Apni Mandis restart after a gap of 10 months
After being closed for around ten months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Apni Mandis here restarted on Monday and would run as per the old schedule. Apni Mandis function by allotting venues to farmers and vendors to set up small stalls to trade their crops. There would be no cap on the number of visitors at these mandis as long as Covid protocols including social distancing and wearing facemasks are maintained. Earlier, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation had written to Punjab Mandi Board to restart the mandis. A decision is this regard was taken by Chandigarh administrator and Punjab governor VP Singh Badnore on January 25.
Covid takes colour away from Rose Festival this year
The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation had decided against organising Rose Festival this year in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. The corporation has decided to symbolically organise the festival and honor Covid frontline workers, including doctors and healthcare staff, who worked round-the-clock to bring the infection under control in the city. Also, the civic body will felicitate gardeners and other workers of the Rose Garden. The decision was taken recently during the general house meeting of the civic body where most of the councillors raised concern against conducting the festival which generally draws huge crowds. During the 2020 festival, as many as be 800 varieties of roses were on display in 1,400 flower beds spread over 30 acres.
Market associations to run parking lots
If all goes as per plan, the market associations in Chandigarh would run the parking lots in the internal markets of various sectors of the city for free or by charging a nominal fee, as the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation will soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard. The issue was discussed in the general house meeting of the municipal corporation recently. The city has around 80 such small parking lots in the internal markets which have no parking attendants and their parking is often chaotic. The Chandigarh Beopar Mandal has discussed this issue with the market associations also.
Civic body to collect horticulture waste twice a week
The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has decided to collect horticulture waste twice a week from across the city. Resident Welfare Associations in the city have been raising this demand for a long time. Councillors too have been urging the civic body to fix particular days for corporation vehicles to lift the waste which is generally dumped in parks as well as in open areas outside houses. The vehicles of Sehaj Safai Kendras, which used to carry general waste to garbage processing plant and are being phased out, would be utilised for the purpose.
Harpreet Bajwa
Our correspondent in Chandigarh
hsbajwa73@gmail.com