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Another blackout jolts tricity
Chandigarh, July 31
The blackout again paralysed medical services and inconvenienced the common man visiting various public offices. There were reports from the tricity that cards of consumers got stuck in various ATM machines due to inadequate power back-up. Tricity residents also faced difficulty in filing online tax returns. Those who visited e-sampark centres and the RLA office in the afternoon had to return without getting their work done. Industrialists also suffered huge losses due to the power failure on consecutive days. Since traffic signals are connected with direct power supply, the traffic police found it difficult to manage traffic on city roads. Patients in the general ward of the PGI Nehru Hospital had to sweat it out in the afternoon following a blackout at the neurology and nuclear medicine OPDs. Patients were waiting for routine tests since morning. At the GMSH-16, operations at the emergency ward had to be postponed. Services at the UT police headquarters in Sector 9 were hit again in the afternoon. While services were resumed in the morning, no work could be executed after lunch hours as computers failed to function. However, work at the police control room was not affected as a generator was pressed into service. In Panchkula, work came to a standstill for the second day today. Though initially some problems were faced at the General Hospital in Sector 6, power was soon restored. Work at the mini secretariat in Sector 1 came to a halt as there was no power back-up. Trains affected Around six trains emanating from Chandigarh stopped on the track at various places due to the grid failure that occurred at 1.15 pm on Tuesday. Power was restored at 3.40 pm, but there was enough back-up for the trains to resume the onward journey after some time. Passengers were inconvenienced after the Kalka-Ambala train was cancelled. The other trains were more or less on schedule, said Praveen Kumar, station superintendent. Supply restored In Chandigarh, the electricity department started restoring power supply from 4.30 pm. It covered northern sectors first. Till 6.30 pm, power was restored to the entire city. No breather on second day * Power goes off for over three hours * Transactions in various banks across tricity hit * Cards get stuck in various ATM machines * People face difficulty in filing online returns * Work affected at UT secretariat, police headquarters and RLA office * Medical services affected * Passengers face inconvenience as trains delayed * Industry in tricity incurs huge losses * Chaos on roads as traffic signals stop working
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Residents rough it out
Chandigarh, July 31 She said that as her son and daughter-in-law were working so she took care of her two grandsons, who are three years and six-month-old respectively. In the afternoon, when she was trying to put them off to sleep them then suddenly power went off. She spent the entire afternoon fanning both of them with a hand fan, she added. Motorists too had a harrowing time. There was total chaos at traffic lights as various traffic signals in the city were non-functional due to power cut. Vijay Sharma(35), a resident of
Dhanas, said that he had finished his night duty and was resting in the afternoon, but he couldn’t get a sound sleep since there was no power at that time. Rajinder
Pandey, a resident of Sector 44, said that he was making some assignments on his computer when the power went off at 1 pm. Thinking that it was a local fault, he went to Sector 45 cyber café but there he came to know that the entire grid had collapsed. He added luckily the power was restored at 4.30 pm and he was able to complete his work.
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Online filing of returns hit
Panchkula, July 31 “A large number of people came to file the returns. No service was hit, but there was some problems in filing online returns,” said Jitender Kumar, Additional Commissioner (I-T). The deadline for filing returns has been extended till August 31.
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P'kula industry losing Rs 3 crore every day
Panchkula, July 31 "There is no power since Sunday night. The industry is incurring a loss of Rs 3 crore every day due to power failure. Businessmen are the worst affected as our machines are not working," said Vishnu Goel, an industrialist and a resident of Sector 12. Panchkula has various industries, including auto components, machinery, lamination and raw material, all of which have been hit hard. The industries are also involved in export. Since there are furnaces and heavy machines, power back-up of only one to two hours could be available. "We are facing a harrowing time as our work is getting affected. Even after the grid failure was rectified, the industry remained powerless for a long time," said Vivek Chahl, another industrialist. The deadlines for orders were also pushed. "We had to complete an order by yesterday and our deadline has crossed. Clients will not listen to any excuse and would rather cancel the contract," said Janveer Singh, an industrialist based in Sector 6. They said they were going through a bad time. "Will the authorities concerned pay for our loss? Other people can work using inverters and generators, but what about us? Big machines cannot run with enough power back-up," said Vir Khanna, a businessman and resident of Sector 2. Meanwhile, MPS Chawla, president of the Chandigarh Industries Association said the blackout for two consecutive days had resulted in a loss of over Rs 100 crore to the UT industry. There were about 2,000 units located in the industrial area. Due to the blackout, the consumption of diesel in running generation sets had gone up. Chander Verma, president of the Converted Plot Owners Association, said the grid failure had spelt doom for the hostel industry and other service industry. The industrial area had a number of hotels and without power, the loss was tremendous. "We are being forced to make alternative arrangements for power back-up at our cost," he said. tough going Since the industry uses furnaces and heavy machines, power back-up of only one to two hours can be made available. The president of the Chandigarh Industries Association said the blackout for two consecutive days had resulted in a loss of over ~100 crore to the UT industry. The hotel industry has also incurred losses.
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Admn team faces protest
Zirakpur, July 31 A large number of people gathered at the spot when the team reached there to remove the pipes installed by a local builder to cover the ‘nullah’. Some of them tried to obstruct the JCB machine working in the area. The protesters were of the view that after the removal of the pipes, the dirty water would start entering their houses. However, many of the residents welcomed the step, saying that the pipes were causing obstruction in free flow of the 'nullah' which was more dangerous. Notably, Mohali Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam had ordered to remove these pipes immediately following which the officials of the water supply and sanitation department swung into action today. A large number of police personnel were also present at the spot.
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Another reshuffle in UT Admn
Chandigarh, July 31 Yogesh Kumar, who had recently sought repatriation to his parent state Haryana on ‘personal grounds’ along with his HCS wife Varsha Khangwal, posted as Director Social Welfare Department, will now only hold the charge of Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies. The Administration today relieved Joint Secretary (Home) Abhishek Dev (UT cadre) who was recently transferred to Arunachal Pradesh. Secretary Information Technology Prerna Puri has
been given the additional charge of Joint Secretary (Home). Sources revealed that another UT cadre officer, Rodney L Ralte, who was recently transferred from Mizoram to Chandigarh, was on leave. Besides, HCS officers SK Setia and
Mandeep Kaur, whose names were finalised by the Administration, were yet to join. A senior official of the Administration said they had not relieved HCS couple Yogesh Kumar and Varsha Khangwal. But sources said the Administration’s order stated that Yogesh Kumar was relieved from the charge of Director Public Relations and there was no mention about the post of Joint Registrar, Cooperative Societies.
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Quarrelling councillors fail to come up with a plan
Aarti Kapur Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 31 Though the area councillors of colonies, including Maloya, Sector 25 and Mani Majra, have raised the issue in the House today, the residents of these areas were complaining about the matter for past two weeks. Despite informing the concerned officials no action was taken to improve the situation. Referring to his visit to Sector 25, Congress Councillor Subhash Chawla said out of the four water samples taken from four houses of the area two failed the test. He said officials have expressed their helplessness over the matter. They were clueless why two houses were receiving contaminated water. MC Commissioner VP Singh said the complaints of contaminated water was also received from Maloya but the corporation failed to take any action as a three-storied house has been constructed on the road under which the pipeline passes. Councillor Rajinder Kaur raised the issue that due to the lackadaisical attitude of public health department, epidemic broke out in Mauli Jagran and a number of families lost their near ones. Demanding action against the officials who are responsible for it, she asked why no action was taken by the authorities when the issue has been discussed in the house for the past three months. The ruling and opposition councillors levelled allegations and counter allegations on each other. Congress Councillor Subhash Chawla stated that it was the responsibility of the area councillor to check the removal of the hand pumps from the area that was the main cause of supply of contaminated water. On which the BJP Councillor Davesh Modgil reacted and said that it was strange that MP and water resources minister Pawan Kumar Bansal did not bothered to visit the area affected. Opposing the statements of each other, both Congress and BJP councillors came into the well of the house to argue and demanded withdrawal of their statements. Intervening in the arguments, MC Commissioner suggested constituting a technical committee to monitor the situation of colonies and submit a monthly report so that the authorities can take action. Interestingly, none of the councillor or Mayor bothered to listen to the suggestion of the Commissioner and diverted their discussion on the issue of cleanliness of road gullies in the city.
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PGI proposes prior appointment for OPDs
Chandigarh, July 31 According to the proposal, the doctors should attend a fixed number of patients every day. The proposal was tabled at the General Body meeting of the PGI faculty here today. However, the key roadblock in implementing the proposal will be the incomplete computerisation of the OPD. Dr Dheeraj Gupta, President of PGI Faculty Association, said, “We will constitute a committee to be headed by the in-charge of medical emergencies that will take the inputs of all the faculty members for addressing the problem of overcrowding. The inputs will be gathered within the next two weeks and possible measures will be taken.” The other key agendas taken up at the meeting included public parking issues and installation of air-conditioners in the OPDs.
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Two school students injured
Chandigarh, July 31 Rahul sustained nose fracture while Daljeet’s right hand was fractured. Both of them are likely to be discharge today.The police sources said a woman was driving the car and they are investigating the matter. Daljeet Singh at the Sector 16 hospital in Chandigarh on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Pradeep Tewari
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Technical snag hits RLA
Chandigarh, July 31 Sources said the printer that prints the documents was out of order, which is the reason why people have to make several rounds of the office. As a result of this, the backlog of RC is piling up. This is not only resulting in harassment of the document seekers, but also causing financial loss to the RLA. Earlier, there was delay in the supply of plastic cards for the preparation of registration cards. The sources said the printer would start working by the next week.––TNS
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CTU starts night service
Chandigarh, July 31 The service was flagged off by Advisor KK Sharma. Director, Transport, TPS Phoolka said presently four buses have been pressed in to service and it would be increased in future. The bus service would run till 5 am.
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Play portrays life of devadasis
Chandigarh, July 31
The performance, having the rightful mix of sharp-edged dance movements and intensification of a theatre performance, did not drift away from its interlocked theme. Though complex and entangled, it managed to grab the attention of the audience and brought something exciting for the local audience, which they had not experienced in the past. The credit goes to the clarity of moves and the vision of Navtej and his troupe who at the subject level refreshed the important issues of devadasis vis-Ć -vis resonance of freedom and liberty and at the performance level made an attempt to find new space between theatre and dance. Weaved into two narratives, one inspired by “The Maids”€, a play by Jean Genet, and the other based on a generic life narration of devadasis, the performance beautifully played with contexts and characters. The narrative went like this. The play “The Maids”€¯ was based on two maids engaged in daily rituals of impersonating their madam but at the same time they were planning to kill her. The other was dedicated to devadasis€¯ who remained the main repositories of dance and music for over centuries in South India but did not get the kind of recognition they deserved. The difficult aspect of the play was not to lose the common thread between the two. The play undoubtedly made its honest efforts to find common ground between the lives of maids and devadasis.
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Patients sweat it out at city hospitals
Chandigarh, July 31 At the PGI, while the routine diagnostic services at the emergency and other new centres remained nearly unaffected, patients at the Nehru hospital’s neurology and nuclear medicine ward had to suffer due to delay in routine tests. Also, at the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, some of the operations scheduled between 2 pm and 4 pm had to be postponed due to the power-grid failure. Kamla Devi (name changed) who was waiting at the neurology ward in the heat, while carrying her young child, said, “I had to undergo two separate tests here. After the MRI scan in the morning, the doctors had asked me to wait for the next test. I am waiting here since morning. By the time my turn came, the power went off and they asked me to wait saying the tests could not be conducted in the absence of power.” At the GMSH-16, a few surgical operations had to be postponed and the patients were asked to wait despite the urgent need for surgeries. The absence of power backup facility left the patients fuming. “My son has got injuries in the head and he needs immediate attention. If the hospital authorities are aware that such problems occur and where certain surgeries cannot wait, then why haven’t they got a back-up arrangement in place? Who is to be blamed for this?” said the attendant of a 10-year-old boy at GMSH’s Emergency Ward. The power supply was restored at around 4pm and the services resumed. The services at the emergency, operating theatres, Advanced Trauma Centre, Advanced Paediatric Centre, Advanced Cardiac Centre, Advanced Eye Centre and ICUs at the PGI were not hampered since the back-up mechanism was in place. The services at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, meanwhile, remained almost unaffected since no major surgeries were scheduled either at the emergency or other wards during the power-cut period.
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UT secretariat staff seen hanging around in balconies
Chandigarh, July 31 The offices of the Adviser, Home Secretary, Finance Secretary, Chief Engineer, Joint Secretary (Home) and other senior officials, whose offices are in the secretariat building, received power, but there was complete blackout in the rooms of clerical staff. There was no working in the UT Secretariat from 1 pm to 5 pm. As there was no power therefore the staff in the secretariat building could be easily seen chatting around in the corridors and in balconies. Moreover, the metal detectors were also not working at the entrance of the secretariat building. An employee at the secretariat said that when they were compiling data related to monthly budget expenditure sought by the UT Administration the power went off suddenly at 1 pm. He added that earlier they were waiting for the power to be restored, but when they came to know about the northern grid failure, they discontinued their work. Echoing similar view, another employee said that they were compiling their department’s achievements for the Independence Day celebrations but could not complete their work.
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ICU patients outdoors in Mohali
Mohali, July 31 Rajinder Kaur, a resident of Sohana, admitted to Civil Hospital at Phase 6, said that she could not bear the heat inside the ICU, hence had to come outside for a breath of fresh air. Attendants of other patients, admitted to the ICU, were also seen sitting on the pavement outside the hospital building. “There is no power in the ICU, so we came out”, said Navpreet Kaur, whose mother was admitted to the ICU. Shockingly, the ICU and emergency ward have a back-up generator, but it was out of order today. The patients in the Emergency Ward claimed that there was no power in the ward for over two hours. A mother was seen fanning her newly born baby with a magazine in the emergency ward to give him comfort from the sweltering heat. One of the staff nurse on duty claimed that the generator was very old and mostly remained out of order. “At a place like this there should be top class arrangements but here, one can see the poor state of affairs”, said a staff nurse, on condition of anonymity. At this trying time, three emergency cases reached the hospital. “As today is a holiday, there is less rush here otherwise it would be very difficult to deal emergency cases “, said a doctor
on duty. One attendant of a patient in the ward claimed that drinking water was also not available in the ward. “I have been purchasing water bottles from the market”, said the attendant. In other wards, several patients and their attendants were using newspapers and magazines as hand fans in the absence of power. The power went off around 1 pm and the generator was started at 3 pm. Notably, many patients and their attendants were also forced to come out of the building last night when there was power failure for about eight hours. On the issue, Dr Usha Bansal, the Mohali Civil Surgeon, said that they had already written to the authorities to provide a new generator set with more capacity. “We know patients suffer in such conditions. We will pursue the case (installing new generator set) immediately”, said Bansal.
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In Panchkula offices, work comes to a standstill
Panchkula, July 31 At the e-disha centre, people had to return empty- handed as the power went oof at the nick of time. “I have been standing for the past two hours in the queue to get the registration done and when my turn came, the power went off. I know it wont be restored soon as there has been a grid failure, so I am going home without getting the work done,” said Rajesh Kalia, a resident of Sector-12A, Panchkula. People were getting the usual registration and licensing work done at the e-Disha centre when the power went and was restored at around 4 pm when the office with regard to public dealing had already closed. “Yes, the work in e-disha was affected due to the grid failure,” said District Informatics officer , Hari Chand. There were some initial problems at the General Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula. “I had come to drink water here at the tap, but there was no water,” said a visitor with a patient, Ramjilal. Though we did face water problem for an hour, but the same was restored soon so there was not much of a problem here. I feel it is the only hospital where services were not affected much as compared to Chandigarh and Mohali hospitals,” said Usha Gupta, Principal Medical officer.
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High Drama at MC General House meeting
3 injured children marched in to draw attention Aarti Kapur Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 31 Area councillor of Sector 38 Arun Sood paraded three out of eight children, who were bitten by a dog yesterday, on the floor of the House today. Clueless about the proceedings of the House, three-year-old Diya, five-year-old Lovish and 10-year-old Bhanu entered the House to show their wounds to the officials and councillors when the issue of the dog menace was taken up. Narrating the incident, Sood said that yesterday when the children were returning home after school a dog attacked them. The incident took place at Sector 38. Despite the efforts of the passersby to save them, the dog managed bite them. After complaining about the incident the corporation staff caught the dog. However, the children are still in trauma. For the last three House meetings the issue of dog menace has been tabled. However, it was not discussed. Arun Sood said if timely action was not taken by the authorities concerned the situation would become more critical. Challenging the authenticity of the status report on the dog population and the sterilisation programmes tabled in the house today, the majority of the councillors expressed their dissatisfaction over it. Congress Councillor Subhash Chawla stated that as per the census 5,627 out of 5,713 dogs were sterilised since April 2008 to 2012. However, this was not real if one verifies the increase in the dog population in the city, he alleged. BJP Councillor Saurab Joshi said if the authorities are adopting foolproof measures to control the population of stray dogs then how come it is increasing? Nominated councillor DS Sandhu alleged that it has become a routine practice for the corporation to hold lengthy discussions on stray dog menace. But when it comes to take action they do not have any plan to solve the matter. Area councillor of Mani Majra Gurcharan Das Kala stated that as per the report a vaccination camp was organised in his area but in reality no such programme was organised in his ward by the health department. Similarly, area councillors of Sector 32 and 46 complained that no such camps were organised in their wards in the last seven months. Non-availability of vaccines Many councillors complained that vaccines that can prevent infections due to dog bites are not available in Sector 19 dispensary. When MC Commissioner VP Singh asked Medical Officer of Health (MOH) BK Salwan about the matter he was clueless. It is not know how long these vaccines are not available in the dispensary. Passing the buck on the health department, the MOH said the department was not sending the vaccines. The MC Commissioner has proposed that from now on the corporation would assist in providing the vaccines in the dispensary. Also the department would work out a plan to divide the city into four zones and would provide vaccines in four dispensaries to lessen the burden on a single dispensary. Sidelines * Congress Councillor Subhash Chawla alleged that the ongoing construction of 136 booths in Mauli Jagra should be cancelled as there is no policy of allotment for the same with the authorities. Reacting to it, the BJP councillors come in well and oppose its cancellation. BJP Councillor Arun Sood alleged that the proposal of cancellation has been mooted on the directions of Madhu Bansal who raised an objection on the allotment process. MC Commissioner said the policy for the allotment will be drafted and tabled in next house meeting for approval of the House. * Due to the failure of the northern grind the MC hired a generator while the other officials fail to perform their duty as there was no power today. * Chawla said the other councillors intervene when he wants to submit his suggestions on any issue. He asked the Mayor and MC Commissioner that they must protect the right to speak of every councillor in the House. * The House observed two minutes silence in the memory of those who lost their life in Mauli Jagra due to diarrhoea. * BJP councillors opposed ward development fund to the nominated councillors besides increase of the ward development fund for the elected. The house approved the issues of maintenance of sweeping machines, repair of Sector 32 fire station, to hand over the green belts to RWA, development of second phase of Sector 17 and earmarking of community center in Mani Majra.
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Faculty gears up for
polls
Chandigarh, July 31 The Manjit-Akshaya group today released its manifesto. The list of promises made by the group included recruitment of teachers, which would be their top priority. Manjit Singh said they would also focus on restarting CAS promotions. He said: “Those who applied after February this year for promotions under CAS, their cases were kept in abeyance. We will work for restarting CAS promotions on an urgent basis.” The manifesto also includes issues like childcare leave for women employees and leave encashment of superannuating colleagues. The promises also include rotation of chairpersons in all university departments. “On a resolution moved by PUTA leadership seeking uniform policy of rotation of chairpersonship on the basis of seniority, it has been decided that irrespective of the fact that whether a department is an institute or a school or simply a department, the chairman will be appointed through rotation only. This decision, recently taken in a meeting involving deans of various faculties, awaits ratification of the syndicate,” Singh said. The Manjit-Akshaya group also claims to have approached the UGC to clarify its position on granting advance increments to teachers who join with MTech, LLM, etc. Filling up of vacant posts of teachers and implementation of promotions under CAS are the top priorities for the Tankeshwar group, which has RK Mahajan as the presidential candidate. The Tankeshwar group also claims to ensure better working environment for teachers and researchers, apart from enhancement of retirement age from 60 years to 65 years and reemployment for five years.
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PUSU members stage dharna outside VC’s office
Chandigarh, July 31 Students said the decision would affect around 100 students who would not get admission to the hostel due to the new rule. PUSU leader Sumit Goklaney said the university from this year had decided to reserve dormitories in all girlsā€™ hostels for guests following which around 100 students were deprived of the hostel seats. “The university is already struggling hard to meet the demand of hostels and this decision has further reduced the number of hostel seats,”€¯ the PUSU leader said. During the protest, the union also demanded that the students who were allotted hostels on a temporary basis during the last academic session should also be allotted hostels on a regular basis. PUSU leaders said the charter of demands was also submitted to the university a few days ago. However, the authorities failed to act following which they decided to hold a protest. The demands also included that the students who had scored less then 50 per cent credits in the last academic session and were denied admission to hostel should also get the hostel admission. The PU authorities reached the spot to pacify the students. A committee has also been formed to look into the demands of the students. — TNS
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Year on, online fee payment at PU fails to find takers
Chandigarh, July 31 While the system was introduced with much fanfare after being made user-friendly and hassle-free, not more than 50 students have availed the facility over the past one year. The students still prefer to stand in long queues because the system makes it mandatory for the students to have a bank account in SBI for availing the service. Gaurav, a student at the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), said: "I feel that the authorities should improve the system and allow the facility to pay the fee from any bank account. I do not have an account in SBI. For using the system, I will have to first open an account and then ask my parents to transfer money in that account. I will rather stand in the queue and pay the fee." Admitting the fact that the sole bank account condition is the main cause for the poor response to the system, PU's Finance Development Officer Vikram Nayyar said: "Going by the feedback collected from the students, we have realised that we need to take away the limitation of the single bank account.” PU officials also admitted that the system has not been publicised well among the students. For availing the "I-collect" service, students can visit the website of PU and follow the link "online fee" or SBI's website and access the service by providing the PU registration PIN.
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