|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
UT finalises eco-sensitive zone
Chandigarh, May 14 In the eco-sensitive zone, the Administration has proposed that construction, instead of being prohibited, should be regulated. The Administration has proposed low-density and low-rise buildings in the area falling in the eco-sensitive zone. The Administration has not touched the urban areas. However, three UT villages — Kaimbwala, Khuda Ali Sher and Kishangarh — and Lalit Hotel and the Parsvnath Pride Asia project in the IT Park, will fall in the eco-sensitive zone proposed by the Administration. Recently, the Ministry of Environment and Forests had extended the deadline from February 15 to May 15 after the Administration failed to declare the eco-sensitive zone on time. In a strong-worded letter to the Administration, the ministry had warned that if it failed to meet the deadline, the ministry would declare a 10-km stretch around the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary as the eco-sensitive zone where development projects would be banned. The Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary catchment area is around 36 km, of which only 2 km falls under the jurisdiction of the Administration. The remaining area falls in Punjab and Haryana. A senior UT official said they had made broad recommendations on the eco-sensitive zone. To regulate construction and other activities in the eco-sensitive zone, the Administration had decided to constitute the Eco-Sensitive Zone Management Committee, which would have officials of the Forest, Environment, Agriculture, Architecture and Land Acquisition departments as members. Punjab, Haryana to submit separate proposals As the UT has recommended an eco-sensitive zone of 2 km around the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary falling under its territory, the Punjab and Haryana governments will submit their proposals separately to the ministry. Proposed area of
eco-sensitive zone The UT has proposed the demarcation of the eco-sensitive zone from Uttar Marg (the point where the Nayagaon boundry ends) to the Sukhna Lake; further towards the road alongside the Sukhna walkway to the regulator end of lake; further towards the IT Park roundabout near Kishangarh village; and finally towards the Haryana boundry near the IT Park. What is eco-sensitive zone An eco-sensitive zone is a fragile ecosystem area where conservation or preservation of natural environment is sustained by state control and grants. In a bid to prevent ecological damage caused due to development activities around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has come out with new guidelines to create eco-sensitive zones that will work as shock absorbers for the protected areas. The aim is to regulate certain activities around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries to minimise the negative impact of such activities on the fragile ecosystem. Ministry to invite objections
|
|
2 SHOs sent to Police Lines for graft
Panchkula, May 14 The action was taken after Deswal got information that both officers had taken Rs 10 lakh from 10 IPL bookies, who were arrested last week. Sources said Chauhan and Surinder Kumar were aware of the illegal activities of these bookies in their areas and had taken money from them to allow them to continue their activities.
|
|
ASI caught taking bribe of Rs 1 lakh
Chandigarh, May 14 Two other Haryana police officials, the Kaithal SHO and ASI Jatinder Kumar, who is also based in Kaithal, have also been booked in the corruption case. They are yet to be arrested. The police said the deal was set for Rs 13 lakh. The complainant had already paid an amount of Rs 5 lakh as the first instalment last month. The bribe money of Rs 1 lakh was recovered from his possession by the raiding party. The police said ASI Jagdish Ram was taking the bribe on behalf of ASI Jatinder Kumar, CIA, Kaithal, and the Kaithal SHO. They were demanding the bribe to favour the complainant, Gurmeet Singh, a resident
of Mauli Jagran, Chandigarh in a cheating case. Gurmeet Singh, a taxi driver, was booked in a cheating case in August 2012 by the Kaithal police. The bribe was demanded to let him off in the case. A case under Sections 7, 8 and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120 B of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 9 Vigilance police station. The complainant alleged that ASI Jatinder Kumar, the Kaithal SHO and ASI Jagdish Ram had demanded a bribe of Rs 13 lakh, of which Rs 1 lakh was recovered on the spot from accused Jagdish Ram. Earlier, the first instalment of Rs 5 lakh was paid to ASI Jatinder Kumar in Ambala, the police said. The accused would be produced in a court tomorrow. The police said there was a possibility higher-ups being involved in the case.
Cheating case The complainant, Gurmeet Singh, used to work with Gurdial in the NAC, Mani Majra, who ran an immigration firm. Following complaints of cheating, Gurdial fled and put the blame on Gurmeet, who was a taxi driver. The Kaithal police booked Gurmeet in a cheating case, while no action was taken against Gurdial. The three Haryana police officers booked on Tuesday had demanded the bribe to let off Gurmeet in the cheating case.
|
|
Adviser upholds cancellation of Vivek High School
Chandigarh, May 14 The lease of the land, measuring 5.92 acres, had been cancelled on March 24, 2006, after the Trust failed to remove the "non-sanctionable" building violations on the school premises. The Adviser to the UT Administrator passed the orders while hearing a revised petition filed by the Trust through its chairman HS Mamik. In his orders, the Adviser has stated that the petitioner had been given sufficient time to remove the building violations, but it had failed to do so. Eleven more violations were found during the latest inspection carried out by the Estate Office. Mamik said the Administration was taking a wrong stand as the revised building plan had been approved by the plan approval committee in 2003, but the Estate Office refused to issue it on an unfounded plea that extension fee had not been paid. "The Estate Office cannot link the extension fee issue, which is pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, with the sanctioned building plan issue. We will challenge the orders of the Adviser in the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” he said. “A wrong stand has been taken and former chief administrators have upheld the contention of the Trust. We are being targeted unnecessarily. No official is ready to listen to the facts,” said Mamik. In his orders, the Adviser has pointed out that there are 18 violations in the inspection report, dated February 18, 2013. Of these, 11 are fresh violations. "The matter of the extension fee pending for adjudication before the High Court does not in any way prevent the petitioner from removing the unauthorised construction,” the Adviser has stated. The case dates back to 1993 when the site was first cancelled due to a building violation. When the matter went to the High Court, the Trust was asked to remove the unauthorised construction on or before June 30, 1997. However, when the petitioner failed to remove the violation, the Estate Officer said the cancellation order had again become operative. The Chief Administrator offered relief to the petitioner and directed the Estate Office to consider the building plan of fthe petitioner. Subsequently, the Estate Office asked the petitioner to pay an extension fee of Rs 40,77,099. The Trust stated that the authorities had misread, misinterpreted and mis-construed the documents on record to decide upon the case. The petitioner did not remove the violations and the Estate Officer in 1997 intimated that the cancellation order of 1993 had become operative and this lead to another round of litigation. The then Adviser had disposed of the petition with a fresh direction to the Estate Office to keep a watch on the activities of the Trust and initiate action in the event of any fresh violation.
|
Cops get vital clues in robbery case
Panchkula, May 14 "We have tracked them up to Ambala where they hired rooms in a hotel located near the railway station for a brief halt. We are collecting vital information from the persons they had met there and also trying to get the CCTV footage from the toll plaza, if available," said Deswal, adding that an employee of the hotel claimed to have seen the robbers. The robbers used a white Tata Indigo car, on which "taxi" was written, in
the crime. "Prima facie, it seems that the robbery was preplanned. The circumstantial evidences indicated that they reached Ambala by train from where they hired a taxi to reach here. After perpetrating the robbery, they went back to Ambala and boarded a train for their native place," said Deswal. Another police officer claimed that the similar modus operandi was also noticed in some earlier cases, in which the members of different gangs would reach Ambala by train and then hire taxis to reach different cities. "We are focusing on such gangs also. One of the such gangs belong to Bijnaur, the members of which had been arrested two years ago following a dacoity at Sector 10 here," said the officer. Yesterday, the robbers took away mobile phones from the Rajive Gargs' house in Sector 4, which helped the police to track their escape route. Another vital lead, which the police got, is the knives/daggers used in the crime were bought from a local shop. "We were told by a member of the victim's family that on the cover of a weapon, the word "Panchkula" was written. There are a handful of shops, which sell such items. So we may get CCTV clippings from there," said the officer. Deswal claimed that the robbers would be identified soon. The six robbers looted gold and silver jewellery and other valuable items from the residence of a local businessman, Rajiv Garg, in Sector 4 at around 10.15 pm on Monday night.
Previous cases January 21, 2012: Two youngsters robbed 60-year-old Maya
Devi, a resident of Sector 7, Panchkula, of her gold chain. They rang the doorbell and as soon as
the victim opened the door, they snatched her gold chain. January 23,
2012: An elderly couple, RK Garg and Rani Garg, was targeted in a similar manner at Sector 6. The robbers made them open the door, saying that they had brought a letter for them. RK Garg was stabbed by the robbers who looted jewellery and cash worth Rs 6 lakh from there. March 15,
2012: Rs 40 lakh was looted from the Modi family based in Sector 7. Posing as smart card delivery boys, the robbers made the family open the door of the house.
|
|
Symbol politics major deciding factor
Panchkula, May 14 Before the Congress, the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) had decided to go for a "free for all" policy doing away with the party symbol. But, the other major parties, including the BJP and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), have decided to contest the elections on the party symbols. Defending the decision of the HJC against contesting the MC elections on the party symbol, former Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana and senior HJC leader Chander Mohan said the constitution of his party, which was drafted by Chaudhary Bhajan Lal, did not allow to contest the elections below the MLA level on the party symbol. Candidates contest the MC elections on local issues, therefore anybody can contest these poll, he added. Contrary to Chander Mohan's statement, the BJP, which is an alliance partner of the HJC, is contesting the elections on the party symbol. Senior BJP leader Gian Chand Gupta said he believed in the party symbol as it gave strength to the party leaders. The BJP candidates will definitely win in the coming elections, he added. City INLD president Manoj Aggarwal said the INLD had a good voter base therefore they were contesting the elections on the party symbol. With regards to the Congress and the HJC, he said there was a rift in the Congress and the HJC had not find candidates, therefore these parties were not contesting the elections on the party symbols, he added.
|
|
Waterlogging adds to patients’ woes at PGI
Chandigarh, May 14 In addition to the staff deputed near mortuary, the patients visiting the kidney unit are the worst affected with the accumulation of dirty water. The kidney unit is visited by a majority of patients who need dialysis. Some of the patient attendants said that they had made a verbal complaint to the authorities at the unit but the problem has not been resolved. The water has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. We told the officials inside the renal centre about the problem. They are being equally affected with the dirty water surrounding the entire area, leaving very less space to move around freely, said Arpit Sharma, a patient’s attendant. Leakage in the underground pipes has become quite common at the institute, especially around the Nehru hospital. It is pertinent to note that all the important offices, including those of the PGI Director as well as the Medical Superintendent are located in the area, yet it takes the authorities considerably long to take note of such issues. Gallons of drinking water continue to drain wasted at the institute due to leakage in one of the potable water pipelines, as well. The pipeline has been leaking near the Oral Health Centre, since past one month. The wastage was highlighted in these columns earlier. But the authorities are yet to take any requisite action to save the water. Consistent water logging can be seen in the area, which less than 50 metres away from the office of the Medical Superintendent. Due to excessive water logging, especially in the two-wheeler parking area near the Oral Health Centre, visitors fall short of space for parking their vehicles. The accumulated water, however, in some parts appears to be so clean that some of the staff members sometimes use the top layer of the water for drinking.
|
|
Complaint filed against PGI chemist
Chandigarh, May 14 A staff nurse had moved a complaint against the chemist after finding a layer of fungus inside the fluid bottle, following which the UT Drug Controller conducted a raid at the shop and seized the samples of the fluid. The complaint was sent to the Medical Superintendent (MS) of the PGIMER. While the PGI is yet to mark an inquiry into the matter, the drug inspector is currently preparing a preliminary inquiry report, which will be submitted to the UT Director Health Services soon. Sources said the complaint would be forwarded to the Estate Committee Commercial, PGI, which looks into matters pertaining to chemists on Wednesday. Owner of the sole chemist shop at the Advanced Trauma Centre, Deepak, however, maintained that the bottle was sealed and there might have been a manufacturing defect in it. “The bottle was packed. It was supplied as such from the manufacturer. When the team of the health department conducted a raid, we had supplied them a bill of our purchase from the manufacture,” he said. What is intravenous saline fluid It is a commonly used fluid that re-hydrates the body in order to improve or restore body function. It is a medical treatment that provides the body with a sterile solution of water and sodium chloride. This solution is administered through a tube directly into patient’s vein.
|
|
MC to impose tax on commercial properties in five more villages
Chandigarh, May 14 It was decided that the property tax should be charged from current date. According to the agenda, which was placed before the committee, a total of 2,862 units, covering an area in 9,09,946 sq ft, fall in these five villages. Of them 576 are situated in Dadu Majra, 556 in Maloya, 649 in Kajheri, 293 in Palsora and 788 in Hallo Majra. In villages like Butela, Badheri, Attawa, Burail and Mani Majra, the MC had already imposed the property tax on commercial buildings.
|
|
Theme park case adjourned till May 23
Chandigarh, May 14 The court adjourned the hearing of arguments on the application filed by the complainant in the ongoing theme-cum-amusement park case, seeking case diaries, to May 23. During the last hearing, the CBI had refused to provide a copy of the case diary and statements of those named in the case recorded during investigations to the complainant, stating that there is no such provision. It is pertinent to mention that the scam first came to light after Aditya had filed a series of complaints with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) pertaining to the allotment of multi-crore amusement-cum-theme park project. The Central investigation agency had filed a closure report, saying that there was no evidence against former top bureaucrats of the UT administration regarding the alleged corruption in the project. This was the second time that the CBI filed a closure report in the case. Earlier, the court had rejected the closure report filed by the CBI. The first CBI closure report was rejected by the court on May 18, 2012. A fresh probe was ordered on August 30, 2012. The closure report submitted by the CBI states that the agency had already recommended and written to the Ministry of Home Affairs, recommending action against the then UT Home Secretary Krishna Mohan and the then IT Director Vivek Attray for the alleged departmental lapses. Later, the names of former UT Adviser Lalit Sharma and Unitech Limited Managing Director Ajay Chandra also cropped up.
|
|
Pawan Mittal on rly panel
The committee will facilitate frequent consultations between the Railways and its users on improvement in service.
— TNS
|
|
PU committee records complainant's statement
Chandigarh, May 14 Neha Gulati, Assistant Professor at UBS, had on May 1, filed a complaint against UBS Chairperson AK Vashisht and faculty member Dinesh Gupta alleging sexual harassment. In a meeting held today, Gulati's statement was recorded, and the members decided to summon the accused for their presence in next meeting of the committee scheduled for the coming week. Gulati had filed a complaint against the duo before the PU authorities on April 15 and filed two complaints against Prof Gupta with the UT Police on May 1. According to sources, differences between Gulati and the accused professors reportedly began when the UBS had initiated group discussions (GDs) and interviews of students seeking admissions to the institute. She had alleged that the duo had asked her to make some changes in marks awarded to one of the candidates and one of the professors also manhandled her.
|
|
Chandigarh, May 14 The officials were asked to prepare a blue print of the market so that the basic amenities would be provided and the necessary repairs carried out.—TNS
|
Another goof-up by PU in question paper
Chandigarh, May 14 Question number 9 in unit IV, English section, of the question paper was on human resource development but question 9 in Punjabi section was on the University Grants Commission. Though both the questions were from within the prescribed syllabus, instead of being translated, the question was found to be different. This is not the first goof-up reported in the Panjab University’s examination this year. Several similar and even major goof-ups were reported in exam papers of different courses over past two months. Earlier, the question paper of BA/ BSc second year mathematics examination was found to be similar to the one held in 2012. The university had first cancelled the exam and later rescheduled it for May 11. However, following uproar by the students, a special syndicate meeting was called last week and it was decided that the exam will not be re-conducted. In another case, students of BCom were left surprised upon finding a fully theoretical format for Cost Accounting question paper on April 10. The original format of the paper was supposed to be 50 per cent practical and 50 per cent theoretical questions. The exam season this year was full of goof-ups and mistakes reflecting the lackadaisical approach of the examination authorities. The series of goof-ups has hit the reputation of the university badly this year.
|
|||||
|
Varsity starts petroleum engg course
Mohali, May 14 The expert in the subject, Dr Karmakar was in the town to inaugurate Department of Petroleum at Chandigarh University (CU), located at village Gharuan, today where a seminar was also organised. The seminar was attended by Dr Himmat Singh, Senior Scientist, CSIR, Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dr MK Jha, Head, Department of Chemical Engineering, NIT, Jalandhar, and SK Sharma, Deputy General Manager, ONGC, Dehradun. Congratulating Satnam Singh Sandhu, chancellor of the CU for launching petroleum engineering course in the university, the very first in the region, Dr Karmakar said that there was big demand of the petroleum engineers in the country. He said the petroleum engineers had been getting more than double pay packages than the engineers of other courses. Satnam Singh Sandhu said they had launched three new UG courses, petroleum engineering, chemical engineering and automobile engineering, from the current session. "As many as 60 seats will be offered in the first batch in each of these courses," said Sandhu.
|
|||||
|
Timings of dental institute revised
Chandigarh: The working hours of the dental hospital of Dr Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Panjab University, will be changed from May 16 to June 15. The revised timings will be 8.00 am to 2.00 pm (Monday to Saturday) without any lunch break. The registration of the patients will be done from 8.00 am to 12.00 noon. Admit cards
Admit cards for the entrance test of PUTHAT (Panjab University Tourism and Hospitality Aptitude Test) and PU- BA/BCom LLB (Hons) 5 years integrated course-2013 would be available on http://puthat.puchd.ac.in and http://uglaw.puchd.ac.in, respectively. The candidates can login into their account to download their admit card. No hard copy of admit card will be sent to the students. In case of doubts, students can send in their queries at puthat@pu.ac.in and uglaw@pu.ac.in. The entrance test will be held on May 19.—TNS
|
|||||
|
|||||
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
The Ministry of Environment and Forests will now invite objections from the residents of Chandigarh and the affected parties. After inviting objections, the ministry will give 60 days' time to file objections. The residents can file their objections directly with the ministry or with the Administration, which will forward these to the ministry.
Chandigarh, May 14