Wild growth in Leisure Valley puts off many
By Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 23 — No one would like to spend his or her leisurely moments in the Sector 10-B Leisure Valley, facing the Rose Garden, owing to its pitiable state.

The place is lying in an utter state of neglect with growth of wild grass all over and with animals wandering at the place.

One can easily gauge the concern of the authorities towards the Leisure Valley and its upkeep from a virtual lack of fencing at the place. Though efforts have been made to provide a fence around it by erecting barbed wires, it fails to serve the purpose, as it exists only at a few spots, which too, are marked with big breaches, yet to be plugged by the authorities concerned. The condition is particularly worse at the entrance along Madhya Marg and at the backyard facing the Sector 10 Fitness Trails as not an inch of fencing is there to enable people to make an easy entry from any side.

The absence of fencing offers an open invitation to animals, which can be seen roaming at the place anytime particularly during the evening hours. In the absence of any check, the place has also become favourite among people intending to learn two and four wheelers and a number of them can be seen honing their driving skills in the morning.

A walking strip meandering through the place is broken at a number of places. It is virtually non-existent near the stage near the Leisure Valley nullah due to frequent accumulation of water, resulting in growth of wild grass, which has also engulfed the strip at a number of places.

The excess of grass has virtually made the reading room at the place inaccessible. The vegetation has not been cleared for months altogether. “We think twice before entering the reading room due to the growth of grass on the path leading to it. It can provide shelter to some deadly insect. Why cannot the authorities remove it?” Wondered Raunak Ram, a regular visitor to the place. He complained that there was no arrangement of lighting at the place, thus keeping people away during late in the evening.

The side of the place facing the Sector 10 Fitness Trails is more in a shabby state, as a number of iron sculptures there remain surrounded by wild growth. The objective of these sculptures, which were created for children to play with, has been defeated as very few children visit the place. A leaking water pipe is further compounding the problem, as the constant flow of water has triggered wild growth at the place.

Another cemented monument in the middle of the place has also suffered damage due to lack of safety arrangements.

When contacted, an official of the UT Horticulture Department said the next priority of the department was to develop the Leisure Valley, in a phased manner. “ We are planning to install a tubewell at the place within this year, which will be followed by development of a garden at the place,” he added.

Encroachments go unchecked
By A Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, June 23 — The indifference of the UT Administration towards the grievances of shopkeepers, tourists and passers-by of the Sector 22-B market here (opposite the bus stand at Sector 17) has caused resentment among the latter as the encroachments made by the rickshaw pullers, illegal taxi and auto-rickshaw operators and eating joints on footpaths continues unabated.

The parking lots made for the convenience of shopkeepers and customers have been occupied by the encroachers. Due to this, they do not get proper parking place for their vehicles. Mr Rakesh Gandhi, a shopkeeper of the market, said, “ Because of encroachments, we and our customers have no option but to park the vehicles at places not meant for the purpose, resulting in the challaning of the vehicles.”

Some shopkeepers said the construction of the parking lot had not been done in a proper way, and as a result, when delivery vehicles come to supply the required items, the unloading of the goods becomes difficult.

Former president of the Traders Association of Sector 22-B market, Lal Singh said, “A majority of vehicles which are being used as taxis, bear private registration numbers and, many of these belong to “Big Shots”. “He further added that the unchecked rise in the number of the foot-path eating joints on the encroached spaces had spread dirtiness and created law and order problem in the market. It has weaned away our customers.

Mr Amit Kumar, a member of the association, said after remaining indifferent to the deplorable condition of the space in front of the market, the UT Administration had recently carpeted the space. He said during the short stint of Ms Kiran Bedi in the city, the encroachment problems of the market, had lessened and everything had started coming on the right track. But after her transfer, everything has started deteriorating and the public has been forced to remain a passive viewer and listener, he added.

The menace caused by rickshaw pullers has increased. A shopkeeper, on the condition of anonymity, said, some rickshaw owners had virtually converted the place into a rickshaw market. “In connivance with some government officials, the rickshaw owners use the place for the repair, sale and renting out of their rickshaws, numbering around 1000.”

A regular visitor to the market, Mr Tabish Raza Naqvi, said visitors to the city are vulnerable at the hands of touts of hotel owners and taxi operators.

The Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation (MC), Mr Satish Ghatwal, was not available for comments whereas the Secretary of MC, Mr Amarpal Singh, when asked about the steps being taken to end the menace of the encroachers, refused to speak on the ground that he was not authorised to issue any statement.

The Senior Deputy Mayor of MC, Mr Kanhya Lal Sharma was against any encouragement to the encroachers. Mr Sharma said he had not got any complaint regarding encroachments in the Sector 22-B market but opined that the department concerned should redress the grievances of the people. He said the police should also take the necessary action in this regard.

Maize-corn sellers dot city
By a Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, June 23 — Nowadays when pizzas, burgers and ice-cream are popular eatables, there is one seasonal item which has its own attraction — maize-corn, popularly known as "bhutta". Sellers purchase bags of maize-corn in the mandi from farmers, roast it on charcoal and sell it in the market and on the roadside.

Ms Kanta Gupta, a government employee, says she finds it difficult to bring maize-corn from the market and roast them as she has to go to office and also has to do household chores. She says the sellers overcharge.

Santo Devi, who sells maize-corn, says she earns between Rs 80 and Rs 100 a day after deducting the cost of charcoal. She sells a "bhutta" for Rs 3.

Madan Lal, a maize-corn seller in Sector 17, says the bags of maize-corn are available in the mandi for different prices. The price is determined on the basis of quality. A bag with small "bhuttas" costs Rs 250 and a bag of big ones costs Rs 300.

He says maize-corn is available only in between May and July. He sells a single piece for Rs 4. He says all his "bhuttas" are sold everyday as he sits in the main market. He earns between Rs 100 and Rs 130 per day.

Seema, who sells maize-corn in sector 22, says she has been doing this for the last five years. She says though the interest of people has changed, sale of maize-corn is good. She sells a piece for Rs 4 to Rs 5. She earns about Rs 100 per day.

she says most of the customers are around the age of 50 but maize-corn is popular among children also. She adds that only a few young boys and girls come for maize-corn.

a 12-year-old boy, Amit Sharma,, says he enjoys maize-corn. He says as he does not know how to cook it, he purchases it from "bhutta" sellers to eat it.

Children losing reading habit
By Pankaj Shukla

CHANDIGARH, June 23 — Cable television appeard to have taken a heavy toll on book reading habits of teenagers, especially school children. More and more children are found glued to their TV sets to watch their favourite programmes, including cartoons, than reading books of general interest, including fiction. Enid Blyton, Mills and Boons, Ladybird and other such publications have a declining readership. Instead, children are more interested in the WWF and MTV. Even National Geographic and Discovery channels, though popular, have much less viewership among children than the MTV and cartoon channels.

Chandigarh Tribune conducted a survey of various libraries in the city to find how many school students used these during vacations. The findings are revealing. Most sections meant for children in various libraries remain generally empty. If one finds some school children in some corner of a library, they are usually preparing for one entrance examination or the other or those who have to complete school project assignments.

Other areas which still attract young bookworms are science, space, tourism and even war and weapons.

General reading habits of school children are nosediving, reveal librarians and members of the staff of libraries in Sectors 17 and 34. These libraries are now occasionally visited by youngsters.

Mr J. K. Kataria, Chief Librarian of the Sector 34 library, said though there was a good number of children among the reading class but with the introduction of the Internet and other information highways, book culture among youngsters had definitely declined. He said that with the help of computers, children availed themselves of all their information requirements at their homes. They could even access encyclopaedias and download software on various subjects of their interest from the Internet.

A visit to the Sector 34 library revealed that most students visited it to prepare for various entrance examinations. Mukesh Sharma, a student of Class XII, said that he was not able to spare time for reading general books as most of his after-school time was consumed in attending tuitions and reading course books.

Kanwalpreet Singh, a Class VIII student, said that he enjoyed watching cartoons on television and he did not have any interest in reading anything other than his school books. "I already have too many course books to study," he adds. A few others who talked to Chandigarh Tribune suggested that a majority of readers below the age of 15 liked to read books on science. Shivani, a member of the Sector 34 library, said, "I like to read books on science fiction and space research. These are not available in my school library."

Mrs Bhasin, a staff member of the Sector 17 library, says, girls, especially teenagers, are more interested in Linda Goodman and other such horoscope and prediction books than anything else. Boys, he says, prefer to read books on science, space wars, defence and warefare.

She says that though the television has emerged as a major source of information in recent times, it has not affected the book culture. She said that everyday library was visited by a large number of children though their frequency was not high.

Mr Prem Chand, who is in private service and a member of the Sector 17 library, says that there are so many television channels and entertainment programmes that attention of children has diverted to television rather than books. "Perhaps children retain more when they see a thing on screen than by reading a book or a magazine. This may have affected readership habits. Besides, almost all encyclopaedias, dictionaries and other general books are available on compact discs (CD-ROMs). With shrinking space at homes, many families do not have enough space for books which have become extremely expensive over the past 10 to 15 years," he adds.

Priya Khanna, whose son is ten-year-old, said that her child did not have any interest in extra reading. She holds teachers responsible for this. She thinks that the present schooling system discourages extra reading habits of children because of heavy bags and lot of homework. Where is the time for children to read books on general knowledge, invention and other subjects, including comics," she says.

Choked gutters a routine affair
By Rupesh Kumar

CHANDIGARH, June 23 — The lackadaisical approach on part of the health wing of the Municipal Corporation has made the life of Maloya Colony residents miserable. Choking of gutters has become routine, resulting in water stagnation, unpleasant and bad odour and risk of outbreak of some disease.

A gutter in the locality, which remained choked for the past six days, resulted in water stagnation, causing hardships to shopkeepers, inhabitants and passers-by. Absence of a proper arrangement for the passage of rain water has resulted in the failure of the sewerage system.

The President of the Maloya Colony Welfare Association, Mr Babu Singh Jandiala, complained that in the rainy season, gutters get choked, causing traffic and water logging. He said the colony, which houses about 3000 families, was made in 1988 but no arrangement for the passage of rain and agricultural land water has been done. He said MC officials had not heeded to their complaints.

The water logging has bred insects and flies. It also poses threat to the life of visitors to the Anganbari complex, which gives day shelter to the children below the age of 6 and to pregnant women. Ms Ram Beti, an employee of the complex, said, “the choking has forced the water, which emits foul smell and has given birth to insects, to enter the premises. The bad odour of the stagnant water has forced us to abandon our coolers and fans.

Mr Dharmendra Yadav, an eating joint owner, said during the past six days, hardly any customer had come to my dhaba and if the grievances of the locality are not redressed, I would be forced to close my business.

Mr Jai Narain, a scrap-article dealer, said that a year ago contaminated water of a tubewell had taken five lives and chances of food poisoning had increased. He said stagnant water on the roads had also led to some mishaps.

However, the Municipal Corporation office has a different tale to tell. The senior Deputy Mayor and the Councillor of the area, Mr Kanhya Lal Sharma, blamed residents of the colony for choking of a gutter. He said, “several lids of gutters were broken and stolen by some miscreants and the construction of some houses on the space earmarked for gutters had made the work of MC difficult.

He said as the MC was having a single-pressure vehicle, which was used for the removal of sewers, it was difficult to cater to a number of complaints at the same time. The MC had made a recommendation for the purchase of pumps and pipes to be used for the removal of rain water. He however, accepted that as it was a costly proposal, it would take at least one year.

A government officer, said as the colony was made on a “choe”, the problem of water stagnation and water logging would remain forever. He said there should be some permanent solution to overcome these problems.

Fire safety norms neglected
By A Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, June 23 — Notwithstanding the fact that devastating fires have completely destroyed more than one rehri market here during the past decade, most rehri markets in the city continue to neglect fire safety norms.

A visit to various rehri markets in the city revealed that unauthorised encroachments in corridors pose a serious threat of fire in the markets.The shops are flourishing with articles of all kinds, from dress materials to food stuffs.The food stalls and dhabas are highly fire prone. In some markets,they have allegedly come up in violation of allotment rules.

Mr Chaman Lal, a visitor to the Sector 19 rehri market, criticised the administration’s role in neglecting the issue. He said these encroachments not only cause inconvenience to visitors but are also a threat to the life and property of the people in these markets. He feared that the vendors who use LPG cylinders and gas lights can cause fire in the market.

Ms Bimla Devi, a visitor to the Sector 22 rehri market, pointed out that the administration ignored the norms but once a fire breaks out, everyone demands compensation. She demanded a check on the existing encroachments. She spoke high of Ms Kiran Bedi for her role in removing unauthorised encroachments in these rehri markets.

Mr Devinder Singh, a cloth merchant in the market, recalled that he had seen many people make false compensation claims after fire accidents. He justified the encroachments made by him, saying that the area of the shops was very small to run the business. At the same time he also felt that the dhabas and other such shops could be a cause of fire. He revealed that there was no provision of fire extinguishers, sand buckets or other fire-fighting devices installed in the markets.

Most dhaba and food stall owners did not wish to comment on the issue. A food stall owner in Sector 22 market pointed at the polythene covers used to encroach the area, large cans of kerosene used to light lamps in the evenings and other inflammable materials lying in the shops and said that these could be more dangerous in case a fire broke out. Most of the shopkeepers had loose electricity wires running overhead and were a great threat of a fire in the maket.

Officials of the Fire Department said they were always ready to face any situtation. They said most of the fires broke out due to negligence of residents. They agreed that unauthorised encroachments posed a threat of a fire. They said that in case a fire breaks out every one would blame the Fire Department for the loss of life and property. They also highlighted that the department had purchased some new and modern fire tenders to fight serious fires.

Many residents have demanded an immediate check on this mushrooming of enroachments.