IT Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: Punjab government has given nod to a new transport policy to bring about “dramatic and comprehensive reforms” to the advantage of all stakeholders like passengers, transporters, investors, manufacturers and the state government.

“It is a win-win situation for all,” claimed transport secretary DS Jaspal when asked to comment on its fallout.
Under the new policy, by paying 10% more than the ordinary busfare, the passenger would have the luxury of AC buses. Even the high-end integral AC coach buses has been brought within the reach of common man for which he has to shell out just 75% more as against 250% at present. Thus travel by Volvo bus from Chandigarh to Amritsar would cost just Rs 175 as against Rs 300 now, while travel by ordinary bus would be just Rs 125 and AC bus Rs 135.

This would be possible as the state government has slashed tax on A-class and Volvo buses manifold. In fact, ordinary buses would be required to pay more tax than AC or Volvo buses.

For, new rates of motor vehicle tax will be Rs 2.25 per km per day for ordinary buses, Re 1 per km per day for ordinary AC buses and Re 0.50 per km for integral air-conditioned coaches. And busfare will be just 49 paise per km for ordinary bus.

Moreover, if the air-conditioning is not found working while running, the operator will have to pay Rs 10,000 as penalty per day.
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CHANDIGARH: Power tariff in Punjab has gone up by 19 paisa to 30 paisa per unit. According to the tariff order released by Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) on Wednesday, consumers will now end up paying Rs 423 crore in 2007-2008.

Board’s failure to file annual revenue requirement (ARR) and the state government’s inability to bail out a revenue-squeezed board, after declaring free power to farm sector and scheduled caste (SC) families, have resulted in the increase in tariff, more than what it was initially planned.

This happens by way of annualising the tariff, which means the consumer would now have to pay the amount in next seven months what he or she would have otherwise paid over 12 months. Domestic consumers would be paying 8.4 % more for the first slab of domestic consumption ie up to 100 units, while agriculture power tariff has gone up by 12% - which the government has agreed to pay by way of subsidy. For all other categories, including industry, the tariff has gone up by 7%.

The lowest rate charged will be Rs 2.40 and the highest Rs 4.53/unit. Apart from agriculture power (AP) subsidy of Rs 1988.15 crore, government has also agreed to pay Rs 130.95 crore for free supply of 200 units per month to SC domestic consumers and non SC below poverty line (BPL) consumers.
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CHANDIGARH: Fog in September? Sounds strange, but it’s true. On Wednesday morning, Ambala in Haryana, and from Zirakpur to Ludhiana in Punjab experienced poor visibility due to fog.

For the past three days, Banur resident Surinder Singh has been wondering why visibility on roads is low. Surinder, a carpenter, has never seen fog in September. “It’s strange despite such high day temperature, there’s fog early in the morning,” he said.

Affirming this phenomenon, officials at the meteorological department, Chandigarh, informed that visibility in Ambala was barely 800 metres, whereas in the city it was 2.5 kilometres. The maximum temperature recorded in the city was 35.2 degree Celsius. “The air is laden with 95% moisture. On Wednesday morning, in Ambala, people could see up to 800 metres with naked eyes,” said Rajinder Singh, scientific assistant at UT’s meteorological centre. He added that apart from Ambala-Rajpura stretch, Sarsawa, near Saharanpur in western UP also experienced fog.

Met officials and city-based environmentalists said this climatic condition was ‘rare’. “Earlier, we had experienced mist and haze during this season, but fog is rare. It’s been happening since the last three days. However, it’s a natural phenomenon. Humidity is present in the atmosphere. Low speed of winds, stable weather and a plunge in the morning temperature make a perfect condition for fog to occur. Fog can also happen because of more moisture in the air and a clear sky,” said Chatar Singh, director of UT’s meteorological centre.
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Mohali: The booklovers of the township find it disheartening that the Sahibzada Ajit Singh Municipal Library and Samaj Vikas Kender lack adequate facilities. They complain that even the timings of the library do not suit them.

Though they have welcomed the move of the Municipal Council to run the library itself instead of handing it over to a private business house, they felt that the right kind of books were required to make it more useful.

Earlier, a private party was running the library from a building constructed by the civic body at the Silvi Park in Phase X, which terminated its operations on June 30. The House unanimously decided to run the library at its own level at a monthly meeting held on June 27. The MC took over the charge of the building on July 25 and posted a peon and a clerk there.

Anil Kakkar, a resident of Phase XI, a regular visitor to the library, complained that only some newspapers were available after the library was taken over by the council. Magazines were made available only on September 13. He said the morning timings of the library were from 8 am to 12.30 pm, which did not suit senior citizens. He suggested 10 am to 2 pm as the new timings.
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Chandigarh: The Delhi government has called the Chief Engineer of the CHB on deputation to handle prestigious projects of the Delhi Integrated Multi Transit System. He would join there as the engineer-in-chief for a period of three years.

Confirming the development, S.K. Jain said he would join at Delhi as soon as he is relieved from the Board. At present, he is handling prestigious projects like slum rehabilitation, IT habitat at RGCTP, among others.

The Chief Executive Officer and MD of the transit system is S.N. Sahai, a former chairman of the CHB, who is presently with the Delhi government.

Source: TNS

Chandigarh: A group of 30 students from Suru River Valley, Ladakh, arrived in Chandigarh today as part of the excursion tour organized by the Army under Operation Sadbhavna.

These tours are meant to build bridges of friendship between Ladakhis and others residing across the country.

The tour in question was flagged off on September 10 by Brigadier R.J.S. Dhillon, Deputy General Officer Commanding 8 Mountain Division, from Kumbhathang.

During their Chandigarh trip, the schoolchildren from Ladakh spent most of their time at Sukhna Lake and Rock Garden. Needless to say, they seemed absolutely enthralled with the ambience which, they said, “Was unlike the depressing serenity of Ladakh”.

The children also visited Panjab University and enjoyed the lush greens, but the highest point of their visit was a meeting with Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd).

They also enjoyed their trip on CITCO’s hop-on, hop-off bus. The children are scheduled to return tomorrow.

Source: TNS

Chandigarh: The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has been given the work of constructing Type 13 houses for government employees in different parts of the city. These houses would be made in the form multi-storeyed flats.

Chairman of the Chandigarh Housing Board, Mohanjeet Singh, said such flats would be constructed for government employees who were presently occupying Type 13 houses.

This forms part of a decision taken by the UT Administration to create extensive housing stock for low and middle income group categories in the next two to three years.

Apart from the government housing, 10,000 houses of different categories (EWS, LIG, MIG and HIG) have been planned in Sectors 26, 51, 53, 4, 55, 61, Maloya and Dhanas.

Source: TNS

Parking Blues

Chandigarh: Though much has been promised to better the parking facilities throughout the city, little has actually been done. This especially holds true for the parking space behind the Sectors 7 and 26 showrooms located along the Madhya Marg.

Elaborate plans to increase and regulate parking space along the Madhya Marg have remained on paper. Some work to clean up the parking area behind the showrooms in Sectors 8 and 9 was done after the UT Administrator visited the area.

However, no such effort has been made to re-carpet the parking area behind Sectors 7 and 26 showrooms. The area, which has been facing neglect for years, could accommodate hundreds of vehicles, thus lessening the chaos in front of the showrooms.

Though the commercial area along the Madhya Marg is one of the busiest business hubs, the parking area and open spaces in front of the showrooms have not been beautified.

Shopkeepers of the Sectors 7 and 26 markets had petitioned to the UT Administrator a year ago. “The request was sent to the UT Secretariat for necessary action. Since then, we have been making rounds of the UT offices. Instead of helping us, the Administration is thinking of spending crores on multi-level parking,” said a trader operating in the market.
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Mohali: A habitat centre on lines of the India Habitat Centre in Delhi has been planned for the state. Mohali will house the habitat centre in Phase VIII. An area of 3.5 acres near the Leisure Valley here has been demarcated for setting up the centre.

The centre would have auditoriums, lecture halls, fast food joints, takeaway shops, coffee shops and residential rooms. The centre will also have office space. A bar, an exhibition hall and an art gallery would also form part of the centre.

The Rs 50-crore centre would be set up jointly by Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA). For this, the government has finalised the special purpose vehicle model.

HUDCO is expected contribute capital to the project while GMADA will be contributing equity in terms of the land. The share of profits from the centre would be divided accordingly.

Gymnasium, health club, terrace swimming pool, library, children’s enclosure, club facilities like card rooms, lounges and billiard rooms would also be part of the centre. An open-air theatre that opens out in the Leisure Valley has also been proposed.
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Chandigarh: Roll Numbers for the supplementary examinations to be held from September 27 have been dispatched by the PU.

The following results have been declared:

B Sc (H S) 1st Year, Anthropology (Re-appear) July 2007, M Sc (H S) 1st Year, Anthropology (Re-appear), July 2007, M Sc (H S) 2nd Year, Biotechnology (Re-appear), August 2007, B Sc (H S) 1st Year, Biotechnology (Re-appear), August 2007, M Sc (H S) Bio-Physics, 2nd Year (A.S), April 2007.

Source: TNS