Chandigarh, June 22
Sounding a virtual death knell for its aquatic life, Sukhna Lake is now home to pictures of the fish wriggling on the parched bed and dying. Pressing the panic button, the animal husbandry and fisheries department of the UT Administration is engaged in shifting "big fish capable of reproduction" to areas where the water level is "slightly deeper".

It is a dreadful sight to watch the fish lying dead on the lake bed. When The Tribune team was trying to survey the area for dead fish, Kalinath, a fisherman, remarked: "If you want to see dead fish in large numbers, come during early morning hours as by noon, a majority of these are eaten by birds."

As one takes off the main pathway along the muddy track near the regulator end of the lake, one can witness a number of fish -- some dead and the others wriggling in the shallow waters. It couldn't have been easier for the cranes perched on reeds as they swoop down on their catch and the others merrily hover over the fish struggling in the shallow waters. Small water bodies that have emerged on the bed are either shrinking or drying up.

Sukhchain Singh, a retired government official, said: "Dogs can be seen feasting on the dead fish at the lake every day. I come here for a walk daily and can tell that the number of fish dying is higher than visible as a majority of the fish is food for other birds and animals."

Dr Lovelesh Kant Gupta, Joint Director in the department of fisheries, said: "We are trying our best to handle the situation which is certainly alarming. It is getting more difficult for the bigger fish which is capable of breeding. We are shifting them to slightly deeper waters."

That the "deeper waters" are not more than 3.5-ft deep is quite another story. Also, the heavy deposits of silt have made the shifting of fish extremely difficult. The lake is home to various kinds of fish like rohu, catla and grasscarp. The first two are fit for human consumption while grasscarp was added to tackle the growth of weed.

At least eight lakh fish seed are added to the lake every year and each fish lays 200 to 300 eggs which grow into fish within a month. The depleting water levels are wreaking a havoc on the fish population. The issue will come up for a formal discussion at the highest level next week.

Chandigarh, June 22
In a significant development, the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has proposed a major change in rules regarding the re-allotment of its dwelling units. Once approved, the ban on the sale of a dwelling unit before five years from the date of possession, would be removed.

Under the proposed changes, the CHB would allow re-allotment of dwelling units subject to the payment of a transfer fee. Section 16 of allotment that governs the cut-off date would be amended to allow re-allotment.

The issue would be tabled in the meeting of the board scheduled for June 29. The amendment would be notified by the UT Administration before it becomes a rule, said a senior official of the board. Sources in the board said despite a ban on the general power of attorney (GPA) for the sale of CHB flats, a number of allottees had been illegally selling flats on the basis of GPA registered in neighbouring states. This had not only resulted in huge revenue loss to the CHB, but is also leading to litigation between the seller and the buyer as the flats cannot be transferred in the name of the buyer before five years from the date of possession of the flat.

Officials said the board had proposed the changes after studying the rules of GMADA and HUDA.

Chandigarh, June 22
The arms of 28-year-old Rekha, a working woman and mother of an eight-month-old baby, are sore from continuously fanning her child during long unscheduled power cuts in her sector over the last two days. She has been unable to sleep at night and it is affecting her work at office.

Rekha, a resident of Sector 45, said there was a six-hour power cut in their area on Wednesday night and then again the next night with a seven-hour cut from 10 pm.

"I became irritable during a power cut last night and had a fight with my husband and my son was continuously crying. Due to the cut, I was finding it difficult to console my child," she said.

There are a number of families who are facing the problem of unscheduled power cuts. The frequent cuts, especially in southern sectors, have become a nightmare for residents. With no particular cut timings, families with small children and the elderly are facing a harrowing time.

Eightyfive-year-old Diwan Singh, who is suffering from a prostrate ailment, is finding it difficult to sleep during power cuts. His son Rajender, who works in a fertiliser company, helps his father sleep at night. He said his father, who was also asthmatic, was unable to sleep due to the long cuts. "The UT Administration is only concerned about providing round-the-clock power to VIPs and not concerned about the common man residing in southern sectors," he complained.

Eightytwo-year-old Rameshwar Das, a resident of Sector 44, is also facing problems. He said old people like him were finding it very difficult to sleep due to the cuts.

Vineet Sharma of Sector 38 is an executive at a restaurant. His leg got fractured in an accident last week. Doctors advised him bed rest for at least three weeks, but due to the long power cuts, he has not been getting any relief. "What irks me the most is that there is no fixed schedule for the cuts," he said.

Surplus power: Streetlights on even during the day at the Chandigarh Golf Club on Friday and (right) at the road separating Sukhna Lake and the club.

North-South divide

The UT Administration has delayed the upgradation of substations in Sectors 34 and 52, which cater to the southern sectors. There is no such delay when it comes to upgrading substations in the northern sectors.

In case of power breakdown at the three substations in the northern VIP sectors, the Administration restores power by drawing it from the 11 substations meant for the southern sectors. But when residents of southern sectors witness long power cuts, the Administration does not resort to such means to restore supply.

More cuts are imposed in the southern areas due to the large number of population and power consumers compared to northern sectors. The power department claims that by employing this “method” they save more electricity, an official stated.

Population

Out of the 10.51 lakh population of the city, around 8 lakh people reside in the southern sectors, where power consumers have increased in the last one year. People have shifted to flats in new housing colonies that have come up in southern sectors. Residents have also installed large numbers of air-conditioners and coolers, which has increased load.

Power demand up

Last year the maximum temperature in June was 39 degrees Celsius, but this year it has gone up to 45 degrees, resulting in more use of ACs and coolers. Power demand has also increased from last year's 324 MW to 350 MW in June this year.

Chandigarh, June 22
Residents of Kendriya Sarkarth Karamchari Awasiya Sudhar Kalyan Sabha Colony in Sector 7 have requested the municipal corporation authorities to make provision for mobile toilets in their colony as overhead water tanks have been without water for the past two days.

President of the colony NK Jhingan has written a letter to the MC Commissioner, VP Singh, in this regard.

Residents complained that they had requested the authorities a number of times to make an alternative arrangement, but nothing had been done.

They had asked the officials to send water tankers to the area twice a day.

Residents lamented that the situation was no better a fortnight ago.

Those residing on the ground floors did not get water today.

Rakesh Sharma, a resident of the colony, complained that he was reaching office late everyday due to the problem and had to face humiliation at the hands of his bosses.

Another resident said other colonies were far better as compared to their area as the residents there were getting regular water supply. In the absence of tap nozzles, water kept flowing from taps.

The residents have decided to stage a protest rally on Saturday against the municipal corporation officials.

Chandigarh, June 22
In the second such operation this week, a joint team of the UT Police and health department raided an ice cream shop in Sector 20 and destroyed over 70 kg of adulterated ice cream.

The police raided Kapoor ice cream operating from SCO No.1 in Sector 20-C market. The ice creams were found fungus infested. These were being supplied across various marriage venues in the city.

A team of the health department, which arrived late, collected samples for verification. Harpreet Walia of an NGO, "Anti-Corruption Association", who informed the police about the practice, said the ice creams were sold without any proper manufacturing address and with no batch number or expiry date. Also, these were manufactured under the most unhygienic conditions.

"The UT health department never acts on its own against these vendors who prepare items that pose a great health hazard to consumers. Today, too, the health team arrived over an hour late and merely collected samples and issued a warning to the shopkeepers. There is just no end to the menace and the administration is taking the matter lightly," said Walia.

Two days ago, the UT Police had raided a house in Vikas Nagar, Mauli Jagran, where ice cream was being prepared under unhygienic conditions at the terrace of a house.

The police had destroyed over 40 kg of ice cream during the raid. 

Panchkula, June 22
In view of the shortage of space being faced by the local shopkeepers in displaying their products, the Federation Urban Estate Panchkula (FUEP), here, today urged the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) to allow construction of first floor on booths/service booth located in various sectors of the town.

OP Goyal, president FUEP, in memorandum to the Chief Administrator, HUDA, said that commercial sites, including booths / service booths of all sizes in various sectors such as Sectors 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 12A etc were offered as single story without basement through public auction and the same policy in force till today. He said subsequently, realising the space problem of the shopkeepers, the service booths were offered as DSS by HUDA in Sector 11, 20, 21, 25 etc.

Goyal said that shopkeepers were now facing acute problem of space and it was becoming difficult for them to display items, as it enhanced the visibility of products available, which helped in enhancing the sales. Besides this, the shopkeepers were bound to maintain the quantity and quality of products in accordance with the demand, which was not possible within the space available, thus forcing them to use the corridor for displaying goods.

He further pointed out that similar problem was experienced by the shopkeepers working in shop/booths in the markets under the Haryana Agriculture Marketing Board and the Agriculture Department Haryana vide their notification on April 17, 2009 has allowed construction of basement and first floor by charging 20 per cent of the allotment price of the plot.

He demanded that the construction of the first floor of single story booths / service booths may also be allowed by fixing reasonable fee.

Mohali, June 22
A three-week long sanitation drive was launched from Phase XI here today by the Chairman of the District Planning Committee, Harbhajan Singh Mann.

While talking to mediapersons, Mann said that the state of sanitation would be improved in the first phase while plantation would be carried out in the next phase to make Mohali more green.

Mann appealed to residents to cooperate in the drive by keeping their surroundings clean so that the town presented a cleaner look. He also urged residents to plant one sapling each during the monsoon season so that more greenery was there in the town which would helped in keeping the environment clean.

The town has been divided into zones for executing the drive. Cleaning of drains has also been included in the work so that these are cleaned before the start of the rainy season.

Mann said that he would personally supervise the work of sanitation during the three-week period and would also carry out surprise checks. The cooperation of welfare bodies would also be sought to make the drive a success, he added.

Chandigarh, June 22
An eight-year-old, Aahan, was taken ill after consuming a fungus-infested bread here this morning. The expiry written on the packet was June 25.

It was manufactured by an Ambala-based company.

Aahan's mother, Madhu Khosla, a resident of Sector 37, noticed the fungus in the bread in time.

She said she had purchased the bread from a shop in Sector 37 this morning.

After eating the bread, Aahan complained of giddiness and vomiting.

The shopkeeper, Ram Sukh, when contacted, said it was written on the bread that it was fit for consumption before June 25, he had sold it.

Chandigarh, June 22
Officials of the Chandigarh Administration are on tenterhooks on the issue of recovery of service tax from the lessees of commercial tax running into crores.

Acting on a communiqué from the central excise and service tax department regarding the pending dues to be recovered from the lessees, the UT Estate Office has gone into an overdrive to update its record and cover the pending dues from the erring allottees.

The officials concerned of the Estate Office are holding offices on weekends to compile the information and amount pending.

UT Assistant Estate Officer, Rahul Gupta, said as the employees did not get time during office hours, they were working on weekends to compile the information.

As per notification of the Centre, owners of the leasehold commercial properties auctioned by the UT Estate Office and those who have converted industrial sites into commercial, have to pay the service tax. All lessees of commercial property auctioned since July 1,2007, are bound to pay service tax at a rate of 12.36 per cent per annum on the lease money/ ground rent charged by the UT Estate Office.

On the leasehold properties auctioned in the city, the lease money is charged for a period of 99 years from the lessees. The service tax division of the Central Excise has asked the UT to verify the pending dues of all defaulters and start the recovery of the pending dues along with interest.

The Estate Office is also preparing a list of the property owners who have got their sites converted from industrial into commercial under the UT’s conversion policy, those who have got their residential sites converted into nursing homes, those who have paid earnest money on lease hold commercial plots and those who have paid transfer fee for transfer of leasehold properties. In all such cases, the property owners are being asked to pay the service tax.

Earlier, the Estate Office had been asked to provide information for the period starting from June, 2007, till March 31, 2011. By rough estimates the lease or rental income of the office on property auctioned since 2007 works out at around Rs 200 crore. The Estate Office gets a revenue from the rented or leasehold commercial properties, including shops.

Chandigarh, June 22
Residents continued to face heat wave and sultry conditions in the tricity today. The weather office has predicted that there would be no relief from scorching heat for the next two days.

The met department has further predicted that there would be a slight dip of 1 to 2 degrees in the maximum temperatures over the next two days, but the humidity would only make it worse for residents. A brief spell of rain is expected in three to four days, which will bring temporary relief from the heat wave conditions.

The maximum temperature today was recorded at 41.3 degrees, four degrees above normal, and the minimum was 30.8 degrees, six notches above normal. The maximum humidity was 62 per cent and the minimum 29 per cent.

The weather office has predicted mainly clear sky becoming partly cloudy with a possibility of thundery development as the day progresses.

Met Director Surinder Pal said temperatures were likely to fall during the next two days and there was a possibility of a brief spell of rain on or after June 26. He said pre-monsoon had reached east-west Uttar Pradesh and the situation would be clear only after three-four days.

Days would be mainly sunny in Haryana and Punjab and isolated rain/thundershowers were likely in these states over the next three days.

Chandigarh, June 22
Dr Raj Bahadur is likely to remain the Director-Principal of Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32 (GMCH), till his successor is selected by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The UT Home Secretary-cum-health secretary Anil Kumar said the administration would convey to the PGI that Dr Raj Bahadur would be relieved from the post as soon as his substitute was selected.

The tenure of extension for his deputation at the GMCH had expired on May 31 following which he was supposed to rejoin his parent institute, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER).

The director of the PGI, Dr YK Chawala, even wrote a letter to the Chandigarh Administration on Thursday stating that Dr Raj Bahadur and Dr Vipin Kaushal, the two doctors on deputation from the PGI, were to be repatriated as their tenure had already been completed. He said any further extension in the deputation period of doctors was not permissible and if it was done, the PGI would not allow any more deputations in future, read the letter.

Home Secretary Anil Kumar said he was yet to receive the letter. For the Administration, it would not be possible to relieve Dr Raj Bahadur from the post of Director-Principal till his substitute was found.

The matter would be discussed with the PGI authorities, he added.

Dr Raj Bahadur had joined the institute on a deputation for two years from the PGI on December 1, 2007. The PGI governing body during its meeting held last month allowed Dr Raj Bahadur to continue till May 31.

Chandigarh, June 22
Chaos prevailed at the Sectors 7 and 19 lights when 953 activists of the Bharatiya Janta Party led by party's national general secretary Jagat Prakash Nadda, along with state president Sanjay Tandon, former Union minister Harmohan Dhawan and former MP Satya Pal Jain today courted arrest under the nationwide "Jail Bharo Andolan".

Jagat Prakash Nadda said the party had decided to protest against the Central government. He said the prices of essential commodities were increasing everyday due to the corrupt practices of the Congress leaders.

Chandigarh, June 22
Students applying for admission at Panjab University involved in violence on campus and considered ‘notorious’ or involved in incidents even in city colleges may lose their chance to get admission at PU hostels. In a bid to keep the campus violence free, PU is planning to bar such “trouble makers” from hostel admission.

AS Ahluwalia, Dean Student Welfare (DSW), said that the university would consider barring the students involved repeatedly in violent incidents on campus from taking admissions in PU hostels.

“The university can’t deny anyone admission, however, with an aim to control violence on the campus, such trouble makers can be kept out of the hostels”, the DSW said.

Officials said that the proposal would be discussed at the meetings with all the hostel wardens. Recently, PU authorities had also cancelled hostel room of one of the students who was involved in a brawl at the boy’s hostel no 7.

In an attempt to bridge the gap between the numbers of seats available at the hostels and students applying for those, the university authorities have also planned to ask non performing students to clear their accommodation.

There are total 17 hostels- eight boys and eight girls hostels on the PU campus with a capacity to accommodate over 6, 000 students.

The DSW further said that the student leaders would also be asked to give an undertaking before putting the help desks at PU. “Any violence incident in the campus will lead to cancellation of permission of holding help desks”, the DSW said.

Mohali, June 22
Four special raiding parties have been put into action for the arrest of persons allegedly involved in a firing incident that took place in Sector 69 in which two persons sustained injuries.

According to reports, complainants along with their supporters staged a protest outside the police station against police inaction.

Darshan Singh Mann, DSP, said that the persons involved in the crime had fled from the town and the police was making all efforts to nab them at the earliest.

Those involved in the clash had links with student organisations. Firing took place late in the evening on June 19 between two groups of people.

One person, Baljinder Singh, alias, Skintu, was arrested by the police in this regard while the injured persons, Pankaj and Jaswinder Singh, were admitted to Fortis Hospital.

The police has registered a case on the charge of attempt to murder against Rajinder Singh and his friends at the Matour police station. The police has also impounded a Pajero and a Swift car, which were used in the crime. 

Chandigarh, June 22
Students of the School of Communication Studies (SCS) will not be restricted to the subjects taught in their department only, as from the coming academic session, students will have the opportunity to study additional subjects from different departments that interests them under the “Choice-based open credit system”. This will be the first department under the faculty of arts where the facility is being introduced which will be further introduced to the other departments in 2013.

At a meeting held recently, the university decided to introduce the credit system for the students of mass communication, which they could avail during their-fourth semester.

BS Ghuman, Dean (Faculty of Arts), said that as a pilot project the students will have the option to study any subject that interests them offered by various arts department.

He further said that the students would have to take the permission from their department chairperson for studying a particular topic under the open credit system and attend the classes along with the students of the concerned department as per their time table.

Ghuman said that they would be monitoring the concept for a year following which the credit system would be introduced in all the departments under arts. “We will be studying the two models of open credit system based on which the final model will be drafted for PU. The models, include the one which is adopted globally and another one is adopted by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi”, Ghuman said.

The credit system had already been introduced in the faculty of technology and engineering.

Chairperson SCS Archana Singh said that the students would now have the option to study unique combinations of subjects. “I teach communication through fashion to the students of the University Institute of Fashion Technology and Vocational Development, now the students of SCS if they want can also study the subjects along with the students of fashion technology”, Singh said.

The ratio of credits decided for the system is 80 by 20. A student needs to earn 80 per cent credits from his department and 20 per cent of the credits he can earn from exams he or she takes from other departments.