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Punjab plans special branch to protect its 60% share in Chandigarh
administration
The Punjab government is setting up a special Chandigarh affairs branch under the chief minister Amarinder Singh to protect its 60% share in Chandigarh.
The step has been taken after the recent Union home ministry’s decision to merge the
Chandigarh deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) with the combined cadre of all
Union Territories, including Delhi police.
The move has hit Punjab’s 60% share in Chandigarh police’s DSP cadre.
The chief minister had demanded maintenance of status quo till the settlement of the territorial dispute of Chandigarh between Punjab and Haryana.
The chief minister has advocated for continuing with the existing pattern of all Chandigarh posts to be shared between Punjab and Haryana in 60:40 ratio.
For Chandigarh’s drug smugglers, injections most popular
Going by the number of drug seizures, injections are the most popular among drug smugglers in Chandigarh, while hashish and ganja come in second and third, respectively.
Of the 26 people caught with narcotics till February 28 this year, nine were caught with vials of buprenorphine, a banned injectable drug which mimics the high of heroin. In all, 816 vials of the banned drug were seized from these people.
Chandigarh Police egistered 24 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and arrested 26 smugglers with contrabands. After thesmuggling of injectable vials, police seized charas the most.
One of the reasons behind so many peddlers selling buprenorphone could be because of variation in prices.
Police said the accused used to buy a vial of the drug for Rs 50-80 and used to sell it to addicts for Rs 250-Rs 300.
The highest number of cases was registered at police stations of Maloya, and
sectors 39 and 34.
Drug peddlers used to buy banned injectable vials largely from Ambala and
Saharanpur.
Chandigarh plans 75% quota for city students in Class XI
The UT education department is in the process of introducing 75% to 80% quota in Class XI for Chandigarh students in government schools. The department is also working towards making the entire system online.
The UT district education officer has sent the proposal to director school education. A meeting to take the final decision will be held this week.
The move comes after thousands of city-based students were left without admissions even after seventh round of counselling in Class XI in 2017-18. The department had to conduct another round of counselling and also increase the seats to accommodate students, disturbing the student teacher ratio.
For deciding on the exact percentage to be given to Chandigarh-based students under the
quota,
District education officer had recently asked schools for the tota strength of Class XI students.
Forty government model and non-model senior secondary schools had informed that around 21% students out of the total strength were from outside Chandigarh.
Based on it, the percentage to bereserved will be decided.
The education department is also planning to change the system of admitting students. At present, a centralised online system is used, which showed discrepancies during the admission session in 2017
RPO proposes to centralise Tatkal passport facility only in Chandigarh
A Tatkal passport is issued between one and three days, against the three weeks of processing
time for a normal passport. If the proposal is accepted, Chandigarh’s quota for Tatkal
appointments would be raised to 250 or 260 a day from the current 120. The 70 slots each for
Ludhiana and Ambala will be cancelled.
The move is aimed at mitigating the suffering of genuine applicants and also speedy disposal of
appointments for Tatkal passports in case of re-issuance with a clear police report and minor
children.
Once Chandigarh becomes the hub for Tatkal appointments, the passport, once granted shall bedispatched the next day.
Normal appointments at Ludhiana and Ambala will also be disposed of quickly. If case of an
appointment here, we can also better judge the authenticity of the claim,
HC for setting up old-age home to accommodate 150
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made clear its intent to pass an order on setting
up of an old-age home in Chandigarh for accommodating 150 indigent senior citizens.
As of now, the Chandigarh Administration runs just two old-age homes with a total
capacity of 66. Stay in one of the homes entails costs.
The accommodation is grossly inadequate, as data collected during a survey in Chandigarh revealed that 23 per cent elderly admitted personal experience of abuse.
The High Court has already been told that the capacity of the Sector 15 home is 34. The
other home in Sector 43 could accommodate 32.
“The latter was, however, not fully occupied as the same was on a payment basis, Rs
6,600 with boarding and lodging for single occupancy per month
The development took place during the hearing of a petition filed by Harbhajan Singh against the Union Territory of Chandigarh and other respondents.
Justice Jain asserted larger issue involved in the case was about the provision of old-age home in Chandigarh.
As such, the hearing of the case was deferred for passing necessary orders in terms of Section 19 of the Maintenance of Parents and Welfare of Senior Citizens Act, 2007, wherein it was incumbent on the state’s part to provide one old-age home for accommodating 150 senior citizens, who were indigent.
RCF to roll out Delhi-Chandigarh Tejas Express coaches
The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) will roll out the second rake of 19 coaches of the Chandigarh-Delhi section Tejas Express
The coaches will be handed over to the Northern Railway, and the Railway Board will decide about the date and the time to run the Tejas Express.
The Tejas will cut down travel time between Chandigarh and Delhi by over 30 minutes.
Three Shatabdi Expresses plying between the national capital and Chandigarh take three-and-half hours to cover the journey.
The advanced coaches are capable of running at a speed of 200 km per hour, but due to track related constraints, the speed on the Chandigarh-Delhi section would be 160 kmp
The RCF has added more features to the new coaches.
These include remote-controlled Venetian windows,provision of vacuum toilets as in aeroplanes to save water and sensor-based automatic doors inside compartments Other features include luxury chair cars with LED screens and personalised infotainment system, touch-less sanitary wares like taps and soap dispenser.
Fly to Indore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad from Chandigarh soon
Passengers flying from Chandigarh will soon get connectivity to Indore, Kolkata and
Ahmedabad.
As many as four domestic flights are starting to these destinations after the Chandigarh
International Airport reopens on June 1 after a 20-day closure for runway upgrade work.
Go Air will start an Ahmedabad-Chandigarh-Srinagar flight on June 1. They had earlier listed this flight for April 16, but could not operate it due to airport’s closure.
Indigo will begin its Bengaluru-Chandigarh flight on July 1, while its flight to Kolkata is scheduled for first take-off from Chandigarh on July 15. Kolkata flight is also connected to Srinagar.
The airline is already operating two flights to Bengaluru from the airport.
Similarly, Jet Airways will start a flight between Chandigarh and Indore on August 1.
The airport currently operates 27 domestic flights and three international flights
Haryana govt signs MoU with PGIMER for newborn screening
Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij today said an MoU was signed with PGIMER, Chandigarh for training ophthalmologists posted in government hospitals for screening of retinopathy of
prematurity in premature babies.
Apart from this, a sum of Rs 545.7 lakh has been sanctioned for tertiary-level treatment of 511
children.
Vij said the training had been completed for Ambala, Karnal, Hisar and Fatehabad districts.
About 31 lakh children were screened under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakaram (RBSK)
during 3.8 lakh children were confirmed to have some health conditions, out of which 3.6 lakh
availed treatment at various health facilities.
These included 277 children with clubfoot, 97 children who were surgically treated for cleft lip and palate, 254 children who were treated for congenital heart disease and 106 children who were treated for other health conditions
These facilities were being provided at private empanelled hospitals such as Fortis Mohali, Narayana Hrudalya Jaipur and Artemis Gurgaon.
HHRC Considering To Set Up Separate Bench For South Haryana
With an aim to make Haryana Human Rights Commission easily accessible to the people of South Haryana, the Commission is considering to set up a separate Bench or a permanent sitting in the southern part of the state.
Justice SK Mittal, (retd.), the newly appointed chairman of Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) said that the matter is being considered to set up a bench of the Commission or arrange permanent sitting for people of south Haryana which would save time and money of the people.
People of south Haryana has to visit Chandigarh for their complaints resulting the loss of their time and money.
Therefore, keeping in view the problems of people of south Haryana, the Commission has a plan to set up a bench or permanent sitting after exploring possibilities
Foundation laid for India’s First Advanced Forensic Lab in
Chandigarh dedicated to women related cases
Hon’ble Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi laid foundation of Sakhi Suraksha Advanced DNA Forensic Laboratory in the campus of Central Forensic Science Lab, Chandigarh .
The Advanced Lab will contribute to address the gap in forensic DNA analysis of pending sexual assault cases in the country. The lab is being set up as a model forensic lab and would be replicated in other parts of the country.
The current capacity of CFSL, Chandigarh is less than 160 cases per year and the Sakhi Suraksha Advanced DNA Forensic Laboratory is estimated to increase the capacity to 2000 cases per year.
5 more advanced forensic labs would come up in Mumbai, Chennai, Guwahati, Pune and Bhopal in the next 3 months bringing the total minimum annual capacity of the labs to 50000 cases.
The Labs in Chennai and Mumbai would be set up with WCD funds while remaining 3 labs would be set up with funds by Home Ministry.
To meet international standards and deliver timely justice to women, advanced forensic DNA laboratories with latest high throughput DNA technology, are required..
Special forensic kits for rape cases:
Underscoring the importance of the forensics in nabbing the culprits in sexual assault cases, the Minister said that special forensic kits for rape would be distributed to all the police station sand hospitals by the month of July.The forensic rape kits are currently with CFSL Chandigarh for validation. These inviolable kits will be used for providing uncontaminated evidence. These kits would contain a complete list of evidence/samples to be collected along with the equipment required to collect the evidence. The kits would be locked and sealed before being sent to forensic labs.The details of name of the person, date and time of sealing the kit would be recorded in the kit.
Secretary WCD Sh. Rakesh Srivastava said that this project is a joint effort of Ministry of Home
Affairs and WCD Ministry and it will play a vital role in justice delivery system.
In sexual assault cases, the ideal time frame to complete the examination and submission of
report is 90 days. Furthermore, it is important that the biological crime exhibit is stored and
preserved in scientific manner so as to make any examination/reporting meaningful.
However, presently such a storage/preservation capacity is around 200 cases in CFSL,
Chandigarh.
At present there are 6 Central Forensic Science Labs (CFSLs) in Chandigarh, Guwahati, Kolkata,
Hyderabad, Pune and Bhopal and one State Forensic Science Lab in each State/UT. These las
are responsible for conducting forensic analysis of all cases in the country including sexual
assault, criminal paternity and homicide
In Sakhi Suraksha Advanced DNA Forensic Laboratory, four units are to be established
to address cases related to women:
❖Sexual Assault and Homicide Unit
❖Paternity Unit
❖Human Identification Unit
❖Mitochondrial Unit
Apart from the Sexual Assault and Homicide Unit, the other three units are interlinked
and will work to examine cases related to crime against women.
Paternity Unit is essential to solve cases related to criminal paternity, gender selection
& child swapping in hospitals.
Human Identification Unit is important in cases of missing person or children.
Mitochondrial Unit will conduct mitochondrial DNA analysis in cases where regular
Nuclear DNA analysis is not possible such as in case of highly degraded samples. The
Mitochondrial Unit can also be used to better explore family relationships.
Chandigarh: 25% water goes waste due to underground leakage, says report
About 25% water being supplied to Chandigarh that can cater to an
estimated 50,000 households is being wasted daily because of underground
leakage and unmetered water stands in colonies, leading to a loss of Rs 15
crore daily to the municipal corporation.
This is happening even when the city faces a shortfall of 50 million gallons
daily (MGD) against a demand of 116 MGD, a report has said.
Engaged to assess loss of revenue from water wastage, Mumbai-based DRA Consultants
have said in the report submitted last week to the Chandigarh municipal corporation
that 20 MGD water (25%) is being wasted because of leakages, leading to loss of
revenues of Rs 15 crore a year for the past 15 years.
A similar report by French company Egis International, which was allocated work to
develop Chandigarh as a smart city, had also pointed to 25 % water wastage, lending
credence to the findings of DRA Consultants.
Repairs of the Bhakra Nangal Dam by the Punjab government has led to the 50 MGD
shortfall in the city, which usually faces a shortage of 35 MGD or 45 lakh litre and is now
getting just 65 MGD.
Now, can’t transfer house on GPA
In significant development, the Chandigarh UT administration has decided not to
consider transfer of properties on general power of attorney (GPA) and special
power of attorney (SPA).
The decision has been taken following directions of the Supreme Court dated August
29, 2017.
According to the instructions of the UT administration, GPA\SPA cannot be treated
as instrument of transfer of title as per the Transfer of Property Act. No transfer of
title or mutation will be carried out merely on the basis of GPA\SPA.
Not only that, the wills executed along with such GPA\SPA will also not be
considered for mutation. However, these instruments — GPA, SPA and will — can be
used for getting the conveyance of the title deed registered.
The administration has issued directions to concerned office of estate
office, Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and Chandigarh Housing Board for ensuring
that the instructions are followed in letter and spirit and action would be taken for non
compliance.
Over the year, owners of dwelling unit constructed by Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB)
and flats in group housing societies have been transferred on GPA\SPA.
CHB has developed house schemes in different sector – Sector 29, 41, 40, 44, 43, 45, 47,
Sector 38 (West) and Modern Housing Complex — having around 64000 dwelling units.
The board has also developed rehabilitation housing schemes.
There are a total of 112 group housing societies—in sectors 48, 49, 50, and 51— in the
city, having over 1,000 flats.
Chandigarh opens Nagar Van
The city now has a forest where people can go for a leisurely walk amid the
wilderness or even for a workout.
UT administrator V P Singh Badnore threw open the 100-hectare Nagar Van, or
City Forest, located behind the Sukhna Lake.
The forest has been developed at a cost of Rs 2 crore and has walkways, jogging
and nature trails, shallow water bodies, visitors’ shed, rain shelter, meditation
hut, a children’s park, and even an open-air gym, said a press release issued by
the UT administration.
Forest department has also developed a bio-treatment method to sewage
flowing out of Kansal village in Punjab, so that it could be used for filling a
shallow water body developed in the park.
For this constructed a water channel of about 2km to divert this sewage to the
pond as part Nagar Van Udyan Yojana.
Also have used a wild grass (Saccharum munja), rice straw, gravel, and iron ores in
the channel to oxidise the water.
They had checked the water which they had treated through the method, and
found that biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels had been reduced from 70-80
mg/I before treatment to 7-11 mg/I after treatment, and chemical oxygen demand
(COD) levels from 200-210 mg/l to 27-32 mg/l.
The tests were carried out by Chandigarh Pollution Control Board (CPCB),
Later, Badnore also released a book, titked ‘Birds of Chandigarh’.
Green plan is out
UT administrator V P Singh Badnore also released the Greening Chandigarh
Action Plan 2018-19 at the inauguration of Nagar Van.
The annual plan is a guiding tool for all greening agencies of the UT
administration to strategise ways to improve the city’s tree cover.
At the event, an official of UT forest department said they had planted 2.39
lakh saplings in 2018-18, against the target of 2.35 lakh.
For this year, the target is 2.43 lakh saplings.
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