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Property tax Civic body records show Rs 6 crore pending against them Aarti Kapur Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 16 MC records revealed that a sum of Rs 6 crore was pending against the 39 habitual property tax defaulters. As per the list of habitual tax offenders prepared by the tax branch of the MC, there are 11 private schools against whom tax amounting to Rs 3.10 crore is pending. These include St Xavier's Senior Secondary School, Shivalik Public school, St Stephen's, School, St Kabir, St Soldier's School, Vivek High School, St John's School, Saupins, New Public School, Sacred Heart and DAV Sector 8. Among others are 24 post offices against whom Rs 54 lakh is pending, railway station against whom Rs 82 lakh is pending, Kalghidhari Niwas in Sector 27 against whom Rs 2.75 crore is pending, Lajpat Bhawan in Sector 15 against whom Rs 8.50 lakh is pending and the Chandigarh Club in Sector 2 against whom Rs 24.50 lakh property tax is pending. A number of reminders have been sent by the tax branch to these organisations and educational institutions, but till date none of them have deposited the pending tax arrears. MC Additional Commissioner Lalit Siwach said the MC authorities were serving the final notice to all these defaulters. If they failed to deposit their pending tax, the department woukd be forced to take stringent action against them under clause 138 of rent attachment under the Punjab Municipal Act 1994. Under the Act, there is a provision of sealing the bank accounts of the habitual property tax defaulters. An official said after the final notice, if the defaulter did not clear their pending tax arrears, the MC would seal their bank accounts to recover the tax. In the financial year (2011-2012), the target for collection was pegged at Rs 19 crore, but the department could manage to collect only Rs 14.02 crore till December.
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PGI gets chemist shop vacated
Chandigarh, April 16
A three-member inquiry committee of the PGI indicted the chemist for selling the used drainage cannula, following which he was asked to vacate the shop. Last year on April 19, Surjit Singh, a Burail village resident of Sector 45, Chandigarh, had to undergo cardio-thoracic surgery when Dr Rana Sandip Singh noticed that a “drainage cannula” lying with other surgical items was a used one even as it was sealed in a cover. It had maximum retail price of Rs 2,100 printed on it. The patient’s attendants informed the doctors that the cannula had been bought from Aditya Medicose, a chemist shop situated in the Gole market of the PGI complex. The chemist shop manager was immediately asked to explain the reason for it. Though the manager denied that any used item was sold from his shop, the PGI authorities formed a three-member inquiry committee and later the lease of the shop was cancelled. Following this, the shop owner Rohit Gupta moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, where his petition was dismissed by the court. Dismissing the plea of the chemist, high court Justice K Kannan observed : “On the facts brought before the court with statements recorded from three doctors and a nurse, it is a clear fact that the product supplied by the petitioner was a repacked sterilised cannula.” Today, a PGI officials’ team visited the market and took the shop in its possession. Though the chemist had already taken away the stock of medicines lying in the shop, some of his goods were lying in the shop which he was asked to lift by tomorrow by the PGI officials.
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GPS on CTU buses fails to click
Chandigarh, April 16 The GPS system, installed on the buses to track the movement of a specific bus on a designated route, fails as the routes of the buses are changed due to the shortage of buses. In the last two years, around 100 buses have been installed with the system. “The software is configured to track a specific bus and keep the passengers on board updated about its running schedule. But when the bus is put on another route, the system does not work. The system suffers for maintenance,” said sources in the CTU. Faced with the problem, the authorities are now reviewing the functioning of the system and the company that had installed the system has been called to suggest ways to improve it, said senior officials in the department.Despite incorporating high-end technology such as the GPS and electronic boards on some bus queue shelters, the system has not been working efficiently. Sources said the revised time table of the CTU had not been configured with the GPS. At least 15 such buses have been condemned after they have outlived their lives. “The GPS functions on battery and when the battery of buses give way, the GPS also fails,” said the sources. Now, the authorities want to remove the flaws and make the system more efficient. At some places, electronic display boards can be seen on ill-maintained bus-queue shelters. At the same time, display boards are missing in many bus-queue shelters.
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Work begins on Sector-17 pedestrian path
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 16 This is the first step towards making the area vehicle free in the wake of the directions by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this regard, said a MC official. While one more path will be laid in this parking lot, the one in front of Empire Stores will have two such paths, said the official. The work is targeted to be completed before April 20, the date of hearing on the issue in the High Court, said sources.
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house tax Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 16 The MC Commissioner, VP Singh, said that though the General House has rejected the proposal of the House tax in the recent meeting yet for reconsideration the proposal would be tabled in the coming house tax committee meeting. Sources said that the two major issues, hanging fire for a long time, are going to be tabled in the committee meeting which includes the proposal for revision of commercial property tax and imposition of the house tax. The department has proposed minimal increase in the commercial tax on the property. Records of the corporation revealed that in 2004 the corporation had imposed commercial tax in the city, which had to be revised in 2007 as per the MC Act. But till date, the authorities had not revised it. It may be mentioned that in the year 2009, former Mayor, Kamlesh, had also sent the house tax proposal to the house tax assessment sub-committee for recommendation. Last year in the month of May, House Tax Assessment committee, deferred the issue of the imposition of House tax. Recently, the UT Administration had sent a communication to the MC urging it to impose the house tax and revise the commercial tax in order to get regular grants from the Union Ministry of Urban Development for various ongoing projects in the city. y The department has proposed minimal increase in the commercial tax on the property. Records of the corporation revealed that in 2004 the corporation had imposed commercial tax in the city, which had to be revised in 2007 as per the MC Act. But till date, the authorities had not revised it.
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Most drunk drivers outsiders: Study
Chandigarh, April 16 As per the study, out of 108 offenders challaned for drunken driving with heavy alcohol content in their blood, 62 were from outstation and 46 from Chandigarh. The Chandigarh Traffic Police has tightened its grip on those driving drunk in the city and has been seeking imprisonment of the offenders through courts. — TNS
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New PGI research on healing bedsores
Chandigarh, April 16 Many of these patients have become fully independent in performing their daily activities like standing, walking and moving from bed to chair, which they were not able to do earlier. All of which has been possible due to the training of the caregivers through this project. Once the caregivers are trained regarding the dressing of wound, and exercises, they are able to take care of the patient efficiently. Bedridden people face a major problem in the form of bedsores. These can be prevented if early signs are noticed and taken care of in time. In order to create awareness on this issue, a project has been started under the guidance of Dr Sukhpal Kaur and Dr Amarjeet Singh of the PGI. The team from PGI used to visit bedridden patients and their caregivers to prevent and treat bedsores. Booklets in Hindi and English were distributed among the affected families with a purpose s to provide simple solutions to the challenges faced by bedridden patients and their caregivers in day-to-day life. Sources said that wonderful results have been seen with the usage of fresh human placental extract and human derived platelet gel. Hydrocolloid dressing that is being provided in the project has shown excellent results in the healing of bedsores. Neosporin ointment is another dressing regime to which patients are responding really well. So far, the most common underlying diagnosis in these bedridden cases has been found to be neurological, said Dr Amarjeet. About half of the cases were performing exercises and one third of them were changing the position every two hours, as recommended. No one recruited in the preventive package by the project team developed bedsore so far. A 62-year-old patient from Mohali, who was completely unconscious and bedridden owing to a bad road accident, had developed grade 3 and 4 bedsores. The project team attended him and he has shown miraculous recovery by getting back on his feet after complete healing of the bedsores, claims the team. Any family who has a bedridden case at home may contact the project team at 8872016108 and 0172-2745500 to register them in the study. No charges are levied for these services.
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Police suspects NRI kidnappers were behind Sec 33 robbery
Chandigarh, April 16 While pleading for further police remand of the accused in court today, crime branch sleuths said that they need to investigate if the accused were involved in that robbery case too. On January 16, two motorcyclists had robbed Gurdeep Singh Manchanda, a Sector 33 resident near his house. Manchanda is the franchise owner of Western Union Money Transfer and was robbed of Rs 10 lakh. The robbers were waiting for him at a turn near his house and fled with a bag containing the cash after hitting him with a rod. “We suspect that the accused are involved in that robbery case and they need to be questioned for their possible involvement as they have similar cases of robbery registered against them in Haryana too,” the police told court today while producing the six accused arrested for kidnapping of an NRI in court today. Their six-day remand had ended today. While three of them-Pradeep, Ajit and Anil were remanded to the three-day police custody, remaining of the three accused, identified as Nitin, Sanjeev Kumar alias Soni and Sukhdev were sent to judicial custody of 14 days. All the six had kidnapped an NRI, Navneet Singh, for a ransom of Rs 1 crore and confined him at a farmhouse in Kurukshetra. Navneet is a resident of Sector 18 here. The Crime Branch of the UT police had rescued the NRI amidst exchange of fire, following an operation at Durala village in Kurukshetra.
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Warm send-off for Justice Ahluwalia
Chandigarh, April 16 Justice Ahluwalia is scheduled to be administered oath by Calcutta High Court Chief Justice JN Patel on April 19. Around 4 pm, members of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Employees Association, led by its president Hemant Singh Walia, gathered in front of the Chief Justice’s courtroom for not only presenting Justice Ahluwalia a bouquet but also garlanding him. The High Court Judges too held a farewell ceremony for Justice Ahluwalia. Justice Ahluwalia’s farewell is significant as he is among the few judges who opted for a transfer because their kith and kin were practising in the same court. He, in fact, is the first Judge to have opted for a transfer for this reason.
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Civic body again plans to outsource parks to local committees for maintenance
Chandigarh, April 16 The MC Commissioner, VP Singh, while interacting with the media persons revealed that the authorities are drafting a policy to give park maintenance to those resident committees, which are interested in maintaining them. He said that the authorities would fix the grant of the committees and allocate them on monthly basis. It may be mentioned here that two years ago, a similar policy was adopted by the authorities in the city for the maintenance of the parks and green belts but it flopped, as the grant fixed by the authorities was very nominal. The resident associations urged the authorities to increase the grant if they wanted to continue with their services but no action was taken. After completing 100 days, the MC Mayor, Raj Bala Malik, listed out her achievements while interacting with the media persons. Revealing the major projects, which were cleared in past three months from the UT chief architect, she said that by the next two months, the first multi-level project would be commenced. Similarly, the construction of primary school in Sector 49 and marriage palace in Manimajra will also be commenced by June. Sharing other projects, she said that the chief architect supplied the drawings of the MC buildings. She said there were other projects in the pipeline including Community Center of Sector 38, development of pocket number 8 Manimajra and Primary School in Dhanas and Manimajra. n Expressing resentment for not being invited for the media interaction today, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor said that it is strange that no councillor has been invited by the Mayor for the press briefing. Both stated that Mayor should have called all the 35 councillors in the media interaction as they had successfully completed 100 days in which they could share the development works in their areas that were lingering for the past three years.
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Public parks, a free for all
Panchkula, April 16 As per the norms of the municipal corporation (MC), one has to seek prior approval from the authorities for holding social functions, besides paying ground rent for the day. The MC also charges certain amount in advance for removing the leftovers after the function. However, the MC authorities seemed to have turned a blind eye to this, as no action has been taken against the defaulters, despite repeated complaints by some of the residents in the town. Dinesh Jhangra, a resident of Sector 15, said recently he had sought information under the Right to Information Act (RTE Act) whether organisers of the social gatherings in a park in front of his house had sought any prior approval from the MC authorities. But the MC authorities have failed to give any reply till date, he claimed. Jhangra said youths after consuming liquor also created nuisance in the streets, besides disturbing peace in the area. He said recently few persons used his car as a table to consume liquor during a function. He complained to the MC authorities about the issue a number of times, but to no avail. When contacted, MC executive officer OP Sihag said they had received a complaint in this regard only today and had decided to issue a notice to the organiser to deposit the fee fixed for holding social gatherings in the parks. He said they had also issued an advisory to the residents to desist from holding functions without prior approval. He said heavy fines would be imposed on those who were found to be violating the law. Another resident, Suresh Kumar, said as the park was littered with leftovers, it was impossible for them and their wards to take a morning walk. He said the organisers did not bother to clear the area of litter, which started giving foul smell after a few days. Pushpinder Kumar, a resident, said erecting of tents in the parks also caused damage to the tiles on the walking tracks, besides damaging benches and swings.
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MC puts ‘blame’ on GMADA
Akash Ghai Tribune News Service
Mohali, April 16
“While widening the roads, cables of these traffic lights had been damaged. So it was GMADA’s responsibility to make the traffic lights functional and hand these over to us (MC) for further maintaining,” said a senior official of the MC office on the condition of anonymity. He claimed that the MC has been sending two or three reminders on an average every month for past few months. “Today we have written to the Deputy Commissioner, stating the position,” said the official. The dysfunctional traffic lights, which are said to be with GMADA presently, included Chawla light point in Phase VII, Fortis light point in Phase VIII, Radha Soami Chowk and all traffic lights, installed on the main road from Mohali bus stand to Balongi village, being used by the buses to enter or exit the town.
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Registration, licencing of business operators a must
Mohali, April 16 The new guidelines were highlighted at an orientation programme for adjudicating officers and designated officers, food safety, regarding implementation of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, organised by the Food Safety and Standards Authority, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, here today. Additional Deputy Commissioners and district health officials have been notified by the government as adjudicating officers and designated officers, food safety, respectively. Chairperson K Chandramouli, Dr SS Ghonkrokta, director (enforcement), Food Safety and Standards Authority, Government of India, Raji P Shrivastava, MD, Punjab Health Systems Corporation-cum-Commissioner food safety, Punjab, and Dr Satwant Bhalla, joint director, health, steered the programme with the assistance of technical resource persons. Chandramouli stated that the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, replaced the old Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had been established to lay down scientifically based standards for articles of foods and to regulate their manufacture, import, storage, distribution, sale and to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption. Earlier, under the PFA Act, all failed food sample cases were sent to courts for prosecution. But now under the new Act, the failed food samples and substandard results given by the food laboratory will be sent to the adjudicating officer of the respective districts for their disposal under the Act and the failed food sample cases injurious to health will be sent for prosecution to the courts after getting approval from the Commissioner, Food Safety. Raji P Shrivastava advised the designated officers to promote general awareness about food safety and food standards in their respective districts through food business operator unions, local cable network, NGOs, etc.
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68 notices issued in 2 days
Mohali, April 16 “The wastage of water included car washing, watering of lawns and running taps without any purpose,” said JC Sabharwal, chief administrator of Mohali Municipal Council, adding that the timings of the ban were from 5 am to 9 am. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Anil Kumar, executive engineer, public health wing, said he had deputed his staff to check the violations during morning hours. “We issue a notice for the first offence, which is followed by a challan for the second one and the third offence results in disconnection of water supply,” said Anil Kumar. Last year, as many as 32 challans were issued, while about 400 notices were served to the offenders, he added. The ban would remain into effect till June 30.
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30 cycles given to needy
Mohali, April 16 Notably, during her tenure as the cabinet minister, Chawla had released a grant of Rs 2 lakh to give needy people sewing machines and cycles but these could not be distributed due to the imposition of code of conduct during the elections. Today, a small function was held at the DC’s office to exhaust the entire lot of goods.
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Police yet to record Fauji’s statement
Panchkula, April 16 According to sources, Fauji, whose condition was stated to be stable was recuperating in the ICU of the PGI. Fauji was conscious but was yet to record any statement with the police. Deputy Commissioner of Police Maneesh Chaudhary said they would record the statement once doctors declared Fauji fit. He said till then they were unable to say anything on the case. Meanwhile, working of the police has also come under scanner, as the police had failed to take samples from the residence of Fauji, as the doctors at the PGI had found traces of pesticide poison in his body. According to sources, the police also did not visit the official residence of Fauji where his security guards found him unconscious in the washroom. The sources further said the police had also failed to record the statement of the security guards or family members present in the house. Notably, Fauji had been brought to the General Hospital, Sector 6, following an attack of epilepsy, but the doctors there had to refer him to the PGI, as the doctors on duty could not control the fits. However, the doctors at the PGI had found traces of pesticide poison in his body. He was scheduled to attend a function.
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Martial arts performance mesmerises audience
Panchkula, April 16 This was observed by chief guest Shivraj Patil, Governor Punjab, while addressing gathering at the concluding ceremony of the four-day cultural spectacle “Maati ke Rang” at Panchkula here toady. Earlier welcoming the chief guest and other dignitaries, Kumari Selja, Union minister, maintained that many of our art forms are on the verge of extinction. She complimented the artistes and organisers for their concerted efforts in preserving and promoting the folklore traditions of performing and visual art. This prestigious cultural spectacle, created to mark the silver jubilee celebrations of the seven zonal cultural centers, will be presented throughout the country for one year, she added. Shiv Charan Sharma, MP Choudhary Ishwer Singh, DK Bansal and Rajpal, both MLAs, too, graced the function. The closing day cultural programme commenced with soulful rendition of Sufi gayan by Langas and Mangniyar groups from Rajasthan before the acclaimed folk maestro, Gurmit Bawa, presented the Punjabi folk genre of Jugni in her full-throated voice. Versatile Sufi singer, Dr Mamta Joshi, kept the pace and won applause for her sleek presentation of Punjabi folk, Ratti. Young girls from Nagaland sang a folk song supported with musical instrument tati. The Nirgun bhajans “Meni vaari jaaon re” by Rajasthani singer exuded spiritual fervour before the singers from UP presented heroic ballads. The Jangam gayan by traditional artistes from Haryana solicited applause and pity, as the form is fading away from the cultural scene. The Kajri singing recalling the rustic fervour of UP, while bakhan, the ancient style of singing in chorus in Kashmir was well received. The bravery of Mirza, from a slumbering love legend of Punjab, sung to perfection and more formed the singing segment. The choreographed performances based on 12 martial arts performed by more than 1,000 artistes with brilliance mesmerised the audience. These included akhada (MP), dhal dungri, klairipatyam (Kerala), dabnd patta (Maharashtra), dandiya, talwar raas, dahal thungri from Assam, dand patta from Maharashtra, Diwali of Uttar Pradesh, raibanshe of West Bengal, dandia gair of Rajasthan, talwar raas of Gujarat, ruk mar nacha of Odissa, kalaripayattu art from Kerala, naibul thangta of Manipur, gatka of Punjab and silambattam martial art from Tamil Nadu. During the day, there were more than 30 art form performances simultaneously being enacted at the stages within seven mini villages of all seven zonal cultural centres of India. Spectacular fireworks marked the end of the gala four-day silver jubilee celebrations at Panchkula.
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National workshop Induction programme Sanitation campaign Design collection Paper postponed ‘Maintain cleanliness’ 130 donate blood MOHALI
SCAN Honoured
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Registrar to seek clarification
Chandigarh, April 16 Among several other aspects, this confusion over purview and extent of affect of this conduct has been taking a toll on recruitments, which has now snowballed into a major controversy. While high power PU Senate committee has “allowed” the VC to declare results of recruitment drives of non-teaching fraternity and those of teaching positions at the dental college, it has asked deans to review the urgency of over 250 positions advertised recently. “The Chancellor office communication hints that Sobti is going to continue for some time. In this scenario, we don’t know that whether or not is he bound by the conduct or propriety demands and wish to clarify it. Registrar AK Bhandari will be writing to the Chancellor office,” revealed an employee of the Registrar office even though AK Bhandari failed to answer over 50 calls made to him. The clarification, meanwhile, will be important in the context that not only student organisations are levelling more pressure on PU to recruit teaching faculty immidietly but the VC has also called a meeting on April 21 to work out recruitments. “It’s good if we get a clarification before the VC’s meeting. This clarification will infact end all controversies and trouble and it’s high time that the Registrar seeks it,” said a senior official. The Registrar office had last week received a communique from the Chancellor office, informing that given to complaints of the VC selection committee not being in accordance to the UGC norms and advice had been sort from GOI and selection committee had been asked to wait till then. Politics in full swing With speculations that the Syndicate will be asked to send a nominee to the VC selection panel in accordance to the UGC norms, politics is in full swing at PU. Syndicate members are having day-to-day unofficial meetings to zero down on a nominee who according to the norms may have nothing to do with the university but may help serve individual purposes of many. x
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Pranav adjudged best speaker in debate
Chandigarh, April 16 The debate had participants from classes XI and XII from seven schools in the region. The topic of the debate was “Money: The greatest change maker and also the greatest problem creator”. Vashi Negi from Aukland School, Shimla, was declared the runner-up in the contest. Aukland School won the team event, while the second place was bagged by International Sahaja School, Dharamshala.
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300 clear PMET prelims
Chandigarh, April 16 A total of 3,000 students from the tricity and neighbouring areas of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana had appeared for the examination and only 300 managed to clear it. These students will now have to appear for the main examination on May 13. While many have been left disappointed, city experts feel that there is nothing wrong with the results, given to the fact that the national qualifying percentage this year is 12 per cent. This year 2,75,742 candidates had registered for the exam but only 2,57,960 candidates appeared. Of those who did appear, only 30,788 qualified for the AIPMT final exams. Girls edged the boys in the overall tally this year with 15,620 (out of 30,788) of them clearing the exam. The national qualifying percentage for last
five years has been around 14 per cent. This is final edition of this prestigious enterance examination conducted by the CBSE, as from 2013 the national eligibility-cum-entrance test (NEET) will be the sole entrance
exam for admissions to medical colleges in almost all states.
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Following a news item, published under heading “Authorities still in slumber” in these columns today, the MC sent the communiqué to Mohali’s Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam stating that GMADA was “responsible” for the dysfunctional traffic lights (mentioned in the news item) here.
The three-day national workshop at KBDAV-7, Chandigarh, to develop sample question papers based on the CCE pattern of English course “A” for summative assessment I and II for the current session concluded on Monday with a grand valedictory function. It was organised by the DAV education board, DAV college managing committee, New Delhi, based on the guidelines framed by the CBSE. Nearly 100 teachers across the country participated in the workshop. The all-India common examination of Class VIII level on uniform pattern in all DAV schools nationwide has been of great help in raising the academic standard of the DAV institutions.
