Chandigarh, July 29
Gen (Retd) S.F.Rodrigues, Administrator, has approved the “Chandigarh Heritage Regulations”, demarcating three zones in the city, for the status of World Heritage City under a project of UNESCO. The approved rules are now being whetted before a formal notification shortly.

The core zones included in the project map are the Capitol Park in Sector 1, the Cultural Complex in Sector 10 and the Leisure Valley from Sector 3 in the northeast to Sector 23 in the southwest.

The Capitol Park zone extends from the northeast edge of Rajendra Park to the southeast end of the Sukhna, the Punjab and Haryana High Court,the Vidhan Sabha, the secretariat and all monuments within the complex.

The cultural complex includes Government College of Art and Museum and Art Gallery. The project map also demarcates a buffer zone.

No intervention will be allowed in areas and buildings included in the core zones. It has been clarified that “where possible,effort will be made to reverse the changes made to these, or to find a more appropriate solution in tune with internationally accepted ethics of conservation”.

All interventions in the core zones will be monitored by a heritage committee which, besides key functionaries of the administration, will include representatives from the Archeological Survey of India, Le Corbusier Foundation and the office of UNESCO in India.

Certain buildings which do not meet the criteria for inclusion in the heritage list have been earmarked as requiring special attention. These include the Old Architect's Office in Sector 19, the Government Press in Sector 18 and Gandhi Bhavan at Panjab University.

The buffer zone includes the Sukhna wetlands and the wildlife sanctuary. It also includes Patiala-ki-Rao choe. The area in this category is protected under the Wildlife Act. Uttar Marg and Dakshin Marg are also considered part of the buffer zone.

Chandigarh plans to host a workshop on management of modern heritage, especially modern cities, from December 19 to 21.

Rock en-rol with Shiamak
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh: July 29
Chandigarh is all set to become a “dancing city”. With top Bollywood choreographer and dancer Shiamak Davar agreeing to a four-workshop schedule, soon young aspirants from the city will get a chance to rock the stage. Only last year, Shiamak had handpicked five dancers from Chandigarh and made them part of his dance contingent to Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. It seems, such opportunities will be routine.

The Shiamak Davar Institute for Performing Arts (SDIPA) will, from August 1 this year, hold four dance workshops instead of the usual two. The decision has been taken on popular demand, says Atul Khanna of the Durga Das Foundation, Shiamak’s collaborators in Chandigarh.

That Shiamak’s style is a rage here is evident from the rising membership at these workshops, attended by grandmothers and granddaughters alike. This year, the workshop will have a special participant in Atul Khanna himself.

“I had an urge to savour the experience everyone so seems to enjoy. Moreover, Shiamak’s style is not just about dance. It’s unwinding of the mind, body and soul,” said Atul Khanna.

What is the USP of SDIPA’s dance genre? “ It helps people shed inhibitions and use the stage as a space to relax.

There’s no barrier of age, gender, shape or size.The mantra is fun and friendship,” explains Shiamak. For the August 1 workshop, enrollments are on at Nehru Bhavan, Sector 24. 

Chandigarh July 29
Claims of quality assurance by pharmaceutical companies notwithstanding, a foreign particle was found in a vial manufactured by a Bombay-based unit.

Retired officer Y.P.S. Ahluwalia was shocked when doctors at the PGI told him that the injection brought by him for his wife, a kidney patient, was contaminated. The injection is manufactured by Alkem Laboratories at Daman.

Ahluwalia told Chandigarh Tribune that he bought the injection from Paul Medical Hall, Sector 11, on July 24. On his complaint to the drug store, he was told the injection had been supplied by Singla Medicos, Sector 17.

A black substance was seen as soon as the doctor at the dialysis center poured sterilised water into the vial to prepare the injection, said Ahluwalia. The sterilised water was taken from the ampoule supplied by the company with the injection, informed Ahluwalia.

Alleging that three doses of the same-batch injection had had little effect on the recovery of his wife, Ahluwalia said she began to recover only when a dose of a substitute medicine was administered to her after the fourth injection was found carrying a foreign particle.

“We apprehend there is a problem with the whole batch of medicine. The medicine was prescribed by doctors at the PGI after a culture test,” said Parminder Pal Singh, son of the Ahluwalias, a director with Ericsson company at new Delhi.

When contacted, Sunil Kapoor, divisional sales manager of Alkem, said on the complaint of Paul Medical Hall, he had contacted Ahluwalia. Ahluwalia had been requested by the company to hand over the injection vial for testing and verification. However, Ahluwalia had refused to hand over the contaminated vial, said Kapoor.

Chandigarh, July 29
Notwithstanding the instructions of the additional chief election officer, photography teams are not going door to door to click photos of voters. The special campaign started on July 5 ends on August 1.

The residents are told to remain home from 8 am to 8 pm on a given day, but the photography teams do not turn up.

Inquiries reveal that no election official is keeping a tab on the movement of these teams. The work has been outsourced to private persons by HARTRON, a Haryana government undertaking.

Today, a number of irritated residents of Sectors 38 West and 39 turned up at Government Model Senior Secondary school to get their photos clicked as the photography teams did not turn up at their residences on July 28.

A senior citizen of Sector 38 West, Sushil Kaur, said: “ I got a notice that a team would turn up on Saturday. I kept waiting for the entire day. but nobody turned up.” Harcharan Singh, a resident of Sector 39, and Madhu Sudan Sharma of Sector 38 West had the same complaint.

Another resident said he had taken leave from office to be clicked for the electoral rolls.“What is the point in putting so many persons on the exercise when none turns up despite the public notice by the election department, ” he asked.

Some residents said they had polled their vote in the last MC elections, but now their details were missing from the voter list with the photography teams.

Booth-level officials who were supposed to accompany the photography teams are not doing so as they are reportedly overworked. Jagmohan Kapoor, master booth-level officer of Sector 38, said he would inquire into the matter.

Chandigarh, July 29
The Army’s indigenously developed Dhruv advanced light helicopter will now have locally developed special armour panels for protection against enemy fire.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed and developed lightweight ceramic-faced composite armour panels for the Dhruv’s army variant.

The armour panels, according to a recent in-house DRDO bulletin, will protect the aircrew and the flying machine’s critical parts against heavy calibre small arms fire. The panels will be able to withstand hits from 12.7 mm armour piercing ammunition.

Composite laminates were made from modified epoxy resin and reinforced with Kevlar fabric. Kevlar-epoxy composite laminates of different thickness have been prepared, depending upon the criticality and vulnerability of the components they are meant to protect.

The composites were made in accordance with the requirements put forward by the Helicopter Division of Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which designed and developed the Dhruv.

Armour test panels, according to the DRDO, had been subjected to firing trials against 12.7 mm ammunition at Ordnance Factory, Varangaon, and these were able to provide successful ballistic protection.

Prototype armour panels have been manufactured in collaboration with a Bangalore-based private aviation firm in accordance with user requirements. Carriage and flight trials of the panels have also been “successfully” conducted.

The development of indigenous composite armour assumes significance in the light of the Army going in for armed versions of Dhruv for tactical battlefield support missions.

The Army, which has two squadrons of the Dhruv, is reported to be raising a third squadron on this type, which would be the armed variant. HAL has integrated a range of weapon systems and mission control suites with the helicopter and the evaluation is under way.

Dhruv will have an anti-tank capability and also provide close air support to ground columns against enemy formations and defences. Battlefield surveillance will be another role. Data-link for command and control, air-to-ground missiles, rockets, machine guns along with electronic warfare suite and self defence measures which include missile warning receivers, flare and chaff dispensers and infra-red jammers are being retro-fitted on the Dhruv.

Chandigarh, July 29
An occupant of a commercial site in industrial area here has been told that the official record of the site is not available with the estate office. He had sought the information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Not directly “admitting” that the record was missing, officials is the estate office told him that the file was with the office of the chief commissioner since 1977 and till date had not been returned.

RN Goyal, who holds the power of attorney for the site, said since he wanted the plot in his name and needed an NOC for the same, he approached the estate office for the original record. For two years, he failed to get any response from the estate office.

“I was told to go to the office of the adviser where I was told the record was not with them”, said Goyal.

The original allottee of the site is Savitri Devi. Her sons, legal heirs, sold the property on the power of attorney. “Since the family misplaced some documents, we approached the estate office.” The estate office is now asking the owner and reader to the adviser to return the original file.

“ Inquiries reveal that in the early nineties the record was sent to the administration in connection with a vigilance inquiry,” said a distressed Goyal.

Chandigarh, July 29
Despite there being a scare of bird flu in Manipur it has not effected the prices of poultry products in the city.

Retailers said the city consumers of the broilers and eggs seemed to be unfazed by the reports of the bird flu. During this month, the demand has virtually kept pace with supplies, Ajmer Singh, a Sector 21 retailer informed here today.

According to a random survey of the markets, the prices of broiler ranged from Rs 75 to Rs 80 depending upon the quality. However, at premium stores, which catered to the high-end customers, the prices were slightly higher.

Similarly, the eggs were priced at Rs 22 to Rs 25 per dozen. The prices were in the same range last month, retailers claimed. The shopkeepers asserted that the prices would pick in the coming months when the marriage season set in the city and the periphery in the wake of the large-scale demand. 

Change is the law of nature. However, human acts are today responsible for changes in the nature itself, which are not in the best interest of our planet Earth. The climate change that the blue planet is experiencing is due to the phenomenon called global warming. If not checked immediately, it would have serious consequences. The UT administration’s decision in this regard is a step in right direction. I am referring to the news item, “Households in UT to see new light” (July 23).

There are certain things that we as individuals need to do to save life on the Earth. We need to plant more trees and cut down on their felling. We need to save water, electricity and fuel in whatever manner we can think of. Considering the fact that Chandigarh is not a big city, the commuters can switch over to bicycles as means of transport. We should also replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), for CFLs are not only energy-efficient but also environment friendly. The quintessential one, we have to control ever-growing population by adopting a one-child norm.

Let us all take upon the responsibility and contribute our humble bit towards making the world a better place to live in.

Chandigarh, July 29
The police arrested Vikram, who claimed himself a national level shooter, from SBI Colony, Sector 49, here today for stealing a jeep from Motor Market, Sector 48, on Saturday, befooling the watchman of the market.

“Today, we arrested him from his locality while he was enjoying the drive on the stolen jeep. During interrogation, he confessed to his crime. He also admitted that he had stolen the motorcycle from Phase 7, Mohali,” said Har Sahai, SHO, Sector 31 police station.

“During interrogation, Vikram said he was fond of jeeps so he stole it. Vikram, who is said to be a drug addict, is an employee of an MNC”, added sources.

Yesterday, he came on the stolen Pulsar motorcycle, carrying an air gun at the market. From there he took away the jeep, saying to the watchman that it (the jeep) belonged to him and he had to pick some relatives from railway station. He also instructed the watchman to take care of his motorcycle and air gun, which he left there.

Chandigarh, July 29
An unidentified person was killed when he was hit by a scooter (HR-01M-3177) in front of Piccadily Hotel, Sector 22, here today.

Chandigarh, July 29
Up in arms against outdated audit limits for the filing of income tax returns for the trading and business class, city traders have demanded a hike in the audit limit to Rs 1 crore in consonance with the “taxpayer-friendly” stance of the income tax department.

The issue echoed at a meeting of traders with union minister of state for finance Pawan Bansal recently where the minister assured the traders of taking it up with the finance ministry for a policy decision.

Currently, the audit limit for the filing of income tax returns was Rs 40 lakh, which was fixed several years ago.

However, in the wake of liberalisation and globalisation, the turnover of traders had increased manifold, necessitating the hike in the audit limit to at least Rs 1 crore, J.P.S. Kalra, general secretary of the Sector-17 Traders’ Association, who attended the meeting, told Chandigarh Tribune here today.

Kalra claimed that chartered accountants (CA) undertaking audit for an amount of Rs 1 crore would also be happy as the larger audit amount fetched them more fee.

It had been observed that CAs showed little interest in the audit of income tax returns of Rs 40 lakh.

Income tax officials said a policy decision had to be taken by the finance ministry in this regard and they were only the executing agency in this regard.

The last date for filing of returns by the traders coming under the audited category October 31.

Meanwhile, traders have also demanded an increase in the audit limit to Rs 1 crore for VAT returns, which are filed at quarterly intervals.

Besides, the authorisation powers for verifying the returns, which were now vested with CAs, needed to be vested with lawyers also.