Bashing time!

One of the officers of the UT Electricity Department termed the public hearing organised by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission on the tariff petition here last week as “lathmar Holi” for them. When asked to justify, he explained that as ‘lathmar Holi’ takes days before the actual Holi is played at Barsana and Nandgaon near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh in which participants are hit with sticks, their situation was same during such public hearing sessions as people attack them with sticks (read verbal and written complaints). The JERC holds public hearing on the tariff petition every year. At such meetings, residents not only targeted the officers for increasing the rates through the FPPCA charges but held them responsible for not taking effective step to stop illegal ‘kundi’ connections.

Power pangs

It is not only residents who are facing power cuts in Panchkula but the work of the Panchkula Municipal Corporation is also getting affected due to power cuts. Though the MC office has generators for power backup, the long duration of power cuts leaves these generators shut. On one such other day, the MC staff was not able to give printouts of tenders floated during the last one year to senior MC officials, who was to present them at a state-level meeting, in the absence of power supply.

Cyber hibernation

Though the cyber cell of the UT Police receives a large number of complaints pertaining to cyber frauds, the cops receive the cases only if they see a probability of cases getting cracked. A large number of complaints with the cyber cell keep lying pending for several months. Is this the way cyber frauds will be checked?

‘Seva’ or ‘no work’

It was an annual religious path at the MC office followed by a langar (community lunch). From MC Commissioner to chief engineer, all attended the same. Even after the langar, some employees did not turn for work. When an officer asked his peon to call a person concerned for work, the reply was “he has gone for seva downstairs”. The officer, when called another employee, he was told, “he too is at seva”. The officer got agitated and asked him to appear immediately or get ready to face the music. “I will tell him how seva is done,” he thundered.

Shocking encounter!

While some convicts and accused try and hide from the media, there are others who pose for the cameras and are more than happy to converse with them. One such incident was witnessed at the District Courts in Chandigarh, the other day, when a snatching convict greeted a reporter. As the reporter did not recognise him, he reminded the reporter that they had met in a court when he was convicted in a similar case. Shocking encounter indeed!

Basking in the sun

At a local police station in Mohali, police officials, including the Head Munshi, have made a makeshift office, by setting up table and chairs, in the vacant parking area of the police station. The reason is to bask in the winter sun in the morning hours. A constable at the police station said, “Winter season is about to end. Thoda dhup taan sek laiye (lets bask in the winter sun).”

Crusader

A 33-year-old Delhi resident is on a mission to travel 15,000-km across the country for spreading awareness about blood donation. Kiran Verma, founder of mobile application “simply blood”, started the awareness campaign on January 26 from Lal Chowk in Srinagar. He was in the city recently to generate awareness among residents about the paucity of blood donors in the country. Kiran left the job of market manager at the peak of his career in 2016 after he fell prey to a tout who sold the blood, Kiran had donated, to a needy patient. This made him a crusader!

(Contributed by Ramkrishan Upadhyay, Rajinder Nagarkoti, Amit Sharma, Sandeep Rana, Ishrat Banwait, Pavneet Chadha & Mohit Khanna)