Hina Rohtaki

J S Gogia, General Secretary, sounded the bugle on the issue of increase in rates of petrol, diesel, gas, transportation, logistics as well as hike in rates of water and its impact on the everyday life of citizens.

The UT Administrator directed that the mobile teams for Covid-19 testing must be sent to crowded places, such as Apni Mandis, bus stands, railway station, Sukhna Lake, Rose Festival venue and such other places, where people gather in large number.

To monitor the field staff, the Chandigarh civic body took GPS watches on a monthly rent of Rs 17.5 lakh.

The work of restoration, preservation, conservation and management of Capitol Complex which comprises Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat building has to be carried out for Rs 25.51 crore.

Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner–cum estate officer Mandip Singh Brar ordered dismissal of an employee in a surprise check conducted at the UT estate office here on Wednesday afternoon. Employees of the estate office were in for a shock on Wednesday when they found Brar had raided their office. The Deputy Commissioner when asked one employee as […]

Those who are registered on the COWIN mobile application and miss their vaccination appointment can walk in at the health centres to get themselves immunised.

The hostels that have reopened are for those students who had enrolled before March 23, 2020, but couldn’t be allotted hostels as the university shut down due to COVID.

Residents of Hallomajra too sent in pictures of broken roads in the internal lanes. Tiles were kept alongside in the lanes. Also, another resident mentioned that roads in Industrial Area Phase I is in bad condition near colony number 4.

As many as 100 employees of the Chandigarh Housing Board were issued warning notices by then chief executive officer of the board. The CEO had even found most of the employees missing during office hours, resulting in public dealing being hampered.

As the councillors couldn’t get the works done last year due to Covid, each was asked to send in a list of priority works, which they wish to get it done in Rs 30 lakh first. A copy of the list is with The Indian Express.

The Sampark Centers will start accepting CHB payments from February 17, for cash payments upto Rs 5,000.

Even as the Chandigarh Administration says that digitisation is the only way to check corruption, residents, architects and experts suggest ways to check it.

In 2004-05, the Chandigarh Administration had announced digitisation of files with the estate office to reduce public interface. In a tie-up with Bank of India, an agency was hired to digitise around 60,000 files. However, the work was left midway.

The Indian Express in a series of reports had tracked paperwork stuck at the UT estate department.

The Indian Express tracked the case of Harvinderjit Kaur, who had applied for a completion certificate of her booth in Sector 20C a decade ago, in February 2011.

Earlier, a budget of Rs 89 lakh was allocated for rose festival. However, in view of the pandemic, it was decided that only symbolic celebrations will be held as the councillors had opposed the expenditure on the festival and had suggested that the same amount be spent on development works in the ward.

Senior officers remained tight-lipped on being asked about what decisions were taken and which important issues were discussed at the meeting.

The meeting started with the Administrator paying tribute to officials and workers who toiled hard to fight Covid-19 in the city.

Even entry to the estate office building is now possible only by online appointment, which takes around 10-12 days. Interestingly, you need an online appointment every time you go to check the status of your file being delayed by officials themselves.

The Indian Express accompanied Kuljit Singh, an architect in his late 60s, who has been trying to obtain an occupation certificate for his client Roopa Sharma, owner of a house in Sector 34, since February 8, 2016.

The committee said that the need of the hour is to focus on public transport, pedestrians and non-motorised transport.

Getting permissions from the estate office is a test of patience and nerves. While the UT Administration may make tall claims of digitisation, one needs to wait for countless hours, and make innumerable visits to the estate office to be seen and heard by the officials.

In the Budget meeting on Friday, BJP councillors proposed to keep a provision of Rs 3 crore fund for this housing scheme as of now, which may be later enhanced as the work progresses.

The Municipal Corporation's own expected revenue is really low as compared to the budget it has prepared. From petrol pumps, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation aims to earn Rs 130 crore while from property tax it expects to earn Rs 50 crore.