Chandigarh Feb 23 PTI Residents of some parts of Chandigarh continued to face power outages on Wednesday morning with electricity supply remaining disrupted after the employees of the electricity department went on a three-day strike against privatisation Harried residents of Chandigarh which is the countrys first planned city blamed the city administration for remaining a mute spectator leaving them in lurch as the power outages crippled the city Congress MP from Anandpur Sahib Manish Tewari sought intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the matter saying there is chaos and anarchy and all essential services have come to a standstill Dear AmitShah ji Chandigarh has been without electricity for 36 hours There is chaos anarchy All Essential Services are at a standstill ChandigarhAdmn has miserably failed to address the situation Chandigarh is an Union Territory Kindly intervene said Tewari in a tweet on Wednesday The Chandigarh administration on Tuesday evening had invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act banning strikes by the electricity department for six months There were however reports that electricity supply was getting restored at some places The outage since Monday night forced government hospitals in the union territory to reschedule elective surgeries besides adversely affecting residential industrial and commercial areas in the city Not only adversely affecting online classes there was a chaos on roads with traffic lights at many intersections remained non-functional I have never seen in my life such an electricity crisis in Chandigarh said an elderly resident of Sector 20 here on Wednesday morning He blamed the city administration for not taking measures to deal with the situation caused by the electricity department employees strike Water supply was also hit at some places because of disruption in electricity supply Another city resident appealed to protesting employees to call off their strike saying it was the common man who was suffering because of the power outage Many shopkeepers said their goods like dairy products poultry and meat products which need to be refrigerated have started getting perished Our food items which should be stored in low temperatures are getting perished as there is no electricity rued a shopkeeper The industrial unit owners have also pegged huge losses because of loss of production caused by power shutdown in industrial areas Employees of the electricity department under the banner of the UT Powermen Union went on a strike on Monday night against UT Chandigarh administrations move to privatise the electricity department The protesting employees claimed that if the electricity department was privatised their service conditions would change and it also could lead to a rise in power tariffs PTI CHS VSD MKJ

New Delhi Jan 22 PTI Residents of Khampur village in Delhis Alipur are keeping a strict vigil on a 120-year-old sacred banyan tree in the area after it was trimmed by unidentified people while they were asleepLocals of the village said they have an emotional attachment with the tree and worship it during festivals while some of them blamed the local land mafia for the incidentThe villagers approached the police after the issue came to light on FridayAjay Kumar a resident of the area said My father had passed away and we were busy with the rituals After we were done we got to know that the tree had been trimmed Nearly five to six branches of the tree which were around six inches wide were trimmed Kumar said that Khampur is his ancestral village and many generations of his family have lived thereHis nephew Mukesh said their family has lived in the area for nearly 200 yearsMy grandmother who was 90 and died a few years back used to tell us that when she came to this village after her marriage the tree was there You can imagine how old the tree must have been he saidWe have aged with the tree Seeing it in a state like this is painful an elderly person from the village saidAjay Kumar claimed that it was the work of the land mafiaA residential colony is being built on the piece of land where the tree stands We had told them to leave some space for the tree and not cut it It seems the people who are involved in construction are behind this he allegedHis nephew however said that the employers of the people who own the land denied any involvement in the actAjay Kumar said the villagers have been guarding the tree ever since the incident came to light He said police have asked them not to take the law in their hands and if any activity around the tree is observed they should be immediately informedThe villagers are planning to approach the district magistrate and concerned civic bodyMeanwhile a forest department official said they are not aware about the issueThe issue has not been brought to our notice No permission has been granted to anyone to cut any tree in the area If we receive a complaint we will look into it a forest official said PTI SLB GVS RHL

New Delhi Jan 22 PTI Residents of Khampur village in Delhis Alipur are keeping a strict vigil on a 120-year-old sacred banyan tree in the area after it was trimmed by unidentified people while they were asleepLocals of the village said they have an emotional attachment with the tree and worship it during festivals while some of them blamed the local land mafia for the incidentThe villagers approached the police after the issue came to light on FridayAjay Kumar a resident of the area said My father had passed away and we were busy with the rituals After we were done we got to know that the tree had been trimmed Nearly five to six branches of the tree which were around six inches wide were trimmed Kumar said Khampur is his ancestral village and many generations of his family have lived thereHis nephew Mukesh said their family has lived in the area for nearly 200 yearsMy grandmother who was 90 and died a few years back used to tell us that when she came to this village after her marriage the tree was there You can imagine how old the tree must have been he saidWe have aged with the tree Seeing it in a state like this is painful an elderly person from the village saidAjay Kumar claimed that it was the work of the land mafiaA residential colony is being built on the piece of land where the tree stands We had told them to leave some space for the tree and not cut it It seems the people who are involved in construction are behind this he allegedHis nephew however said that the employers of the people who own the land denied any involvement in the actAjay Kumar said the villagers have been guarding the tree ever since the incident came to light He said police have asked them not to take the law in their hands and if any activity around the tree is observed they should be immediately informedThe villagers are planning to approach the district magistrate and concerned civic bodyMeanwhile a forest department official said they are not aware about the issueThe issue has not been brought to our notice No permission has been granted to anyone to cut any tree in the area If we receive a complaint we will look into it a forest official said PTI SLB GVS RHL

Ahmedabad Nov 24 PTI Residents of a slum settlement here in Gujarat staged a protest demanding rehabilitation after their dwellings were marked for demolition by authorities to free the land for the upcoming Gandhi Ashram redevelopment project The Gandhi Ashram Basti a settlement of around 55 families of labourers was ordered to be demolished by the district authorities officials said on Wednesday Following the protest held by the residents on Tuesday the demolition drive was stayed for seven days to explore joint alternatives for rehabilitating these slum-dwellers they said Authorities have agreed to meet the representatives of residents in the coming days They are feeling relieved said an official of Majoor Adhikar Manch He claimed that authorities had come with a full demolition squad and police to raze the 55 hutments without giving them a written notice Most of the residents are nomadic and denotified tribal communities who have lived here for over three decades and a majority of the dwellers are eligible for rehabilitation under the Regulation for the Rehabilitation and Redevelopment of Slums 2010 the Manch claimed However district officials said the slum-dwellers are not residents of the Gandhi Ashram and therefore are not eligible for the governments resettlement scheme They have encroached on the government land officials said PTI KA NSK NSK