Chandigarh diary

Five firms interested in restoring heritage buildings

Five companies have shown interest in carrying out the Rs 38-crore restoration works of the world heritage site of Capitol Complex.

The companies that have applied to carry out the work are Savani Heritage Conservation Private Limited, Swadeshi Infrastructure Private Limited, Godrej & Boyce Company Limited, Srishti enterprises and A S Enterprises Private Limited.

The restoration of the Capitol Complex which comprises Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat building has to be carried out at Rs 25.51 crore and another Rs 5.5 crore is to be spent on the High Court building and Rs 6.5 crore on the Punjab and Haryana Assemblies.

List of properties to be auctioned ready

The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has come out with a list of residential and commercial properties to be auctioned after trimming the reserve price by nearly 10 per cent.

There are 269 properties including 11 residential (leasehold), 108 residential (freehold) and 150 commercial (lease hold) up for auction. These residential properties are in Sector 51, Sector 63, Sector 38-W, Sector 39, and Mani Majra.

The commercial properties are located in Mani Majra, Sector 51, Sector 61 and Maloya. The Chandigarh Administration had recently accepted the proposal of the CHB to reduce the reserve price after the poor response in last year’s auction. The board has fixed the reserve price of HIG (leasehold) flat at `1.05 crore in Sector 39 and of freehold three bedroom flat in Sector 63 at Rs 86.24 lakh.

Ten minutes to avoid fine for not wearing helmet

Now onwards, if anyone is caught riding a two-wheeler without wearing helmet in Panchkula, he/she will be given ten minutes to avoid paying the fine. The only condition is that either they have to buy a new headgear or get it from home.

The vehicle documents of the offender, which would be collected by the traffic police at the time the offence is found out, would be returned once the offender returns with a helmet. Riding a two-wheeler without wearing helmet is one of the most common traffic offence and causes fatal head injuries in accidents.

Door collection of garbage from March 1  
The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation will start door-to-door collection of segregated garbage across the city from March 1.

The waste will be lifted through the two-bin garbage-lifting vehicles of the corporation. These vehicles would drop waste at three recovery centres, which are under-construction.

From the recovery centres big trucks will transport garbage to the waste processing plant in Sector 25. Collection charges will be added to the water bills of households.  The residents who fail to segregate dry and wet waste will be fined as per the recent notification.

Harpreet Bajwa

Our correspondent in Chandigarh hsbajwa73@gmail.com