SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABAD NOVEMBER 27, 2016 3 TIMES CITY Ahmedabad: Pushing up their drive against illegal hookah bars in the city, Zone VII police have initiated the process of cancelling licences of six hookah bars in Satellite and Anandnagar areas on Friday. The decision was taken after the hookah bars were found flouting norms laid down by the judicia- ry for running such establish- ments. The drive initiated a fort- night ago by city police has alrea- dy covered over 20 hookah bars in various western city parts, and non- cognizable offences have been registe- red against the businesses. From almost all the places, police teams have collec- ted samples which have been sent for fo- rensic examination. “Guidelines are clear for hoo- kah bars - it should not be more than 20% of the total area of the establishment which should ha- ve licence to run a restaurant or eatery,” said a city police official. “There should be a separate area for smoking and the area should be under CCTV surveillance. Ma- ny hookah bars were found using tobacco that did not have statuto- ry warning on the packets accor- ding to the rule,” said a senior city police official. Cops move to cancel licences of 6 hookah bars Ahmedabad: Quite oblivio- us of demonetization of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes, ma- ny traffic jawans deployed at traffic junctions in the ci- ty had collected fines from rule violators in the invalid notes. Now, these cops are in a quandary as the traffic he- adquarters has refused to accept these notes. Left with no option, the jawans have been spending long hours in queues to deposit such notes in their personal accounts. Then they join another long queue at ATMs to withdraw the sum so that they can de- posit the fines collected by them in the department cof- fers. A traffic head constable said that the same problem was faced by some constab- les deployed to deliver e- challans. “These policemen keep a booklet of about 100 memos. The prevalent prac- tice is they go to the traffic headquarters once all the memos are exhausted. By the time some of them finis- hed the memo book, the high value notes were demo- netized and they were left with several invalid notes. Now, the headquarters is not accepting the old notes,” added a police personnel. “Many of us had to stand in queues, leaving our jobs, to withdraw money and la- ter deposit the fine amount which we had collected from rule violators. The traffic headquarters could have ac- cepted the money in old cur- rency and deposited it in the bank treasury to help us av- oid this unnecessary hass- le,” said a traffic police offi- cial. Additional commissio- ner of police, traffic, Sub- hash Trivedi said that after demonetization, a notifica- tion was issued not to fine commuters for two days be- cause of the cash crunch and after that fine should be collected in new currency notes. They Had Collected Fines In Invalid Notes DEMONETIZATION BLUES TOI Sarfaraz.Shaikh @timesgroup.com Ahmedabad: Withdrawing cash from an ATM has beco- me mission impossible. San- ket Shah, a resident of Satel- lite visited 20 ATMS from Sa- tellite to Navrangpura to find only two dispensing money. One had a very long queue, and the other one had around 30 people waiting in front. Shah said that he had run out of cash and with weekend approaching he needed some cash on hand. “Some of my relatives are coming and I ne- ed cash. Hence I was running from one ATM to another. Fi- nally, I could get money at the Standard Chartered bank ATM in Mithakali.” Shah was not alone. Those needing cash had a tough time finding ATMs which had money. On Saturday, the ATM outside Dena Bank on Ash- ram Road was operational only in the morning, and ran out of cash by afternoon. Two ATMS that were operating nearby were that of HDFC Bank in Navrangpura and that of the Standard Charte- red bank near Mithakali. Ho- wever, the ATM of Standard Chartered Bank was dispen- sing only Rs 2,000 notes. A security guard at one of the ATMs on Ashram Road was busy ensuring that each person used only one ATM card. “If someone wants to withdraw from another acco- unt, he has to stand in the qu- eue again,” said the guard, adding, “People are coming in with at least six to seven cards and withdrawing from each account. I have been as- ked by bank officials to ensu- re one transaction per per- son.” Mayur Patel, a resident of Satellite, was still searching for an ATM in Memnagar at about 12 in the night. He had thought that there would be a smaller crowd at midnight. Patel said that he checked at least 10 ATMS in Satellite and Memnagar only to find that they had run out of cash. Aro- und 90% of ATMs were not dispensing cash, said Patel. Even when cash arrived at ATMs it was running out wit- hin a few hours. Mohin Shaikh, a resident of Rakhial was spotted stan- ding in the long queue at De- na bank. “Not a single ATM in Ba- punagar or Gomtipur are dis- pensing money for the last two days. The banks too did not have cash on Thursday and Friday, and hence I was forced to come all the way from Rakhial to get money,” said Shaikh. Even When Cash Arrives, It Runs Out In A Few Hours Most ATMs without cash, people in peril MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: Closed ATMs compound people’s misery Yogesh Chawda Traffic police officials caught in old-money trap Ahmedabad: The Indian Air Force is conducting a recruitment rally for male candidates of Gujarat to join as Airmen for Technical and Group Non-Technical Medical Assistant Trades. The recruitment test is being conducted at Police Parade Ground, Bhuj, from November 24 to 27. Candidates from Ahmedabad, Anand, Arvalli, Banaskantha, Bharuch, Chotta-Udepur, Dahod, Dangs, Gandhinagar, Mahesana, Mahisagar, Narmada, Navsari, Sabarkantha, Surat, Tapi, Vadodara and Valsad districts reported for selection on Nov 24 at the venue. Whereas, candidates from Amreli, Bhavnagar, Botad, Devbhumi Dwarka, Gir-Somnath, Jamnagar, Junagarh, Kheda, Kutch (Bhuj), Morbi, Panchmahal, Patan, Porbandar, Rajkot, Surendernagar districts and Union territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli reported on Nov 26. Those who have cleared the written test will undergo physical fitness tests and adaptability tests on Nov 27. TNN Ahmedabad: A selection committee has decided on 14 candidates to constitute the first batch of the Sabarmati Fellowship programme. The committee included luminaries like Ram Chandra Guha, Thomas Weber and Tridip Suhrud. Nineteen applications had been received for inclusion in the first batch. Meanwhile, the Darshak Itihas Nidhi, a foundation named after Manubhai Pancholi 'Darshak', now chaired by Hasmukh Shah has agreed to provide financial support for two of the 14 fellowships at the Ashram. TNN First batch selected for Sabarmati fellowship IAF launches recruitment rally TIMES NEWS NETWORK Ahmedabad: The state government has not objected to the anticipatory bail application filed by 25-year-old woman, Sharmila alias Kavita Rat- hod, who is facing murder charge after she jum- ped into the Sabarmati river with her four- month-old son on November 11. While the mother was rescued, the child co- uld not survive. Cops at Riverfront (west) police station charged the woman with murder. As she is facing arrest, she moved the city sessions court for legal protection against possible arrest and fi- led for anticipatory bail. Public prosecutor Sudhir Brahmbhatt did not raise objection to the application and submit- ted that the court should take a decision on hu- manitarian grounds. Additional sessions judge D P Mahida has reserved decision till Monday. According to the statement given by Rathod’s husband, Alpeshkumar, after he left for his work- place in GIDC, Naroda, she left her home near Ge- eta Mandir with their four-year-old son, who was diagnosed with insufficient brain development since the birth. To end the agony, she had jumped with the child into the river from Sardar Bridge. Drowned baby: No objection to mother’s bail application TIMES NEWS NETWORK Man duped with lure of new currency notes: A Naroda resident has filed a complaint with Naroda police for cheating of Rs 87,000. According to a complaint by Ramanand Yadav, he was standing near the branch of SBI at Naroda Patia at 11.45 am on Friday when a youth approached him. Claiming to know him, he showed him new Rs 100 currency notes and told him that he could deposit his money in the bank without the queue due to his clout in the branch. Believing him, Yadav gave him Rs 87,000. The youth took away the money and never returned. TNN TIMES NEWS NETWORK