Hillary Victor is a Special Correspondent at Chandigarh. He covers Chandigarh administration, municipal corporation and all political parties.
Articles by Hillary Victor
Failed projects: Punjab Infotech suffers 32-cr loss in 2 yrs
Punjab Infotech, a nodal agency of the Punjab government for the promotion of IT industry in the state, has suffered a loss of around 32 crore in the last two years on account of many of their projects having failed to get going.
Updated on Oct 17, 2013 12:49 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
Oriyas have major contribution in tricity's growth
The city has not lent any helping hand to the hands that built the City Beautiful. All landmark buildings in the city have Oriya connection. A majority of them were built by contractors hailing from Orissa, now Odisha, but sadly these people, who have made Chandigarh their home, neither have a direct train to their home state nor has the UT administration bothered to build any bhawan for them.
Updated on Oct 17, 2013 12:16 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
We aren't missing anything in tricity, say Keralites
Though they miss the backwaters of Kerala, they don't complain about it and have happily adjusted themselves in the City Beautiful. For them, Chandigarh is their home away from home. Keralites hardly feel that they are missing out on anything, while staying in the tricity.
Updated on Oct 15, 2013 11:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
‘I don’t want to go back to crowded Kolkata’
It was 1988 when Santanu Mitra came to visit Chandigarh as a 28-year-old from Kolkata. His friend from Shimla suggested that he should apply for a job in the City Beautiful as there were vacancies in the private sector. Giving no second thought to the suggestion, he applied and got a job.
Updated on Oct 15, 2013 07:42 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
Blow to Punjab Infotech, to refund Rs 4 cr to bidder
In a major setback to Punjab Infotech, the Punjab and Haryana high court directed it to pay an amount of Rs 4.05 crore to bidder Nirankar Singh, whose amount was forfeited after he failed to pay the balance amount for a 1.52-acre commercial site which was auctioned in 2011. The auction was later declared null and void.
Updated on Oct 12, 2013 10:13 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
Jolt for GMADA as another 300 pull out of flat scheme
Blame it on the slump in the real estate market or the failure of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) in wooing investors, but another 300 successful applicants under the GMADA's Purab Premium Apartments project in Sector 88 have withdrawn from it.
Updated on Oct 07, 2013 10:13 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
Barbeque Nation's food was adulterated: report
The 15 diners who fell ill on September 27 at Barbeque Nation in Phase 5 here were victims of food adulteration by the restaurant. Samples of dal and cooked chicken taken the same day have been found substandard and unfit for human consumption.
Updated on Oct 06, 2013 01:16 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
263 associate schools face closure in Punjab
As many as 263 associate schools of the Punjab School Education Board across the state will be closed with effect from April 1, 2014, for failing to implement the board norm of having a minimum campus area of 500 square yards. Hillary Victor reports
Updated on Oct 04, 2013 06:32 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
Bribery case aside, Bansal gets Cong poll panel nod for LS ticket
It appears the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Election Committee does not believe that the railway post bribery scam has tainted former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. The panel has recommended the three-time MP's name for candidature again from Chandigarh for the Lok Sabha elections due next year.
Updated on Oct 03, 2013 12:18 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
Rs 55-cr runaways: Mohali industrialist, son, daughter booked for fraud
The SAS Nagar police on Monday registered a case against a noted industrialist, his son and daughter for committing a multi-crore fraud with fellow industrialists.
Updated on Oct 01, 2013 01:00 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
Sewage in choe : Court summons MC officials
A district court in SAS Nagar has summoned top officials of the public health department of the Chandigarh municipal corporation for discharging untreated sewage into a natural rivulet (N-choe) at the tail end of Phase 11, SAS Nagar, and Sukhna Choe.
Updated on Sep 30, 2013 10:38 AM IST
Reuters | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
The murder that remains unsolved
The murder of Sameer Watts, who was shot in the head from point-blank range at Phase-8 Dussehra Grounds in SAS Nagar on March 12, 2009, and died a week later, continues to be an unsolvable puzzle.
Updated on Sep 30, 2013 09:45 AM IST
None | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
School education board appoints secy, kicks up row
In a controversial move, the board of directors of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) on Wednesday appointed Gurinder Pal Singh Bath as the board secretary. Bath, who holds an MTech degree through distance education, does not have the requisite qualification and experience for the post.
Updated on Sep 26, 2013 10:05 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
NRI gets `20 lakh back; but what about fraudsters?
In an out-of-court settlement, a widowed NRI based in the US, who had been awaiting justice in a `20-lakh bank fraud case involving her husband's fixed deposit (FD) account, has got her money back with interest after HT highlighted the matter.
Updated on Sep 24, 2013 12:27 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
In 50 drives, MC collects over `1cr, but encroachments remain
In the past one year, the Chandigarh municipal corporation has held 50 anti-encroachment drives and collected `1.19 crore in penalty. Yet, there seems to be no permanent cure.
Updated on Sep 23, 2013 11:40 AM IST
None | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
MC's failure to collect tax costs the public nearly Rs 3 cr
The Chandigarh municipal corporation's negligence has cost nearly `3 crore to the public, as the civic body failed to collect service tax from 2011 to 2013 and is now having to pay the money from its exchequer to the central excise and service tax department. MC Commissioner Vivek Pratap Singh has sought an explanation.
Updated on Sep 12, 2013 10:13 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
Industrialist disappears with `55cr taken from bank, colleagues
A noted industrialist and his son are nowhere to be found in SAS Nagar, and are suspected to have fled to Canada, after defaulting on a bank loan of `22 crore and exploiting the trust of fellow industrialists for another `33 crore.
Updated on Sep 11, 2013 12:42 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
Chasing Pollywood throne, Mann has no time for plan panel chair
It's been a year and two months since singer-turned-politician Harbhajan Mann last held a meeting of the SAS Nagar district planning committee, of which he happens to be the chairman. He does, however, have time to go on a promotion spree for his latest Punjabi movie, 'Haani'.
Updated on Sep 06, 2013 01:21 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
Water crisis: GMADA's 'oversized' plans to blame for damage?
Over a week after the damage to pipelines at Kajauli waterworks affected the supply to Chandigarh and SAS Nagar, it is now being theorised that the size of new pipelines being laid by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) may have played a part in it.
Updated on Aug 29, 2013 10:48 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh/ Sas Nagar:
…and it gets worse
After seven days of water woes in SAS Nagar and Chandigarh, and the hope that pipelines would be repaired by Thursday, it is learnt that the problem may extend up to the weekend.
Updated on Aug 28, 2013 12:37 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Kajauli/sas Nagar/chandigarh
At 11th hour, MC cancels bookings at community centre
The Chandigarh municipal corporation has cancelled all 20 bookings at the community centre of Sector 15 till further orders, leaving many people in the lurch, some of whom had even got wedding invitations printed. Reason: the centre needs to be renovated.
Updated on Aug 27, 2013 11:37 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
Easier now to set up hotels, hospitals in Punjab's industrial areas
The Punjab government on Tuesday notified its industrial policy for relaxing conditions to set up hospitals, hotels, educational institutions and multimedia centres in areas designated as industrial focal points.
Updated on Aug 21, 2013 12:51 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
Mayor promises to double park grant; ball in RWAs' court
To tackle the constant complaints of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) over maintenance of parks in just Rs 1.5 per square metre, the Chandigarh municipal corporation may soon hike it to Rs 3. City mayor Subhash Chawla told HT on Sunday that he would put up the agenda in the House meeting next month.
Updated on Aug 19, 2013 07:13 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
For ruling Cong 'study tour' begins, ends at home
With the UT administration approving names of 20 councillors for study tour last week, it is confirmed that opposition councillors of the SAD-BJP will not get an opportunity to cool themselves off in the backwaters of Kerala, which has raised their tempers. It is likely that in the last week of this month, Congress, BSP and nominated councillors would be packing their bags for Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Updated on Aug 06, 2013 12:16 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
120 guesthouses in UT villages to face closure
Acting on the directions of Punjab and Haryana high court, the municipal corporation (MC) of Chandigarh has cracked the whip on 120 illegal guesthouses, motels and hotels operating from UT villages as they will face closure this month.
Updated on Aug 03, 2013 12:27 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
Less water, more takers: Admn directive to MC worsens woes
The water available to the city is decreasing, but the UT administration has directed the Chandigarh municipal corporation to widen the supply ambit. The civic body has been told to release 3.5 million gallon daily (MGD) canal water to the left-out areas of Dhanas, the new one-room slum rehab tenements, and the institutional area of Sarangpur.
Updated on Jul 31, 2013 10:30 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
Less water, more takers: Admn directive to MC underlines city's problems
The water available to the city is decreasing, but the UT administration has directed the Chandigarh municipal corporation to widen the supply ambit. The civic body has been told to release 3.5 million gallon daily (MGD) canal water to the left-out areas of Dhanas, the new one-room slum rehab tenements, and the institutional area of Sarangpur.
Updated on Jul 30, 2013 11:37 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh
Owners of plots in GMADA's sectors 76-80 to pay more
In a decision that will come as jolt to the owners of 4,000 residential plots in Sectors 76-80, Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has imposed an additional price of Rs 750-910/square yard on the plots.
Updated on Jul 26, 2013 10:25 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
No relief for illegal colonies in GMADA region
Around one lakh dwellers of 24 illegal colonies under the area governed by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) have got no relief even as the Punjab government regularises such colonies across the state.
Updated on Jul 25, 2013 11:26 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Sas Nagar
From Aug 14, check your water bills online
From August 14, you can check your water bills online and can also get SMS alerts to remind you of payment dates. The service to be started by the municipal corporation of Chandigarh will also provide for consumers to submit their meter reading online and get their bills through email.
Updated on Jul 22, 2013 11:06 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Hillary Victor, Chandigarh