03092024-CT-01.qxd 9/2/2024 11:52 PM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune PANIC GRIPS RESIDENTS AS TANGRI SWELLS IN AMBALA DOCTORS' ASSN PROTESTS, SUBMITS MEMORANDUM BABBU MAAN TO STAGE COMEBACK AFTER 4 YEARS Residents of colonies situated along river asked to shift to safer places as water enters residential areas. P2 The Punjab Civil Medical Service Association submits a memo to Civil Surgeon on pending demands. P2 The singer-actor, who stars in Sucha Soorma, appeared for the trailerrelease event in Mohali. P4 » » WHAT’S ON CHANDIGARH City roads witness snarl-ups, schools in Sector 34 ground vicinity shut Deepankar Sharda Tribune News Service Silk Expo: Himachal Bhawan, Sector 28, from September 3 to 8 Play “The Cursed Throne”: An adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, by Shunya Theatre Group, Tagore Theatre, September 6, 6:30 pm, no entry free ‘Open Mic Poetry’: By Chandigarh Literary Society, Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, September 6, 5:45 pm, send entries to eventsofcls@gmail.com Launch of book “The Maz Files”: Author Mazhar Farooqui, House No. 105, Sector 11-A, September 6, 5:30 pm Book fair ‘Load the Box’: CP67 Mall, Mohali, from August 31 to September 8, 10 am to 10 pm APNI MANDI Chandigarh: Sectors 29, 56 and Dhanas Mohali: Sector 71 Panchkula: Sector 15 Please send information about events in tricity at: whatson@tribunemail.com INBRIEF MAN DIES IN MISHAP Chandigarh: Vinod Kumar of Sector 40 reported that a motorcycle hit his friend Jagdish, who was declared dead on arrival at GMSH, Sector 16. The police arrested Sachin of Sector 52. TNS Chandigarh, September 2 The city today witnessed a major protest by farmers, first agitation on such a massive scale in the past 15 years. Hundreds of farmers reached the Sector 34 Carnival Ground — a surprise pick by the UT Administration instead of the Sector 25 Rally Ground – in the morning to protest against the Punjab and Central governments over their unfulfilled demands. Their demands include saving Punjab’s waters from further depletion and contamination, providing canal water for drinking purposes, strengthening cooperatives, ensuring guarantee for gainful employment, waiving debts, etc. Local residents were inconvenienced due to the protest. The schools located nearby were either shut or their timings were changed. The traffic near the protest site moved at a snail’s pace. The staff of a majority of offices located in the area opted to work from home. After addressing the gathering, the farmer leaders held a meeting with the local officials and decided to hold a foot march by nearly 1,000 protesters at 3 pm. Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait also reached the venue and interacted with the farmers. The first session of the farmers’ protest was held at the rally pandal (tent), followed by the foot march in the afternoon. Members of the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) and the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, who had reached the site on Sunday, are likely to stay put here till September 5. The BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan), along with the BKU (Rajewal), Kirti Kisan Union, BKU Dakaunda and BKU Lakhowal, participated in today’s protest. As the 8km march of farmers started from the Old Labour Chowk and passed through the Sector 18 road, Bus Stand Chowk, Sector 16 Cricket Stadium Chowk before culminating at Matka Chowk amid heavy police presence, there were snarlups on various roads. “The UT Administration should not have allowed this protest in the middle of continued on page 3 Farmers take out a march against the Punjab Government in Chandigarh on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: RAVI KUMAR LIQUOR VENDS DO BRISK BUSINESS ■ Portable solar cameras were Vehicles stuck in a traffic jam in Sector 23; and (below) members of the BKU (Ekta, Ugraha) return to protest site after the demonstration at the Matka Chowk. PHOTOS: NITIN MITTAL/PRADEEP TEWARI installed at various junctions by the UT police ■ Traffic rules went for a toss during the march as buses, cars and tractor-trailers were parked in no-parking zones on main roads ■ There was a huge rush of protesters at the nearby liquor vends throughout the day and the countrymade liquor was in much demand ■ Two schools located in the nearby areas remained shut and the timings of other were changed ■ Most of the offices and coaching institutes located near the protest site remained shut ■ Delivery apps, including Blinkit, Zomato and Swiggy, saw low business ■ Two brothers from Mansa were selling kurta-paijamas at the protest site in Sector 35 MAX 34°C | MIN 26°C YESTERDAY MAX 33°C | MIN 24.6°C SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 6.01 AM TWITTER/THETRIBUNECHD Farmers’ march spells chaos on roads near Matka Chowk PARTLY CLOUDY SUNSET TUESDAY 6.42 PM » TUESDAY | 3 SEPTEMBER 2024 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE City perfect place to hold protest: Tikait Deepankar Sharda Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 2 Chandigarh’s beauty is mesmerising and even the famous farmer leader Rakesh Tikait couldn’t resist appreciating the greenery, wide roads and a clear view of the Himalayas. “We don’t even need tents here, such a wide range of trees to save us from the scorching heat. All you need is to sit without any basic arrangements,” said Tikait, while addressing the farmers near the Matka Chowk. He said, “It’s a fine place to protest and enjoy nature. Nnow that we have entered Chandigarh, let’s ensure our presence here quite often. You can actually visit nearby hill stations after protest.” Last year, the farmer leader came here in support of the local street vendors, who were protesting outside the Sector 17 Municipal Corporation office. “I extend my support to the protest. We are raising genuine demands and the Punjab Government should pay heed to it. The five-day protest is just a trailer, as the unions have shown that no city or place is out of their reach to wake up the authorities. The farmers are contributing to the nation and they have all the rights to raise their demands in a peaceful manner,” said Tikait, while supporting a law that would gave MSP guarantee. “The demands are for a new agriculture policy. The Punjab Government should talk to farmers and their leaders and frame a policy. We can make suggestions. There are many issues, including one pertaining to depleting ground water,” he added. Supporting the ‘Kheti Niti Morcha’ (on agriculture policy), various organisations, including contractual employees’ unions and a segment of the Democratic ROUTE OF MARCH PUNJAB CM HOUSE Sec 25 MATKA CHOWK Sec 16 Sec 23 Sec 17 Sec 18 Sec 22 Sec 21 MARCH ROUTE Sec 20 SEC 34 PROTEST SITE STIR TO CONTINUE While many unions returned on Monday evening, other farmer organisations will stay put at the Sector 34 protest site. Many leaders are expected to reach the city in the coming days to address the protesters. The traffic diversions are likely to be continued for the next few days. Teachers’ Front participated in the protest. The general secretary, Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, Lachhman Singh Sewewala, demanded promotion of chemical-free crops, compensation for families of farmers who died by suicide and measures to address the drug problem in the state. Farmer leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan was also leading the protest and demanded a fair hearing and resolution by the Punjab Government. Ugrahan said his outfit’s programmes would continue and the next course of action would be decided on September 5. He hit out at the AAP government and claimed there was no difference in some of the policies that the Bhagwant Mann regime was pursuing and what his predecessors did. “The development which the Centre claimed would take place by building major highways (especially Amritsar-Katra Highway) was actually going to be for the corporates. These continued on page 3 CARNIVALS TAKE A HIT Two carnivals underway on the nearby grounds were hit by the protest. The organisers claimed the footfall suddenly dipped to almost zero on Sunday evening and there was no business even on Monday. “I am not against anyone, but we demand some compensation from the UT Administration or the Municipal Corporation," said Rakesh Sood, one of the organisers. Farmer leaders Rakesh Tikait and Joginder Singh Ugrahan address protesters at Matka Chowk. TRIBUNE PHOTO: RAVI KUMAR Metro: Guv tells Admn to examine financial viability Free food, liquor for voters’ ‘khatirdari’ on varsity campus Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 2 Launch of Metro the tricity is likely to get delayed, as Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria has asked the Administration to examine the financial viability of the project in the cities of similar size. An official said a committee would be constituted to study the economic viability of the project in other cities and the report submitted in the next meeting. Advancing towards Chandigarh’s Metro-Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) network expansion, the 3rd meeting of the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) was held today under the chairmanship of SHORTER ROUTE TO AIRPORT A presentation was given on the alternative shorter route to Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport from Purv Marg (Jn-63) reducing the total distance from 11.6 km to 3.5 km. Punjab Government also informed the meeting about another alternative route being developed by GMADA, which will shorten the route from 11.6 km to 8.5 mm. The Haryana Government has put up a proposal to examine the feasibility of using the Old Airport Terminal route for providing easy connectivity to passengers coming from Panchkula and HP. Kataria to discuss the ‘Alternatives Analysis Report’ and ‘Geotechnical Investigations Report’ for MRTS in the tricity. The UMTA is a unified platform to handle overall mobility issues of the tricity and ensure coordination among various stakeholders, institutions and implementation of this mobility plan to improve the traffic situation in the city. In the meeting, detailed presentation was given on a Metro train network spanning approximately 154.5 km in two phases for the tricity. Under Phase-I, 85.65 km of route has been proposed in the tricity with 16.5 km of underground route in heritage sectors of Chandigarh. The major topics discussed during the presentation were ridership estimates, geotechnical investigations, alternative analysis, type of MRTS system, depot land requirement etc. As per the Alternative Analysis Report prepared by project consultantRITES, two-coach Metro has been found as most viable MRT System for the tricity. As per report, work on Phase-I corridor would c m y b be completed by 2032 with both over-head and underground network. Detailed deliberation was done on the subject and it was decided that next meeting be held after a month after some necessary further examination has been done in the matter. The Governor asked the officials to examine the financial/economic viability for similar-sized cities where Metro has been made operationalised for a better planning of the project in the tricity. Ring road The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has prepared a plan regarding the development of a ring continued on page 3 Akashdeep Virk Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 2 Attempts to woo students through freebies has started on the Panjab University campus. Since the City Beautiful is famous for its affordable liquor, hostellers are being offered premium whiskey brands by certain groups. Since the stakes are high for some parties this time, the ‘rate’ for a single vote has also shot up. To make things easy and feasible for everyone, ‘accounts’ have been opened up at shops of Student Centre as well as the Sector 14 market by parties. The students sporting party stickers are asked to reach a partic- PU STUDENT COUNCIL POLL ular shop where they have to tell a ‘code’, normally in four digits, after which they are served food by the shopkeeper free of cost. To prevent ‘over-exploitation’, the parties keep changing the code after a few hours every day. An organisation, which is associated with a mainstream political party, has been treating the students at an eatery on the campus for the past four days and has reportedly spent over 1.5 lakh on this ‘service’. However, there are also parties, which haven’t been able to please voters in such fashion due to budgetary constraints. “We had opened an account at one of the shops at Student Centre, but money we paid upfront exhausted in just two days. We cannot afford more,” said a campus student leader. Ensuring proper ‘khatirdari’ of students, many leaders have been supplying voters with premium brands of whiskey priced over Rs 1,000. However, procuring one is not that easy. “One needs to commit that his vote will go in favour of that party. Then, the representative has a word with some leader, who gives the go-ahead,” said a resident of a boys’ hostel. Cash is also continued on page 3