Vox Populi; Stringent punishment for drunk,rash driving

S K Khosla,Chandigarh

Traffic police needs to enforce laws

I wish to highlight the following serious traffic violations,which are commonly committed in the Tricity,but generally ignored by the Traffic Police. These are my following constructive criticisms,firstly,overtaking from the left side,which is in gross violation of traffic laws,can result in serious accidents. The driver ahead is well within his legal rights to take a left without giving a signal. Secondly,parking or stopping of a vehicle on the right side of the road which is a flagrant violation of traffic laws.

V S Sodhi,Chandigarh

City disgraced by events in 57th national games

THIS refers to the sad news that marred the conduction of the 57th National School Games that were held in Chandigarh this past week. The reports captioned,”Handball match ends in free for all,12 injured” and “No beds,athletes forced to brave winter chill on floors” (Chandigarh Newsline,January 11) and “More players injured,Kerala handball team forfeits rematch” (CNL,January 12). It was really sad to note that the semi-final handball match between UT and Kerala teams turned into a shameful battleground in which 12 Kerala players were injured,forcing them to forfeit a rematch the next day. More shameful was that spectators and supporters of the Chandigarh handball team also took part in beating the Kerala team members. And the officials and referees were reduced to mere spectators. This ugly episode has brought disgrace to the Education Department and the city. More disgusting was that some 2,200 players were shabbily treated. They were not given beds with adequate blankets and bedsheets and some were made to sleep on the floor with over 20 students cramped into one single room. I doubt if other states will be willing to send their students to Chandigarh for next year’s National Games. The UT authorities must apologise to the Nation for these ugly events.

R K Kapoor,CHANDIGARH

Citizen councils should manage new Haryana MCs

The first general elections to Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG),which was notified as a MC in June,2008 were finally conducted in May,2010. The Hooda government,in March,2010,also notified proposal for formation of seven new MCs: Ambala,Hisar,Karnal,Panchkula,Panipat,Hisar and Yamunanagar. The notification in respect to Panchkula was earlier quashed by HC in October,2010 on grounds of due procedural impropriety,but later the order was stayed by the SC. Amidst all this,the authorities need to do some explaining: If the state was so determined to establish these new MCs,why did it issued a notification only at the eleventh hour (March,2010) when the elections to erstwhile municipal councils/committees and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) were due? This apathy resulted in indefinite delay in holding of civic elections. In October,2006,the SC in Kishan Singh Tomar Vs MC,Ahmedabad made it clear that local body elections must be completed before the expiry of the duration of the five year period. Lastly,the delegation of charge of these new MCs to concerned Deputy Commissioners for continuous long period goes against the spirit of the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act,1992,which recognises municipal government as the third tier of government and mandated governance of local bodies by duly elected representatives. Until general elections,citizen councils need to be constituted for monitoring and supervising day-to-day administration of these MCs.

Hemant Kumar,Ambala City

HUDA has let down Panchkula

It has been highly disappointing for Panchkula residents to know that the artificial lake in Sector 24 is not going to become a reality. After giving false hopes to residents,HUDA has backed out and the project has been considered unfeasible. The proposal was welcomed by the residents of the city as there are hardly any places of outings in Panchkula. The artificial lake would have come as a boon for residents and also boosted tourism. This is sheer carelessness on part of HUDA. The authorities should not let people down and work upon the viability of the project as soon as possible.

V K Kapur,PanchkulA

City to get swanky Bus-Q-Shelters

Chandigarh is heading for a trendy,international look for Bus-Q-Shelters through the use of a material that always stays “young” – stainless steel. Soon,the city will have 65 new swanky bus queue shelters. The design has been picked from the 12 already being used in Delhi and other metro cities.The proposed bus queue shelters are expected to cost a whopping Rs 9 crore. The current bus queue shelters are devoid of any seating arrangements or bus schedules. Still there is no provision of bus time tables in the newly constructed bus shelters and those that had them are out of date.

Sachin Sharma,Chandigarh

Do away with ‘disturbed tag’

Surinder Bhardwaj has taken the right step,as reported in Chandigarh Newsline on January 10,to challenge the ‘disturbed area’ tag of Chandigarh in the court of law. The government has already claimed that normalcy has returned not only to the city but to the entire region. Apart form removing this tag,the Centre must withdraw the Governor of Punjab as the administrator of the city and the post of Chief Commissioner for the city must be restored.

A K Sharma,CHANDIGARH

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