10012026-CT-01.qxd 1/10/2026 12:44 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune ACTION ON ENCROACHERS ROCKS MOHALI MC MEETING ‘OP SINDOOR EXHIBITED CIVIL-MILITARY COHESION’ ‘WOMEN CAN SCALE HEIGHTS IF THEY BEAT HESITATION’ The first House meeting of the year dominated by the ongoing anti-encroachment drive. P3 Air Chief Marshal AP Singh delivers first Air Commodore Mehar Singh Memorial Talk. P3 Prof Dame Parveen Kumar says Chandigarh continues to leave her deeply impressed. P5 » » AIR QUALITY INDEX CHANDIGARH 160 PANCHKULA 119 401-500 301-400 201-300 101-200 51-100 0-50 SEVERE VERY POOR POOR MODERATE SATISFACTORY GOOD CHANDIGARH COMEDY SHOW: International comedy queen Elena Gabrielle to perform at “Sounds of India – A Vir Das Tour”; The Laugh Club, Sector 26; 7 pm DIETETICS DAY: Talks by eminent resource persons, entertaining skit and engrossing quiz with focus on obesity control; LT-1, Nehru Hospital, PGIMER; 10 am to 1 pm APNI MANDI Chandigarh: Sectors 40, 43 & 49 Panchkula: Sector 14 Mohali: Sectors 71 and 82 Please send information about events in tricity at: whatson@tribunemail.com Traders protest in Sector 19 after a vendor allegedly slapped a shopkeeper on Friday. Sec 19 traders shut shops after ‘assault’ by vendor Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 9 Traders of the Market Committee, Sector 19-C, here staged a protest today, alleging that a vendor attacked a shopkeeper of the market. Sanjeev Chadha and Charanjiv Singh, president and chairman of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, respectively, along with other office-bearers, also reached the market to sup- port the protesting traders. The traders said the Municipal Corporation had started work to replace the pavers in the market for the convenience of shopkeepers and visitors. During the work, one of the vendors, operating a “gol gappa” kiosk, was requested by shopkeepers to temporarily shift his rehri to facilitate the paving work. He refused to shift his kiosk and allegedly assault- AAP puts speculation to rest, to contest mayoral elections Ramkrishan Upadhyay Tribune news service Chandigarh, January 9 Putting speculation to rest, the Aam Aadmi Party has decided to contest the mayoral elections to be held on January 29. Dr Sunny Singh Ahluwalia, co incharge of the Chandigarh AAP confirmed the deci, sion to The Tribune after holding a meeting with all councillors of the party. Sources said in a meeting held for over two hours, all councillors favoured contesting the mayoral elections. All 11 councillors of the party attended the meeting presided over by Dr Sunny Singh Ahluwalia. The stand taken by the councillors in favour of contesting the elections assumed significance in view of the social media posts by senior party leaders criticising the Congress. The post by Jarnail Singh on “X”, hitting Decision taken after meeting with all councillors of party out at the Congress a few days ago, had created a flutter in the political circles and put a question mark over the possible alliance with the Congress for the mayoral elections. Sources said the councillors were of the view that running away from the elections would not only send a wrong signal but would also cost them dear in their wards in the next MC elections to be held around year-end. Councillor told the senior leaders that the ruling BJP was already ignoring the wards represented by the Opposition. In case they were able to get their candidate elected as Mayor, they could get the pending works done, which would benefit them in the MC general election to be held in December. To win the Mayor’s election, a party needs 19 votes, out of a total of 35 councillors in the MC House. The Congress has six councilors and AAP 11. The Chandigarh MP also has voting right. With two AAP councillors joining the BJP recently, the ruling party now has equal 18 votes in the House. Vijay Pal Singh, president of the Chandigarh AAP , also attended the meeting. Meanwhile, a video of Malvinder Singh Kang, Anandpur Sahib MP also circu, lated today on the social media, in which he is heard saying that the people of Chandigarh gave the mandate in favour of AAP . The AAP will contest the mayoral election and hope that the Congress will support its candidate, as AAP supported it in the Lok Sabha elections, he says in the purported video. ed a trader. He also threatening the shopkeeper with a kitchen knife. After the incident, all market shopkeepers downed their shutters. They also lodged a complaint with the Sector 19 police station against the vendor. The Station House Officer (SHO) of the police station assured the committee members that appropriate action would be taken on their complaint. No classes in physical mode till Jan 13 Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 9 The UT Education Department has further directed to regulate timings/holidays of local government, private and government-aided schools considering the prevailing cold weather and foggy conditions, up to January 13. Earlier, this arrangement was made till January 10, which has now been extended to three more days. As per the previous order, there will be no classes in physical mode upto Class VIII and for non-board classes (IX and XI). However, schools may organise online classes from 9 am and regulate the timings for their staff accordingly. For board classes (X and XII), the schools may open but not before 9:30 am and close no later than 3:30 pm. Foggy spell to continue, yellow alert issued Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 9 The Tricity enjoyed another bright sunny day on Friday. While sunshine brought respite from chill, fog and haze continued to engulf a few places, keeping mornings and nights firmly in winter’s grip. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for dense fog and cold wave conditions at isolated places for another week across the Tricity. Weather is expected to remain dry, with no rainfall likely in the coming days. Maximum temperature is likely to ease to 13–15°C. Minimum temperature will hover around 6°C, with cold nights persisting. According to the IMD, the Moderate fog blankets Chandigarh on Friday. PARDEEP TEWARI maximum temperature in Chandigarh rose marginally by about one degree to 17.1°C, pushing it 0.9 degree above normal. The sunshine provided noticeable comfort after a prolonged spell of foggy weather. In contrast, night temperatures dipped sharply by 1.5 degrees to 6.1°C, slipping 0.4 degree below normal — the first below-normal night temperature of this winter season for the city. At the airport observatory, the maximum temperature stood at 15.4°C, while the minimum dipped to 5.4°C, with humidity touching 100% at night. Across the region, Bhakra Dam recorded the highest maximum temperature in Punjab at 17.8°C, while Gurgaon in Haryana was the warmest at 18.4°C. On the colder side, Bathinda recorded the lowest minimum temperature in Punjab at 4.4°C, while Sirsa in Haryana was the coldest with 4°C. While repeated sunny days are offering shortlived daytime comfort, meteorologists caution that foggy mornings, cold nights and intermittent cold wave conditions will continue in the Tricity for several days. c m y b FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE UT plans to launch Sec 53 housing scheme by March Tribune News Service WHAT’S ON MAX 16°C | MIN 7°C YESTERDAY MAX 17.1°C | MIN 6.1°C SUNRISE SUNDAY 7.20 AM /THETRIBUNECHD TRIBUNE PHOTO: PARDEEP TEWARI MOSTLY CLOUDY SUNSET SATURDAY 5.38 PM » SATURDAY | 10 JANUARY 2026 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST Chandigarh, January 9 After nearly a decade, the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has planned to launch the general housing scheme in Sector 53 by March this year. Scrapped several times despite two demand surveys, the CHB will now auction the site for the group housing scheme. During an interaction with mediapersons, UT Chief Secretary H Rajesh Prasad said the site would be auctioned in a fair and transparent manner and any private developer could participate in the auction. Spread over nearly 21 acres in Sector 53, nearly 11 acres have been earmarked for a general housing scheme for employees of the UT Administration. A demand survey completed in March last year received 7,468 applications for only 372 flats —nearly 20 applicants per unit —indicating a strong demand for CHB housing. Applicants deposited Rs 10,000 for HIG and MIG categories and Rs 5,000 for EWS. To give nearly 90% relaxation in need-based changes allowed in 2023 notification The housing scheme in Sector 53 has been derailed several times for nearly a decade. First proposed in 2018, the scheme received just 178 applications for 492 flats, primarily due to high prices — Rs 1.8 crore for a three-bedroom, Rs 1.5 crore for a two-bedroom and Rs 95 lakh for a one-bedroom unit — forcing the CHB to withdraw the scheme. In August 2023, the CHB revived the scheme, but then UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit had put the scheme on hold. However, his successor Gulab Chand Kataria revived it in November 2024 and in October 2025, he instructed the UT chief architect to explore dividing the land and auctioning part of it. The last CHB scheme was floated in 2016 for 200 twobedroom flats in Sector 51. Relief for 62K allottees likely by month-end Further, the CHB is going to provide some relief to nearly 62,000 allottees of the CHB. The Chief Secretary said an 11-member committee had been formed to review the policy on need-based changes in dwelling units of the CHB notified on January 3, 2023. The notification was put on hold after the order of the Supreme Court dated January 10, 2023. The committee will submit its report within this month and it would be sent to UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria for approval. The Chief Secretary said the exemptions given for need-based changes under the old notification were likely to be implemented up to 90 per cent. Some new changes will also be included in the new notification. The house owners have been opposing the January 2023 notification, claiming it reverses previous relaxations and categorises these as violations. The board has revised its need-based policy five times since 2010. The policy prohibits construction in front of middle-income group (MIG) duplex flats and extra room on the first floor in duplex ones. Approximately 55,000 of the 62,000 dwelling units have violations, including additional rooms, converted balconies, covered courtyards, etc. The first need-based policy was notified on March 23, 2010, followed by policies on July 7, 2015; February 18, 2016; February 15, 2019; and on January 3, 2023. In the policies notified in 2010, 2015 and 2016, the board had allowed the construction of a projection/balcony in front of MIG duplex flats with pillars below. However, it was rejected in the policies of 2019 and 2023 and termed as violation. Similarly, the CHB had allowed the construction of an extra room on the first floor in duplex flats over the roof of the proposed ground floor room in the policies of 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2019, but it was forbidden for residents of Sector 41-A in the new policy.