14072025-CT-01.qxd 7/14/2025 12:37 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune TWO ARRESTED FOR THEFT AT SECTOR 19 HOUSE CITY’S JAYA WALKS AWAY WITH BADMINTON GOLD HEARTBREAK, HOPE AND A STORY STRAIGHT FROM SOUL The suspects have been identified as Vivek Bhatt of Sector 23-D and Ankit of Sector 22-C. P3 In the girls’ U-15 final, local trainee Jaya Verma outclassed Kabit Kaur Anhad 15-13, 15-6. P3 An eternal romantic, director Mohit Suri has often made hearts ache with his stories of heartbreaking love. P4 » » WHAT’S ON Centre sanctions ~24 cr, UT earmarks 2 acres for the facility APNI MANDI Chandigarh: Sectors 43 & 45 Mohali: Sectors 70, 78 & Phase 5 Panchkula: MDC, Sector 5 Please send information about events in tricity at: whatson@tribunemail.com Nitin Jain Cyclist dies after being hit by car Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 13 A cyclist died after being hit by a car on the busy 33/34/44/45 chowk yesterday morning. According to the police, an FIR under Sections 106, 125, and 281 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been registered at the Sector 34 police Station. Ankit Bajpai, a resident of Sector 45, reported that around 9:15 am, his friend Atul was hit by a white car bearing a Haryana registration number, allegedly driven by Akshu Jain, a resident of Model Town, Sector 126, Mohali. Atul, who was riding a bicycle, suffered serious injuries and was rushed to the Healing hospital in Sector 34. He was later referred to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, where he succumbed to injuries during treatment. The police have begun investigation into the accident. Chandigarh, July 13 Decks have been cleared for the setting up of the muchawaited 50-bed critical care hospital at Manimajra here. While the Union Government has sanctioned Rs 24 crore, the UT Administration has allotted 2-acre land for the new health facility. In a significant step towards strengthening health infrastructure in Chandigarh, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had approved the 50-bed critical care hospital under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PMABHIM) in January 2022. “This initiative is part of the Government of India’s ambitious vision to build resilient health systems and strengthen critical care services across the country,” a senior official told The Tribune. Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria has approved the allotment of 2acre land in Pocket 14 of Manimajra for the project. Following Kataria’s nod, Mohali, July 13 The police have arrested a juvenile and a mobile shop owner who were involved in the theft and sale of 12 stolen mobile phones, from a village here. On July 8, Mumtaz Alam, a resident of Phase 1, reported the theft of his phone. Next day, a juvenile was arrested with the stolen phone. During investigation, it came to light that the juvenile used to sell the stolen phones to a mobile phone shop owner, Kishan Kumar, in a Mohali village. The boy has been sent to the juvenile home. The police produced the shop owner in the court. He was remanded in two-day police custody. — TNS ■ The upcoming critical care COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS: KATARIA “The project is a testament to the collaborative efforts between the Centre and the UT Administration in enhancing public health services, especially in the wake of lessons learnt during the Covid-19 pandemic. It underscores the government’s commitment to ensuring accessible and quality critical care services at the local level,” said Gulab Chand Kataria, Punjab Governor-cum-UT Administrator. the UT Estate Department has earmarked the site along the 200-foot-wide road leading to the IT Park free of cost and has placed it at the disposal of the Health Department. The land has been allocated under the provisions of Clause 5 of allotment of land to various bodies on a leasehold basis in Chandigarh Scheme 2005. “The site has been ear- marked for the setting up of a critical care block (50-bedded under PM-ABHIM) as proposed and recommended by the Chief Architect, Department of Urban Planning, Chandigarh Administration,” the Joint Secretary Estates wrote to the Estate Officer, while noting that the ownership of the site shall remain with the Chandigarh Administration and the Health hospital will be a comprehensive facility equipped with emergency and intensive care units (ICUs), isolation wards, operation theatres (OTs), labour-deliveryrecovery rooms (LDRs) with newborn care corners, imaging facilities, dietary services, and the Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD) with a mechanised laundry. ■ The infrastructure will also include essential systems such as the medical gas pipeline system, oxygen generation/supply units, air handling units (AHUs), and robust infection prevention and control mechanisms. Department will utilise the site for the construction of the critical care block only. The Manimajra region, which includes population residing in areas like Mauli Jagran, rehabilitation colonies and the IT Park, lacks adequate secondary and tertiarylevel health facilities except a 100-bed sub-district hospital. The official disclosed that continued on page 2 FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE Banks flood District Courts with ECS-bounce cases A private bank files over 13, 000 plaints in five months Ramkrishan Upadhyay Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 13 If you have taken a personal loan or using credit cards and given the instruction/mandate to banks for electronic clearing service (ECS) of the EMI, then you must make sure that the auto debit should not bounce for any reason. The banks have now started filing ECS-bounce cases in District Courts for even one or two defaults under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. A private bank has filed over 13, 000 cases under the Act in the past six months. Rajesh Kumar Rai, an advocate, said the Act deals with cases of “electronic funds transfer”. It means any transfer of funds initiated by a person by way of instruction, authorisation or order to a bank to debit or credit an account maintained with that bank through electronic means and includes point of sale transfers, automated teller machine transactions, direct deposits or withdrawal of funds, transfers by telephone, Internet and card payment. He said earlier, the banks were not filing such types of cases in the courts for one PROVISION OF TWO-YEAR JAIL The defaulters are liable to be punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to two years, or with fine that may extend to twice the amount of the electronic fund transfer, or with both. or two defaults and tried to settle matter through various means, but now they are resorting to the legal course to put pressure on the defaulters. Rai said as per the Act where an electronic funds transfer initiated by a person from an account maintained by him cannot be executed on the ground that the amount of money standing to the credit is insufficient or that it exceeds the amount arranged to be paid from that account by an agreement made with a bank, such person shall be deemed to have committed an offence. He or she shall, without prejudice to any other provisions of this Act, be punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to twice the amount of the electronic funds transfer, or with both. The Chandigarh court has recorded the second highest pending cheque bounce cases among all union territories. The latest figures show 25, 437 cheque bounce cases are pending in the Chandigarh District Court at present. The cheque bounce cases are highest in the all categories of pending cases with 25 per cent share. Rajesh Sharma, another advocate, said banks were putting pressure on the defaulters for paying the pending loan amount. He suggested that frequent Lok Adalats must be held to deal with such cases. Advocate Ajay Jagga said to reduce the burden on the courts, a pecuniary limit should be set which can be Rs 50,000 or Rs 1 lakh for initiating prosecution. Even otherwise, for default on payment of petty amounts, prosecution is not a solution. Tewari quits as chairman of art, culture committee Requests Guv to appoint city Cong chief in his place Tribune News Service Boy held with stolen phones COMPREHENSIVE FACILITIES Tribune News Service MAX 35°C | MIN 28°C YESTERDAY MAX 35°C | MIN 27.1°C SUNRISE TUESDAY 5.32 AM /THETRIBUNECHD Coming up, 50-bed critical care centre in Manimajra RAIN SUNSET MONDAY 7.26 PM » MONDAY | 14 JULY 2025 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST Chandigarh, July 13 Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari has resigned from the chairmanship of Art, Culture, Tourism and Heritage Preservation Committee of the Administrator’s Advisory Council. In a letter written to Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria, Tewari has stated that he perused the list of chairpersons and members of the sub-committees constituted from the Administrator’s Advisory Council appointed by your good self. He was rather surprised to note that while the Chandigarh presidents of the other parties have been appointed as chairpersons of one sub-committee or the other, Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee (CTCC) president Harmohinder Singh Lucky has only been made a member of the CALLS FOR EQUAL REPRESENTATION MP SHIRKING RESPONSIBILITY: BJP In a letter to Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria, Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari said, “I would like to request you that in my place, kindly appoint Harmohinder Singh Lucky as the chairperson of the SubCommittee on Art, Culture, Tourism and Heritage Preservation. In that manner, the presidents of a substantial number of major political parties from Chandigarh would be placed on an equal footing.” Chandigarh: Chandigarh BJP media head Ravi Rawat has termed Tewari’s resignation from the chairmanship of the committee as nothing more than a mere show. He said while Tewari claims he is contributing to the development of the city, he is unwilling to accept responsibilities assigned by the administration. “The position of committee chairman is not a game of musical chairs to be passed around at will,” Rawat remarked. Art, Culture, Tourism and Heritage Preservation SubCommittee. This is a serious anomaly. Ideally speaking, no political person should be heading these committees. Only experts or people with special knowledge of the respective genres should ideally head these sub-committees. He said, “Under those circum- stances, I would like to request you that in my place, kindly appoint Harmohinder Singh Lucky as the chairperson of the Sub-Committee on Art, Culture, Tourism and Heritage Preservation. In that manner, the presidents of a substantial number of major political parties from Chandigarh would be placed on an equal footing.” People enjoy the cloudy weather at Sukhna Lake moments before the rain on Sunday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: PRADEEP TEWARI Yellow alert issued for heavy rain today Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 13 Chandigarh received 28 mm rainfall on Sunday, which was another heaviest spell in the region during the day between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) have issued a yellow alert for heavy rain at isolated places in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana on Monday. The downpour brought respite from the hot weather conditions but again poured misery in the city. While Chandigarh got 28mm rainfall, Mohali and Panchkula received 3.5mm and 5mm showers during the day. However, the relative humidity remained 86%. The moderate rainfall once again led to waterlogging in the low-lying areas, roads, streets and roundabouts, besides causing cave-ins at various road stretches. The inclement weather also disrupted the power and water supply at various places. Chandigarh recorded a maximum of 35 and minimum 27.1 degree Celsius on Sunday, which was 1.2 degrees above and 0.1 degree below Saturday’s mercury, and above normal by 0.7 and 0.5 degree, respectively. The weathermen have predicted a partly and generally cloudy sky with thunderstorms and rain in the tricity till July 18. Visually impaired players overcome first-floor hurdle Lack of infra at chess tourney venue fails to dampen the spirit of participants Deepankar Sharda Tribune News Service A volunteer helps a visually impaired chess player climb down the stairs at the sports complex in Sector 39, Chandigarh. TRIBUNE PHOTO: VICKY Chandigarh, July 13 “Complaints are prayers to the wrong god,” a quote by American novelist Anne Lamott rings true for chess enthusiasts with visual impairment as they take stairs to the first floor of the Sector-39 Sports Complex to participate in the 2025 AICFB North Zone Chess Championships for Visually Challenged. The meet, which should have ideally been conducted at a venue equipped with infra for persons with disabilities, is underway at an arena c m y b that was earlier a yoga teaching centre. It was only a day before the start of the tournament that tables and air-conditioners were placed here for the first-ever competitive event at the centre. As many as 80 visually impaired students are playing in the championships hosted by the National Association for the Blind (NAB) in collaboration with the AllIndia Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB). “We cannot complain about everything, life is challenging and we should learn how to handle and tackle such problems,” said Shubham, one of the participants and a member of the organising team, when asked about the difficulty faced by the players while taking stairs to the hall. “It’s for the first time that the event is being held here. This is a good venue. Earlier, we played on the Panjab University campus, where the arena was located at the ground floor. We faced problems here initially, but are now used to the surroundings,” smiled Shubham, who was hesitant to talk about the venue. The chess arena is up a flight of 18 stairs from a popular swimming centre on the ground floor. Notably, the entrance does have a ramp, but the approach to the first floor still puts the players at risk. The participants are usually guided by their subordinates. A not-so-easy journey Chess players have the privilege to watch the board, analyse it and the pieces before deciding on their move. Players with visual impairment, however, rely on mental calculation. “A normal braille chess board costs about Rs 900, along with squares and pieces. It’s quite heavy on our pockets. And like other chess players, we have to get coaching as well, which is also quite expensive. Since the sport is not very popular in India, we even struggle to get proper training. Chess meets for visually impaired also face difficulty in getting sponsors,” explained Shubham. The chess sets are designed with easily differentiable squares and pieces. The boards have recessed squares and the pieces have pegs atop one color of chessmen. The youngest participant continued on page 2