Unauthorised stalls in green belt
By Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Nov 3 — With the festival season at its peak, unauthorised stalls selling lottery tickets and consumer durables have come up on green belts along busy roads in the town under the nose of the authorities concerned.

Apart from causing revenue loss to the authorities in terms of fee to be paid for taking the space on rent, these stalls are traffic hazards as persons attracted to these, park their vehicles on the road.

The Executive Officer of the local Municipal Council, Mr Yash Goyal, said the permission to set up stalls in green belts along the roads was given by the local Estate Office of the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA).

The council, he said, could give permission to set up stalls in open spaces in front of markets or other areas earmarked for the purpose after charging 'tehdaari' from applicants. Investigations reveal that the local Estate Office charged Rs 4 per square foot for giving space on rent, subject to permission of the Estate Officer.

In case of the stalls dotting the green belts in Phases 3B2 and VII, no prior permission had been taken from the estate office — a fact confirmed by an official of PUDA. A person selling lotteries at one of the stalls showed a letter of the Director of Lotteries of Punjab, addressed to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of SAS Nagar.

The letter said the agents concerned might be given permission to sell lotteries and be allowed to use sound system to publicise their businesses. However, the letter said the permission to select the site and pay for the same would have to be taken from the department concerned.

The Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Mr O.P. Popli, said he had only given permission to the stall owners to use the sound system under the Noise Control Act. A fee of Rs seven per day was being charged from them. He, however, said the permission to give land on rent for setting up a stall had to be taken either from PUDA or the local municipal council.

City cadet visits Kargil
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — Under Officer Jyoti Prakash of SGGS College, Sector 26, represented Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh NCC Directorate during ‘Motivational Training : Visit to Kargil’, organised from October 6 to 12.

Of the 28 cadets representing all states and union territories, he was the only cadet selected from this region. The cadets visited the main battlefields of the recent conflict and were briefed by local Army units about the operations undertaken there and given an account of the valiant performance of soldiers.

Work on bridge begins
From Our Correspondent

MAULI-BAIDWAN (Sohana), Nov 3 — Residents of more than a dozen villages heaved a sigh of relief when the construction work started on a bridge on a nullah near Mauli- Baidwan village.

The bridge, 4 km from Sohana, had collapsed about two years ago, and since then the villagers had been demanding its reconstruction since it was the only link between 15 villages and Sohana.

The work is expected to be completed in three months. According to reliable sources, the administration had started work on this bridge some time ago but it was stopped.

Villagers had built a temporary passage across the nullah.

The area witnesses flooding of the nullah which carries sullage from SAS Nagar.