Garbage lies near a tubewell at Vikas Nagar

Chandigarh, July 2
While the municipal corporation (MC) authorities stuck to the claim that the water being supplied to the Vikas Nagar locality of Mauli Jagran did not have any contamination, diarrhoea claimed one more life here today.

A total of 563 patients were found suffering from diarrhoea in the locality today, of which eight were admitted to the Government Multi-Speciality Hospital at Sector 16 here in a serious condition.

Durgawati (47) was suffering from loose mations for a few days. Her condition deteriorated late last night and she died, said relatives.

Residents show contaminated water at Vikas Nagar in Chandigarh on Monday. Tribune Photos: Nitin Mittal

The health department today sent 12 teams of doctors to conduct a door-to-door survey of the locality, which had 2,765 houses.

Department spokesman Dr G Diwan said 222 patients were treated at their houses while 341 others visited a medical camp set up at the community centre in the area.

Diwan Singh (55) died due to diarrhoea yesterday while hundreds others were diagnosed to be suffering from the disease. Agitated over the breakout and blaming the UT Administration for their misery, residents staged a protest and raised slogans against the Administration and local MP Pawan Kumar Bansal. They also burnt effigies of Bansal and Mayor Raj Bala Malik.

The authorities seemed apathetic, otherwise there was no reason for things to go from bad to worse, said Sushma Devi, whose daughter was down with diarrhoea at home.

“We have been forced to consume dirty water for long and nobody has bothered,” said Rajesh, another resident, standing in the queue of patients at the community centre.

“The authorities should mark an inquiry and the guilty be punished for negligence of duty,” he added.

After visiting the spot, municipal corporation chief engineer SS Bidda said there was no problem with the quality of drinking water being supplied to the locality.

Chandigarh, July 2
Miffed over the cadre war among UT Administration officers belonging to the Punjab, Haryana and UT cadres, UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil today pulled up senior officers of all cadres on deputation to the UT Administration for an unpleasant scenario.

Soon after completing the public hearing session, Patil asked senior UT Administration officials to stay back.

Sources revealed that the Administrator was upset during the meeting with the ongoing cadre war among senior officers.

The sources added that the Administrator warned the officers against lobbying. He told them to put their differences aside and work for the betterment of residents.

The UT Administration's move to dilute the powers of officers belonging to the Punjab and Haryana cadres on deputation to the UT Administration and give more powers to UT-cadre officers was the cause for considerable friction within the Administration.

The cadre war among top officers with the UT Administration started soon after Home Secretary Anil Kumar, belonging to the Haryana cadre, joined the UT Administration.

For the first time in the UT Administration's history, the Home Secretary was divested of major departments, including personnel, education, tourism, local self-government and CITCO, all of which were traditionally held by the Home Secretary.

UT Adviser KK Sharma had chosen to hold charge of important departments like personnel and CITCO.

Satya Gopal, a UT-cadre officer of the 1988 batch, who was only holding charge as CHB Chairman, was vested with departments like local self-government, food and civil supplies, law and justice and employment and labour, which were traditionally held by the Home Secretary.

But recently, after pressure was mounted by the Punjab and Haryana governments, the UT Administration gave the charge of CITCO, local self-government and law and justice to the Home Secretary.

The UT Administration also gave the department of employment and labour to Finance Secretary VK Singh. All these departments, except CITCO, were with the CHB Chairman.

The UT Administration then created a Secretary level post and appointed Prerna Puri, an IAS officer belonging to the UT cadre with just six years experience. She had earlier only been a subdivisional magistrate and held only additional charge as MC Commissioner for a few months.

More importantly, important departments like house allotment committee and information technology, which were earlier with Punjab-cadre Finance Secretary VK Singh, were allotted to her.

She was given charge as Special Secretary (projects), which entailed reviewing special projects being implemented by the engineering department, the CHB and the MC.

These developments led to the Chief Secretaries of both Punjab and Haryana writing to the Centre how officials from Punjab and Haryana were being sidelined by the UT Administration. The issue was raised by the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana not only before Patil, but with the MHA.

In a recent communication to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had assured him that the existing arrangement of the 60:40 formula in posts filled from among IAS, IPS and state-cadre officers of Punjab and Haryana coming on deputation to the UT Administration, would be maintained.

When contacted, UT Adviser KK Sharma declined to comment on the issue of the cadre war among top officers with the UT Administration.

Requesting anonymity, a senior UT Administration officer said officers from Haryana and Punjab were being sidelined, with several important departments being allocated to UT-cadre officers who had no previous knowledge of the city. This was despite a few UT-cadre officers being fairly junior.

UT-cadre officers defended the decision, saying officials were earlier overburdened with departments and changes were made for smooth functioning of the UT Administration. The Haryana and Punjab governments had started putting pressure on the UT Administration, they added.

Chandigarh, July 2
The public darbar of UT Administrator Shivraj Patil witnessed 16 complainants turning up for today’s public hearing session at the UT Secretariat, Sector 9. Out of the 16 complaints, 13 were disposed off on the spot and the remaining have been marked to concerned departments for necessary action.

In the first complaint, Jaspal Singh along with others who have worked as seasonal workers with the Malaria Wing of the UT Health Department for about ten years, informed that they were not selected this year as seasonal workers in the department. Responding to their request, Patil asked the Home Secretary to check why seasonal workers, who have worked for about 10 years, were not selected again.

In another complaint, Jasbir Kaur said that he had purchased a piece of land jointly with the LIC, and the Police Complaints Authority, without hearing the facts, gave an ex-party decision, and have written to the UT Police to register case. After enquiring from the Inspector General of Police, the Administrator advised them that this matter is of civil nature and the best remedy is to go to the Civil Court.

In another complaint, SL Goyal requested for the repair of old Ropar road from Palsora village to Sector 55, Chandigarh, leading to Phase I, Mohali, barrier. On this, Deputy Commissioner Brijender Singh clarified that the tenders have been given and the road would be repaired after the monsoons.

In another complaint, Vipin Krishan Kumar along with others, requested that they were selected constables in the Chandigarh police and were in the waiting list. They requested that they be adjusted at the earliest. Regarding this, the Inspector General of Police informed the Administrator that they would be allowed to join once the matter was cleared by the Home Department. Patil has asked the concerned officials to clear the matter at the earliest and appoint them as per the rules.

In another case, an old man JS Shangari said that his son was arrested falsely in a fraud case. Upon asking, Inspector General of Police informed that after conducting the requisite enquiries the matter was legally examined. The case has been moved for cancellation and action against the Investigating Officer will be taken as per rules.

After the hearing session, Patil asked the senior officers of the UT Administration to strengthen the public grievances mechanisms in their respective departments to improve service delivery systems.

Chandigarh, July 2
The payment of service tax to the UT estate office on the conversion of industrial sites into commercial sites under the UT’s conversion policy is giving sleepless nights to lessees.

Acting on the directives of the service tax division of the Central excise department, the UT estate office has started issuing notices to such lessees who have got sites converted.

As per the directive of the Central excise department, service tax is levied on those who have got their sites converted from industrial into commercial under the UT’s conversion policy, who have got their residential sites converted into nursing homes, who have paid earnest money on leasehold commercial plots and who have paid fee for transfer of leasehold property.

In all such cases, service tax works out to around Rs 200 crore. Around 150 property owners have got their sites converted. The conversion is generating a revenue of around Rs 1,000 crore, that has to be paid in instalments, varying from five years to 10 years.

The estate office is erring in the recovery of service tax from lessees of commercial property, running into crores. The estate office has been compiling information and amount pending.

As per a notification of the Centre, owners of leasehold commercial property auctioned by the UT estate office since July 1, 2007, are bound to pay service tax at 12.36 per cent per annum on the lease money or ground rent charged by the UT estate office.

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

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

The estate office had earlier been asked to provide information for the period from June, 2007, till March 31, 2011. The estate office gets revenue from rented or leasehold commercial property, including shops.

Industrial association president MPS Chawla said, “We have already paid for conversion. Freehold property should be brought under the tax ambit.”

Chandigarh, July 2
A UT police constable on duty at a 'naka' was hit and dragged on the bonnet of a car by a student at the housing board traffic light point in Mani Majra here today.

Constable Baljinder sustained minor injuries. The police arrested Kuldeep, who was driving the Ford Figo car, and booked him in a case of rash and negligent driving.

The incident occurred this evening. The constable signalled a Ford Figo car with black film to stop. The car hit him, as a result of which he lost balance and fell on the bonnet. He was dragged for a distance of 500 metres, after which he fell on the road. The driver applied the brake and was nabbed.

Baljinder was rushed to a hospital, where he was discharged after first-aid. This was the fourth incident in the last two months of a policeman on traffic duty being attacked. The police registered a case of rash and negligent driving and obstructing a public servant from performing duty under Sections 379, 332, 353 and 506 of the IPC.

Chandigarh, July 2
It seems that the municipal corporation (MC) authorities are waiting for another incident of contaminated drinking water supply from tubewells because of non-functional chlorinators at the tubewells.

As per the records of the MC, more than 40 per cent of chlorinators installed in tubewells across the city are not functional for the last more than six months.

During this period, supervisors have been informing the department about non-functional chlorinators and that those need immediate repairs. As a result, there are various areas in the city where residents are getting non-purified water on a day-to-day basis.

An expert said the purpose of installing chlorinators at tubewells is to get water purified at the site for further supply as water becomes free of germs and bacteria after adding chlorine.

When contacted, MC chief engineer SS Bidda said the replacement of machinery of chlorinators was under process and tenders for replacing machinery had not been allotted due to technical reasons, due to which officials used bleach.

He further said officials with the department today took a sample of water from Mauli Jagran, where diarrhoea cases were reported yesterday, and all chlorinators at tubewells were found to be functional.

As per the report, the sample of water taken from the area had the required amount of chlorine, which was sufficient for purification of water.

As per MC records, there were 200 tubewells supplying water to the city. The authorities had installed chlorinators at about 100 tubewells to give direct water supply.

MC records revealed that there were around 60 tubewells giving direct water supply to residents and the rest were connected to underground reservoirs.

MC sources said reminders had been sent to the public health department for the last five months to fix chlorinators at tubewells, but no action had been taken.

MC records revealed that maintenance work of all tubewells had been outsourced by the department to a private company.

Chandigarh, July 2
Sanjay Sharma (82) of Sector 45 found it difficult to rest last night and this afternoon, courtesy unscheduled power cuts and a fault in the transformer. The sector had an 18-hour power cut today.

He said there was no power from 10 pm on Sunday night till 4 pm this evening. He said he was aged and doctors had advised him proper bed rest.

Residents of Sectors 43, 45, 46, 19, 33 and 22, Dhanas and Mani Majra, witnessed power cuts on Sunday and Monday.

Deepak Verma of Sector 43 said they were spending sleepless nights. He added that it became difficult to control children.

Vijay Sharma of Dhanas said he made a number of telephone calls to the complaint centre last night, but the number was busy.

A senior official with the Administration said a fault occurred in a transformer at Sector 45. He added that the cuts in other sectors were imposed for carrying out repair work.

Chandigarh, July 2
One bike is stolen every 24 hours in the city! The UT police is witnessing a steady rise in the number of bikes stolen over the years, with as many as 196 bikes stolen in the first six months this year.

With 70 per cent of all vehicles stolen in the city comprise two-wheelers, bike thefts have created havoc and are giving sleepless nights to residents.

Of the 415 vehicles stolen this year, the number of motorcycle thefts is 196 and the number of scooters 66.

This is in addition to 115 cars and 30 jeeps that have been stolen from various parts of the city.

Senior police officials say unlike cars, the disposal of a bike is very easy, which is the prime reason for the poor recovery rate. Thieves sell those off mostly in far-flung rural areas in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where verification of documents is often not done. A large number of bikes are used by thieves for snatching and are then abandoned.

As many as 540 two-wheelers, 159 scooters and 381 bikes, were stolen from the city in 2010 and the police could recover only 149 of those. The number was no less in 2011, when 913 vehicles were stolen, of which 433 were bikes, 150 scooters and 216 cars.

The police could recover only 121 of the bikes last year. This year, the police had recovered merely 40 of the 196 bikes that stolen.

Chandigarh, July 2
The brief showers in certain parts of the tricity late last night brought cheers to the residents as the day temperature plummeted by about three degrees Celsius, giving relief from the severe heat conditions.

However, residents today had to face humid conditions as the last night’s rain increased the humidity by about 10 per cent in the region.

The weather office has predicted partly cloudy sky in the next 24 hours. The maximum temperature on Tuesday would be around 38 ºC and minimum temperature on Wednesday would be around 28 ºC.

There would be an increase in the rainfall activity and day temperatures would also decline during the subsequent three days the met department added.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 38.5 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal, and the minimum was recorded at 28.3 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal.

The maximum humidity was recorded at 69 per cent while the minimum was recorded at 37 per cent.

Meanwhile, Narnaul in Haryana continued to be the hottest with mercury touching 45.3 degrees Celsius, followed by Hissar and Bhiwani with 44.7 and 43.7 degrees Celsius respectively.

In Punjab, Amritsar remained the hottest with 43.1 degrees Celsius, followed by Ludhiana and Patiala registering 39.8 and 39.4 degrees Celsius respectively.

The weather office has predicted light rain or thundershowers at isolated places in Haryana and Punjab.

There would be an increase in rainfall activity, resulting in a decline in day temperature in the subsequent three days.

However, there would be no large-scale change in the weather conditions, the met department added.

Panchkula, July 2
With stone crushers remaining a non-starter in Burj Kotian near Surajpur, the migrant population has shifted to other areas of the district in search of greener pastures.

A large number of malaria cases had been reported from the area.

However, the district health authorities were taking no chances and was also closely monitoring the situation in various slums, including Bhudhanpur, Rajeev Colony and Indra Colony, located on the periphery of the town.

Notably, Burj Kotian had been on the radar of the health authorities as a large number of malaria cases had surfaced in the area.

Migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who worked at various stone crushers located in the area, were diagnosed with malaria and other vector-borne disease.

Meanwhile, diarrhoea cases were also on the rise in these slums, especially at Bhudhanpur opposite Sector 17, as a large numbers of children were admitted to hospital. This had created panic among the health department which immediately sent a team of health officials to these slums to take stock of the situation.

Dr VK Bansal, Civil Surgeon, General Hospital, Sector 6, said he had sent a team of health workers to check any other cases of diarrhoea. He added that only two cases were reported today and people were advised to drink chlorinated water. He said chlorine tablets were being distributed among residents of the slum areas.

Dr Bansal said they were also closely monitoring Mauli Jagran as a large number of diarrhoea cases were also reported from the area. He said in view of the ensuing monsoon, they had also identified a few areas that had become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Headded that malaria larvicidal oil would be sprayed in the slums.

Chandigarh, July 2
With a view to promote tourism in Chandigarh, the Ministry of Tourism has offered to help the UT Administration in funding the multi-level parkings. The ministry could fund up to Rs 5 crore for the project.

The issue was discussed during a review meeting of the tourism projects, chaired by the Special Secretary, Tourism, Sanjay Kothari, here today. The secretary stressed on their timely completion. He inspected the project for upgrading infrastructure at Sukhna Lake, Japanese Garden in Sector 31, garden of animals in Sector 49, and garden of palm in Sector 42. The ministry has released a grant of Rs 23 crore in the last three years.

The project of illumination of Rock Garden was also discussed. The city has been selected for the project of gardens to promote tourism.

Chandigarh, July 2
In his complaint, Manjit Singh, a resident of Zirakpur, stated that his motorcycle (PB23E-0812) was stolen from outside Lala Lajpat Rai Bhawan in Sector 15 on June 26. In another incident, Manoj Kumar, a resident of Sector 28-C, reported that someone had stolen his Pulsar motorcycle (CH-01AB-7245) from outside his house in Sector 27-D, on June 26.

Parkash Verma, a resident of Faidan village, reported to the police that his three-wheeler (PB-65M-859 (T)) was stolen from outside his house on June 30, while Loveleen Kaur, a resident of Sector 44-A, in her complaint, stated that someone had stolen her Honda Activa Scooter (CH03M-7863) from outside her house on June 26. The police has registered cases under Section 379 (Theft) of the IPC in all incidents.

Meanwhile, Aneesh Singla, a resident of Sector 46-A, reported that thieves had stolen six car silencers, computer parts, brass parts, measuring instrument, textile machinery parts, computer motherboard, four bottles of wine, US traveller checks worth $ 500 from plot number 668-669, Phase II, Industrial Area, on July 1.

The police has registered a case under Sections 380 (theft in dwelling), 457 of the IPC at the Sector 31 police station.

Chandigarh, July 2
The CBI today collected voice samples of ASI Desh Raj, who was arrested earlier this year in a case of bribery.

The CBI sent the voice samples for matching with the recorded conversation of the policeman to the CFSL.

The CBI had booked Desh Raj was booked in March this year when it arrested head constable Vajinder Singh for accepting a bribe of Rs 3,000 from a proclaimed offender at Sector 46 on February 25. Desh Raj fled the spot and was currently out on bail.

The CBI had in its possession recorded conversation of Vajinder's mobile phone, in which he was demanding bribe and was also talking to Des Raj about it.

Desh Raj had been retired from the police. He had arrested more than 400 proclaimed offenders in his 25-year stint with the UT police.