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IT park - III: An acre to go for Rs 30 lakh
Chandigarh, September 22 The Chandigarh administration has decided to announce compensation rates for 104 acres. A total of 272 acres will be acquired for the project. A compensation of Rs 30 lakh per acre will be announced, sources in the finance department have confirmed. The compensation offered for the land acquired for Phase II of the park was Rs 18 lakh per acre. “We are not going to accept low compensation,” Kultar Singh, a landowner, said. Farmers lament that they were being offered compensation much less than the auction price of land in Mani Majra which comes to around Rs 20 crore per acre. “When it comes to helping big companies, the rules are changed. When it comes to farmers, rules are cited,” members of the Mani Majra Farmers Association said. The land deal between the Chandigarh Housing Board and Parsavnath Developers to develop a residential and commercial area spread over 123 acres is worth Rs 821crore and a 4-acre residential complex in Mani Majra was auctioned for around Rs 108 crore. The auction of a hotel site to the DLF fetched Rs 75 crore. These figures are being quoted by the farmers to indicate the market rates. However, the compensation is calculated on the basis of the existing policy, wherein the average rate is fixed on the basis of sale deeds entered in the mutation register of revenue records of the specific area, a year prior to the date of notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act. In the recent past, a compensation of about Rs 37 lakh was announced for acquisition in Sarangpur village while about Rs 45 lakh was fixed for Dhanas and about Rs 25 lakh for Mauli Jagran. The notification under Section 4 was issued on June 28, 2006. The land acquisition officer heard objections under Section 9 of the land acquisition Act on June 29 after issuing the notification on February 28. The process of announcing the compensation will have no bearing on the interim stay granted on the dispossession of landowners by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. A senior official said Kishangarh farmers could not benefit from the proposed UT’s policy for offering higher compensation rates. A uniform collector rate was to be offered.
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Cops at it again
Get notices for beating up juvenile Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 22 “The court took serious notice of the case and issued notices to crime branch in charge inspector Satbir Singh, SHO of Sector 36, Ishwar Mann, and investigating officer (Sector 36) Mohan Lal. Hearing on the bail of the juvenile has been deferred to September 25. Yadvinder Singh, 17, had gone to the police station at Sector 36 to surrender as he was reportedly involved in a case. He was accompanied by Gurparvez Singh, a relative. He told the SHO that Yadvinder wanted to surrender. However, in an application to the court, Yadvinder stated that the police forcibly took him to the crime branch in Sector 11. When Gurparvez tried to make a call to the SSP, the SHO allegedly snatched his mobile phone and thrashed him. Yadvinder was taken to a room and Gurparvez heard his cries. When he peeped into the room, he saw a naked Yadvinder allegedly being beated by the SHO, Ishwar Singh. Talking about the case, Gurparvez told the Chandigarh Tribune that Yadvinder’s car number was mentioned in an FIR pertaining to an assault case, but he was not present at the place of the occurrence of the incident. A case of assault had been booked by Manbir Singh and Yadvinder had gone to surrender. A student of Guru Nanak Public School, Yadvinder has been sent to Juvenile Home, Sector 25.
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CHB plea
Chandigarh, September 22 In a significant decision that may open a Pandora’s box for the CHB, the commission has upheld the decision of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to pay an interest of 18% on an amount of over Rs 10 lakh to a cooperative housing society in Sector 48. The commission dismissed the revision petition filed by the CHB for “being without any merit”. The board had gone in for appeal against an order of the local consumer commission in favour of the Indian Express Employees Cooperative House Building Society Limited.
The society was formed in 1979. As the CHB did not allot land for a long time, the society filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which directed the board to consider the claim of the society. It was contended that on May 31,1995, land was allotted to the society and it had deposited over Rs 10 lakh with the CHB by June 1993. Even as the board dilly-dallied on the allotment of land, the society sought cetain relief which was contested by the board before the local consumer commission. Counsel for the board pleaded that land was re-allotted to the society in 1994. During the pendency of the complaint, possession of land was given to the society in 1995. Since the consumer commission order was dated August 16,1999, it was open for the CHB to get the written version amended and the plea incorporated in it. “As the CHB failed to get the written version amended at the level of the local consumer commission, the petitioner (CHB) cannot do so in the revision petition,” the commission said while dismissing the board's petition.
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Players go without food, water
Poor arrangements disappoint Akash Ghai Tribune News Service
Panchkula, September 22 Most of the participants, who came from various districts of the state, have been suffering in the absence of proper board and lodging and food arrangements. A total of 1,690 sportspersons along with team coaches and officials have been put up at various temples, school premises and community centres. Angry with the “mismanagement” at Guru Ravi Dass Mandir, one of the board and lodging places, sportspersons from Rohtak district said, “The organisers provided puri-channa for breakfast but it was not adequate. In the absence of a proper system, most of us could not get breakfast. As we are not familiar with the city, we did not venture out. Now we are forced to play matches on empty stomach.” Gymnasts Mona, Harshita and Mehak from Faridabad were lucky as their coach took them to a market for breakfast. “We have been put up at Government Girls School, Sector 15, which lacks basic amenities. We are purchasing mineral water to avoid the unhygienic drinking water at the venue. Besides, the toilets are unclean and have no water,” said a woman official accompanying them. Similar conditions were seen at other venues, including Shiv Mandir, Sector 11. “At every place, more than 250 players have been put up without giving a single thought to the arrangements for such a large number. “As many as 108 girls are being put up in one hall,” lamented the handball team from Bhiwani. Heavy rush of players was seen around a milk booth in the sports complex in the afternoon. “We did not get breakfast and are uncertain about lunch, so we are purchasing food from here from our own money. With such poor arrangements, it’s better that such festivals are not organised,” said Hari Sarup, secretary, Bhiwani District Handball Association. Results Athletics: 100 m: First- Annu , second- Kaushalya, third- Pooja 800 m: First- Sunita, second- Sakshi, third- Anju. Discuss Throw ( 4 kg): First- Rinku Sangwan, second- Manisha, third- Kusum Long jump: First- Annu, second- Kaushlya, third- Pooja.
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Well-being of children indicator of democratic society
Chandigarh, September 22 In a first-ever for Chandigarh, an international seminar on ‘Children in the City’ is being organised in February next year by the Canadian Studies Centre in partnership with the UCFV. Based on child friendly cities initiative (CFCI) launched in 1996 to act on the resolution passed during the second UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) <http://www.unhabitat.org/>to make cities liveable places for all, the conference has declared that the well-being of children was the ultimate indicator of a healthy habitat, a democratic society and of good governance. “It is a social responsibility which the university believes should be fulfilled”, said dean, Faculty of Arts, Prof B.S. Ghuman, who is heading the project and who has confirmed that the Centre had already received a grant to organise the
conference. While the event is still six months away, two interns have already plunged head-on into work. “There is so much to be done. We have to know every inch of the city, its policies, facilities, institutions and what it offers to its children. We have tons of reading to do as well as research-work to conduct in order to make our report at the conference on what we believe will work here,” they say. Both bring to this project their own unique experiences and diverse backgrounds. Twenty-year-old Sumeet Jammu’s roots are in Punjab. Her grandfather lives in Mohali but she has never been to India before. Studying for a degree in criminal justice with a minor in Social Work, this project seemed the perfect way to augment her degree and know
her family. Interestingly, Meggie Shields (22) in her 4th year of Sociology / Anthropology has been to India twice before, both times to live in a village in Punjab. However both have their own firm beliefs on what a city should offer its children. “Safety and protection and access to every amenity and opportunity” is how Sumeet views the initiative, while Meggie believes basics like “safe drinking water, opportunity to play especially for girls and equality” constitutes important aspects of a child friendly city. They are not expecting miracles. All they hope for is to light a spark, create awareness where people will want to change the environment to suit the needs of the children. “It is an opportunity to show people how important it is to care. We all need to start somewhere and we know that we are part of something that will show children we love and care for them,” they say.
According to the CFCI website, the building process is synonymous with the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in a local governance setting. The nine elements include: 1.
Children’s participation: promoting children’s active
involvement in issues that affect them; listening to their views and
taking them into consideration in decision-making processes. 2.
A child friendly legal framework: ensuring legislation, regulatory frameworks and procedures which consistently promote and protect the rights of all children. 3.
A city-wide Children’s Rights Strategy: developing a detailed,
comprehensive strategy or agenda for building a ‘Child Friendly City’,
based on the Convention. 4.
A Children’s Rights Unit or coordinating mechanism: developing
permanent structures in local government to ensure priority
consideration of children’s perspective. 5.
Child impact assessment and evaluation: ensuring that there is a systematic process to assess the impact of law, policy and practice on children - in advance, during and after implementation. 6.
A children’s budget: ensuring adequate resource commitment and budget analysis for children. 7.
A regular State of the City’s Children Report: ensuring sufficient monitoring and data collection on the state of children and their rights. 8.
Making children’s rights known: ensuring awareness of children’s rights among adults and children.
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States join hands to get criteria changed
Sarbjit Dhaliwal Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 22 As slow growth in the agriculture sector continues to be a worry for the Union Government which is facing a threat on the food security front, a special allocation of Rs 25,000 crore was made to jack up its growth rate in the next five years. Sources said more than 12 states would not be eligible for funds from the Rs 25,000-crore allocation if the distribution was made on the basis of the existing criteria. Among the states which have urged for a change in the formula are Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra. In this connection, director agriculture, Punjab, Balwinder Singh Sidhu, said the issue was raised at a meeting held on Thursday in Delhi. “I took up the matter with union agriculture secretary P.K. Misra, requesting him to change the criteria as on the basis of the present criteria, Punjab like many other states will not be eligible for allocation from the Rs 25,000-crore fund,” he said. At the meeting, representatives of Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu, which have created their own network of irrigation, said they should not be punished by denying funds. They said criteria be devised in such a manner that the states having the best record in agriculture be rewarded with additional allocation from the fund. He said 30 per cent of allocation of funds would be made counting unirrigated areas of a state whereas Punjab’s 98 per cent area was under irrigation. The other two major criteria for allocation are allocation made by the state to the agriculture sector compared to the previous year and percentage of GDP growth. Meanwhile, a top-level team of the Planning Commission will interact for two days with the district collectors and planning secretaries of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and J and K here on the national agriculture development programme. The team, comprising Prof Abhijit Sen and B.N. Yugandhar, will reach here on September 28, it is learnt. It will mainly address the issue of preparation of district and state agricultural plans. The commission wants all states to prepare district-wise agricultural plans apart from the state agricultural plan. Without the approval of district and state plans, the commission will not allocate funds for the agriculture sector. The commission has told the state governments concerned to involve the representatives of people in framing the district agricultural plan. After the allocation of funds by the commission, their distribution will be made by the committee headed by the chief secretary of the state concerned. One joint secretary-level representative of the Union Government would also be on this committee. The commission is of the view that with district plans, the distribution of funds at the state level will be made in a better way and help achieve better results in the agriculture sector. However, to avoid diversion of such funds to some other sector, the Union Government will monitor the allocation through its representatives on the state committee.
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India to have three craniofacial centres
Chandigarh, September 22 A team of directors of foundation, including Dr Kenneth E. Salyer and Dr Arun K. Gosain visited the PGI here today. Majority of the children with deformities in head and neck area die early, which increases the mortality rate even as these kids can be saved with early diagnosed and treated at an early stage, said Dr Salyer. In fact, the deformity in skull results in blindness, airways complications and pressure on brain, added Dr Salyer. The disease is found more in the areas where pre-natal care facilities were not available substantially, he said.
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Power engineers in quandary
Patiala, September 22 They are of the opinion that the commission has imposed cuts on various vital proposed expenditures declared by the board in its annual revenue requirement report. If these cuts are carried out, then the people of the state would have to be subjected to unbearable power cuts. The commission has been in favour of cuts in the proposed expenses on coal by Rs 514 crore, power purchase from other states by Rs 724 crore, employee cost by Rs 312 crore, interest repayment by Rs 641 crore and on renovation and modernisation of the department by Rs 25 crore. The cut in the proposed expenditures is highly unviable, the engineers stated. On the one hand, the government was not allowing the PSEB to impose power cuts.
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Traders seek balanced rent Act
Chandigarh, September 22 Members of the Commercial Tenant Welfare Sub-committee of the mandal met under the chairmanship of Ravi Ahuja. President of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal Charanjiv Singh presided over the meeting. The traders expressed shock over the fact that such legislation, which would uproot many age-old business houses already facing stiff competition from the mega mall culture, is being contemplated without any consultation with the aggrieved community. In a memorandum being sent to UT administrator Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), the mandal has decided to strongly oppose such a move and demand due protection to the old tenancies of commercial properties, which fall in an entirely different category from that of residential properties. President of the mandal Charanjiv Singh and general secretary J.P.S. Kalra said the abolition of the Protection of Punjab Rent Act would only please a handful of landlords. Meanwhile, the Commercial Tenant Association headed by Arvind Jain would hold a meeting to decide on the issue.
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Paid parking, closing of dividers approved
Geetanjali Gayatri Tribune News Service
Panchkula, September 22 Sources said paid parking had been given the nod by the authorities as a solution to mushrooming encroachments in parking lots while the closure of dividers to bring down accidents in the city also got the green signal. “The Sector-7 market association which went to court against the closure of the dividing roads of Sector 7 and 8 lost the case. In view of the fall in number of accidents due to closure of dividers, all officers present at the meeting were of the opinion that the busy intersections should be closed in the interest of the public. It was decided that the Sector 7 and 8 and the Sector 10 and 11 dividers along with the one between Sectors 5 and 6 would be closed,” an official said. Taking serious note of the growing volume of traffic at the Sectors 16, 17 and 18 and 8 crossings, the officials of the police suggested that traffic lights be installed there. The committee approved this too. The officials were of the view that encroachments are on the rise in the parking areas where temporary stalls come up every evening. Suggesting paid parking as a remedy for encroachments; officials were of the opinion that nominal charges be levied for parking in Sectors 8, 9 and 10 as a check. “With contractors allotted parking areas all over the city, they will keep a tab on these encroachments. Everybody was unanimous on the issue,” sources said. Meanwhile, superintendent of police Sandeep Khirwar said the idea of introducing paid parking had been accepted though modalities were yet to be worked out. “We will study the city and the jurisdiction of the local body and HUDA. After this, we will decide who will run the show. We cannot give a time limit on when it is likely to be implemented though it has been approved,” he maintained.
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Banur toll rises to seven
Chandigarh, September 22 The driver, aged 28, had been admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, in a critical condition where he finally lost the battle for his life. The accident had taken place at 5 am yesterday and left 36 injured and six dead. As many as 40 workers of a catering company were returning from a wedding in the bus whose driver was said to be drunk and speeding at about 100 km per hour.
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Capt Kanwaljit ‘interfering’ with Mohali’s development
Mohali, September 22 He said the process for coming up with cost estimates worth Rs 7 crore had allegedly been stayed to run down the civic body, which was headed by a Congress leader. The MLA said that recently the minister had held a meeting with GMADA and council officials to discuss the development works in the town. He said Capt Kanwaljit Singh had no right to call such a meeting as he was not an MLA of the constituency and neither was he a chairman of the planning board. He was not even a minister of the department concerned and nor had the government authorised him to look after the development of Mohali. Even then, if he was genuinely interested in the development of the town, he should have invited the MLA of the area, president of the civic body and councillors of the ruling group to the meeting without any discrimination. But unfortunately he did not do so. Sidhu said the council wanted to carry out development work in a dedicated way but certain leaders wanted to take political advantage by hampering the development activity. He alleged that certain officials of the council, including the executive officer J.S. Thind and deputy commissioner H.I.S. Garewal were acting on the behest of these political leaders. He said he would write to the Punjab Chief Minister demanding their transfer from the town. The MLA alleged that Capt Kanwaljit Singh had not been able to accept the defeat of his son Jasjit Singh in the Assembly elections and forcibly wanted to make him a leader. He said Jasjit Singh had come to distribute grants in villages falling in the Kharar constituency even after he had lost the elections. He said that the minister should not interfere in the development activities relating to the Kharar constituency and let the elected representative do his duty.
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RLA suspends licences
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 22 According to the Chandigarh Traffic Police, Prem Chand of Colony No. 4 had been issued 10 challans from June 29, 1998, to April 25 this year. Similarly, Puneet Roheja of Kharar had been booked seven times for violating the traffic rules from June 12 last year to May 7 this year while Karan Kataria of Sector 22-C had been booked seven times from October 17, 2005, to June 2 this year. They have been disqualified from holding the driving licences for a period of four months from September 20 onwards. Besides this, Shamsher Singh of Sector 20-A had been issued 10 challans from December 22, 2000, to May 17 this year and he has been disqualified from holding the driving licence for a period of two months from September 19 onwards. Till date, the traffic police has recommended 207 cases to the RLA Chandigarh for suspension of driving licences, out of these 153 habitual offenders have been awarded punishment by the authority.
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Ailing man hangs self
Chandigarh, September 22 The incident came to light at around 9 am when Dharminder’s wife, who works as a domestic help, came home after work. She found her husband hanging from hook of a ceiling fan and raised an alarm. The neighbours assembled there and lowered the body. The police was informed about the incident. The police shifted the body to the GMSH. Dharminder is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. The daughter is married. He was suffering from an illness for the past over three years and was taking treatment from Government Multi Speciality Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16. Meanwhile, the police has initiated inquiry under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
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Mohali, September 22
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Chandigarh, September 22 Yesterday, he developed hydrophobia and his relatives took him to the Sector 19 dispensary where they were told that he had got rabies infection and could not be treated. TNS
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Travel house inaugurated
Chandigarh, September 22 Addressing a press conference, Anil Bhandari, managing director, ITH, stated that this was the ‘golden age’ of travel and tourism. “The city is the hub of tourism. Though it is yet to become a full grown destination,” stated Bhandari. He, however, felt that all the three states should come together and work towards tourism. “We will be introducing packages for Punjab.” Lamenting that it was the lack of infrastructure, which was the biggest drawback for the growth of tourism, Bhandari stated that the government needed to build special tourism zones and also land banks to help the industry.
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Make city disabled friendly
It was disheartening to read about the plight of a wheelchair-ridden boy who had to knock at the door of the court to get the school classroom made accessible to him. The insensitivity of the Chandigarh administration towards the basic needs of the physically challenged is shocking. I had always taken pride in having been trained as an architect in this ‘strongest example of city planning of post-modern era’. It was only when I was blessed with a ‘special’ child, different from the norms of ‘a well composed body’ that I started to debate in myself if physically challenged people fit into this city? Can they relate themselves to 6’ tall modular man of Corbusier or to the forbidden ‘Rock Garden’ of Nek Chand with a charisma of a surreal kingdom? Is architectural training sensitised to the needs of the disabled. The duty lies in hands of the administrators and planners to help the disabled to integrate equally in society. Puneeta Thakur Chandigarh Readers are invited to write to us. Send your mail, in not more than 200 words, at news@tribuneindia.com or, write in, at: Letters, Chandigarh Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh – 160 030
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173 cartons of liquor seized
Chandigarh, September 22 Karam Raj of Bilaspur was arrested from near Airport Chowk while he was coming in his truck (HP-51-2566). The vehicle’s search led the police to recover 173 cartons of various brands of liquor. A case has been registered. Held for molestation The police arrested Narinder Singh of Charan Singh Colony, Mauli Jagran, for allegedly molesting a woman on Friday. The woman, along with her husband, was passing through the jungle area behind Kala Gram on their cycle. The accused, along with three other persons, blocked the couple’s way. They molested the woman and also snatched their cycle before fleeing. The police arrested Narinder while the other three were still at large. A case has been registered. Caught stealing Munish Arora of Mani Majra reported to the police that Sanjiv of New Indira colony had been caught red-handed while stealing his mobile phone from his shop on Friday. The accused was handed over to the police. A case has been registered. Vehicles stolen Surjit Kaur of Sector 43 reported to the police that her Maruti car (CH-01-C-3434) had been stolen from her residence. In another incident, Sabrati Khan of Kajheri lodged a complaint alleging that his motorcycle (CH-03-5594) had been stolen from his residence. Two separate cases of theft have been registered.
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Cop faces rape allegations
Chandigarh, September 22 The woman alleged that one Gurdeep had helped her in getting divorce from her husband and promised to marry her but later ditched her. She went to the Mani Majra police station to lodge a complaint against Gurdeep but the police didn’t act.
Anil Kumar, who was then a munshi there, too, exploited her sexually on the pretext of giving her a copy of the
DDR. The exploitation continued for six months, the woman alleged. She further alleged that the
munshi, too, had promised to marry her.
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