Vacant plots irk residents
From Our Correspondent

SAS NAGAR, July 12 — Plots allotted by the government upon which houses have not been constructed for years have become a source of nuisance to residents.

In most cases, such plots have turned into places with wild growth, including congress grass, and dumping grounds of garbage and debris. The plots are sometimes used by labourers and servants to ease themselves. Persons, who own houses adjacent to these plots feel a sense of insecurity as it is easy for criminal elements to gain access to their premises.

Residents say the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) has not yet found any permanent solution to the problem. The local Municipal Council authorities say it is not their job to keep such plots clean, with PUDA collecting a large amount of extension fee for non-construction from the allottees concerned.

Mr Bhupinder Singh, a Municipal Councillor of Phase VI, says around 25 per cent of the plots in his ward are lying vacant. He says when PUDA collects extension fee, why does it not spend a small part of the funds to maintain the plots. Cleaning such plots thrice or four times a year will be of great help to residents. He regrets that PUDA spends most of the funds elsewhere in the state which is unjustified.

At a Municipal Council meeting on July 9, Mr N.K. Marwah, a councillor, said such plots had become a health hazard. He said the extension fee was a penalty imposed by PUDA but it did not care to maintain such areas. He demanded that the plots should be kept clean by either PUDA or the civic body.

A housewife in Phase II says a vacant plot adjoining her house has become a nuisance. Recently, a bitch gave birth to pups in the wild growth.

Plots were allotted in Phases I, II, IIIA, IIIB I, III B 2, IV and V in the early seventies and in Phases VI to XI in the mid seventies. In many cases, houses have not been constructed.

The PUDA officials say the maintenance of such plots should be the responsibility of the allottees and entering the area should be treated as trespassing. No extension fee was charged for some years and permission was given to extend the date for construction. According to the rules, after possession is given to the allottee, construction should be done within three years.

The officials say the levying of extension fee began in 1988. It was a small amount of Rs 1.26 per square yard and so did not worry the allottees. The fee hike was gradual over the years, but in 1998 the amount was raised from Rs 20.15 to Rs 72 per square yard. This led to an increase in construction activity.

Mr Dipinder Singh, Additional Chief Administrator, PUDA, says a drive is being launched with the help of the civic body to remove congress grass in the town which will take at least six weeks. Two new shrub master machines are being purchased and two old ones have been repaired.

He says a survey of such plots has been made and the allottees will be asked through an advertisement to begin construction immediately. There is also a proposal to resume plots.

Garbage menace in Sector 47
By A Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, July 12 — A listless approach on part of the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh (MCC) has made the life of residents of Sector 47 here miserable. Overflowing of damaged garbage bins has become routine, resulting in bad odour and risk of outbreak of diseases.

It has created unhygienic conditions in the area. The proprietor of a medical store who loves to take a stroll, Dr Sukhvinder Singh Babhrah, says, "Besides emitting unpleasant smell, the bins breed mosquitoes and flies. As a result, we can't take a healthy stroll in the morning."

Shopkeepers of the rehri-market in the area have also been suffering. They say that their clientele has nosedived as overflowing of the bins has forced away their prospective customers. They say that hardly anybody comes to eat at this place. They say, "If grievances of the locality are not redressed, we will either be forced to close down our business or stir."

Likewise, members of the Resident Welfare Association of the sector allege that vehicle of the MCC do not remove the garbage regularly. The association demands strict disciplinary action against alleged erring officials of the corporation. It says that the garbage-collection vehicle should frequent the sector regularly and damaged bins should be replaced with new ones fitted with appropriate lids.

According to inhabitants of this under-developed southern sector, indifference of the sweepers of the corporation has worsened the state of sanitation in the area.

They say, "We have complained to the officials concerned and have given memoranda also but to no avail." The scattered rubbish has made the place look untidy. Trash can also be seen on some of the green strips of the area.

A resident of the area, Mrs Sushila Devi, says that the litter has also rendered some drains unfunctional. She adds that during rains, some of the streets also get flooded, forcing residents to wade through knee-deep water.

According to residents, heaps of garbage have also begun to be seen on the road, obstructing the flow of rain water and.

The garbage bins have become outdated. These hardly possess lids to give adequate cover to the waste material. Hence, bad odour spreads easily and breeding of insects has become common. Rubbish gets littered due to several holes in the bins.

Showing his helplessness, a government official says the absence of adequate personnel is a stumbling block in the routine removal of rubbish from every sector of the city. He adds that the MCC strives hard to remove the garbage from the sectors of the City Beautiful.

Amenities still evade villages
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 12 — Provision of basic amenities to the four villages incorporated in the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) seems to be last on the agenda of the civic body. Even after three years of their inclusion in the MCC, these villages seem to be nobody's baby with the result that basic amenities are getting worse with the each passing day.

And this is despite the fact that the House of the corporation at one of its meetings on March 26 last year had passed a resolution for providing amenities to the residents of four villages so that they did not feel alienated from rest of the city. Councillors had pleaded for provision of basic amenities to the villages since they were part of the city and it was their right to have the minimum basic amenities.

A resolution to this effect was moved by a former Mayor, Mrs Kamla Sharma, who represented the area covered by three of the four villages, Badheri, Attawa and Buterla. The other village, Burail, is being represented by the Deputy Mayor, Mr Bachan Singh.

Since then Mrs Sharma has been taking up the matter with the civic body authorities through many channels like raising the issue during question hour at the meetings of the MCC. But nothing seems to have happened except promises by the authorities.

In a resolution, Mrs Sharma had alleged that there was no sewerage in the villages. The roads were in bad shape on account of accumulation of water and had not been repaired for a long time. Similarly, streets were broken and there was hardly any provision of streetlights putting the residents to a lot of inconvenience.

She said the cattle domesticated by the residents had become a public nuisance. Cow dung was dumped on roads, streets and parks, leading to diseases.

While there was no proper drainage system, a shortage of water was also there. There was encroachments galore on public parks and open spaces, she said, demanding the shifting of the fish and meat market of Attawa as it was a traffic hazard.

It may be recalled that the corporation has made a provision of Rs 1 crore in the budget for 1999-2000 after the The Tribune had highlighted the state of villages under a four-part special series, "City's poor cousins", last year. Though the budget was passed over four months ago, work on providing the basic amenities in any of the villages was still to be undertaken.

According to sources, the work relating to circular roads (phirnies) of the villages was to be undertaken in the first phase. The work had been delayed and it would only be undertaken after the end of the monsoon, the source added.

Few shops favoured for school books
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 12 — There being a big rise in the number of children going to school, it is expected that the number of shops dealing in school books in the city would also have shown a considerable increase. However, that is not the case as far as book shops catering to student population of schools is concerned.

With some schools, earlier selling books at school premises right after the declaration of results having shut down, parents and children alike, guided by convention, have remained confined to a couple of shops only, frequenting them year after year when the new session gets underway. Meanwhile, many schools have done away with the practice of directing students and parents to particular shops and have given them freeplay in the matter.

The Principal of Bhawan Vidyalaya, Mrs Meenakshi Mohindra, says, “We do not suggest any particular shops to our students for buying books. Our role is limited to supplying them with a list of the books they would require in the next class’’. Sister Gloria, Principal of Sacred Heart, contends that they refrain from doing even that and leave the matter completely to the students and parents.

“It is a matter of convenience for us and most parents like us. These shops have books of every school and all classes tied in neat bundles which saves time of customers as well as the salesmen, making these a shopper’s paradise,’’ says Mr Vijay Katyal, a parent of two boys studying in St John’s.

With “pick-n-move” bundles of books, you need to spell out the class and name of the school, thereby saving time,” comments Mrs Arvind Sharma, whose daughter studies in Vivek High School.

Mrs Madhu Katyal, with two daughters in Carmel Convent, says. “My daughters raise such a hue and cry about buying their books from a particular shop only. Buying from these shops has become a habit with them and they refuse to go elsewhere. Also, we give in because it is convenient for us — it is better than hopping around from shop to shop in search of the right books.’’

Two children, Sajal and Sakshi, want to be in tune with the latest and in step with the times. “The latest in bags and pencil boxes, besides lots of stationery material is on display at these shops. Our friends also buy their books from the same school along with the “in-things”, and when the school reopens, it is always good to have everything in the latest design. It increases your popularity in the class,’’ they chime in unison.

Most parents say there is shortage of books in many book stores. Therefore, they go only to some particular shops. Also, these shops procure the list of books required in each school and prepare bundles well in advance of the new academic session, which ensures the sales go on smoothly. Shortage of books is not a problem since they have an idea of the number of students who would turn up to buy books from them.

‘Peace talks on India's terms’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 12 — Air strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) could have been an effective alternative to a much asked question of why the LoC was not physically crossed by the Army, opined Air Cmdr Jasjit Singh (retd) while speaking to media persons here today on the issue of the ongoing battle in Kargil between India and Pakistan.

A physical crossing of the LoC by the Army would have meant escalation in the war and it was unadvisable. Through air strikes we could have hit at specified targets like bridges and this has actually been the way conflicts have been taking place in the past 25 years or so all over the world, the highly respected defence analyst said.

He had come to the city to deliver a lecture on `` Genesis of Kargil crisis: Options for peace'' organised by the Institute for Development on Communication. In his opinion 90 per cent of the enemy in Kargil comprised Pakistan Army regulars and the remaining were the so-called Mujahideen. Air Cmdr Jasjit Singh said he preferred to call the conflict in Kargil as a war and not '' a war like situation '' as was being referred to by the Indian Government. The dead soldiers had died actually and not ''like dead'', he said to further strengthen his point on the difference between the words ''war'' and '' war like situation''.

In his words this was the entire Pakistan structure was acting in totality and not that the ISI or the Pakistan Army acting in isolation while adding that it was impossible for such an operation to take place without the backing from the government.

The intrusions made by Pakistan were part of the grand strategy of that country to target larger areas of Kashmir. Referring to Mr Nawaz Sharif's statement on respecting the LoC, the former Air Force pilot said sanctity of the LoC had to be maintained by not sending men across the border.

Besides this the Indian authorities should have been alerted the moment General Karamat — who is now known to have not accorded his approval to intrude across the LoC — was sacked and replaced by General Parvez Musharraf as Chief of the Pakistan Army. '' An early dialogue between the two countries was inevitable, '' said the Air Commodore , who is the Director, Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis.

On the issue of peace talks the Air Commodore said: ''We must have peace on our terms.'' One goal should be to safeguard and further our interests, he added. However, there was no guarantee that Pakistan, that had not respected any international treaty in the past, would respect this one.

Replying to question on third-party meditation he asked: '' Where is the third party that is impartial .''

Imposition of sanctions on Taliban had to be seen as an indication that Pakistan would have to pull back from their policy of Talibanisation. On the prevailing relative peaceful conditions in the valley he said it could be a lull before a storm. The militants could be waiting and watching, he added.

During the discussion he also interacted with retired Army and Air Force officers who attended the discussion.

Complaints of erratic power supply
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 12 — Entrepreneurs of Industrial Area here have complained of erratic power supply in the past over 15 days.

The President of the Federation of Small Scale Industries (FSSI), Mr Yash Pal Mahajan, alleged that in spite of surplus power available with the Chandigarh Administration, unscheduled power cuts had become routine, giving a blow to industrial production.

The main reason for the frequent power breakdowns was poor maintenance of transmission lines with the result that strong winds and rainfall resulted in faults these lines leading to power failure in over 400 industrial units. As a consequence, over 6,000 industrial workers were forced to sit idle for hours, causing loss of industrial production worth crores of rupees.

The General Secretary of the FSSI, Mr Rajeev Gupta, said due to shortage of staff in Industrial Area, no preventive measures had been taken and in case of any fault, complaints were not attended to for hours. The matter had been brought to the notice of the administration several times but nothing had been done so far, he alleged.

Mr Gupta demanded immediate repair of transmission lines and additional staff in Industrial Area to improve power supply and save the industry which was already passing through recession.