Tricity buzz: Son rise in Chandigarh Congress

With Pawan Bansal, a former Congress MP from Chandigarh, camping in Delhi after being appointed the party treasurer, his son Manish Bansal has become active in city politics

With Pawan Bansal, a former Congress MP from Chandigarh, camping in Delhi after being appointed the party treasurer, his son Manish Bansal has become active in city politics.

Tricity Buzz: Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal and his son Manish Bansal in Chandigarh. (HT File Photo)

These days, he is found presiding over meetings organised by the local party unit. Manish is not new to politics for he had been managing the former MP’s elections from behind the scenes.

Former UT Congress president Pradeep Chhabra, who joined the Aam Aadmi Party recently, had been alleging all along that Bansal was upset with him over his son not getting due importance.

Residents in a fix over UT’s move amid third wave fears

The Chandigarh administration’s recent decision while preparing for the Covid third wave has left residents in a fix. “It’s confusing. While fearing an onset of the third Covid wave, the administration has fixed the noon to 1pm slot three days a week for people to meet UT officials. At the same time, it has allowed more people to get together at social gatherings,” said a city resident, who has been waiting for a week now to meet an official at the UT secretariat.

During the monthly House meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Mohali on September 14, 50 councillors approved 10 items on the agenda pertaining to the development of the city in just 10 minutes. The councillors did not even discuss two policies pertaining to taxi stands and increasing the number of vends for coconut vendors in Mohali. The opposition councillors did not raise any objection either. The meeting began at 3.30 pm and was over at 3.40pm. One wonders if the councillors had even read the items on the agenda before coming for the meeting.

NTA, the Not Today Agency

The JEE main result was mired in controversy and not just because of the alleged cases of cheating but because of how long it took for the National Testing Agency (NTA) to release the result. With registrations for JEE advanced set to begin from Monday, it was only after Tuesday midnight that the results were declared. Many students took to Twitter to voice their frustration. NTA was given a new name, the Not Today Agency as aspirants waited for the result to be declared online.

Chandigarh Police get cracking on feedback

Chandigarh Police have started acting on public feedback after recent meetings with Resident Welfare Associations. While senior citizens had complained that police officials on beat duty don’t visit them often, the initiative was restarted, and a senior citizen registration feature was launched on the E-saathi app for those living alone. The traffic police have also started awareness drives to make people stop at signals on slip roads after feedback that many didn’t know whether to stop or move on at the lights.

UT health staff on track after surprise checks

Healthcare workers in Chandigarh’s government hospitals have suddenly turned punctual after new health secretary Yashpal Garg conducted surprise checks at night and in the morning at various hospitals. “The inspections were required. Now patients can get the best of medical service at all government institutions,” a senior UT health official said.

Inputs by Surender Sharma, Hillary Victor, Munieshwer A Sagar, Rajanbir Singh and Mandeep Narula