Sukhjeevan Sharma,,
Panchkula: The panchkula Municipal Council was formed on 25th January 2001. The election was held in the year 2003 and Seema Chaudhary of INLD was elected as President of municipalcouncil but after some days due to groupisms Tarun Bhandari was elected as a president then after some time Manveer Kaur Gill took charge of mc president,. But again after the orders on the court, the chair again came to Seema Chaudhary. In the year 2008 elections were held and Ravinder Rawal of congress was elected as President of MC. After that on the complaint of VK Sood of BJP election department sacked Ravinder Rawal from presidentship. In the year 2010 the Haryana government declared the panchkula as a corporation instead of council. But Ravinder Rawal filed a suit in the high court and high court gave decision in his favour and he took charge of mc president. Then in the year 2011, Hon’ble Supreme Court stayed the decision of high court and the verdict of Supreme Court is still pendingthat the panchkula will be corporation or council. Even the ward delimitation has been has been challenged in the court. But he district administration after having the meeting the adhoc committee released the list of ward delimitation forming twenty wards in panchkula.
Due to tussle between Council and Corporation work on Projects of Crores Stopped : In the year 2008-09 the house passed the bill of rupees 1.75 crore to construct permanent cattle pound (Gaushalla) near pinjore. Govt. gave green signal to the project. Municipal council also provided 10 acre of land for the project. But till now not even single brick has not laid. In the same year, the project to construct 600 ft long parking in sector-4 was passed for rupees 15 lakh. But till date only 3 lakh was spent on the parking. Maintenance work of sector-21-22 &23 is still with HUDA. The situation of sanitation work is worst in these sectors. Residents cry for the proper maintenance of the sectors. Municipal Councilors many times appealed the house to give these sectors to council. But till date the bill was not passed. The house has also passed to open one more fire station in the city. But till now nothing have been done.
Country’s first RFID Technology Based Electronic Toll Plaza dedicated to the Nation : In April, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Dr. CP Joshi dedicated to the nation country’s first RFID Technology Based Electronic Toll collection Plaza at Chandimandir, Punchkula (Haryana) and four-laned Zirakpur-Parwanoo section of NH-5 in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Referring about the new RFID Toll Plaza, all the highways in the country will be provided RFID technique, which helps users to make payment without stopping at toll plazas and reduces traffic congestion and commuting time. Toll Statements can also be made available on line to the road users and they need not have to stop for receipt.
Manmohan & Sonia was in city on 13th april : Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh & UPA Chairman Sonia Gandhi was the chief guest during the 25th Anniversary of North-East Zone Cultural centers and inaugurated four days cultural programmes which was held at parade ground, sector-5 here. The district administration made elaborate arrangements of the security of VVIP’s & VIP’s in and around parade ground for the celebrations.
CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda inaugurated maximum projects : Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooday was in the district on many occasion fo rth einauguration of projects. He inaugurated Akshay Urja Bhavan in sector-14 to be constructed with the cost of 11 crore. This building will house the offices of the Renewable Energy Deparmtent & Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA).The building of Field Hostel of Haryana Urban Development Authority in sector-6, was also inaugurated by hooda on 6th November. Hooda also inaugurated the first 2-day Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board Fruit, Vegetable and Flower Festival in sector-14. Income Tax Department, Panchkula has gone a step further to provide citizen friendly services to the Tax Payers by opening Aaykar Seva Kender (ASK) at Panchkula. It was inaugurated by Dr.Sudha Sharma, Hon’ble Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes, New Delhi. Meanwhile hooda remained in the city for the inauguration of international cricket tournament organized by cricket federation of India along with the national level cricket tournaments. The Haryana district legal services authority set up its first office at sector-14.
Hooda flagged off first consignment of potatoes for Malaysia from Kisan Bhawan : Panchkula began its export of potatoes to Malaysia as the Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hoodaflagged off first consignment of potatoes for Malaysia from Kisan Bhawan in Panchkula. Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB) will export one lakh metric tonnes of potatoes to Malaysia.
E-Challaning introduced in panchkula by DGP : Haryana Police added another feather In its cap by introducing e-Challaning for violation of traffic rules in commissionerate of Police, Ambala-Panchkula. R.S. Dalal, Director General of Police inaugurated this system formally in a function organized at HUDA Traffic Park, Sec-12 in the presence of K.K. Sharma, Commissioner of Police, Ambala-Panchkula. It is important to mention that Commissionerate of Police Ambala- Panchkula has become the first to implement e-Challaning system in tricity of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali. Till now this system is has been working only in Commissionerate of Police, Faridabad. The remaining districts of Haryana are also going to adopt this technology very soon. New modern challaning system adopted for traffic violations and elaborated that an e-challan is an electronic format of the challan which depicts a receipt for payment ordelivery. The information is permanently stored on this server and is also available to other districts of Haryana through net working. The stored data would also be utilized for generating different reports for research and analysis.
The RTI act was not implemented in Schools : Under RTI act in this year the confusion prevailed in the schools for the admission of weaker section students. The complaints were regularly made by the parents to education department for not getting their child admitted. Parents staged protest outside the shiksha sadan for the implementation of the RTI act.
No Roads, Markets & parks are also in Worst Condition : In the fight between corporation and council the residents of the city suffered a lot. There is not any single ward spared where the development has been stopped. All the projects are with the house. Many times tender to construct roads was given to contractors but the conditions of the roads in the city is worst. The MC waited the rains to be stopped but after the rains the contracts for making the roads was not given to the contractors and recently some days back the work for the making of roads began with the help of local MLA DK Bansal.
Mixed bag for the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) : The year has been a mixed bag for the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).While work was fully or partially completed on many infrastructure development projects, and some residential flats were constructed in under ashiana scheme, the proliferation of unauthorised colonies on the periphery stood out like a sore thumb which defied all regulatory and enforcement measures initiated against them.
Unauthorized colonies : When it came to dealing with the menace of mushrooming growth of unauthorised colonies, the HUDA & MC regulatory mechanism was found wanting. Even though HUDA adopted tough measures against unregulated development by carrying out demolition drives at regular intervals, unscrupulous developers continued with their nefarious activities, in many cases, with the collusion of the field staff of the regulatory body. In some cases, even the developers of licensed colonies were found to be shortchanging the buyers by denial of promised amenities and facilities in their respective colonies, and HUDAhad to initiate penal proceedings against them.
Encroachments in the city : Despite conducting the encroachment drives during the year, HUDA and MC failed to deal with the menace. Maximum encroachment were at the markets of sectors-7,9,15, 16,11, 20 and haripur, maheshpur and ralley. The MC officials saythat they can only challan and do not have the power to register the cases against the encroachers. Once they were challaned, they pay and again continue with the same practice. At he same time it is the duty of district administration and the police toalso check the encroachment.
Tough year for Power situation : The year 2012 had been a tough year for power situation in the district. The unprecedented Northern Grid failure, which took place on July 30, was a big shocker and derailed the power supply in the state for couple of days. It took several days to regain normalcy. Besides this, the electricity played hide and seek with the residents of the district for many times in the summers. The residents faced many power cuts during the day and night time and in the winters right now the residents are facing the same problem.
Jewellers went on a rampage : The year remained a mixed bag for the industry. While jewellers protested for 20 days, the rupee touched an all-time low against the US dollar. The rupee slumped to a record low to Rs 54.51 against the dollar on May 17. The rupee, the worst performing emerging market currency in Asia since March 1, faced losses as India struggled with a slew of additional economic challenges, including sliding growth. Jewellers from the city observed an indefinite hunger strike against the excise duty and consumer tax levied on them in the Budget 2013. The strike was called off only after the government withdrew the new taxes levied on them.
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Sukhjeevan Sharma
*The author of this article is well-known Journalist .
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of INVC
