28032024-CT-01.qxd 3/28/2024 12:52 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune WORK AFFECTED AS HAFED EMPLOYEES HOLD PROTEST PROPERTY DISPUTE TURNS GORY, MAN ‘KILLS’ BROTHER DC REVIEWS PREPARATIONS FOR PURCHASE OF WHEAT Work at P’kula HAFED office hit after hundreds of employees held a protest over their demands. P2 A man shot his brother dead over a property dispute in Bugga Kalan village of Amloh subdivision. P2 Panchkula DC Sushil Sarwan chaired a meeting to review the preparations for wheat procurement. P2 » » AIR QUALITY INDEX CHANDIGARH 129 PANCHKULA 73 MOHALI 122 401-500 301-400 201-300 101-200 51-100 0-50 SEVERE VERY POOR POOR MODERATE SATISFACTORY GOOD INBRIEF MAN HELD WITH 110 GM CHARAS Chandigarh: The UT police nabbed a drug peddler with 110 gm of charas. The police said the suspect, identified as Ranjeet Kumar (29), a resident of Nayagaon, was arrested near the electricity office in Sector 17. A case has been registered against him under the NDPS Act. TNS THEFT AT OFFICE IN SECTOR 30 Chandigarh: Cameras and other valuables worth several lakhs were reportedly stolen from an office in Sector 30 here. Complainant Mohit alleged that eight cameras, a drone camera, lens and other articles were stolen from his office between March 24 and 26. A case has been registered at the Industrial Area police station. The police have initiated an investigation into it. TNS FRAUD: PATIALA MAN BOOKED Chandigarh: The UT police booked a Patiala resident for duping a woman on the pretext of providing a job to her husband. The complainant, a Sector 37 resident, alleged that Bikran Singh Attri duped her of Rs 10 lakh on the pretext of providing job to her husband in the Health Department. A case has been registered at the Sector 39 police station. TNS POWER SHUTDOWN MOHALI 11 am to 3 pm: TDI Sector 110-111, Sectors 88, 89, 77, 78, 94, 95, 96, Sohana Eye Hospital and CGC College. WHAT’S ON CHANDIGARH APNI MANDI: Sectors 34 and 56, and Ram Darbar MOHALI APNI MANDI: Sector 76 PANCHKULA APNI MANDI: Sector 5 MAX 32°C | MIN 22°C YESTERDAY MAX 32.8°C | MIN 20.9°C SUNRISE FRIDAY 6.15 AM TWITTER/THETRIBUNECHD FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE Bansal, Lucky supporters’ face-off disrupts Cong meet Issues ‘ignored’ biz community , wants parties to field local faces Have heated exchange in front of party leaders Shukla, Sukhu 2024 Sandeep Rana INDIA VOTES Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 27 In an embarrassment to the Congress, supporters of its city unit president HS Lucky and former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal had a verbal spat while raising slogans in favour of their respective leaders when party incharge for Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu were on the dais during a meeting at Congress Bhawan in Sector 35 here today. Tempers ran high when party leader Hafiz Anwar Ul Haq angrily replied to the city Congress chief’s appeal to calm down. Some supporters had a heated exchange as the meeting was disrupted. However, they were pacified with the intervention of all those present in the meeting. It all started when Shukla, Shuku, Bansal and Lucky arrived on the dais. Some workers started raising slogans in Lucky’s favour. Later, Bansal’s supporters also raised slogans in his favour. Things went out of control for the party as all those present there stood on their chairs and Tribune News Service Congress workers raise slogans during a meeting in Chandigarh on Wednesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO ❝ There was no fight during the meeting. It was just that overenthusiastic supporters of both of us raised slogans. They later stopped and the meeting was held in a conducive atmosphere. There is no infighting. — HS Lucky CITY UNIT PRESIDENT started arguing with each other. So much so that they did not bother about appeals of the city Congress president and Bansal to calm down. Even Shukla had to intervene. He later addressed them and clarified that he had not come to the party office to decide about the candidate for the Lok Sabha from Chandigarh. Today’s incident brought the infighting within the party in the open. Both Bansal as well ❞ as Lucky are in the race for the party ticket for the Chandigarh seat. Theirs as well as Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari’s names have already been shortlisted by the Congress Central Election Committee for the ticket. According to sources, Lucky was close to Bansal earlier, but since the city Congress president also threw his hat in the ring for the party ticket, the relations between the two turned sour. Lucky is also said to have told the committee that the party should have a fresh face this time, which was not liked by the Bansal camp. Meanwhile, Lucky said, “There was no fight today. It was just that overenthusiastic supporters of both of us raised slogans. They later stopped and the meeting was held in a conducive atmosphere. There is no infighting. Whosoever the party decides as its candidate, we all will work together for that nominee’s victory.” Chandigarh, March 27 Members of the Joint Forum of Industrial Associations have alleged that political leadership and UT officials had been completely ignoring their long-pending demands for the past more than 15 years. The forum is a body of 10 industrial, commercial and traders associations. Talking to mediapersons here today, they said they were promised before every election that their demands would be fulfilled. They even included their demands in the election manifesto, but never implemented it, they added. Members of the forum demanded that the political parties should field candidates from the city for the Lok Sabha election this time who could understand their issues and take these up with the Central Government. They said they had been demanding for a long time that leasehold units be converted into freehold with setting rights of titles of the Says long-pending demands unfulfilled despite promises DELEGATE POWERS TO UT ADMINISTRATOR ❝ We are a harassed lot. Every time we are told that the file is pending with the Ministry of Home Affairs. We want the MHA to delegate powers to the UT Administrator. ❞ — Chander Verma, CHAIRMAN, INDUSTRIAL CONVERTED PLOT OWNERS’ ASSN plots in the Industrial Area, misuse and building violation notices in the Industrial Area should be withdrawn, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act should be implemented in toto in Chandigarh and floor area ratio should be increased as it had not been raised for the past four decades. Arun Mahajan, President of Industries Association of Chandigarh, said. “Before every elections, they promised us that they would fulfill our demands, but even after two decades, we are at the same place and running from pillar to post to get our demands fulfilled. Our all demands are genuine.” Chander Verma, chairman, Industrial Converted Plot Owners Association, said, “We want the powers delegated to the UT Administrator by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Every time we are told file is pending with the MHA. We are a harassed lot.” MPS Chawla, president, Chandigarh Industrial Association, said, “We want this time, the candidates for the parliamentary election should be local faces, who should know the issues of city and help us in resolving them.” “We are fighting this battle for the past two decades, but officials and political leaders have never bothered to resolve our issues. As far as the issue of conversion of leasehold units to freehold is concerned, Delhi and Nagpur have done it. We have failed to understand why it is not being done in Chandigarh. In the past years, we have held several meetings with the officials and political leaders concerned, but got only assurances,” said Surinder Gupta, president, Chamber of Chandigarh Industries. Civic body eyes advertisement City residents irked over dug-up roads Allege MC failed to restore spots after laying of cables space on bus queue shelters Tribune News Service Sandeep Rana Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 27 Eying a revenue of Rs 10 crore per annum, the city municipal corporation (MC) has written to the UT Chief Architect for giving permission to display advertisements on bus queue shelters. There are over 400 bus queue shelters in the city and all of these have a designated space for advertisements. The civic body, if given a nod for the same, would float a tender to hire an agency for the purpose. The agency will pay licence fee to the MC and display advertisements of different clients on payment basis. The MC had sought permission before the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections was imposed. The bus queue shelters could be an ideal space for advertisements, but it appeared to be a long road yet, sources said, adding that the Seeks permission to display promotional material, expects to earn ~10 cr per annum Chandigarh, March 27 City residents continue to face inconvenience due to dug-up roads and pathways, which are not restored for weeks or months after laying Man duped of ~23L, 2 booked UT engineering department was yet to hand over the possession of newly-built bus queue shelters to the CTU. After it is done, a proper plan to sell space for advertisements will be chalked out. It may be finally decided that whether the CTU or the MC will earn revenue from the advertisement space. At present, the MC is earning revenue through docking sta- tions and unipoles. Besides, the civic body has readied its tender for offering 191 public toilet blocks for ads, eying a revenue of about Rs 40 crore in five years. The project for display of advertisements on toilet blocks has been delayed for over a year. The MC reasons it has been amending the old terms and conditions of the tender with the aim of earning more revenue. chandigarh, March 27 The police have booked two persons for duping a city resident of Rs 23 lakh. Complainant Ramu Nirmal, aka Ramu Vishal, a resident of Ram Darbar, Phase I, alleged that Jagdish Singh and Suraj Mohan, both Sector 32 residents cheated him on the pretext of investing his money in chit fund. A case under Sections 406 and 420 of the IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act has been registered. — TNS UT heritage items fetch ~23.46L at Luxembourg auction Chandigarh, March 27 Four heritage furniture items from the city went under the hammer in Luxembourg (Europe) and fetched a total of Rs 23.46 lakh. As many as five artefacts designed by Pierre Jeanneret, including a set of two easy armchairs, a writing chair, a low rectangular stool, a small desk, a set of two office cane chairs, were put up for auction, but only four items could be sold at the auction. A pair of easy arm chairs was sold for Rs 9.21 lakh, a low rectangular school went for Rs 1.80 lakh, a small desk was auctioned for Rs 4.69 lakh and a set of two office cane chairs fetched Rs 7.76 lakh. In a letter to External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and Union Minister GENERALLY CLOUDY SUNSET THURSDAY 6.39 PM » THURSDAY | 28 MARCH 2024 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST Art treasure tag must for their protection: Heritage cell member for Culture G Kishan Reddy, Ajay Jagga, a member of the Heritage Items Protection Cell of the UT Administration, stated that the Luxembourg auction house sold Indian heritage items even as the MHA had banned the movement of goods beyond Chandigarh in 2011. They were freely auctioning UT heritage without any fear of the Indian Government. On March 24, Lux auction house conducted the auction of four items from Chandigarh. “It is observed that unless these are clearly declared as art treasure and covered under the definition of ‘art treasure’ i.e. Section 2 (b) of the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972, the protection is almost impossible,” he added. “The declaration of Chandigarh heritage articles as art treasure would ensure ban on its export. As per Section 3, it shall not be lawful for any person, other than the Central Government or any authority or agency authorised by it, to export any antiquity or art c m y b treasure. Whenever the Central Government or any authority or agency referred to in sub-section (1) intends to export any antiquity or art treasure, such export shall be made only under and in accordance with the terms of a permit issued for the purpose,” wrote Jagga. He again sought examination of the matter accordingly and to take apt steps. “In the absence of same, we are losing heritage articles as well as suffering huge financial loss. Even after so much of smuggling in the past more than 15 years, Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, High Court, PGIMER and PU must be having articles worth Rs 1,000 crore or more,” Jagga said. — TNS of cables by some telecommunication companies. The work of laying cables has long been going on in different parts of the city. Roads or pathways outside houses are dug up for the purpose and many a times, these are neither filled nor barricaded for several days. Even when these are filled, the surface is not restored by laying paver blocks or bitumen, causing trouble to residents. “The area outside my house was dug up over two weeks ago, but paver blocks have continued on page 2