Chandigarh, June 8
Chandigarh Airport will not have any international flights, at least in the immediate future. Senior officials in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), New Delhi, have clarified that the local airstrip was a base for the Air Force. Keeping in mind, its strategic location for catering to the western frontier, there was little likelihood of clearance from the MoD till alternatives were worked out.

The ministry had denied permission to Air Arabia, the first airlines which had announced flights from the city, earlier this year. The first international flight expected to commence from November 15, 2011, was also denied by the ministry. The flights were cancelled without giving any reason.

The ministry is not clearing international flights despite the Ministry of Civil Aviation having notified Chandigarh Airport as a "customs airport", making it eligible for international flights in August 2011.

Punjab Civil Aviation Secretary Vishwajeet Khanna said: "The Chief Minister has taken up the matter with the Ministry of Civil Aviation. We are still awaiting a formal communication."

HS Toor, Director of the airport, said he could not comment since the matter was pending with the MoD.

In January this year, Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukbhir Singh Badal had said international flights would commence in two months. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had sought a formal clearance for international flights from the Civil Aviation Minister.

A senior official, requesting anonymity, said: "There is a sizable number of flights providing ration and ammunition to soldiers in Kashmir and Leh and Ladakh. During winter, which lasts about five months, the public and troops in these areas depend on the Air Force for even routine supplies. Chandigarh has two transport squadrons comprising AN32s and another one having a mix of AN-32s and I-76s, besides Mi-26 helicopters."

It was also said the local terminal would need an upgraded air traffic control (ATC) for handling added rush. The runway as well as the ATC of the airport is at present being managed by the Air Force. International flights would mean more staff, which needs a formal clearance from the MoD. Most importantly, the airport does not have night landing facilities. There is also no confirmation about any contract with international airlines.

Jarnail Singh Jodhan, a Ludhiana-based businessman, said: "It is being said since the Congress was unable to form a government in Punjab, the Centre would not like the Akalis to take credit for international flights. It is disappointing for thousands of people, especially Punjabis, who come from abroad and are forced to land in Delhi."

Bhupinder Singh, a Canadian national, said: "I think the matter of international flights being delayed needs a high-level inquiry. There are serious allegations of the powerful lobby in the travel business, including hotels, cabs and related services not allowing an international airport in Chandigarh."

Vineet Sharma, a travel agent, said even local tourists who had started going abroad, particularly Bangkok were concerned about the international flights landing in the city.

Pikender Pal Singh, Regional Director of the CII (northern region) said no international client would like to spend an extra day in the onward or backward journey.

Chandigarh, June 8
Cutting across party lines, members of the house tax assessment committee today unanimously rejected the proposal of the imposition of house tax and enhancement of commercial tax in the city. During an interaction with the media here today, committee chairman Sat Parkash Aggarwal said it was decided that neither house tax would be imposed in the city nor would commercial tax be revised as directed by the UT Administration.

Objecting to the delay in the payment of a matching grant of property tax, which the Administration had assured in 2004 when commercial tax was imposed by the corporation, he stated that the Administration had to pay Rs 48 crore since 2004. He said even after several reminders, the Administration had not released the funds to date. Hence, they could not impose a new tax.

Clueless about the norms of getting JNNRUM grant, Aggarwal said the corporation was "rich" and there was no need for any kind of grant from the Administration or the Centre to implement development projects in the city.

He said directions had been given to officials to conduct a fresh survey about commercial buildings and impose property tax on it. The committee also asked about the details of habitual defaulters of property tax and instructed the department to take stringent action to recover pending tax from them.

MC Additional Commissioner Lalit Siwach said a communication was being sent to the Administration to release the pending share of the matching grant of property tax. He said the Administration would also be apprised of the decision of the house tax assessment committee and the decision would be tabled in the forthcoming meeting of the House.

"Ignoring" the fact if the committee has any power to reject the imposition of new tax, vice-chairman of the committee MP Kohli said the committee could pass the resolution and send it to the Administration for consideration.

He said the grant which the Administration would get from JNNRUM would not only be utilised by the corporation, but also other departments. Commercial property tax was imposed by the corporation when there was a financial crunch, but now as the financial position had improved, there was no need to impose any new tax to generate funds.

The committee also directed the officials to prepare a detailed report on the share of grant-in-aid received from the Administration in the past.

Chandigarh, June 8
The financial reserves of the Municipal Corporation (MC) are declining due to the untimely receipt of the annual grant-in-aid from the UT Administration for the last three years. As per the budget reports of the corporation for the past three years, neither the aid nor the matching grant of revenue receipts has been released by the Administration.

During the financial year 2011-12, the MC authorities incurred Rs 144 crore from fixed deposits as the MC had anticipated a grant of Rs 692 crore, but received only Rs 206 crore in the last financial year. Out of this, Rs 164 crore had been received from the Administration till March and the next two instalments of Rs 42 crore had not been released so far.

A senior official said last year the Administration did not release the revenue receipt grant of 16 per cent to the MC.

Similarly in 2010-11, the Administration did not release the pending grant of Rs 288 crore under various heads to the civic body till February, even after a number of reminders from the MC authorities. The MC had also not received advertisement tax from the Administration.

As per the records, the corporation is not getting an incentive of 3 per cent on property tax, which comes to about Rs 48 crore, as assured by the Administration when the tax was imposed by the MC in 2006.

Sources said when the corporation rejected the proposal of imposing 10 per cent property tax twice in the General House in 2006, the Administration sent a missive, saying the MC would get 3 per cent share as incentive only if it imposed property tax in the city.

Sources said the MC received the incentive only for two years.

The Administration had also assured a liberal grant for the beautification of the Industrial Area (Phases I and II) after allotting the work to the corporation, but the grant is still awaited.

A senior official said after the completion of work in the Industrial Area, the Administration refused to release any payment on the plea that it would do so once it got the funds deposited in the consolidated fund of the Government of India. A grant of around Rs 15 crore was pending with the Administration to date, the official added.

Chandigarh, June 8
The cyber cell of the UT police today arrested a Mohali couple for copying a software developed by a company and selling the duplicate to dealers abroad, causing losses to the company.

Acting on the complaint of Sanjay Aggarwal, a Manimajra resident, the police today arrested Rajat Basin and his wife Taranjot, residents of Phase VI, Mohali.

Inspector Sri Parkash, in charge of the cyber cell, said the couple was employed with a company in the IT park. They allegedly stole a code of the software developed by the company for sale to dealers in the US. The software pertained to a driving school. They then created a duplicate software and sold it to dealers in the US. The police had registered a case on May 29.

Chandigarh, June 8
Students of Institute for Blind, Sector 26, have come out with flying colours yet again in the Class XII examination conducted by the Punjab School Education Board, the result of which was declared today.

The school has achieved 100 per cent result, with a majority of students scoring above 70 per cent.

While Vikram Goyal stood first with 81.6 per cent, Poonam and Amod Sharma shared second position with 81.3 per cent. Abhishek Kumar got 80.5 per cent and stood third.

Manjit Kaur, mother of Amrinder Singh, one of the meritorious students of the school, who had come to thank his teachers, said, "My son is specially abled as he has left many students behind. He has always excelled in studies and we are happy with his achievement."

People argue with firemen after the fire broke out in Sector 15, Panchkula, on Friday. Tribune photos: Nitin Mittal

Fire brigade officer RP Dhul said they received the information at 6.10 am and immediately three fire engines were pressed into service. The fire was controlled within half-hour.

Fire breaks at furniture market

Mohali: A fire broke out at a furniture market near Laknour. The fire was brought under control well in time.

Sources said that about 100 bundles of coir caught fire. The fire brigade used two fire tenders to douse the flames. The fire could spread due to the windy weather that could cause large-scale damage. The fire was controlled in about two hours. — OC

Fire on hills

Kalka: A major fire broke out on the hills adjacent to Kalka. The fire broke out in the afternoon, which continued till the filing of the report. The fire flames could be seen from the Kalka City.

The eyewitnesses said that the fire gutted several bigas of area on the hill adjacent to Mata Naina Devi Temple, which further spread in the forest of Himachal Pradesh on the hill. A large panic spread among the villagers of Oraian, Dhamolia villages, adjacent to Naina Devi Temple.

Mohali, June 8
Varun Roojam, Commissioner of the Mohali Municipal Corporation, said that a special campaign should be launched to remove all encroachments from the town, especially those proving to be traffic hazards, at a meeting held with the Civic Body, GMADA and other officials here today.

Roojam, who is also the Deputy Commissioner, said that strict action should be initiated against violators and those who try to create hurdles in way of removing encroachments would not be spared. Encroachments should be removed without any biases. Since Mohali was the entry point to Punjab there was a need to improve the look of the town, he added.

He directed officials to improve the state of parks in the town so that the open areas could be properly used by residents for walking purposes. Non-functional streetlights should also be set right.

Jagjit Singh Shahi, executive officer of the civic body, said that a drive to remove encroachments was carried out on the directions of the Commissioner. Phases VII and IX to XI were covered. Encroachments by fruit and vegetable sellers and others selling eatables were removed during the drive. The authorities concerned were provided with the police protection.

Chandigarh, June 8
Two children suffering from cholera were admitted to a hospital in Panchkula. The two have been identified as Rupesh (4), a resident of from Mauli Jagran, and Anita (2), a resident of Indira colony, Mani Majra. Gomti Prasad, Rupesh’s father, said his son had been vomiting for the past few days and doctors had diagnosed him with cholera. Residents of Mani Majra have been complaining of muddy water supply for the past many days.

Wasim Mohammad, president of Janta Rehri Market, Mani Majra, said tg dirty water was being supplied to the area. Officials at Panchkula Genreal Hospital said the information regarding the cases had been passed on to the Chandigarh health department.

Chandigarh Vector Borne Diseases Programme officer Dr Naresh could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Chandigarh, June 8
As part of the golden jubilee celebration of the PGIMER, Chandigarh, a one-day programme on “Obesity Awareness” will be organised on Saturday.

A symposium on morbid obesity will also be held.

Bariatric surgeons Dr Pradeep Chowbey, vice-chairman and Dr Rajesh Khullar, senior consultant in minimal access surgery at Max Hospital, Delhi, Dr JayashreeTodkar from Pune, and Dr Sandeep Agarwal, AIIMS, Delhi, will grace the occasion.

The symposium will be followed by a public awareness forum and a first-patient support group meeting for morbidly obese patients at 5 pm at Lecture Theatre 1.

During the session, the general public will be apprised of problems related to obesity like diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiac diseases, stroke, osteoarthritis, risk of cancer and infertility.

Obesity, in fact, has become a serious problem in the last decade afflicting all age groups. The magnitude of the problem can be assessed by the fact that in Punjab nearly one-third of the people are obese.

Chandigarh, June 8
A sniffer dog of the UT police helped nab two thieves within hours after a house belonging to a Class IV employee of Panjab University was ransacked on the campus today. The dog "Micheal" went to another house in the neighbourhood immediately after he sniffed items in the ransacked house. The police got vital clues and arrested the two thieves, one of whom was a resident of that house in which the dog had entered. It also recovered all the stolen booty from them. Police officials said it was for the first time that a sniffer dog had helped them nab thieves.

Joginder Singh, who is a Class IV employee of Panjab University, had gone to Kasauli on June 6 with his family. Joginder has been allotted an accommodation in the university. On return today, he found the locks of the house broken and jewellery, along with Rs 3,300 in cash, missing.

A team from the Sector 11 police station reached the spot with a dog squad.

Inspector Gurmukh Singh, SHO, Sector 11 police station, said as the police team came out of the house, the dog headed to the back lane and entered another house, which made the police suspicious.

That particular house belonged to another Class IV employee of PU. On questioning the family members residing in that house, the police found that the elder son, Vikas, was missing. During interrogation, it came to light that Vikas was planning "something" the previous night with his friend who resides in the Sector 25 colony. The police also learnt that Vikas was known for his notorious ways.

It raided the house of Vikas's friend in the Sector 25 colony when they recovered the stolen booty from the house and arrested the two from there.

The arrested have been identified as Sunny, a resident of Sector 25, and Vikas, alias Vicky, a resident of Panjab University. The accused will be produced in the court tomorrow and a case under Sections 380,457 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 11 police station.

Mohali, June 8
The department of health and family welfare has handed over appointment letters to over 135 newly appointed regular specialist doctors here today.

A two-day orientation training programme was also conducted for the new appointees, which concluded today. They were given orientation regarding various national health programmes and other important schemes of the department.

Vini Mahajan, principal secretary, health and family welfare, Punjab, welcomed the newly appointed doctors to the department and urged them to perform their duties selflessly and with utmost dedication.

The doctors were given stations of posting as per their choice.

Chandigarh, June 8
The delay in releasing joint prospectus by the government colleges has left the students with fewer days’ time to apply in five government colleges.

The colleges are getting hundreds of queries everyday from anxious students.

The private colleges, on the other hand, have released their prospectus.

Official sources said the prospectus is expected to be released by June 16 and that it would have two forms. They also said the last date for submission of forms will be June 30 for BSc and other courses, while the admission to BA course would be held on the spot. This year the Postgraduate Government College Sector-11 has been given the responsibility of printing the prospectus.

“Students from neighbouring states would face problem due to the delay,” said a teacher at Government College.

While the principal of PGGC-11, JS Raghu, didn’t respond to the calls, principal of PGGCG-42 Mani Bedi said, “The prospectus will be available tentatively on June 16 to all colleges, while the last day for applying for courses, except BA, would be June 30.”

Bedi accepted that the college is getting number of queries from the students over the issue. He also said that the delay won’t make much difference.

Chandigarh, June 8
With the student organisation at PU getting active in the wake of new academic session to start next month, the PU authorities today held an all-party meeting of student organisations in a bid to ensure peace in the campus. Police officials also attended the meeting.

The student leaders were issued instructions over pasting the posters at the designated places in the university or else they would be booked under the defacement act and penalised by PU authorities.

PU authorities have decided to remove the posters pasted on campus other then the notice boards and have asked the student leaders to paste the posters only at the designated notice boards.

The meeting was chaired by the Dean Student Welfare (DSW) AS Ahluwalia which was attended by other PU officials and SHO sector 11 police station Gurmukh Singh. Chief Security Officer (CSO) PK Dhawan said that the student leaders have been warned of indulging in violent activities and restrict the entry of non-students on the campus.

Movement of outsiders on the campus would be checked and student leaders have also been asked to restrain outsiders from involving in university politics�, Dhawan said.

Chandigarh, June 8
A deputation of teachers from PU affiliated colleges met Vice-chancellor RC Sobti today to demand complete parity of rules for librarians and DPEs with that of the teachers, including voting right in the Senate as well as vacations and leaves.

The deputation was led by Professor Jatinder Sharma, Panjab University Area Secretary, PCCTU, and Professor Jaspal Kaur Bhatia, chairperson of Confederation of Libraries’ of North India (COLNI) and secretary of Chandigarh Librarians’ Association (CLA).

The teachers stated that as per the PU calendar, DPEs and librarians of affiliated colleges are at par with the teachers. Yet they are denied complete parity with the teachers, whereas the latest recruitment and promotion rules in UGC guidelines based on Academic Performance Indicators (API) scores are identical with those of other teachers.

The teachers further stated that the rules for leaves adopted by PU colleges for librarians are entirely different than the DPEs and the teachers. Teachers and DPEs enjoy same rules, the said.

“The DPEs and librarians of degree colleges are denied any representation at academic bodies like, academic council and Senate. Whereas librarians and instructors of professional colleges are well represented along with the teachers,” said the teachers.

The deputation included Dr PS Gill, a Senate member and Professor Gurmej Singh Maan, a librarian.

Chandigarh, June 8
Panjab University has extended the last date for applying for MEd courses to June 16.

PU is conducting entrance tests for admission to MEd courses ie MEd (regular) for Department of Education, Panjab University, Colleges of Education, in Chandigarh and Punjab affiliated to Panjab University, and also for MEd (2-year correspondence course for in-service teachers). While the last date for applying online is June 16, the last date for depositing fee in any branch of State Bank of India using website generated challan is June 19. The last date for submission of fee details and uploading photograph, signature with rest of the information is June 21. The entrance test will be held on July 15. — TNS

Chandigarh, June 8
Sunil Kumar, son of a washer man, was conferred with Late Dr GC Mishra Memorial Award of Excellence at KB DAV School today for getting 2791th rank in IIT-JEE 2012.

The Late Dr GC Mishra Educational and Charitable Trust also honoured four EWS Class XII students, including: Manisha, student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Manimajra, for getting 92.8 per cent in commerce; Ritika, for scoring 90.2 per cent in commerce; Priyanka, who secured 93 per cent in non-medical and Shweta, who got 90.2 per cent non-medical.

Education secretary VK Singh praised the students for their efforts. The award was given by VK Singh finance-cum-education secretary.