E-Paper
Tricity buzz: Congress high command wary of Mail Mantri
Pardeep Chhabra, who resigned from the Congress, had been relentlessly writing emails to Delhi, airing his grievances against local party leaders
Many in the Chandigarh Congress had nicknamed former city unit chief Pardeep Chhabra “Mail Mantri”. “Whenever we talked to our senior leaders in Delhi or went to the party headquarters, we were told to stop our Mail Mantri from sending a trail of emails. Chhabra had been relentlessly writing emails to Delhi, airing his grievances against local party leaders,” said a local Congress leader. Incidentally, in his resignation letter to the party, Chhabra cited how the high command had not responded to his multiple emails as one of the reasons for calling it quits.
Breather from infighting in city Congress for now
Last week saw the Congress fighting infighting in Chandigarh. With the former city unit chief, Pardeep Chhabra, quitting the party, many insiders were relieved. “Now the party will not get bad publicity,” said a party leader, requesting anonymity. But he was quick to add: “Things should be peaceful at least till the party starts distributing tickets for the municipal corporation elections. Then we may see another round of ruckus.”
A glass half full: Chandigarh MC’s novel way to save water
The Cutting Paani campaign seems to have found favour with the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, particularly after it came to light that the MC loses at least 30% of drinking water to leakages in supply. The MC’s water and sanitation committee came up with a novel way to save water the other day. It asked MC officials to ensure that councillors at the monthly general house meeting are served a glass half full each. This, it hopes, will help tide over its water woes. Well, each drop counts.
Mohali mayor takes jibe at Azad group councillor
During the monthly house meeting in Mohali on August 3, city mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu took a jibe at a councillor of the Azad group, Sukhdev Singh Patwari. Patwari said work was still to start in some development projects approved in his ward in 2020. The mayor, who is from the Congress, hit back, saying: “During your tenure, no development works were started. But don’t worry, we will soon start work.” Patwari, who was with the Shiromani Akali Dal, joined the Azad group, led by former mayor Kulwant Singh, after the civic elections in February.
When UT education dept was caught off guard
While there was talk about reopening school for students of Classes 7 and 8 on the lines of senior classes, when the date for this was fixed on August 9, it came as news to many. While UT adviser Dharam Pal issued an order in this regard on Wednesday, personnel in the education department claimed not to know about it. However, the department was involved in making arrangements on how the classes would function and a detailed order regarding this was issued by the UT education department on Friday.
Campaigning for senate poll in full swing now
After the Panjab University senate elections finally started on August 3, campaigning is on in full swing. When the poll schedule was announced last month, a number of candidates and voters were apprehensive whether polling will take place or not. This was the third time since last year that PU announced the poll schedule. Not much enthusiasm was seen among candidates when the schedule was announced in July but now, they are campaigning in the campus even during weekends.
Inputs by Hillary Victor, Munieshwer A Sagar, Rajanbir Singh and Dar Ovais
