP, Chandigarh, and on March 9, the complaint was marked to the Deputy Superintendent Police (South). A probe had revealed that the two officials of RCS office- Amarjit Singh and Udham Singh had misused their official capacity to get the flat transferred in the name of Harsimran Kaur. After the formation of a new governing council of the society, the validity of the possession letter issued to Harsimarn Kaur on January 7, 2009, by both the RCS officials had come under scanner. Harsimran Kaur was one of the members of the society till 2003. Thereafter, she chose to drop her claim by asking to refund her paid amount. Her membership was terminated after she was paid back an amount of Rs 1.69 lakh through a cheque. All of a sudden, after four years she appeared to claim her share in the society. In a blatant violation of the cooperative society norms, Harsimran was allotted flat of B category, whereas she was the member of A category.
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UT admn official missing
Chandigarh, March 26 Harried family members stated he had left home on Thursday at about 9:30 am and reported for duty at his office. “He later left his office telling his colleagues he was going to attend a meeting. Thereafter we have no idea about his whereabouts”, they said. The family members said they had tried calling up Verma on his mobile phone but found it switched off since yesterday morning. They added they had checked up with his friends and colleagues and even their relatives, but nobody had any idea where he was. His motorcycle, a Bajaj
Platina (registration no: CH03Z 7647) is also not traceable. Sources said Verma’s cellphone details showed the last incoming call on his phone was from his boss, MS Brar, director of the Chandigarh IT department, at 10:23 am. The tower location was of Bank Square in Sector 17 at that time. Thereafter his phone was switched off showing the tower location in Sector 22. The Sector 33 police station SHO said the police had put the mobile phone under surveillance and was analysing the call details for picking up some clues to track
down Verma. The cops said his relatives as well as colleagues have not reported anything amiss in his behaviour. Relatives said Verma had no dispute with anyone and had celebrated a festival a couple of
days ago with them.
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GMCH interns barred from prescribing drugs
Anuja Jaiswal Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 26 Confirming this, the hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr NK Arora, attempted to play down the move and delink it from the publication of the story by describing it as a “routine” matter. “There’s nothing new in it. We had issued the circular earlier also”, he said without attributing any reasons to this renewed effort. While Arora did not confirm it, sources claimed an explanation had also been sought from the doctors who were on the night shift on March 24, when this reporter had visited the ward and observed its functioning for almost four hours. If insiders are to be believed the authorities have taken a very serious view of the doctors’ habit to remain inside their room, leaving emergency cases at the hands of the interns. The sources also stated attempts were being made to “save the skin” of some of the doctors who were not in the hospital at that time by fabricating records. A senior doctor of the hospital admitted, on condition on anonymity, the practice of leaving routine work to interns was prevalent but attempted to justify it by claiming most of the time doctors worked for 12 to 16 hours and needed a break. The sources added for the past two nights all the five doctors who were on the duty roster had been attending to patients “religiously” and spending most of their time in the main lobby instead of the doctors’ room.
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Theatre artiste awarded
Chandigarh, March 26 The award, which is being instituted for the first time, requires a special mention, as the prize money comes from art lovers through the concerted efforts of veteran octogenarian Hukam Singh Bhatti of Punjabi Kala Kendra and some young artistes-Mukesh Sharma, Madhubala and others from Samvaad theatre group. Credited with over 5,000 theatrical performances as an actor, Sudesh started acting at the age of 14 and performed in plays on All-India Radio and Doordarshan. He dared to stage plays during the tumultuous period when terrorism had assumed threatening proportions in Punjab. The production and direction of 367 shows of a play “Court Martial” is the crowing achievement of his career. Similarly, staging of 100 shows of another patriotic play “Shaheed ki Vapsi” was also a marked achievement. Sudesh said Chandigarh was the fastest growing cultural hub in India. Sudesh claimed that as many as 13 theatre and music festivals were held in city. We are now ahead of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Bengal, which have 300 years of jatra theatre legacy. “The City Beautiful is no more a “Pathron ka shehar”, but a vibrating cultural centre of diverse socio-cultural activities,” he added.
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Ghazal soiree mesmerises audience
Chandigarh, March 26 She laid emphasis on proper interpretation of ghazal, including proper enunciation, tallafuz and rhyming patterns, kafia and radeef. Accompanied by an array of accomplished musicians, Rinku Kalia gave a majestic agaaz with the exposition of Mirza Ghalib classic, “Dil hi to hai…” and doling out popular numbers like Qateel’s “Dhalgya chaand…, Ghalib’s “Aaj jaane ki zid na karo, Shiv Batalavi’s “Shikra yaar”, “Raat gyi kar”, and many more. The ghazal singer took elite audience, including Haryana Assembly Speaker HS Chatha, media adviser to Punjab Chief Minister HS Bains, Chandigarh Mayor Anu Chatrath and IPS Rajbir Deswal, down the memory lane through the unforgettable musical journey. Earlier Col Ashwani Sharma (retd), S-4 trustee, informed that the concert was a part of the trust’s campaign against social evils. Senior broadcaster Vijay Vasisht compered the programme with élan, while Dinesh Raheja (keyboard), Parveen Rathi (tabla), Munish Sachdeva (guitar), Subhash Naik (percussion) and Rajesh (sarangi) provided perfect musical accompaniment.
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Villagers, power men fail to reach compromise
Tribune News Service
Panchkula, March 26 The power men today met superintendent of police Maneesh Chaudhary and demanded registration of cases of manhandling and interference in their official work against the villagers. SDO Manish Dhaliwal said they would intensity their stir if the police failed to register cases against the villagers. On the other hand, residents of Saketri village, led by Sarpanch Mohan Singh, social worker Balwinder Singh Balli and Mahila Mandal president Balbir Kaur also met the SP and told him that they were ready for the compromise, but if cases were registered against the villagers they would also demand for the registration of case against the power men for misbehaving with the women folk. When contacted, the SP confirmed that both the parties had come for the registration of cases against each other. He said he had marked an inquiry into the case to DSP Iqbal Kaur and would proceed accordingly after the report comes in. XEN PK Goel said he had already conveyed the decision of the power men union and the members who had been held hostage for about 5 hours. He said false allegations of misbehaving with women folk were being levelled against the staff which had gone to check the theft of the power supply in the village. He also alleged that one of the police officials was misleading his senior officials in the case.
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Decomposed body found
Chandigarh, March 26 The police ruled out foul play, saying the body bore no visible fatal injury marks. It shifted the body to the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, for post-mortem examination and initiated inquest proceedings. The SHO of the Sector 31 police station, inspector Bhupinder Singh, said someone informed the police about the incident after noticing foul odour emanating from the plot. The police reached the plot and found the man lying dead, face down. There was a small injury mark on his face, probably due to a fall. The police tried to look for clues to establish his identity, but to no avail.
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Varsity denies approval to law courses
Panchkula, March 26 The department of higher education had asked Government College, Sector 1, to seek approval from the Bar Council of India to start the new course. The Bar council, however, in its reply to the college stated that application of approval of affiliation could be entertained only after the same was routed through the Registrar of the affiliating university with the Registrar’s recommendations. When the college authorities approached the university for giving its approval, its official denied the same stating that the affiliation cannot be granted to the college as the Bar council did not give its affiliation to the colleges who also run arts and commerce or other courses. The university officials said a new college needed to be set up for starting the law courses. HPCC former secretary VK Bansal while talking to the Tribune said he had taken up the issue of introducing the law courses in the college with then education minister Mange Ram Gupta in May 2008 and later the Commissioner, higher education, had asked the college principal to seek approval of the Bar Council of India in this regard. Bansal said, however, the university failed to issue any notification in this regard and the rural students who wanted to pursue the law courses continued to suffer, as they could not afford to pursue the courses in private colleges which charged heavy fee from the students. He said the students of the district would be benefited if the approval of starting the law courses was granted to the college. Government College principal RC Goel said the matter had been pending with KUK, as the university demanded that there needed to be a separate college for starting the law courses. He informed that some of the colleges in the region had started the law courses by showing separate building on their college complex as the new institute. He said they were still pursuing the matter with the university officials so that the law courses could be started from the next session.
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PUTA condemns varsity’s budget
Chandigarh, March 26 In its latest bulletin released yesterday, PUTA has reviewed the declarations and promises made by the authorities vis-a-vis their realisation. “It was declared that pension would soon be a part of the PU budget. The year has gone by and nothing concrete has happened till now. The much-awaited arrears promised to faculty are yet to be released. We are told the arrears may elude us for some more time now. There was a build up in favour of some massive grant coming from the Centre, but nothing remarkable has happened. Despite all hype created by extraordinary flow of funds from the Centre, the university suffers a budget deficit of more than Rs 175 crore and once again the measure suggested to cover the deficit is to increase fee and other charges,” read the bulletin. PUTA has also condemned the university’s act of sitting over the issue of Central status. The bulletin, interestingly, has also questioned the ongoing festival frenzy in the campus and demanded an explanation to have a separate rose festival when laurels can easily be won by participating in the festival organised by the UT.
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Incomplete question in science paper
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 26 “A student who got the ‘set 3’ question paper complained to us that question number 16 was incomplete. The question had three parts wherein some values were to be calculated for the given circuit diagram. The question lacked the value of voltage and was thus incomplete. The matter was immediately brought to the notice of the CBSE,” said a city-based centre superintendent. Meanwhile, DR Yadav, regional director, CBSE, accepted the fault and assured to compensate it at the marking stage.
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School in-house newsletter released
Chandigarh, March 26 The function began on a traditional note with Ganesh Vandana presented by young stars of the school. Mehra lauded the school efforts in giving personal touch to the art of teaching. He said personal involvement of teachers, principal and school management was the best way of nurturing the children. Mehra also released the third edition of the school in-house newsletter “Gurukul Global Express”. Earlier, school principal Aruna Bhardwaj presented an overview of the school activities, highlighting the achievements of the students.
— TNS
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