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Hillary Victor

Hillary Victor is a Special Correspondent at Chandigarh. He covers Chandigarh administration, municipal corporation and all political parties.

Articles by Hillary Victor

GMADA puts 106 marriage palaces on closure notice after HC order

Complying with the orders of Punjab and Haryana high court, Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has issued closure notices to 106 marriages palaces functioning under its area of jurisdiction.

cities

Updated on Aug 18, 2012 12:10 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Sas Nagar

It's official, contaminated supply led to outbreak in Mauli Jagran

The magisterial inquiry report pertaining to the outbreak of diarrhoea in Mauli Jagran in June, where more than 2,000 diarrhoea cases were reported and eight persons had lost their lives, has revealed that contaminated water supply was the main reason behind the outbreak.

cities

Updated on Aug 13, 2012 10:54 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Advertiser makes hay as MC looks away

An advertising company which has erected about 25 hoardings in SAS Nagar without permission continues to evade advertisement tax to the tune of Rs 55 lakh, thanks to the laxity of the municipal corporation authorities and their selective approach when it comes to recovery of taxes.

cities

Updated on Aug 13, 2012 06:03 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Sas Nagar

MC procures sub standard RCC pipes

The 10 MGD sewerage treatment plant near 3 BRD, which is under construction, has hit a roadblock after the contractor started laying sub-standard pipes.

cities

Updated on Aug 04, 2012 11:28 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh:

Councillors report a poor track record in utilising allocated funds

Even as the municipal corporation house approved enhancement of ward development fund of elected councillors from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1 crore per year, the track record of councilors in spending these fund doesn't offer much to tom-tom about.

cities

Updated on Aug 03, 2012 11:21 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Chandigarh dispensaries in ICU

On the priority list of the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), healthcare is lingering somewhere at the bottom. The 20 dispensaries run by the civic body stand testimony. Four dispensaries have no doctors, and many are operating from dilapidated buildings.

cities

Updated on Jul 16, 2012 01:26 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Chandigarh dispensaries in ICU

On the priority list of the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), healthcare is lingering somewhere at the bottom. The 20 dispensaries run by the civic body stand testimony.

cities

Updated on Jul 16, 2012 12:44 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Residents of 5 sectors suffer due to MC's negligence

The municipal corporation’s negligence cost dear for two lakh residents in the city. Acute water shortage in five sectors (from Sector 48-52) since the past three days was a cause of worry for these residents.

cities

Updated on Jul 13, 2012 11:17 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Short spell of rain leaves roads inundated

The municipal corporation's tall claims of spending more than Rs 2 crore on cleaning road gullies fell flat as the two-hour rainfall inundated roads, flooded roundabouts and forced residents at several places to take out water from their houses. A public health department report points out why the situation turned so bad.

cities

Updated on Jul 09, 2012 12:41 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

MC 'fails' to do primary duty

If you want to know how serious the civic body is about educational infrastructure, just visit any of the seven primary schools the UT administration transferred it in September 2010.

cities

Updated on Jun 28, 2012 04:34 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

MC's Rs 196-crore sewerage project dumped

In a setback to Chandigarh municipal corporation, the UT administration has finally scrapped a Rs 196-crore project for replacing brick sewerage with reinforced cement concrete (RCC) in the entire city.

cities

Updated on Jun 24, 2012 02:18 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Silent six: councillors with no issue to raise

Mum's the word for six councillors in the municipal corporation House. Ever since the new civic body was formed six months ago, four elected and two nominated councillors have remained tongue-tied.

cities

Updated on Jun 21, 2012 04:11 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Semester system scrapped in PSEB-affiliated schools

Punjab education minister Sikander Singh Maluka today scrapped the semester system introduced three years ago in Classes 9 to 12 in schools affiliated to Punjab School Education Board.

cities

Updated on Jun 14, 2012 11:55 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Will IT work for MC this time?

The municipal corporation seems to have not learnt a lesson from its past experience. Once again, it has splurged Rs 17 lakh to make councillors tech-savvy despite the fact that the move had failed to bring desired results last time.

cities

Updated on Jun 14, 2012 06:24 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

MC fails to leash stray dogs

With six incidents of residents being bitten by stray dogs reported in Sector 48 three days back, panic has gripped the entire area but the Municipal Corporation has failed to put a leash on the stray dogs' menace. Their number has shot up to 12,000.

cities

Updated on Jun 07, 2012 10:54 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Water woes keep women on the boil

Women of the house are not happy, and the municipal corporation is to blame. As mercury climbs every day, low water pressure and erratic supply has been haunting residents from past one month. To overcome this dry spell, women are left with no option but to adjust their body clock

cities

Updated on May 31, 2012 03:28 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

5,000 lives put into peril

Around 5,000 people living in nearly 1,000 houses of the Chandigarh Housing Board enclave in Sector 51 are facing a threat of epidemic, as a tubewell supplying water to them is functioning without a chlorinator.

cities

Updated on May 22, 2012 12:48 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Exposing scam puts councillor under MC panel’s 'scanner'

The seven-member panel formed by the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) to probe into an alleged scam in the laying of a water pipeline that caused a Rs 2-crore loss to the Military Engineering Services (MES) has lost it way.

cities

Updated on May 20, 2012 02:41 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Two months on, police await viscera report

Nearly two months after an NRI woman died at her native village, Khalyan, in Kapurthala district under mysterious circumstances, the police are still awaiting the viscera report from the Forensic Science Laboratory at Kharar.

cities

Updated on May 16, 2012 12:31 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

MC mulls tax on 8 or more marla houses

Faced with tremendous pressure from the UT administration, the municipal corporation of Chandigarh after five years is planning to impose house tax on 8-marla (200 square yard) and above houses in the city. There are around 35,000 houses, which come under this category.

cities

Updated on May 10, 2012 04:43 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Centre dumps MC's Rs 193-crore project

In a blow to the municipal corporation, the union ministry of urban development has dumped a Rs 193-crore project for replacing sewerage pipeline network's brick sewers with reinforced cement concrete (RCC) as the former has failed to re-submit the project in time.

cities

Updated on May 02, 2012 04:48 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Illegal basements: MC collects tax instead of taking action

In a major violation of rules, the municipal corporation of Chandigarh is charging property tax of Rs 5,000 per booth every year from 116 booths with illegal basements in the motor market-cum- commercial complex in Manimajra. Instead of taking action against building violators, the MC has collected property tax to tune of nearly Rs 50 lakh since 2004.

cities

Updated on Apr 25, 2012 11:22 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

No takers for Chandigarh MC scheme

Even after spending Rs 15 crore on tertiary treated water supply project to supply water to houses of one kanal and above in Sectors 31 to 48, the MC has found no takers.

cities

Updated on Apr 24, 2012 11:42 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

MC's water supply system a leaky affair

Even as the public health department of the municipal corporation is issuing notices to violators for wasting water in the morning hours, its own department has failed to check leakage of water during the water supply hours in the distribution network. The wastage is maximum in colonies and villages.

cities

Updated on Apr 19, 2012 02:14 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

MC fails on fire safety norms

Chandigarh municipal corporation has failed to conduct any effective drive to check fire safety norms at buildings in the city. Only four buildings -- three in Sector 34 and one in industrial area -- have been sealed in the past four years for violation of fire safety norms.

cities

Updated on Apr 18, 2012 12:24 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

NRI murdered for Rs 12-cr insurance: family

Almost a month after an NRI woman died at her native village, Khalyan, in Kapurthala district, her family members have accused her husband of murdering her for insurance money of $2.5 million (Rs 12.5 crore).

cities

Updated on Apr 17, 2012 01:48 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Civic body reverts to old system

After HT recently reported that the local municipal corporation had been supplying un-chlorinated water to various villages, the civic body has gone back to the old system of using bleaching powder for chlorination of water.

cities

Updated on Apr 16, 2012 12:05 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

HC okays Mohali road

The Punjab and Haryana high court has given the go-ahead to the 3-km stretch of the proposed 8-km, 200-ft-wide, Airport Road, dividing the Industrial Area Phases 7 and 8, which will directly link it to Kharar.

cities

Updated on Apr 09, 2012 02:36 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Sas Nagar

'MC officials compromised on quality'

Inferior-quality chlorinators were installed in around 40 tube wells in villages and rehabilitation colonies in the city, despite the then chief engineer of the municipal corporation having given approval to better-quality chlorinators in 2007.

cities

Updated on Apr 06, 2012 05:05 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

Unsafe drinking water: MC playing with lives

An epidemic may be lurking around the corner as nearly 50,000 people living in heavily-populated colonies in Chandigarh have been forced to consume un-chlorinated water as the local municipal corporation cares two hoots about their health.

cities

Updated on Apr 04, 2012 09:33 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByHillary Victor, Chandigarh

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Hillary Victor

Hillary Victor is a Special Correspondent at Chandigarh. He covers Chandigarh administration, municipal corporation and all political parties.

Complying with the orders of Punjab and Haryana high court, Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has issued closure notices to 106 marriages palaces functioning under its area of jurisdiction.

The magisterial inquiry report pertaining to the outbreak of diarrhoea in Mauli Jagran in June, where more than 2,000 diarrhoea cases were reported and eight persons had lost their lives, has revealed that contaminated water supply was the main reason behind the outbreak.

An advertising company which has erected about 25 hoardings in SAS Nagar without permission continues to evade advertisement tax to the tune of Rs 55 lakh, thanks to the laxity of the municipal corporation authorities and their selective approach when it comes to recovery of taxes.

The 10 MGD sewerage treatment plant near 3 BRD, which is under construction, has hit a roadblock after the contractor started laying sub-standard pipes.

Even as the municipal corporation house approved enhancement of ward development fund of elected councillors from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1 crore per year, the track record of councilors in spending these fund doesn't offer much to tom-tom about.

On the priority list of the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), healthcare is lingering somewhere at the bottom. The 20 dispensaries run by the civic body stand testimony. Four dispensaries have no doctors, and many are operating from dilapidated buildings.

On the priority list of the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), healthcare is lingering somewhere at the bottom. The 20 dispensaries run by the civic body stand testimony.

The municipal corporation’s negligence cost dear for two lakh residents in the city. Acute water shortage in five sectors (from Sector 48-52) since the past three days was a cause of worry for these residents.

If you want to know how serious the civic body is about educational infrastructure, just visit any of the seven primary schools the UT administration transferred it in September 2010.

In a setback to Chandigarh municipal corporation, the UT administration has finally scrapped a Rs 196-crore project for replacing brick sewerage with reinforced cement concrete (RCC) in the entire city.

Mum's the word for six councillors in the municipal corporation House. Ever since the new civic body was formed six months ago, four elected and two nominated councillors have remained tongue-tied.

Punjab education minister Sikander Singh Maluka today scrapped the semester system introduced three years ago in Classes 9 to 12 in schools affiliated to Punjab School Education Board.

The municipal corporation seems to have not learnt a lesson from its past experience. Once again, it has splurged Rs 17 lakh to make councillors tech-savvy despite the fact that the move had failed to bring desired results last time.

With six incidents of residents being bitten by stray dogs reported in Sector 48 three days back, panic has gripped the entire area but the Municipal Corporation has failed to put a leash on the stray dogs' menace. Their number has shot up to 12,000.

Women of the house are not happy, and the municipal corporation is to blame. As mercury climbs every day, low water pressure and erratic supply has been haunting residents from past one month. To overcome this dry spell, women are left with no option but to adjust their body clock

Around 5,000 people living in nearly 1,000 houses of the Chandigarh Housing Board enclave in Sector 51 are facing a threat of epidemic, as a tubewell supplying water to them is functioning without a chlorinator.

The seven-member panel formed by the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) to probe into an alleged scam in the laying of a water pipeline that caused a Rs 2-crore loss to the Military Engineering Services (MES) has lost it way.

Nearly two months after an NRI woman died at her native village, Khalyan, in Kapurthala district under mysterious circumstances, the police are still awaiting the viscera report from the Forensic Science Laboratory at Kharar.

Faced with tremendous pressure from the UT administration, the municipal corporation of Chandigarh after five years is planning to impose house tax on 8-marla (200 square yard) and above houses in the city. There are around 35,000 houses, which come under this category.

In a blow to the municipal corporation, the union ministry of urban development has dumped a Rs 193-crore project for replacing sewerage pipeline network's brick sewers with reinforced cement concrete (RCC) as the former has failed to re-submit the project in time.

Even after spending Rs 15 crore on tertiary treated water supply project to supply water to houses of one kanal and above in Sectors 31 to 48, the MC has found no takers.

Chandigarh municipal corporation has failed to conduct any effective drive to check fire safety norms at buildings in the city. Only four buildings -- three in Sector 34 and one in industrial area -- have been sealed in the past four years for violation of fire safety norms.

Almost a month after an NRI woman died at her native village, Khalyan, in Kapurthala district, her family members have accused her husband of murdering her for insurance money of $2.5 million (Rs 12.5 crore).

After HT recently reported that the local municipal corporation had been supplying un-chlorinated water to various villages, the civic body has gone back to the old system of using bleaching powder for chlorination of water.

The Punjab and Haryana high court has given the go-ahead to the 3-km stretch of the proposed 8-km, 200-ft-wide, Airport Road, dividing the Industrial Area Phases 7 and 8, which will directly link it to Kharar.

Inferior-quality chlorinators were installed in around 40 tube wells in villages and rehabilitation colonies in the city, despite the then chief engineer of the municipal corporation having given approval to better-quality chlorinators in 2007.

An epidemic may be lurking around the corner as nearly 50,000 people living in heavily-populated colonies in Chandigarh have been forced to consume un-chlorinated water as the local municipal corporation cares two hoots about their health.

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