Holyday at Mansa Devi, busy days for Panchkula

Constructed in the early 19th century, the Mansa Devi temple located in Haryana’s Panchkula district was notified as a “holy area” in December-end. As per the notification, the holy area will extend up to five kilometres from the temple’s complex, and slaughtering, sale and purchase of meat and meat products within the said area will be prohibited. The sale of liquor will also be banned in this area. With this, it’s become the second place after Kurukshetra to be declared holy.

Not just this, the Haryana government has also decided to come up with a Sanskrit college in the Mansa Devi temple complex.

The move is to promote Sanskrit. The temple is nestled in the foothills of the Shivalik mountain range and is spread over an area of 100 acres bordering the village of Bilaspur, near Mani Majra, in the Panchkula district of Haryana.

Oxy-van coming up in Panchkula

An Oxy-van is coming up in the southern belt of Panchkula. Haryana Speaker and Panchkula MLA Gian Chand Gupta stated that it was after people suffered shortage of oxygen during Covid that they decided to come up with this first-of-its-kind green area spread over 100 acres for residents.

Gupta has already inaugurated the work on the first phase of Oxy-van scheme under which a green corridor spread across 100 acres is to be developed in Panchkula. In the first phase, 5,500 trees, vines and herbs are to be planted on seven acres. A cycle track will also be developed in the area. He said that the Oxy-van is being developed along the Ghaggar river at the foothills. A jogger’s track will also be constructed on the lines of Sukhna Lake and a government medical college will be constructed in about 30 acres in this area.

The Oxy-van is being implemented under the Nagar Van Yojana. According to the forest policy of the state government, 20 per cent of the geographical area of the state and district and 33 per cent of the area as per the policy of the Central government should be forest cover.

National Institute of Ayurveda

This year, the Haryana government approved handing over of 19.87 acres of land in the Mansa Devi temple complex to the Union Ministry of Ayush on a lease basis for the setting up of National Institute of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy at Mata Mansa Devi Temple Complex in Panchkula.

The project would be developed at a cost of Rs 278.66 crore and is expected to be completed in two years. The proposal for the same was made by the Mata Mansa Devi Shrine Board, Panchkula. The institute would have the facility of a 250-bed hospital, hostel of double occupancy with 91 rooms and six VIP suites. Apart from this, provision of residences of employees has also been made in the institute.

There would be 100 beds of Ayurveda and 150 of naturopathy. This institute will provide education to 500 students every year for UG, PG and PhD degrees and will also work on Ayurvedic treatment, education and research. The government had stated that the Ayurveda institute aspires to be a fully Central government-owned and operative institution on a par with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS Delhi).

Panchkula bans Pitbull and Rottweiler

In September, Panchkula banned Pitbull and Rottweiler in the township. A resolution in this regard was passed by the Panchkula Municipal Corporation. Following the resolution, there were protests by the residents who had kept these specific breeds at home. Later, the civic body gave one-month time to get them registered. The resolution was passed after the breed had attacked people in various states.

While the resolution was being passed, the Panchkula Municipal Corporation had said that they are taking this decision on the lines of Kanpur Municipal Corporation. It was also stated that hefty fines will be imposed for keeping these dog breeds in the house.

Paid parking suspended

After paid parking was introduced in some markets of Panchkula, there were protests by shopkeepers in various markets. The authorities were forced to withdraw the paid parking.

Shopkeepers of the Sector 14 market had protested against the Municipal Corporation alleging bias in introducing paid parking in their market whereas there is no paid parking in any of the markets in the city.

The shopkeepers also claimed the MC had introduced the paid parking at the Sector 20 market but withdrew it after the protest by the market association and local residents.

Paid parking is there in the main markets along main road in sectors 8 and 9 of Panchkula. Due to protests, paid parking was suspended for a few days in these two sectors as well.