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Warm welcome to 2009
Chandigarh, December 31 Many youngsters stopped their luxury cars, decked up with hearts and balloons, in front of the discs, hotels and restaurants to celebrate the eve. As the countdown began, jackets went up in the sky and cries of “Happy New Year” filled the air. Since morning, the youngsters eagerly talked over the phone for arranging passes to a world of excitement. Even some hunted for the partners to twirl around the city. Most of the hostellers were seen celebrating in their hostels on their own stereos.
Nightclubs and
discotheques
Girls in glittering mini skirts, teamed with backless tops, descended on the dance floors as the hot dance numbers echoed in the nightclubs. Boys and girls, twirled all around the dance floors to the thumping beats of music in the Score, Voodoo along with other discotheques and nightclubs. Not only inside the discs, even lot of people were enjoying by standing out, only by seeing everyone entering the nightclubs.
Cops’ role
The local police deployed a massive force to deal with the hooligans. Even in some parts, these elements tried to stop young couples, but disappeared to see the cops. Bottlenecks and traffic jams were seen at Sector 22, Sector 17 and Sector 26 and 35. But no major clash was reported, except one or two minor clashes outside the nightclubs. A high number of traffic challans was issued to the violators.
Saloons
The saloons and beauty parlours were overcrowded as not only the youngsters, even the old persons were there to get a beautiful look. Some famous saloons, like Oleega, L’oreal, Headmasters and others were busy during the whole day. Komal, a city resident along with
The party animals were seen at the hotels and the restaurants to make full enjoyment. Mostly the young couples were moving in the city to start the New Year with each other. Especially the hotel Aroma and Baskin Robbins in Sector 17 were the overcrowded places. Even there was bonefire arranged at some hotels and the live ghazal performance of a prominent singer in hotel Metro-43 was the best part of the celebrations. Many people celebrated the New Year blast at the “Star Studded Night” at the hotel Taj.
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Aerizzona sealed again
Chandigarh, December 31 Acting on a tip-off, the Estate Office team raided the premises at around 3.30 pm today and the discothèque management was asked to stall all the activities. Terming it a blatant violation of norms, the enforcement wing of the Estate Office sealed the premises under the Public Premises Act. Senior inspector of Estate Office Ashok Bisht confirmed that the discotheque had been sealed and a written apology has been received from its owner Surinder Singh. A 15-day notice to this effect has also been issued to the management, he said. “The owner has been instructed not to open the discotheque. He has also given an undertaking that no activity would be carried out till he removes all the objections raised by the authorities. We have also intimated the Sector 3 police station about the development,” said Bisht. Meanwhile, the owner has also assured to refund all the
Following a Tribune report that a Christmas party was on in the basement of the discotheque, despite the management assuring the authorities to suspend all the activities till they remove the objections, the Finance Secretary-cum-Chief Administrator, Sanjay Kumar, today ordered the Estate Office to raid the discotheque. “ It was illegal to carry out any activity until unless the management of the discotheque get all the objections removed. The management has been instructed to submit a revised building plan with the Estate Office and get clear all the objections about the building norms. Till then, it would be illegal if they still carry any activity in their discotheque,” he said. It is pertinent to mention that the decision on the matter was taken in the court of Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar on November 5. The representatives of the Aerrizona voluntarily consented in the court to suspend all the activities of the discotheque in the basement till they meet the mandatory conditions of building norms.
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Peon found dead
Chandigarh, December 31 Though he had a cut mark on his brow, the police ruled out possibility of any foul play behind the death saying the injury was caused due to an accidental fall. A passer-by spotted the body in the rivulet at around 1 pm and informed the police. Investigating officer Harbhajan Singh said the deceased hailed from Nepal and was living with his wife and two children. He was said to an alcoholic and was missing from home since yesterday.
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Auto Driver’s Kidnapping
Chandigarh, December 31 The police has arrested two persons - Sabh Chand Sabu alias Ashok and Rashid - after they reportedly admitted during interrogation that they had kidnapped Kunwar Pal to take away his auto-rickshaw with an intension to sell it. They also confessed that they had thrown him into the canal before taking away his vehicle. The police had registered a case of kidnapping against the accused on a complaint lodged by the victim’s father Hari Prashad. Talking to TNS over phone, the SHO, Industrial Area police station, said the suspects were called to join investigations. The accused admitted they had thrown Kunwar Pal into canal and took away his auto-rickshaw to Ambala. They parked the vehicle at the Ambala railway station and dispersed. The SHO said a police team headed by him reached Ambala today. The police followed the SYL canal and checked with all the police station on its way whether they had recovered a dead body from canal. As the canal is flowing in full stream, they went ahead to Kirmich, 50 km from Ambala, where there is a siphon on the canal. “We found the bloated body floating on the water. We are taking help from local police to fish out the body. The operation is in progress and we will be able to fish out the body tonight,” said the SHO. It may be recalled that they victim’s family had been alleging since the day he had gone missing that Kunwar Pal was kidnapped and the police was dragging its feet to proceed against the accused. They also staged a protest at the Darua police post on December 24
Jaspal Singh, brother in-law of the Kunwar Pal, had alleged that on December 20, one Raju of Bapu Dham Colony got hired Kunwar Pal’s auto-rickshaw (HR-68-6090) for two persons for Ambala, who were later identified as Sabu and Rashid. Sabu came back on December 23 but the police let him go after questioning and Rashid came back on December 29. It was following the pressure of the family members and the residents that the police quizzed the duo and unearthed the murder.
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Taxi driver murdered on GT Road
Fatehgarh Sahib, December 31 The deceased has been identified as Padam, a resident of Jhajjar in Haryana. He, along with his brother Karambir, came to Amritsar in two different taxis. The duo had dinner at Philaur in Jalandhar after which Padam decided to go back Delhi. The police said that some unidentified persons shot dead Padam near Jalvera
village. — TNS
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MC mayoral elections today
Chandigarh, December 31 The BSP is only going to vote for the senior deputy mayor as they are supporting the SAD’s candidate for this post. While the Congress has fielded three times councillor and a former mayor Kamlesh for the post of mayor, the BJP-SAD has fielded Ram Lal, who was elected the councillor in 2007. For the post of senior deputy mayor, HC Kalyan is contesting from the Congress while Gurnam Singh, a BJP-SAD candidate, backed by the BSP is contesting. Election observers claim that this time the competition is tough for the post. Vijay Rana is the Congress candidate for the post of deputy mayor while Rajesh Gupta is fielded by the BJP-SAD. Going by the numbers, the Congress has an edge with 15 elected councillors in the house while the BJP-SAD jointly have eight councillors. With the BSP’s decision to abstain from the elections for the post of mayor and deputy mayor, the Congress would be in an advantageous position at least for these posts. The same time, the insiders predict cross voting due to unhappiness of some Congress councillors over Kamlesh’s candidature. Nevertheless the Congress only needs 16 votes to win out of 31 councillors leaving the BSP’s four councillors for the post of mayor and deputy mayor. However, the picture would be clear after the elections and the declaration of the results tomorrow itself.
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Mayor Chhabra given farewell
Chandigarh, December 31 Meanwhile, during the day, Chabra inaugurated the first CCTV camera in the paid parking area, Sector 35-C. Manjit Singh Chohan and Resham Chand Jakhu were also present on the occasion. The Mayor said these CCTV cameras would help in detecting parking offences, and cameras would be used only in areas where it was difficult for an attendant to operate like a fast-flowing road or busy parking areas.
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Traffic Violations: 2008
Chandigarh, December 31 SP (traffic and security) H.S. Doon said, “It is good as the traffic police personnel have increased the collection amount from challans, but it also means that the violators are increasing.” Commuters should properly follow traffic rules as life is precious, Doon added. Not only has the money, the number of challans also increased. This year, till December 28, a total of 1,54,860 challans have been issued as compared to the previous year where 1,30,458 challans were issued. During this year, the numbers of challans have been increased by more than 24,000. A senior police official said a major reason behind the increase in the number of challans and the amount is helmet-less youth drivers. Rashbeg Singh, a resident of Sector 27, said, “Even cops have set up a record, but the increase in the number of challans is a serious matter, this means the violators have increased. The public should be aware of the traffic rules and should not flout the laws.” To avoid any mishap during the New Year celebrations, the traffic police has laid down special nakas at every nook and corner of the city, which will increase the number of challans as well as the amount.
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Ban on autos ferrying school kids from today
Chandigarh, December 31 The State Transport Authority (STA) has decided to implement a blanket ban on the auto-rickshaws ferrying schoolchildren from January 1, 2009. Since the winter vacations would be over by January 2 in most of the city schools, finding a suitable cycle- rickshaw or radio cab would be the only alternative left with the parents to ferry their children to schools. When contacted, Home Secretary-cum-Transport Secretary Ram Niwas said the decision has been taken keeping in mind the safety of the schoolchildren and a stopgap arrangement has also been made. “I admit that problem is there. But, we had announced it around two months back and it must be in their knowledge and they should have made alternate arrangements for their kids,” he said. “Otherwise, we have planned to run 16 CTU buses, which otherwise have outlived their life span, but are in good condition. With the inclusion of these CTU buses, our local grid system would not be disturbed and would cater to students who were earlier using autos as means of transport,” he added. About the implementation of ban, Ram Niwas said: “Any violation of the ban would be dealt with strictly. The administration’s decision has been conveyed to the auto-rickshaw union and its members in advance. The administration has suggested them to switch over to four-wheelers covered from all sides. Even they would be offered loans to through government financial institutions for this purpose,” he said. On the other hand, the Chandigarh Mohali Panchkula Auto- rickshaw Association argued that they had talks with the STA authorities, but without any solution. “We would block roads if the administration did not rollback its decision. How would it be possible for us to raise fresh loans when a majority of us are already paying the instalments of our old loans taken for auto-rickshaws,” said Tarsem Raj, secretary of the association. The auto drivers also pointed that it would not be possible for them to manage the four-wheel vehicle at the charges they are making for three-wheelers and ultimately, the onus would fall on parents. The association said that the Chandigarh Police norms say that six schoolchildren are allowed to travel in an auto-rickshaw and they were ready to comply with these norms. When asked, Ram Niwas said that the administration can consider their view if they comply with the Motor Vehicle Act.
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Tribune Impact
Chandigarh, December 31 The administration has also initiated the proposal for purchase of 60 more new buses to add to the existing fleet of CTU. The Tribune had highlighted that the administration has instructed the State Transport Authority (STA) to pass as many as 16 condemned buses (1999 and 2000 models), which do not conform to the safety standards and 17 brand new chassis are rotting at the CTU depot at Industrial Area for over six months as the tender for fabricated them has not been finalised yet.
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Inquiry marked into irregularities in promotions at GMCH
Chandigarh, December 31 Ram Niwas has asked the special secretary, health, Raji P Srivastava to conduct an inquiry into the matter when a delegation of the staff led by Paramjit Samra, meet the secretary at his office. The resentment over a few promotions was lurking in the nursing staff since 1997 when two of the employees were given promotions allegedly after eight months of their joining in the service only. Two of the employees in the nursing staff were promoted showing them on deputation in the same department which was not legal, claimed Samra adding that the problem was further aggravated a couple of weeks ago when several irregularities were noticed in the list of promotions released recently. Samra alleged that the list of promotions released in the last week of November also marked with the irregularities on the pattern of 1997 when five of the employees were given undue promotions presenting wrong facts in their case. “The authorities instead of addressing their grievances had opted to avoid them and preferred to keep on harming their interests,” she said. It happened even when an IAS officer Amarnath, the then chief executive officer of the Chandigarh Housing Board, who was asked to conduct inquiry into the matter had termed these promotions as illegal, claimed Samra. Raji P Srivastava, confirming that she had been asked to conduct an inquiry into the case said the employees had met her and she could comment on the issue only after going through the matter.
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10-day NSS camp ends
Chandigarh, December 31 A rally was also organised in Burail village by students along with their project officer Sarabjit Kaur. During this visit, people were advised to give up bad habits like drugs and female foeticide. The volunteers distributed free books to children to encourage the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan. They also developed a capacity to meet any emergency in any sphere of life. In the end, the volunteers were also acknowledged for their work during this 10-day camp. Meanwhile, in the series of NSS special camps in Punjab colleges, Dr MS Bains, programme coordinator of the NSS department, PU, paid a visit to several colleges, including MBG Government College, Pojewal, and SD College, Hoshiarpur, yesterday. In his valedictory speech, he stressed upon the need to maintain both physical and mental health of the youth. He was of the view that healthy youth can serve society as well as nation. He further said the youth was a major part of the Indian population and they could play a vital role in the overall development of the nation.
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PNB’s micro centre
Chandigarh: As a part of its drive of financial inclusion by providing banking facility and financial services at an affordable price to a majority of the low-income population, the Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Wednesday opened its first micro finance centre in the region at Maloya village here.
The PNB also provided life insurance cover to 2,000 women members of the self-help groups (SHGs) through Janashree Bima Yojana of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) at a function where Pawan Kumar Bansal, Union Minister of State for Finance, was chief guest. KC Chakrabarty, Chairman and Managing Director of the PNB, presided over the function, which was attended by a gathering of over 3,000 persons, including artisans, members of SHGs, and small and micro entrepreneurs. — TNS
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Annual winter camp for kids
Chandigarh, December 31 The elder ones are busy preparing a play, which will be staged on the concluding day. This event is organised for the kids during all their holidays. The camp that started
on December 23 will culminate on January 3.
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Farewell to 11 PGI officials
Chandigarh, December 31 Retiring Keshav Kumar Sharma, PPS, DDA office; Roshan Lal Samra, TA, medical microbiology; Ashok Kumar Kaur, TA, cardiology; Usha Bedi (voluntary retirement) ANS; Daya Kalsi, nursing sister; Gurupdesh Kaur, assistant, MS office (nursing cell); Balbir Singh, white washer; Prem Chand, hospital attendant; Dinesh Dulari, hospital attendant, radiotherapy; Santosh Kumari, hospital attendant, medical OPD and Sukhan, sanitary attendant, pathology, retired from the PGI after devoting 30 to 40 years of their lives to the PGI.
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Garbage disposal plant controversy to haunt new Mayor
Chandigarh, December 31 In fact, the meeting was called today on the insistence of the house after the issue was discussed at the meeting held on December 29 and the MC officials were unable to satisfy councillors’ queries regarding the project. As decided, the members met at 11:00 am, today, but the house was adjourned in the absence of MC commissioner, Roshan Sunkaria, within a few minutes. Mayor Pradeep Chhabra said since the commissioner was dealing with the project as far as the documents were concerned, so in his absence, it was better to put-off the meeting for the next time. Meanwhile, the adjournment of the meeting irked the councillors who claimed they came all the way leaving their personal and social engagements aside only to be hoodwinked. Harjinder Kaur, SAD councillor, said, “ The meeting was not only a wastage of time, but also a sheer wastage of corporation money. It only reflects immaturity on the part of the mayor at the fag end of his office.” Meanwhile, the controversy of the garbage disposal plant is likely to gain momentum in the coming days with fingers being pointed out at the former Congress mayor and even the commissioner. In fact, councillors are also demanding a probe into the matter. It must be recalled that Chandigarh Municipal Corporation’s mega project of garbage processing unit at Dadumajra was formally inaugurated in May, 2008, but has remained non-functional ever since. In fact, the officials of the Jaypee group, undertaking this project, in the recently held meeting with the committee members of the corporation, who had been appointed to review the progress of the garbage processing plant, had even said the plant would remain non-functional for the next six to eight months. Interestingly, the authorities had only issued a notice to the company for the non-functioning of the plant rather than imposing the penalty for violation of the agreement. Top it all, the same was withdrawn later raising many eyebrows. The councillors alleged the house was not taken into confidence and the commissioner himself had been keeping the house in dark.
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Newly laid roads start breaking
Mohali, December 31 Resentment is seen among the residents of the affected area as the fresh layer of the premix has begun to come off the roads. It has been reported that the re-carpeting was done in the presence of the municipal councillor of the area. During a round of the area today, it was seen that the material laid at the time of re-carpeting was coming off in front of houses 738, 742, 779 and 782. The material was lying loose because adequate quantity of bitumen had allegedly not been used. At certain points, the newly laid premix carpet had totally come off, exposing the old part of the road. Dinesh Kumar, a resident of the area, said the civic body had not used adequate material while providing a premix carpet. He said the roads were strengthened after five years and residents again would have to move on potholed roads as the material laid was already coming off at various points. The level of the road had also not been maintained properly. He said he had brought the poor quality of work to the notice of an employee of the engineering wing, who assured that he would set the road right in front of his house. Darshan Pal Kaur, another resident, said she was surprised to see that poor-quality work was being done in the presence of the councillor of the area, Gurnam Bindra Singh. Water used to collect at several points on the road because proper levelling was not done. Bindra, however, said he was not aware about the technicalities of the work. As residents were not satisfied, he had urged the council president, Rajinder Singh Rana, to get the quality of the work checked. He said the binding effect of the bitumen was less in winters and it had also rained soon after the work was completed. Rana said it was not in his knowledge that substandard work was done. The quality of the premix carpet would be checked, and if found unsatisfactory, the work would be done again.
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Appeal to be filed against GMADA order
Mohali, December 31 Abhijet Sarckar, head, Corporate Communications, Sahara India Pariwar, in a statement has said, "The competent authority GMADA has utterly failed to appreciate the stand taken by the company regarding the applicability of the notification under which the external development charges were to be levied. He said the company had from the very beginning maintained that the EDC should be charged as per the notification/policy dated December 7, 2001, and June 23, 2005, that was applicable at the time of conversion of land use. He further said that the company had maintained that the notification dated January 20, 2006, was not applicable on the proposed township conceived by the company on two counts. Firstly, it was an independent and integrated township beyond 10 km distance from the periphery of the UT and secondly it did not qualify as a mega project as envisaged under the said notification. "The company has always shown its readiness and willingness to pay charges based on the above-mentioned notification/policy. The company is committed to complete its project. In case, the company accedes to the demands of the GMADA to pay the EDC at the rate as demanded by it, the rates of the houses, facilities and amenities shall go beyond affordability of the general public," Sarckar claimed.
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Chandigarh, December 31 She was given warm send off by his colleagues. A farewell party was also arranged in her honour on the office premises. Among others, Col Kahlon, manager, administration, The Tribune, and Ravinder Vijh, co-convener, colony committee, The Tribune, lauded his services to the institution. — TNS
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MK Gupta made member (irrigation), BBMB
Chandigarh, December 31 He joined as SDO in the Haryana Irrigation Department in 1975. He also worked in the BSL Project, Sundernagar. As an executive engineer and superintending engineer he worked in various fields with the Haryana Irrigation Department. From May 2005, to October 2007, he worked as chief engineer (coordination), chief engineer (BML) and completed the BML-Hansi Branch-Butana Branch-Multipurpose link channel project.
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