Panel moots 10-point plan to curb crime
From Gautam Dheer
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, Nov 16 — The Citizen Welfare Association(CWA), Panchkula, in the wake of a spurt of robberies and thefts in the township, has suggested a 10-point programme to prevent crime in the area.

The President of the association, Mr S.K. Nayar, said today that these steps, taken with the help of residents would assist the police in preventing crime in the area. The association, he said, had circulated to the sector associations a memorandum listing the precautions. The association would also meet the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police in this regard.

The CWA has urged the authorities concerned to issue identity cards to persons engaged in skilled trades such as electricians, masons, carpenters and plumbers, who frequent the residential areas to attend to problems concerning their trade.

The police-public interaction should not be held at the police lines or the police headquarters. Instead, the exercise should be conducted in different sectors on a rotation basis. This would not only create fear among anti-social elements in the sectors but also boost the confidence of the residents.

The CWA has suggested that only the specified entry and exit points to the sectors should be used. The open-space entries and unlaid routes should be blocked so as to restrict unnecessary movement in the sector.

Mr Nayar said the sector associations should be permitted to issue licenses or identity cards to ‘dhobis’, ‘raddiwalas’, tea vendors, operating in open spaces and on road sides in the sectors. This will ensure a constant check and limited and monitored access to vendors .

The sector associations should be intimated by the residents, if a house has to remain vacant for more than a week.

Mr Nayar said that a list of tenants along with their antecedents should be provided to the sector associations by the police to ensure adequate vigil in the area.

The association has also suggested to maintain proper records of ‘chowkidars’ in the sectors. They should be asked to report to the sector associations on a bi-weekly basis to give revelant feedback on matters concerning the security of the sector.

The verification and identification drives by the police in colonies and villages of the town should have a representative from the sectors so that the residents are aware of the type of persons who come to these colonies.

Weekly correspondence with sector associations by the police on warnings, public notices, crime files and potential threats would help the associations to be ready for exigencies, he said.

Lastly, the association has sought the assistance of the authorities concerned for an awareness drive for precautions, self-help programmes and mandatory upkeep for the houses.

MC ‘neglecting’ civic amenities
From Our Correspondent

SAS NAGAR, Nov 16 — The local Municipal Council has been accused of neglecting the Industrial Area in the matter of providing civic amenities.

Complaints regarding poor roads and streetlighting inadequate water supply and failure to remove congress grass are being made. Industrial unit owners feel that the area is being “ignored” by the council.

Mr S.S. Sandhu, President of the Mohali Industries Association, says around 90 per cent of the council income comes from industry in the form of octroi. However, the civic amenities provided by the council in the industrial area do “not commensurate” with the fund contribution by the industry.

He said the delimitation of wards was such that there were representatives on the council only from residential areas. As such industry was not associated with the plans and works to be undertaken by the civic body.

It was strange, he said, that the extension area of phase IX Focal Point had not yet been handed over to the council. As a result there was no agency which could be approached for the solution of civic problems faced by industrial unit owners.

The association president said roads were in bad shape in the shed area of ELTOP (phase VIII), near the R&D unit of Swaraj Tractors and the phase IX extension area. Besides, the water supply in parts of the industrial area, particularly phases VII, VIII, and IX, was inadequate.

He said streetlights were mostly non-functional in the Industrial Area and congress grass posed a big problem. If Congress grass was cleaned by industrial unit owners near their premises, the authorities sometimes accused them of indulging in encroachment.

There was no effluent treatment plant in the town with the result that sullage was discharged in the choe which passed through phase IX. The foul smell was intolerable for nearby residents.

Mr Sandhu said the number of road gullies was inadequate. The gullies provided in various areas were often not cleaned which caused flooding during the rainy season. The sewer system, he said, was choked at certain points in phases V, VII and VIII.

Mr K.S. Brar, Executive Officer of the council, said he was not in touch with the problems as he had recently ;joined after his four-month stay at Mandi Gobindgarh. He said during his tenure here regular meetings were held to solve the problems of the Industrial Area under the championship of ADC, Ropar. The meetings were attended by Public Health, PUDA and council officials. Now, he said, he would discuss the problems with the representatives of the Industrial Area and solve them on a priority basis.