Top Headlines of the Day

1. Ahead of the festive season, Admn bans firecrackers

Ahead of the festive season, the UT Administration has imposed a ban on the sale or use of firecrackers of any kind in the city. The ban will come into force with immediate effect and will remain in effect till further orders. The Administration imposed the ban under the Disaster Management Act. Any violation of the order will invite penal action under Section 51 to 60 of the Act, besides legal action under Section 188 of the IPC.

“The directions have been issued as a containment measure to prevent the risk of spread of Covid-19 due to pollution created with the bursting of crackers,” said Manoj Parida, UT Adviser-cum-Chairman, State Disaster Management Authority.

Traders will face losses

“We oppose the decision of the UT Administration to ban crackers just seven-eight days before Diwali. Traders have already purchased stock and the move will cause a big loss to them. The UT should have taken this decision at least a month before Diwali if it was required to stop the spread of the virus. The Administration should review the decision,” said Charanjiv Singh, chairman, Chandigarh Beopar Mandal.

2. One death, 133 fresh cases in Chandigarh

The city today reported 133 fresh cases of Covid. The UT tally has now reached 14,927. A total of 63 patients have been cured of the virus in the past 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries in the UT to 13,925.

3. 3 fatalities, 71 cases in Mohali

Three more Covid fatalities were witnessed in the district during the past 24 hours, taking the toll to 245, while 71 fresh cases were reported, taking the case tally to 12,730. The district has so far witnessed 12,730 cases and 11,876 patients have been cured. There are now 609 active cases.

4. 69 new cases in Panchkula; be cautious, people told

The district today reported 69 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 7,383. The recovery rate was above 96 percent on October 28 (then the third highest in the state) and now it stands at 94.5.

While 6,981 patients have defeated Covid-19 so far, 285 cases are still active.

5. Now, a new policy to check favoritism in traffic wing

With the aim of curbing favoritism and corruption in the deployment of police personnel in the traffic wing, the UT police have introduced a new manpower management policy on an experimental basis. Now, the staff will be given a fixed weekly off with fixed replacement, curtailing discretion of the deployment officer.

“Earlier, there was no fixed rest day for police personnel. However, now there will be a roster of off days. This will also end indiscipline in the force as earlier, personnel would sometimes avail several days of leave together by not taking offs,” said the SSP.

According to the system, the duty and replacement roster will continue to be randomly prepared through software with zero human interference.

6. Panel to set up a firm to take over assets

The Empowered Committee on the privatization of the Electricity Department has decided to formulate a company that will take over the assets of the department. The first meeting of the committee, which was attended by a representative of the Ministry of Power, along with the transaction adviser, was held today.

The committee finalized the Request for Proposal (RFP) and also letter to be written to the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) regarding the transfer scheme.

It was also decided to create a Trust, which will manage the pension obligations for government employees, who will be shifted to the private company. Several decisions were also taken to improve competition among the bidders.

7. Elante expects a rise in footfall during Diwali

Having witnessed an increase in the footfall during the Navaratri season, Elante Mall is expecting that the footfall will further increase during Diwali. mid the pandemic, the mall is yet to witness the same footfall as it used to witness last year. However, it claims that it is improving day by day.

“With the increase in pent-up demand and ticket size, we are expecting to clock 50 percent of footfall that we did during Diwali last year. We are expecting fashion, electronics, F&B, and gifting categories to do well,” said Nishank Joshi, Chief Marketing Officer, Nexus Malls.

“Using the ‘customer-first’ approach this year, we will focus on instant gratification and décor, which will help set the festive context,” he said.

8. In Chandigarh, mismanaged tree pruning leaves residents troubled

Many residents have been complaining that the pruning of trees is not being done properly. While many overgrown trees cover streetlights and traffic lights as they await pruning, branches of trees that have been pruned litter roads for days afterward, residents allege.

Trees on the road between Sectors 32 and 33 were pruned over a week ago, but the branches have been carelessly tossed along the roadside, encroaching on cycle tracks in some places.

The Chandigarh Resident Association Welfare Federation (CRAWFED) had also highlighted the issue in their meeting recently.

9. Chandigarh admin imposes a stock limit on onion traders to contain prices

To contain the rising onion prices, the UT administration on Friday imposed stock holding limits on onions with immediate effect till December 31.

Food supplies and consumer affair departments ordered that dealers including wholesalers, distributing agents, and selling agents can stock up to 25 metric tonnes (MT) while retailers can store up to 5 MT.

The order, however, will not apply to government agencies. Also, any importer (wholesaler, retailer, or dealer) will be exempted for the imported stock of onions.

Source: Tribune, HT times