10012021-CT-01.qxd 1/10/2021 12:56 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh TRIBUNE SUNDAY | 10 JANUARY 2021 | CHANDIGARH COVID: UT LOGS LOWEST WEEKLY POSITIVITY RATE AT 4.8% In January first week, city records a positivity rate of 4.8% as against 5.6% witnessed in December last week. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY TRICITY COVID REPORT CHD SAMPLES TESTED SAMPLES REJECTED POSITIVE NEGATIVE RECOVERED REPORTS AWAITED ACTIVE DEATHS P’KULA MOHALI 1,91,673 1,46,050 1,82,988 940 — — 20,251 10,199 18,656 1,70,482 — 1,63,809 19,696 9,836 17,384 82 — 523 228 219 921 327 144 351 AIR QUALITY INDEX CHANDIGARH 103 PANCHKULA 135 MOHALI 111 401-500 301-400 201-300 101-200 51-100 0-50 SEVERE VERY POOR POOR MODERATE SATISFACTORY GOOD INBRIEF STRAY COW CLAIMS 19-YR-OLD’S LIFE Panchkula: A 19-year-old boy riding an Activa was killed while his two friends, who were riding pillion, were injured when he rammed the scooter into the median in a bid to prevent a collision with a stray cow near Nada Sahib village here on Saturday. The incident took place around 5.30 am when the victim, Aveek of Sector 12, was returning home with his friends after attending a birthday party in Barwala. The trio was rushed to the Civil Hospital where Aveek was declared dead. TNS BAG SNATCHED Chandigarh: Three auto-borne miscreants fled after snatching a bag from a Sector 22 resident, Manoj Kumar, near the Sector 18/19/20/21 rotary on Friday. The victim claimed that the bag contained his PAN card, Aadhaar card and ~5,000. TNS PAGE 3 MOHALI MC POLL: SAD RELEASES FIRST LIST OF 28 CANDIDATES PAGE 3 SAD comes out with its first list of 28 candidates for Mohali MC elections likely to be held next month. MAX 18°C | MIN 10°C | YESTERDAY MAX 17.4°C | MIN 10.8°C SUNSET SUNDAY 5.41 PM PAGE 5 MAN STABBED TO DEATH IN PATIALA, NEIGHBOUR BOOKED The deceased and the suspect had issues over an adjoining wall, which led to the murder. SUNRISE MONDAY 7.20 AM TWITTER/THETRIBUNECHD FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE Staffcrunchtakesatollonculling BIRD FLU Only 3,700 of 1.66 lakh birds killed at two farms on Day 1 of drive Amit Bathla ‘OPS TO SPEED UP TODAY’ More manpower will be pressed into service on Sunday to speed up the culling operations. The whole drive will be completed in the next two days. Mukesh Kumar Ahuja, Tribune News Service Panchkula, January 9 Culling of birds could take place at only two poultry farms in the Barwala and Raipur Rani regions, which have reported the death of over 4.37 lakh chickens due to avian influenza, due to the issues of logistics and staff availability today. Twelve rapid response teams (RRTs) of the state Animal Husbandry Department, supported by health, civic and police officials, began the culling operation in the afternoon at two hotspots of the flu outbreak — Siddharth Poultry Farm in Kheri village and Nature Poultry Farm at Ganauli village of Raipur Rani tehsil. A total of 3,700 birds were culled – 1,000 at Siddharth Poultry Farm and 2,700 at Nature Poultry Farm — till this evening. The culling operations are expected to continue for two more days. Later, cleaning and disinfection of the culling area will be done. The authorities have ordered to cull 1.66 lakh birds to break ❝ ❞ DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, PANCHKULA NUMBER OF HOTSPOTS EXPECTED TO RISE A team of the Animal Husbandry Department during a culling operation at Siddharth Poultry Farm in Kheri village near Raipur Rani; and (below) a dead crow at Indira Colony in Raipur Rani. PRADEEP TEWARI CROWS FOUND DEAD MOVEMENT UNRESTRICTED Scores of crows have been found dead in several parts of the district, including residential sectors, raising fears of bird flu. Deputy Commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja said he would ask the Animal Husbandry Department to collect their samples to find if they died of bird flu. Even as the authorities claimed active containment in Barwala in view of bird flu, there was no restriction on the movement of people at poultry farms in the infected areas. Tractor-trailers transported chicken feed out of many farms, including Naveen Poultry Farm where 50,000 birds would be culled. the chain of infection. The culling operations were supposed to take place at five farms — Siddharth, Naren- der, Naveen and Sunil farms in village Kheri and Nature Poultry Farm. When asked about the slow pace of culling process, Deputy Commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja said more manpower would be pressed into service Ex-SHO, driver held in ~55L extortion case Panchkula, January 9 A former SHO of the Sector 14 police station, Inspector Naveen Saharan, his driver and Head Constable Harpal, and a resident of Greater Noida have been arrested by a special investigation team (SIT) probing an extortion and cheating case. The two policemen have been sent to four-day police remand. ACP Vijay Kumar, who is heading the SIT, said: “It was NO COP NAMED IN FIR No police official had been named in the FIR when it was registered at the Sector 5 police station on December 8 last year. The police had earlier arrested two Delhi residents in the case. after we collected sufficient evidence regarding the allegations against the police officers that we arrested them.” He said the two police officials were arrested on Thursday and produced before a local court the next day. However, the Police Department made the devel- Bizman’s ex-driver among 5 held for carjacking bid Chandigarh, January 9 A daylight carjacking planned by a former driver of a resident of Sector 27 ended with the arrest of five youths a day later. The police have arrested five suspects for trying to rob the 49-year-old victim of his luxury SUV (Land Rover) at knifepoint in Khuda Ali Sher on January 7. They have been identified as Amit, 27, a Nayagaon resident; Jasbir Singh, 22, a resident of Sector 65; Sanjay, 24, a resident of Sector 12; Multan Khan, 21, a Sohana resident; and Varun, 25, a resident of Was returning home in his Land Rover from his farm house at Khuda Ali Sher Dera Bassi. A knife, an Aadhaar card, a PAN card and a car used in the crime have been recovered from them. A case under Sections 341, 392, 34 and 411 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 11 police station. The victim, Tarun Mahajan, who is the owner of Mahajan Tent House, Sector 30, told the police that around 4:15 pm on January 7, he was returning home in his SUV from his farmhouse in Khuda Ali Sher when four youths in a car waylaid him. Two persons snatched his wallet containing ~8,000, his Aadhaar card and the RC of the vehicle at knifepoint and told him to leave the SUV. When he Continued on page 5 c m y b opment public today. No police official had been named in the FIR when it was registered at the Sector 5 police station on December 8 last year. The police had earlier arrested two Delhi residents in the case. Kunal Chopra of Nilokheri in Karnal had filed a police complaint that Kshwinder Sharma (with whom he established contact through Continued on page 5 The number of hotspots of the outbreak is expected to rise. The preliminary reports from a lab in Jalandhar have been sent to a Bhopal-based lab for confirmation on the presence of avian influenza. TEAMS TO BE QUARANTINED AT FOUR SCHOOLS Officials said the rapid response team members would be quarantined at four schools in Raipur Rani to ensure there was no virus transmission. tomorrow to speed up the culling operations. “We could only cull birds in hotspots Continued on page 5 Two killed in SUV crash at Kurali KURALI: Two persons were killed and one injured in a mishap near the Kurali light point on Friday night. The deceased have been identified as Yoginder, 26, and Rajesh Bhatia, 32, both residents of Sector 38, Chandigarh, and the injured, Surinder Kumar. The mishap occurred around 11:30 pm when the driver of the SUV tried to overtake a truck and rammed it into a pole. — TNS Door-to-door garbage collectors in Sector 21-A. PRADEEP TEWARI Two services, two payments? Sandeep Rana Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 9 While the local MC has stated that its two-bin vehicles will lift segregated waste from door to door and the corporation will collect charges from Sector 1 to 30 residents from January 1, rehris are still lifting garbage at many places. At some places, both rehris and two-bin vehicles are picking garbage from houses. Many residents prefer the rehri service over two-bin vehicles as the collectors lift waste from doorstep, unlike the MC vehicles. Many residents are apprehensive that at the end of the month, both the MC and the private collectors (with rehris) may ask for charges. “Rehris have been lifting waste from our houses as per the previous arrangement and the collectors are themselves segregating garbage. We do hear waste vehicles doing rounds in the area,” said Narender Singh, a resident of Sector 19. FOSWAC chairman Baljinder Singh Bittu said: “In our Sector 21, household waste Residents in dilemma as rehris pick waste despite two-bin vehicle service ‘MC VEHICLES DOING A FORMALITY’ In our Sector 21, mostly rehris are picking garbage. MC vehicles keep doing the formality of roaming around in the area. At times, vehicles are parked idle near the Sehaj Safai Kendra. ❝ ❞ Baljinder Singh Bittu, FOSWAC CHAIRMAN was being collected mostly in rehris. The MC vehicles keep doing the formality of roaming around in the area. Sometimes, the vehicles are found parked idle near the Sehaj Safai Kendra. The MC should let RWAs do the job through rehris. It will save on expenses on fuel and drivers.” A senior MC official said: “Our vehicles are visiting all areas from Sector 1 to 30 to lift garbage. We do not know Continued on page 5