21052025-CT-01.qxd 5/21/2025 12:22 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune MULLANPUR SCHOOL GROUND CLEARED OF OLD VEHICLES NEW CHANDIGARH STADIUM TO HOST IPL PLAYOFFS RUCHI WEARS NECKLACE WITH PM MODI'S PHOTOS AT CANNES The police got case property vehicles removed from ML Puri School of Eminence ground. P2 May 29 and 30 matches moved to PCA stadium after the IPL schedule had to be revised. P3 Says necklace is more than jewellery - it's a symbol of strength, vision and India's rise on the world stage. P4 » » PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 41°C | MIN 30°C YESTERDAY MAX 41°C | MIN 29.5°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 6.56 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 5.44 AM » WEDNESDAY | 21 MAY 2025 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST /THETRIBUNECHD FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE Chd to become first slum-free city of country soon Nitin Jain WHAT’S ON CHANDIGARH Poetry: Poems and songs of peace by Amy Singh and Hanna Uma Laufer, Library of Alliance Francaise, Sector 36, 6 pm Women For Trees: An AMRUT Mitra initiative, Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla to be chief guest, Community Centre, Sarangpur, 10:30 am Interactive session on applied behaviour analysis: Convergence between education and psychology, Vanessa Worrell from Pepperdine University to be guest speaker, Panjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Renu Vig to be patron, Library-cum-Seminar Room, Arts Block-2, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Hall, Department of Education, Panjab University, 11 am APNI MANDI Chandigarh: Sectors 15, 40, 46 Panchkula: Sector 25 Please send information about events in tricity at: whatson@tribunemail.com Elderly woman acquitted in cheating case Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 20 A local court has acquitted 62year-old Krishna Kumari Sharma, who was arrested in a cheating case, after the prosecution failed to prove charges framed against her. The police registered the case under Section 420 and 406 of IPC, and 4 of the Prize Chit Fund Circulation Act, 1978, on a complaint filed by Ravi Prakash Gupta and 35 co-complainants on February 25, 2015. The complainants said they were members of the “kitty”/committee being run by the accused and all members contributed different amounts in the “kitty”. They asked the accused to disburse the amount but she refused. When they visited the accused’s house, they were attacked by her family, Continued on page 3 Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 20 The UT Administration is all set to declare Chandigarh as the first slum-free city of the country next month, claim officials. With 17 slum colonies already demolished to reclaim 504 acres of prime land across the city worth over Rs 20,000 crore, the two left-out slums spread over 15 acres will be cleared shortly. Following the demolition of the two remaining slum colonies, the UT Administration will reclaim a total of 519 acres worth about Rs 21,000 crore, taking into consideration Rs 40crore per acre as the base price, which Chandigarh had quoted for land to Haryana Government for constructing a new Vidhan Sabha building. Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav, who is also the UT Estate Officer, told The Tribune on Tuesday that Chandigarh was planned to be a slum-free city in its original Master Plan prepared by the SwissFrench architectural designer, painter and urban planner, Le Corbusier, in the early 1950s. However, with the passage of time, the slums mushroomed on 2 left-out colonies to be razed shortly, land worth ~20K cr already reclaimed TOTAL SLUMS DEMOLISHED REMAINING 19 17 LAND RECLAIMED TO BE VACATED 2 504 ACRES 15 ACRES ~21,000 CR LEFT-OUT SLUMS Adarsh Colony 10 ACRES Shahpur Colony 5 ACRES Adarsh Colony in Sector 54, one of the two left-out slums in Chandigarh, will be demolished shortly. TRIBUNE PHOTO: RAVI KUMAR BIGGEST SETTLEMENT CLEARED IN 2014 The biggest of all the 19 slum colonies — Kalyan Colony — spread over 89 acres and seven other slums in Chandigarh, with a cumulative encroached area of 302 acres, were cleared in 2014. Three illegal colonies spread over 16 acres were razed in 2025. prime government land across the city. “We have already cleared 17 of the total 19 slum colonies NAME WHEN RAZED ACRES VACATED Janta Colony 2007 & 2025 5 Kumhar Colony 2007 & 2025 5 SBS Colony 2010 2.5 Rajiv Colony 2013 40 Colony No. 5 2013 55 Kalyan Colony 2014 89 Ambedkar Colony 2014 65 Nehru Colony 2014 13 Pandit Colony 2014 13 Kuldeep Colony 2014 12 Majdoor Colony 2014 30 Madrasi Colony 2014 30 Gursagar Colony 2016 3 Sanjay Colony 2025 6 Colony No. 4 2022 65 LB Shastri Colony 2016 20 Kabari Colony 2014 50 SLUM-FREE CITY ON THE CARDS: KATARIA Chandigarh will soon add another feather to its hat by becoming the first slum-free city of India. We have adopted a zero tolerance policy towards illegal slums. Nobody will be allowed to usurp the government land. The reclaimed land will be developed to cater to the increasing demand for housing, commercial, institutional, religious and other allied purposes. — GULAB CHAND KATARIA, PB GOVERNOR-CUM-CHD ADMINISTRATOR ❝ that existed in Chandigarh while the process to demolish the remaining two illegal settlements is in the advanced ❞ stage of implementation,” said Yadav, while disclosing that the UT Administration has decided to declare Admn allows lifts in CHB flats Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 20 Providing relief to thousands of residents, the UT Estate Department has allowed the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) to install lifts in its residential flats. According to a letter written to the CHB Chief Executive Officer by the Estate Department, allottees are allowed to construct lifts in the flats constructed by the CHB, as per the design approved manually (till the time requisite changes in Online Building Plan Approval System (OBPAS) are put in place) through an empanelled private architect. It will be necessary to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Chandigarh Housing Board before the presentation of the drawings of the lift. For this, the allottees will have to submit the plan. This order will be applicable only to flats and housing units built by the CHB. The Administration has also made it clear that this permission will not become a precedent, that is, this decision will not be taken as an SLUMS DEMOLISHED COST POLITICAL PATRONAGE The slums were allowed to come up over government land under political patronage. The leaders of certain political parties exerted their influence over the UT Administration not to act against such encroachments for building their vote banks. However, this practice was not allowed since 2014 when the local officials started gathering courage to act against the illegal settlements. Chandigarh slum-free —the first such city in the country — by the end of June. He said the remaining two slum colonies were Adarsh Colony spread over 10 acres of prime land in Sector 53 and Shahpur Colony at Shahpur village with in the UT limits occupying 5 acres of government land. A latest survey conducted by the UT Estate Office, as part of the final proceedings to initiate demolition process, has revealed that about 5,000 dwellers were putting up in about 1,000 jhuggis (hutments) at 10 acres in Adarsh Colony. Shahpur Colony houses a population of about 2,000 in around 500 jhuggis spread over 5 acres. On the redevelopment plans for the reclaimed land, the DC-cum-Estate Officer said the UT Engineering Department will be preparing the plans to develop the reclaimed sites as an expansion of the sector area, in or around which they fall, under different components of residential, commercial, institutional and even religious pockets as per the Chandigarh Master Plan-2031. “The developed sites will be auctioned by the Estate Office as per the rates to be fixed in accordance with the laid down procedures,” revealed Yadav, while adding that the UT Administration has adopted a zero tolerance approach against illegal squatters/constructions/struc tures and encroachments on the government land. UTorder onindefiniteprobation period for teachers quashed Regularise services of teachers appointed in 2015: CAT Ramkrishan Upadhyay Tribune News Service Chandigarh Housing Board flats at Sector 41 in Chandigarh. FILE PHOTO example in other cases in the future. For issuance of NOC, a 15day notice will be issued to the rest of the allottees of the block for contributing proportionate cost, in case they intent to use the lift. The move has come as a relief to the allottees who live on upper floors and are facing hardship due to no provision for lifts. This decision will especially benefit the elderly, pregnant women and differently abled persons. In another big decision, the department has also given a relief to the people living in those buildings which are old and there is no space to install lifts. In such cases, the department has now given permission to install lifts with certain conditions. The order states that if it is not possible to construct a lift inside a building due to the design or location of the building, then in such a situation, the lift may be allowed to be constructed at a suitable place in its vicinity. But this permission will be subject to the condition that the ownership of the government’s land will not change for construction at that place, which means a lift can be built on government land, but that land will not be transferred in the name of the allottee. Chandigarh, May 20 The Chandigarh Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal has quashed an order of the UT Administration passed in 2017 for extending the probation period of teachers appointed in 2015 for an indefinite period. It has directed the Administration to regularise the services of these teachers and release the consequential benefits with regard to the extended probation period. Twentysix teachers, in an application filed before the tribunal through advocate Rohit Seth, had stated that the Chandigarh Administration issued advertisements for recruitment of TGT and JBT teachers 10 years ago. A written test was conducted in the February, 2015. After qualifying the test, they were given appointments on the posts of JBT/TGT teachers starting August, 2015, with a probation period two years at ABOUT THE CASE In July 2016, allegations surfaced that the examination papers might have been leaked. A SIT was formed by the Chandigarh Administration to look into the allegations. Despite the fact that they had at no stage been called by any investigating agency with regard to their appointments, the Administration passed the impugned order dated July 12, 2017, extending their probation indefinitely, said the teachers. fixed monthly emoluments without any other benefits, including increments etc. They said in July, 2016, allegations surfaced that the examination papers might have been leaked and it was recommended that an FIR be registered. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed by the Chandigarh Administration to look into the alleged allegations. The SIT filed a chargesheet in the matter without naming the applicants. They said despite the fact that they had been working to the best of their abilities and had at no stage been called by any investigating agency or SIT with regard to their appointments, the respondents passed the impugned order dated July 12, 2017. Through the order, they were intimated that their period of probation has been indefinitely extended and it will not be cleared until the final outcome of the case. The applicants contended that Administration’s action was in contravention of the Punjab Civil Services Rules 1994. They pleaded that it was a settled law that the probation period can only be extended if there is any misconduct/inefficiency or incompetency on the part of employees, which is not the case here. Meanwhile, the respondents justified the decision, saying that the matter of many candidates whose services were terminated was pending adjudication before the Supreme Court. Continued on page 3 Pay property tax by May 31: MC ‘0001’ goes for ~31 lakh, highest-ever bid Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 20 The Municipal Corporation has asked the residents to pay property tax before May 31 by cash or online to avoid extra charges and penalty. The due date for paying the tax by cheque is May 27. In a public notice released today, the MC said the residents would be given 20 per cent rebate on residential buildings and 10 per cent on commercial, industrial and institutional government lands as well as buildings if the payment is made before May 31 by cash or online. After the last dates, resi- Residents demand date be extended till June 30 dents will be liable to pay 25 per cent extra over and above the prescribed rates plus interest at the rate of 12 per cent from April 1, 2025, till the end of the month in which the payment is made. Meanwhile, the Second Innings Association, (SIA) here has demanded the date for paying the property tax with rebate be extended from May 31 to June 30. In a letter to the MC Commission, RK Garg, president of SIA, said the MC revised the property tax rates on April 23, but residents and owners of commercial properties have not received the bills to date. As payment by cheque is to be made by May 27 and cash payments at Sampark centres are limited to Rs 2,000 only, many owners will end up losing the rebate benefit. The association has appealed to extend the last date till June 30. Meanwhile, many residents say that despite the reduction in the tax hike from threefold to twofold, they have received notices for property tax calculated on the basis of the old rates. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 20 The most sought-after fancy registration number, “0001”, of the CH01-CZ series has fetched the highest-ever bid of Rs 31 lakh against the reserve price of Rs 50,000 at an e-auction conducted by the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA) here today. The second highest bid of Rs 13.60 lakh was made for “0007” of the same series, while “9999” fetched the third-highest bid of Rs 9.40 lakh. Also, “0009” of the same series was auctioned for Rs 9.17 lakh, “0003” for c m y b VANITY NUMBERS OF CH01-CZ SERIES The RLA office in Sector 17, Chandigarh. FILE PHOTO Rs 7.73 lakh, “0005” for Rs 7.66 lakh and “0008” for Rs 6.39 lakh. Also, “0006” fetched Rs 5.26 lakh, “0010” Rs 5.05 lakh and “1000” Rs 4.22 lakh. Number 0001 0007 9999 0009 0003 0005 0008 0006 001 1000 Highest bid ~31 lakh ~13.60 lakh ~9.40 lakh ~9.17 lakh ~7.73 lakh ~7.66 lakh ~6.39 lakh ~5.26 lakh ~5.05 lakh ~4.22 lakh The RLA conducted the eauction of vehicle registration numbers (fancy and choice) of new series “CH01CZ” from vehicle numbers 0001 to 9999 along with the left-over fancy/special registration numbers of the previous series from May 18 to 20. It earned Rs 2.94 crore from the auction. Only the owners who had purchased their vehicles on a Chandigarh address were allowed to participate in the e-auction. The second highest-ever bid of Rs 26.7 lakh was received for “0001” of the CH01-AP series, and the third highest-ever bid of Rs 25 lakh was had come for that of the CH01-CY series.