22022024-CT-01.qxd 2/22/2024 12:59 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune GANG OF ROBBERS BUSTED IN P’KULA, MINOR AMONG 6 HELD MOHALI POLICE NAB 5 WITH STOLEN TWO-WHEELERS The Mohali police arrest five persons and recover 11 stolen two-wheelers from their possession. P2 PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 22°C | MIN 10°C YESTERDAY MAX 23.1°C | MIN 11°C BOY RUN OVER BY SCHOOLBUS; DRIVER, CONDUCTOR ARRESTED The Panchkula crime branch busts a gang of robbers and nabs its six members, including a minor. P2 FORECAST Schoolbus driver, conductor arrested after a student mowed down at Fatehgarh Sahib village. P2 » » 225 PANCHKULA 123 MOHALI 232 401-500 301-400 201-300 101-200 51-100 0-50 SEVERE VERY POOR POOR MODERATE SATISFACTORY GOOD INBRIEF YOUTH NABBED WITH HEROIN Chandigarh: The UT police have arrested a 24-year-old youth while possessing heroin. The police said the suspect, Nadeem Ahmed, alias Nandu, a Mani Majra resident, was arrested at the NAC with 6.51 gm of heroin. A case has been registered. TNS WOMAN’S PURSE STOLEN FROM CAR Chandigarh: A woman’s purse containing gold ornaments and cash was stolen from a car in Sector 34. Complainant Sukhchain Singh, a Mansa resident, reported that his wife’s purse containing two gold bangles, two pairs of earrings and Rs 4,000 was stolen from his car parked in front of a gurdwara in Sector 34. A case has been registered. TNS MINOR ASSAULTED, TWO BOOKED Chandigarh: Two residents of Sector 50 have been booked for assaulting a minor boy. The police said the 15-year-old complainant alleged that Jaskirat, alias Prince (19), and Rajinder Singh (53), both residents of BSNL Society, thrashed him near the society. A case has been registered. TNS WOMAN HELD WITH GANJA Panchkula: A team of the antinarcotics cell arrested a woman, identified as Neetu of Bangala Basti, Pinjore, and recovered 1.4 kg of ganja from her possession. An official of the cell said during patrolling in the Pinjore area, a police team noticed the suspect coming from Bangala Basti and retreating on seeing cops. The official added that the team searched her and found her in possession of 1.4 kg of ganja. She was produced in court, which sent her to oneday remand. TNS WHAT’S ON APNI MANDI Chandigarh: Sector 34, 56 and Ram Darbar Mohali: Sector 76 Panchkula: Sector 5 TWITTER/THETRIBUNECHD CITCO to run unsold liquor vends in city UT rolls out Excise Policy for fiscal 2024-25 Dushyant Singh Pundir MAJOR TAKEAWAYS Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 21 After 18 out of the total 95 liquor vends remained unsold even after 20 e-auctions in the financial year 2023-24, the UT Excise and Taxation Department on Wednesday rolled out the Excise Policy for the year 2024-25, giving several relaxations. The policy will be implemented from the coming April 1. The rates of liquor have not been increased in the new policy. For the first time, the policy stated that any liquor vend remaining unsold will be run by Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation Limited (CITCO). The firm was incorporated as a company under the Companies Act-1956 and at present runs various hotels and petrol pumps in the city. In the new policy, a provision has been introduced to debar persons convicted of a criminal offence from obtaining any type of liquor licence. The department will introduce the “Track and Trace” system to curb illegal sale of liquor. The bar code and batch number will provide all ■ Only 84 vends to go under hammer ■ No licence to persons convicted in criminal cases ■ Liquor rates not increased ■ Auction participation fee slashed from ~3.50 lakh to ~2 lakh ■ Reserve price down from ~486 crore to ~452 crore ■ Quota of IMFL has been decreased from 18.51 lakh to 17.39 lakh cases ■ Quota of imported liquor up from 74,000 cases to 1.74 lakh cases ■ ‘Track and Trace’ system to curb illegal sale of liquor ■ Two new retail sale licensing units will come up in Kaimbwala village and Khuda Ali Sher WILL PROVE TO BE DAMP SQUIB The policy will again prove to be a damp squib as they neither slashed the excise duty nor VAT. We told the officers concerned that if these changes are not implemented, 50% of the vends will remain vacant in the fiscal 2024-25. Darshan Singh Kler, PRESIDENT, WINE CONTRACTORS’ ASSN ❝ ❞ information regarding the manufacturer, manufacturing date and other content. Also, the fee for participation in the auction of each liquor vend has been slashed from Rs 3.50 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. The department has also reduced the reserve price of the liquor vends from Rs 486 crore to Rs 452 crore. The quota of the Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) has been decreased from 18.51 lakh cases to 17.39 lakh cases, while the quota of imported liquor has been increased from 74,000 cases to 1.74 lakh cases. Only 84 liquor vends will be auctioned this time. Last year, there were 95 liquor vends put up for auction, and 18 of these remained unsold. As per the policy, one licensee can take 10 liquor vends. To promote low alcoholic drinks, licence fee and duty have been kept the same on continued on page 2 Two African nationals among 3 arrested for drug peddling Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 21 Three drug peddlers, including two African nationals, have been arrested by the UT police that have led to recovery of 105.5 grams of crack cocaine and 19.77 gram of heroin. A team of Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) had nabbed a drug peddler, named Deepak Thapa, 26, a resident of Sector 38 (West), on February 16 while he was possessing 20.20 gm of crack cocaine and 19.77 gm of heroin. Subsequently, a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered at the ANTF police station, Sector 11. The police said Thapa was earlier arrested in a murder case and during judicial custody, he came in contact with a Nigerian, named Ola, who was also in police custody in a drug case. SP (Crime) Ketan Bansal said after being released from the jail, Deepak developed The suspects in police custody on Wednesday. NITIN MITTAL contacts with other Africans based in Delhi. “The Africans started supplying drugs to Deepak,” the SP added. Thapa’s interrogation led to identification of two suspects, who were apprehended from Vikas Nagar, Delhi, on February 19, while they were on their way to deliver cocaine. The police recovered 84.85 gm of crack cocaine from their possession. They were identified as Charlie Sagna, a resident of Senegal, and Daniel Ayitey of Nigeria. The police said Sagna had arrived in India in July last year and his visa had already expired. Meanwhile, Daniel had arrived in the country on a two-month medical visa, which expired in March last year. “Daniel was earlier denied visa following which he prepared a fake passport of Ghana and managed to get medical visa,” said a police official. Ending parking woes new UT Adviser’s priority Will leave no stone unturned to resolve the issue, says Rajeev Verma Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 21 New UT Adviser Rajeev Verma today said ending the parking woes of the city residents is his top priority. During an interaction with select mediapersons here today, he said his working style was different and he had set goals for the officers to take the city to the next level in every field. He said Chandigarh was a planned city and officers were doing a good work, but he wanted the things should be further streamlined. While talking about the ever-growing problem of parking in residential as well PROBLEM GRAVE IN SOUTHERN SECTORS Inner roads of sectors are narrow and at some places, cars are parked on both sides of the road. The problem is more in southern sectors. as commercial areas of the city, he said it was his top priority. He added that he would leave no stone unturned to resolve the issue. It may be mentioned that Chandigarh has the highest density of vehicles in India and parking has been a major issue here. Vehicles parked on pavements, roadsides and parks outside houses cause congestion on roads and inconvenience to pedestrians and residents. Inner roads of sectors are narrow and at some places, cars are parked on both sides of the road. The problem is more in southern sectors. The Administration has earlier considered community parking facility and stilt parking in new houses. After years of deliberations, the Administration had notified the parking policy in December 2020, but failed to implement it. The Administration then decided to revise the policy to make it more effective. On redressing grievances of the residents, the UT Adviser assured that general public would not be harassed and officials would remain present in their respective offices during the public meeting hours to resolve their issues. Verma said he would also focus on taking advantage of information technology to make departmental works easy. c m y b FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE Dhalor yet to take charge as Mayor Free water to be on agenda of new Mayor’s first House meet AAP had promised 20K litres a month for each household FILE CHANDIGARH SUNRISE FRIDAY 6.56 AM » THURSDAY | 22 FEBRUARY 2024 | CHANDIGARH AIR QUALITY INDEX SUNSET THURSDAY 6.16 PM Sandeep Rana Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 21 Residents may get 20,000 litres of free water every month as the new Mayor, Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), will bring an agenda in this regard while chairing his very first Municipal Corporation (MC) House meeting. Confirming this, city AAP coincharge Dr SS Ahluwalia said, “The agenda will be brought in our very first House meeting. We will keep the promise of providing free water to public in Chandigarh.” Dhalor, aka Tita, the AAP-Congress alliance continued on page 2 Chandigarh, February 21 Despite the Supreme Court verdict making him the city Mayor, Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor, aka Tita, could not assume the charge today as a copy of the order was not available yet. SC verdict copy awaited, Kejri may attend event A FAILED BID IN 2022 ■ During the MC elections in 2021, AAP had promised to provide 20,000 litre of free water to each household. The debutant party had won 14 seats, the highest in the elections. ■ In November 2022, the party made an attempt to get the guarantee through. It tabled an agenda in the House meeting to provide zero bill for consumption of upto 20,000 litres of water. ■ However, it never saw the light of the day. It is expected that he may take the charge in the presence of party supremo Arvind Kejriwal. Manoj Sonkar’s name was replaced with Dhalor’s on the nameplate outside the Mayor’s office in the MC building here. Dr SS Ahluwalia, city AAP co-incharge and councillor Prem Lata went to the MC office to confirm about the assuming of charge by the new Mayor. During a discussion continued on page 2 Poll fiasco: Heads likely to roll in city BJP Sandeep Rana Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 21 Heads are likely to roll in the city unit of the BJP following a fiasco in the mayoral poll preparations and events around hearings in the Supreme Court. “The party high command has taken the whole matter very seriously and is soon going to take some action. Leaders are very angry with local leadership as the BJP had to face embarrassment at the national level,” said a party leader. The city BJP held back-toback meetings today to ascertain what went wrong and who was responsible for it. “We are waiting for a copy of the SC verdict. Action will be based on the SC observations and directions,” said a vicepresident of the BJP . City BJP president Jatinder Pal Malhotra held meetings with leaders and councillors at the Sector 33 office. Earlier in the day, the councillors stayed at the PWD Rest House in Panchkula, while the three newly-joined AAP councillors were put up in a hotel in Panchkula. There are talks in the party that the three AAP councillors being made to join the BJP on the eve of a hearing in the SC did not prove to be a right move. The court has also observed ‘horse trading’. A senior city BJP leader is being blamed for it. Besides, two leaders are under radar in matters pertaining to extension of the mayoral poll date and events surrounding the invalidation of votes by the presiding officer. Questions are continued on page 2
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