In Brief

New Mohali MC chief takes charge,promises 40 MGD more water
Newly-elected president of Mohali Municipal Council (MC) Kulwant Singh on Monday took charge of his office at a special function held at Municipal Bhawan in Sector 68 here. Singh,who had served as MC chief from 2001-2006 before losing the MC general elections in 2006 but to be declared victorious by Election Tribunal recently,promised additional canal water to augment the potable water supply in Mohali. “Though 15 new water supply tube-wells were being installed immediately as a stopgap arrangement but we would make all out efforts to get started the work on Phase V and VI of Kajauli waterworks,exclusively planned for Mohali,to provide 40 MGD more water to end the water crisis once for all,” he asserted,while promising all round development and better provision of basic civic amenities to the local residents.

Berkeley Automobiles ventures into securities,commodities
Offering investment options in equity markets,the Berkeley Automobiles has now extended its services in securities and commodities through newly floated Berkeley Gains.

According to Berkeley Gains Chairman Rajeev Dahuja,investment options in the equity markets will be offered through Berkeley Securities Limited and Berkeley Commodities Limited. “The service roll out will be in three phases and initially it will begin from Tricity and nearby areas. Entire northern region will be covered in the second phase and the third phase will make the offerings available to rest of the country,” he told the media on Monday. He said the opportunity in equity markets is tremendous,with more than 30 per cent increase in the demat accounts being seen since June 2007.

UT workers’ hunger strike enters 12th day
Chandigarh: The relay hunger strike by Electrical Workmen Union entered its 12th day. The members of the union are demanding the fulfilment of their demands including filling vacant posts of various categories. A march would be organized to the UT Secretariat on April 21.

100 cases of illicit liquor seized
Over 100 cases of illegal IMF liquor was seized by the police near the Morni Raod T-point on Monday. An FIR has been registered against three accused under Section 61 of the Excise Act. Officials said they set up a naka near the Morni road T-point in the afternoon after receiving a tip-off about liquor being smuggled to Uttar Pradesh. A truck was intercepted by inspector Jangsher Singh at the crossing. Over 100 cases of IMF were found in the truck. The police arrested driver Sukha Singh,a resident of Meerut . Two other persons accompanying the driver,Prem Singh and Tulsi Ram,residents of Meerut were also arrested. The three were produced before the District Excise and Taxation Commissioner for penalty.

Two youths,allegedly involved in mobile snatching,were arrested by the detective staff of the police on Monday. An FIR under Section 356 of IPC has been registered against them. The police also recovered a scooter (CH-03-4445) from the accused,which they had allegedly used for the crime. The accused,Rajender Kumar and Deepak,hail from Uttar Pradesh and were living in Sector 21. They have been sent for two-day police remand.

CHB to invite tenders for Sector-63 housing scheme this week
Putting an end to the wait of over two years,the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has finally decided to invite tenders for the construction work for its Sector-63 housing scheme. The same would be announced through a public notice. For the first time,CHB has invited tenders through e-tendering.

CHB Chairman Mohanjeet Singh said,“This is for the first time that we are inviting the tenders through an electronic process and all the modalities for the same have been worked out. Within this week,we shall be inviting tenders for the construction work”. The construction work would be allotted to five different construction groups those would handle the different construction areas.

Besides e-tendering happening for the first time,it’s also the tallest building that would be coming up in the city. The building will have six floors and the construction work is expected to get completed in around a year and a half. While the draw of lots had been held,the draw for allotting floors was held recently.

Under the scheme,there are 304 three-bedroom flats,836 two-bedroom flats,532 one-bedroom flats and 304 houses under the EWS scheme. The approximate price of a three-bedroom flat with an area of 1,424 square feet is Rs 39.57 lakh,if the payment is made upfront. The price of category B house — two-bedroom flats with an area of 1,075 square feet— has been fixed at Rs 29.14 lakh. Meanwhile,for one-bedroom,it is Rs 17.2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh under the EWS scheme floated in 2009.

RWA’s governing body meets
A meeting of the governing body of Residents Welfare Association,Category I,of Modern Housing Complex (MHC),Manimajra was held under the presidentship of HS Nagra on Monday. “During the meeting,it was decided that members of the association will meet the Municipal Corporation and Chandigarh administration officials so that their long pending demands and other related issues could be taken up,” said the association spokesperson. Also,a new governing body was unanimously elected. H S Nagra was elected as the president and MC Singla and RC Dhawan were appointed as vice-presidents. Lakhna Singh and Pradeep Kumar were appointed as the general secretaries of the new body.

GMADA bans water wastage,forms teams
Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) on Monday imposed a complete ban on the use of water for irrigation of lawns,washing cars,scooters,courtyards and wastage of water in other avoidable household chores. The leakage of water from overhead tanks or individual pipeline from main pipeline would also attract action against the concerned consumer. The installation of booster pumps directly on main water line was also restricted. The ban imposed with immediate effect would be applicable in Sectors 66,67,68,69,77,78,79,80 and the bulk material market in Sector 65-A in Mohali and would remain in force till June 30. A release issued here this evening by GMADA Joint Director (PR) Surinder Dhundia said special teams of Public Health Engineers have been constituted to check the wastage of water and book the violators. A notice would be issued to the consumer found violating the ban in the first instance but second time,the water connection would be disconnected. The connection would be restored only after the consumer would furnish an affidavit committing conservative use of water and penalty of Rs 500.

Hansraj Public School celebrates anniversary
Students of Hansraj Public School celebrated 146th birth anniversary of Mahatma Hansraj today. Keeping the philosophy of all round development of students,a series of competitions like declamation,quiz,essay writing and painting were organised in which around 200 students from various DAV institutions of the tri city participated. Dr. B.C. Josan,Principal DAV College,Sector-10,Chandigarh was the chief guest.