07072025-CT-01.qxd 7/7/2025 12:30 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune HIGH RENT CLOUDS REVIVAL OF PRIVATE MEDICAL STORES DAY AFTER DRIZZLE, ORANGE ALERT FOR TRICITY TODAY NASEER’S FACEBOOK POST THAT VANISHED There are a few takers for outlets at UT Civil Hospitals amid concerns over financial viability. P3 The city witnessed a minor dip of 0.5 degrees in the maximum and minimum temperatures. P3 Naseeruddin Shah’s vanished Facebook post sparks debate on art, freedom & censorship. P4 » » GENERALLY CLOUDY MAX 33°C | MIN 27°C YESTERDAY MAX 33.3°C | MIN 27.8°C SUNSET MONDAY 7.28 PM SUNRISE TUESDAY 5.28 AM » MONDAY | 7 JULY 2025 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST /THETRIBUNECHD FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE High-end electric vehicles catch fancy of city residents THE TRIBUNE SPECIAL Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 6 Amidst the rising vehicular population, which has surpassed the human count, the craze for costly electric vehicles is also picking up in the city. Chandigarh has the highest per capita vehicle density in the country. Porsche’s Taycan Turbo S priced Rs 2.53 crore is the costliest battery-operated light motor vehicle (LMV) registered in the city. So far, six electric high-end LMVs, each worth over Rs 2-crore, and 38 each priced from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore have been registered here. Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav told The Tribune that Chandigarh had registered 8,469 zero-emission vehicles since 2020 in a rather slow but steady rise in the number of e-vehicles. “This is evident from the fact that from just 46 evehicles, including 35 fourwheelers and 11 twowheelers, registered here on 2020, the year-to-year registrations went up from 245 in 2021 to 1,006 in 2022, 2,870 in 2023 and 3,078 in 2024. As many as 1,224 battery-operated two and four-wheelers have been registered in Chandigarh till June 30 this year,” Nishant disclosed. Of the total 8,469 e-vehicles registered from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2025, as many as 5,442 are two-wheelers and the rest four-wheelers. With this, the total number of e-vehicles, including three-wheelers, registered in Chandigarh has crossed ~2.52-crore Porsche costliest vehicle in category to be registered CHD TO BECOME FIRST EV CITY BY 2027: DC TEN PRICIEST EVs YEAR 2023 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 2024 ❝ We are following an EV policy which envisions making Chandigarh the first model EV city in India by achieving the highest zero-emission vehicle adoption rates in the country by 2027. ❞ — NISHANT KUMAR YADAV, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER the 20,000-mark. This was, however, not even 2% (precisely 1.4%) of over 14.27lakh petrol, diesel and CNG vehicles registered in the Union Territory, which has an estimated population of 13 lakh. UT has 3,027 registered electric four-wheelers. PRADEEP TEWARI Of the total 3,027 electric four-wheelers registered in the city, the lucky owners of the first 2,000 non-polluting vehicles have been given a subsidy of Rs 1.5lakh each under the UT’s EV policy. In September 2022, the UT Administration had announced a subsidy of Rs 1.5-lakh to the buyer of each electric non-transport fourwheeler for personal use under its EV policy to promote the environment-friendly VEHICLE Porsche Porsche Porsche Porsche Porsche Porsche Audi BMW BMW BMW PRICE ~2.52 cr ~2.41 cr ~2.41 cr ~2.36 cr ~2.32 cr ~2.01 cr ~ 1.97 cr ~ 1.93 cr ~1.93 cr ~1.93 cr (FIGURES TILL JUNE 30, 2025) vehicles in Chandigarh. The policy, which is aimed at making Chandigarh a “model EV city” with one of the highest adoption rate of zero-emission vehicles by 2027, also offered subsidies for other categories of elec- tric vehicles, including ecycles and e-bikes. Besides, there is a quota of 42,000 vehicles for incentives on a first come, first served basis. Till now, Chandigarh has disbursed over Rs 35 crore as incentive to the buyers of e-vehicles under different categories, including Rs 30 crore to 2,000 electric fourwheelers under the policy. The policy entailed incentives ranging between Rs 3,000 and Rs 2 lakh for the first 42,000 e-vehicles of different categories, including 25,000 e-cycles, 10,000 ebikes, 2,000 e-cars (personal) and e-cars (commercial), purchased from September 20, 2022, to September 19, 2027. Following the exhaustion of the quota for incentives to electric cars (personal), the new buyers are no longer getting Rs 1.5-lakh subsidy. In order to attract more adoption of zero-emission vehicles, the UT Administration has already reached out to the Centre, seeking transfer of unused subsidy quota for e-cycles and ecommercial vehicles to the e-cars (personal) for promoting the shift towards zeroemission vehicles in Chandigarh. However, the Union Government is yet to take a call on the UT’s proposal. Besides the subsidy on purchase of e-vehicles, the owners of battery-operated vehicles in Chandigarh are offered free parking at paid lots of the Municipal Corporation and waiver of registration fee and road tax for five years. CAP ON NON-EVs NO MORE With the aim of gradually phasing out fuel-powered continued on page 3 Eligible residents hassled, delay in finalising policy flagged 31 years on, PGI orders cadre restructuring for technical employees Ramkrishan Upadhyay Sheetal Confusion mars community centre free bookings in UT WHAT’S ON 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 INBRIEF TWO DUPED OF OVER ~12 LAKH Chandigarh: A woman of Sector 44 was allegedly duped of Rs 6.13 lakh in a KYC update fraud. In another cheating case, Parwinder Singh of Patiala filed a complaint against Shiv Kumar and others of Eye Visa Consultant, Sector 22-B, for allegedly cheating him out of Rs 5.90 lakh on the pretext of providing Australian work visa. TNS HOUSE BURGLED Chandigarh: Thieves have stolen 30-gm gold jewellery, 40-gm silver, three watches and Rs 10,000 in cash from the house of Gobinder Singh in Sector 44-C here. TNS CHANGES IN DRAFT POLICY FACE BACKLASH Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 6 Already marred by the proposed hike in booking charges and allegations of reservation under fake names, the city’s community centres now face another issue in the form of confusion over free bookings. Several councillors have alleged that Sampark and booking centre employees are not accepting the forms for free booking submitted by eligible residents from underprivileged sections, even after the recommendations of the councillors. The residents are being asked to submit additional documents, which are not required, they added.. The prevailing policy allows that free bookings of community centres shall be provided to residents from underprivileged backgrounds for weddings. The only verification required is the recommendation of the area councillor. The practice has been in place for several years but after the recent vigilance investigation marked by the Municipal Commissioner into the allegations of misappropriation of funds collected through bookings, eligible people are facing difficulties in availing of the facility. Delivery boy attacked in Mohali, shots fired Tribune News Service Mahesinder Singh Sidhu, councillor from Ward Number 2 said there is complete confusion over the process. Recently, he had recommended holding a meeting of the Senior Citizen Association in community centres from his ward. The Sampark employees , however, refused to book the centre, seeking the counter signature from the officer on special duty (OSD), who refused to sign, saying that his signature was only required in the cases of the free bookings for weddings of eligible applicants. Sidhu said there was no written policy mandating counter signatures from the OSD. Suresh Inder Singh, mem- ber of the senior citizens association, meanwhile, rued the harassment faced during the booking process. “If a clearcut policy is not put in place, people will continue to face such harassment,” he added. Councillor Jasbir Singh Ladi said he had recommended free booking of a community centre for a wedding but additional documents were demanded at the booking centre. Gurpreet Singh, another councillor, seconded the need for clear-cut guidelines for defining eligible people. He said at present, it is left at the discretion of the councillor concerned, which creates a problem. “Due to this lack of clarity, everybody is running away from the responsibility and harassing the people. In some cases, permission is given and in some cases additional documents are being demanded,” he added. Agenda to be table in House meet: Mayor Addressing the issue, Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla said the agenda for deciding the new policy for management of the community centres will be tabled in the civic body’s next General House meeting. She added that she has refrained from recommending any free bookings till the new policy is finalised. Chandigarh, July 6 The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here has issued orders for the restructuring of cadre of its technical staff (laboratory, Xray and radiotherapy) with retrospective effect from March 1, 1992. It will benefit a large number of employees in terms of salary and service status. The development has finally brings to fruition the 31year struggle of the non-faculty staff for their demands. It will ensure compliance with the judgment of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Chandigarh Bench, dated July 10, 2013, and the Supreme Court order dated January 11, 2019. The civil writ petition was first filed in 1994 by the Joint Action Committee of the regular employees of the PGI. A few employees have passed away awaiting justice. The cadre restructuring is based on recommendations of the Cadre Anomaly Committee headed by Prof S Prabhakar and has been approved by the institute’s governing body. It replaces the earlier office order issued on February 5, 2020. The Close shave Earlier, the technical staff recruited with BSc in Medical Technology started at grade pay Rs 4,200 (Pay Level 6). Even after two promotions, they remained within grade pay of Rs 4,200 and Rs 4,600, making the promotions largely symbolic. Under the new structure, the cadre will now progress up to grade pay Rs 7,600 (Pay Level 12) for the newly proposed post of chief technical officer, thereby making promotions truly beneficial in terms of financial and service status. PGI Administration and Health Ministry took 5 years for getting approval from Governing Body. Financial implications and further action move introduces a six-tier promotional structure for technical staff — technician, senior technician, technical assistant, technical officer, senior technical officer and chief technical officer. The implementation has significant financial implications estimated at Rs 100 crore, including arrears and retirement benefits. The process to conduct Departmental Promotion Committees (DPC) in accordance with the revised structure is expected to begin shortly. While the PGIMER does not have posts for Chief Technical Officer, proposals for seven such posts (five for laboratory and one each for X-ray & radiotherapy) have been submitted to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for necessary approval. Court pressure prompted partial action earlier Legal journey, vindication of non-faculty staff To avoid the wrath of the court during contempt petition proceedings, the PGI Director had passed an office order dated February 5, 2020, in pursuance of the approval of the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, conveyed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on January 28, 2020. However, This long-awaited reform follows a tumultuous legal and administrative battle. After accepting 28 out of 29 demands of the non-faculty staff in its 2013 judgment, CAT’s orders were repeatedly challenged by the PGI Administration and the Centre through multiple rounds continued on page 3 City police detain two juveniles In his complainant lodged with the police, Lucky has stated that a coworker, Sandeep, started arguments with him outside the office in the Industrial Area on Saturday night. He called his friends who arrived there and attacked him. there and attacked him. When others intervened, one of the assailants fired two gunshots towards the ground. They hit Lucky with sharp weapons and bricks, and fled the spot leaving him severely injured. A case of attempt to murder and under the Arms Act has been registered. HOW IT IMPACTS PROMOTIONS P’kula youth stabbed to death in Indira Colony WHAT LED TO ASSAULT Mohali, July 6 The police have arrested one person and booked four others for attacking a delivery boy with sharp weapons and firing two gunshots in Phase 8 industrial area last night. The victim, Lucky (25), a Phase 2 resident, sustained injuries on the head and was admitted to the Phase 6 Civil Hospital. In his complainant lodged with the police, he stated that a co-worker, Sandeep, started arguments with him outside the office in the Industrial Area on Saturday night. He called his friends who arrived The Community Centre at Sector 38 (West), Chandigarh. FILE PHOTO In the draft policy, the MC has proposed a hike in booking rates of the community centres. With the aim to generate more revenue, the civic body was also planning to allow commercial activities like exhibitions at the community centres, while restricting the bookings for the RWAs. The RWAs will not be given community centres for free. Neither will they be allowed to put up advertisements. The decision on the policy was deferred after protests by councillors against the proposed hike in rates. Tribune News Service Three persons suffered injuries as two cars collided near the lake in Sector 42, Chandigarh, on Sunday. PRADEEP TEWARI PAGE 3 c m y b Chandigarh, July 6 A 19-year-old youth from Panchkula was killed in a stabbing incident at Indira Colony here on Saturday night. The deceased, identified as Sanjeev, a resident of Rajiv Colony, had reportedly visited a friend’s home when he was attacked by a group of youths. Police sources stated that Sanjeev was surrounded by four youths who stabbed him multiple times in the chest and abdomen before fleeing the scene. Bystanders immediately informed the Police Control Room, and the victim was rushed to the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16. He, however, succumbed to injuries. The post-mortem report revealed that his vital organs were punctured, leading to his death. The UT police registered an FIR at the IT Park station and detained two juveniles in connection with the crime. Initial investigations suggest that the attack may have stemmed from allegations that Sanjeev had been stalking one of the accused’s sisters. — TNS