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Friday, July 24, 1998

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today's calendar

A model shows off the designer collection of NIFD at a fashion show organised at Panchkula on Thursday — A Tribune photo by Gautam Singh

Top models steal the show
PANCHKULA, July 23 — Professionals made the difference at an impressive 'Aristrocratic Premium Haute and ...

10 rural schools to get computers
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — The Education Department has envisaged a programme to make students of colonies and rural areas of the union territory computer literate by installing computers in some schools in these areas...

Police remand for former jail official
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — Former Assistant Superintendent of Burail jail Sitla Prasad Mishra, who surrendered in the court of Mr A.K. Bishnoi, Judicial Magistrate, was today remanded in police custody until July 25...

HC grants bail to 2 middlemen
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today ordered the release of two of the three alleged middlemen, Dinesh Sharma and Suresh Sharma, in the controversial kickbacks case registered by the Chandigarh Administration against certain officials of the Engineering Department...

Pedestrians, cyclists are main victims
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — Surajpal (35), a resident of Sector 28, was knocked down by a speeding truck near the Transport roundabout on the intervening night of July 1 and July 2 while he was trying to cross the Chandigarh-Panchkula road...

Protests mark searches
SAS NAGAR, July 23 — Protests by residents marked the carrying out of searches by the police in Phase IIIB 2 here today...

I was misquoted, says Delhi CM
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — The Delhi Chief Minister, Mr Sahib Singh Verma, today again denied the allegations of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) that he had accused their leaders of bringing criminals to the Capital to create a law and order problem...

Snag disrupts DD Metro telecast

Recognition extended for Sector 32 GMC

MC to have one more road division

Challaning to start from July 25

.................

10 rural schools to get computers
By Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — The Education Department has envisaged a programme to make students of colonies and rural areas of the union territory computer literate by installing computers in some schools in these areas.
According to official sources, the programme had been chalked out to make reading more interesting and to reduce the high drop-out rate among students of these schools. In the first phase of the programme, the department has selected 10 schools, all of which fall in villages or in the colonies around the city.
Some of the schools include Government Senior Secondary School, Karsan, Government Senior Secondary School, Manimajra, Government High School, Mauli Jagran, Government Senior Secondary School, Dhanas, Government High School, Maloya, Government High School, Behlana, and Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 45, which mainly caters to students belonging to Burail village.
The scheme was mooted in at a meeting of the administration official last month. It was felt that schools situated in rural areas most of which were showing poor results should be made more attractive, so as to cope with the pressure of students on the city schools. According to the programme, the computers would be used as teaching aid in the selected schools, and emphasis would be laid on education of science and social sciences, as it was found that the students of these schools were not faring well in these subjects.
When contacted, the DPI (Schools), Mr D.S. Mangat said the installation of computers was expected to be finalised by October. He said out of 10 computers, five were to be provided by the Education Department and the rest would be given by the Social Welfare Department.
He said the programme would be implemented from the current academic session.
Rural schools which were not being covered under the first phase of the programme would be provided other teaching aids such as TV sets, VCPs, and electronic musical synthesizers.
The department has also identified 31 'problematic' schools in rural and urban areas. Among other problems, shortage of staff was the major trouble which haunted these schools. To overcome the problem, 19 JBT teachers have been recruited by the department last month, he added. He said that total shortage of teachers in all schools, of the union territory which had a staff strength of about 4500 was 140.

Police remand for former jail official
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — Former Assistant Superintendent of Burail jail Sitla Prasad Mishra, who surrendered in the court of Mr A.K. Bishnoi, Judicial Magistrate, was today remanded in police custody until July 25.
Mishra is a suspect in the Burail jail blow-up conspiracy case.
While allowing the Chandigarh Police to arrest him, Mr Bishnoi allowed the application moved by counsel for Mishra praying that the police be directed to intimate the place where he would be interrogated. He should not be shifted to a remote or unknown place. Counsel should also be allowed to meet him twice a day during the police remand.
In the application, defence counsel stated that the Chandigarh Police had raided his (Mishra's) house several times this week. He had reasons to believe that he would be arrested, and apprehended torture by the police.
The investigating officer, on the other hand, maintained that the prosecution was yet to recover from him mobile phones. Jaswant Singh, another suspect in the case, revealed during his interrogation that Hawara had directed him (Jaswant Singh) to take Rs 15,000 from Mishra to get a mobile phone from a Sector 22 lawyer. The phone and later a SIM card were smuggled into the jail in the presence of Mishra.
Mishra had also placed an order for pizzas for Jaswant Singh. The Assistant Manager of Deminos had stated that two persons had taken pizzas after naming Mishra.
Defence counsel, however, argued that the allegations against Mishra were vague. The police did not specify which mobile phone was to be recovered. He denied that any attempt was made to break the jail.

Top models steal the show
Tribune News Service
PANCHKULA, July 23 — Professionals made the difference at an impressive 'Aristrocratic Premium Haute and Kool' fashion show organised by the National Institute of Fashion Design here today.
Set to the backdrop of conventional ramp and carefully handled lighting, top models of the country lived up to popular expectations. The choice of music was largely appreciated.
Designer wear, both Western and traditional, designed by over 200 students of NIFD were adorned by the likes of Helen Brodie, Shweta Menon, Manpreet Brar, Ruchi Malhotra, Preeti Mankotia, Ayesha Prem and Joey Mathews. Manpreet Brar, a former Miss India and Helen Brodie, "Jaanam samjha karo" girl, were the clear favourites among the audience.
The evening started with 'peace' round in which models paraded suits of white colour. Kids carrying flowers accompanied the models. This was followed by natural knots which claimed to have drawn inspiration from nature. Bagpipers displaying Scottish skirts with simple tops, check mate — hand-painted checks with headgears imitating chess game, Western drapes, and Begum Sahiba, displaying plain lenghas require special mention.
The fillers between two consecutive rounds were provided by Dynamite, a professional dance group of youngsters. The group impressed with neatly coordinated choreography. Dances on Maria, 'Balle balle' and 'Jugni' were well appreciated.
A section of crowd, however, complained about the seating arrangements. As a large number of members of the audience converged on the main stage, those at the back could not enjoy the show.
The movement of traffic outside the venue posed problems due to overcrowding.

Campus Beat
PU move to help staff in distress
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — Panjab University has decided to work out ways to generate more money for providing succour to university employees during hard time.
The Syndicate which met recently approved the recommendations of a committee convened by Dr V.K. Mahajan. The panel recommended that teaching and non-teaching employees should be requested to contribute a minimum of Rs 10 a month towards this fund. The DUI would request presidents and chairmen of various university employee organisations to impress upon the members to contribute towards PU Employees' Welfare Fund.
The fund would seek donations from alumni of the university and raise money by organising functions.
The purpose for which the funds would be utilised for employee welfare include subsistence allowance in acute hardship (for all categories of retired employees); on occasion of death of spouse or marriage of daughter (for 'C' class retired employees only).
The fund will be administered by a committee consisting of five members represented by the DUI as its chairman, registrar as ex-officio secretary and three members of the Syndicate. The Deputy Registrar (Accounts) has been assigned the task of ascertaining immediate the needs of those seeking financial assistance.
Seats filled: All seats in the general pool in all first year courses in Punjab Engineering College were filled on the fourth day of counselling here on

Thursday.
The lowest rank which secured admission in civil engineering was 994 for the general pool. All seats in electronics, computer, mechanical and electrical engineering for UT pool candidates have also been filled, Prof. D.K. Vohra, co-ordinator of admissions said. The last rank recorded was 979 in electrical engineering.
There are 10 seats vacant in production; 20 seats in metallurgy, six in aeronautical; and 27 in civil for the UT pool.
All 39 seats in the department of chemical engineering on the campus have been filled. All 26 seats in Chandigarh College of Architecture have also been filled.
The lowest rank admitted in the UT pool for CCA was 211 while the last rank in the general pool was 101.
Second counselling will be from August 17 to 19, Prof Vohra added.

HC grants bail to 2 middlemen
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today ordered the release of two of the three alleged middlemen, Dinesh Sharma and Suresh Sharma, in the controversial kickbacks case registered by the Chandigarh Administration against certain officials of the Engineering Department.
The moment Mr Justice S.C. Malte pronounced this order in a packed court in the afternoon, there was a sudden flash of joy on the face of Mr R.K. Sharma, octogenarian father of the two brothers, who had been sitting in the courtroom since morning anxiously awaiting the court decision. He was accompanied by his two daughters-in-law and a son-in-law.
The judge observed: "The petitioners have been in custody for the past 88 days, including six days in police remand. It appears clearly that charge sheet cannot be submitted within 90 days as contemplated under Section 167 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code. In that case the petitioners would be entitled to bail as a matter of right on the sole ground that the charge sheet could not be submitted during the statutory period".
Mr Justice Malte then concluded: "Therefore, this court is not going into the merits of the case. In these circumstances, both the petitioners are granted bail by furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each and surety of a like amount to the satisfaction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Chandigarh."
On an earlier date of hearing, the judge had heard arguments for and against the grant of bail to the Sharmas. While counsel for the Sharmas had pleaded that the prosecution was not to recover anything from them, the administration stand was that they were the principal suspects in the case. Their release was likely to hamper investigation of the case.
On that day Mr Justice Malte had asked counsel for the administration: "What purpose would be served by incarcerating the petitioners for such a long time? Why does the administration want to curb the liberty of the individuals? Since the documents had already been seized from the Sharmas and they had been subjected to custodial interrogation by the prosecution, there is hardly any justification for keeping them behind bars."

Crime File
Mishap victim dies of injuries
From Tribune Reporters
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — One person succumbed to his injuries while three others were injured in separate incidents in the city today.
Mr Shiv Prasad, a resident of colony no 5 succumbed to his injuries at the PGI today. He was hit by an unidentified scooterist.
In another incident Jagdish Prasad of Sector 41 who was driving a scooter was hit by a car near the Dhillon cinema house. The car driver fled from the scene. The scooterist has been admitted to the Sector 16 General Hospital.
Mukesh Chawla was injured when his scooter was hit by a van of Amrik Singh.
Cases under Sections 279 and 337, IPC, have been registered against the guilty parties.
Scooter stolen: Mr Deepak Sharma of Sector 10, Panchkula, has reported to the police that his scooter was stolen from the parking lot of the GMC, Sector 32. A case under Section 379, IPC, has been registered at the Sector 34 police station.
PANCHKULA
A person died after he was hit by a military truck near Suraj theatre here on Wednesday.
According to the police, Mr Tauker Parsad died after he was hit by the truck driven by Mr Katke. A case under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC has been registered against the truck driver on the basis of statement given by Mr Mithu Prasad.
Post-mortem report: The post-mortem examination report of the body of a woman, which was found at Barwala in Morni on July 21, reportedly revealed the death due to strangulation.
Her body was found in a highly decomposed condition.

Pedestrians, cyclists are main victims
By Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — Surajpal (35), a resident of Sector 28, was knocked down by a speeding truck near the Transport roundabout on the intervening night of July 1 and July 2 while he was trying to cross the Chandigarh-Panchkula road.
Before people who had gathered there could arrange some vehicle to take him to hospital, he was dead. Meanwhile, the driver, apparently in a drunken state, fled the scene, taking advantage of darkness.
In an identical incident Hakam Ram, a resident of Dhakauli village in Patiala district, who had come to the city to make certain purchases was crushed to death on June 10 by a CTU bus near Government Press lights on Madhya Marg. Hakam was on his way to Sector 8 from Sector 18 and the incident occurred as he tried to cross the centre verge dividing the road.
Besides proving fatal for pedestrians, both cases have one thing in common, the involvement of professional drivers, such as drivers of heavy vehicles, buses and trucks, who have been driving vehicles for long.
These were not isolated cases wherein accidents were caused by professional drivers. A large number of accidents — about one-fourth of

them occurring in the city — had such drivers involved in them. Interestingly, there is a considerable increase in such cases in UT.
According to a study the data of which is available with the traffic cell of the Chandigarh Police, of the total 382 accidents which took place in the union territory in 1996, 101 witnessed the involvement of truck and bus drivers, which works out to 26.4 per cent of the total mishaps. Figures indicate that nearly 100 accidents of the total 382 proved to be fatal, killing 125 persons.
The figures indicate a steep rise in such accidents which took place in different parts of the city in 1997, when 150 persons were killed in 398 mishaps. What is alarming is that of the total accidents in the year, 74 were caused by truck drivers and 43 by bus drivers. Similarly, the trend continued in the current year as of the total 173 accidents, 48 saw the involvement of negligent and rash bus and truck drivers. These mishaps sniffed out 61 precious lives in different parts of the city.
According to the officials of the traffic cell of the city police, a majority of these mishaps had one thing in common i.e. the victims were either bicyclists or pedestrians. In the case of pedestrians they died while trying to cross the road, especially during twilight hours.
Ms Kuldip Kaur, in charge of the traffic cell, said the concentration of such cases were at Hallo Majra roundabout, railway station road light point and Madhya Marg, where traffic flow is heavy as compared to other areas. The data pointed out that in most cases, individuals were the victims and their number never crossed three. In 1996, there were only two accidents each of which witnessed the killing of more than two persons followed by three in 1997.
Giving the reasons behind the involvement of a large number of bus and truck drivers in road accidents, Ms Kuldip Kaur said most accidents took place as drivers, especially truck drivers who become tired after long working hours. Second, most of these truck drivers despite having valid licences were devoid of proper training. Citing an example, she said that she had come across an accident case where a Haryana Roadways bus driver involved in some traffic violation was found to be without proper documents and was recruited on a daily basis. "When we summoned him we were told by roadways officials that he had left the temporary job". She added.
Ms Kuldip Kaur said that due to an alarming rise in the number of accidents in night, traffic police personnel had been deployed at different accident-prone spots in the union territory.

Protests mark searches
From Our Correspondent
SAS NAGAR, July 23 — Protests by residents marked the carrying out of searches by the police in Phase IIIB 2 here today.
Mr Ranmohinder Singh, Manager, Markfed, Rajpura, said more than 10 police personnel suddenly descended on his house in Phase IIIB 2 this morning. A few went to the first floor while others began searching cupboards, drawers, the divan and other places, making the whole house topsy-turvy. The policemen, he said, were uncouth in their behaviour with his family and he felt humiliated as neighbours watched.
Another house in the area, in which Mr Sukhdev Singh, a technical assistant in Punwire, was living was also searched.
Defending the police action, the SP, Mr B.S. Randhawa, said searches were sometimes carried out following receipt of information about the movement of suspects, which might be given anonymously.
Asked under what law the searches were conducted, he said the police had powers to take such action.
Searches, he said, were also carried out in the Phase V market. Nothing incriminating was found in the two houses in Phase IIIB 2, he added.

I was misquoted, says Delhi CM
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — The Delhi Chief Minister, Mr Sahib Singh Verma, today again denied the allegations of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) that he had accused their leaders of bringing criminals to the Capital to create a law and order problem.
Talking to reporters here, Mr Verma said he had been "misquoted" by a New Delhi newspaper, which based its story on sources.
Mr Verma, who is scheduled to meet the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, this evening, said that the issue of pending power bill amounting to Rs 150 crore, which Haryana owed to Delhi, would be taken up at the meeting.
The issue of sharing of Yamuna waters would also come up for discussion. At present Delhi gets 600 million gallons Yamuna waters per day (MGD) while its requirement was about 800 MGDs.
On the Delhi traffic police fining him for driving a scooter without helmet, Mr Verma said as he had not driven a scooter for many years, he had forgotten to wear a helmet. He paid the fine as he wanted to send a message to the public that one should follow the traffic rules.
Earlier the Chief Minister of Delhi inaugurated a five-day "Ayurvedic chakitsa shivir" at Government Art Gallery, in Sector 10. He said that of the 10 proposed "gau sadans" in Delhi, eight had already started functioning.
Those, who spoke on the occasion included Mr Balramji Dass Tandon, a Punjab Minister, and Prof Ganeshi Lal, a Haryana Minister.
The Mayor, Mr Gian Chand Gupta, presided.

Snag disrupts DD Metro telecast
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — Even as the Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Communication, Ms Sushma Swaraj, performs the "bhumi pujan" of the Doordarshan studio here tomorrow, a "technical snag" in the Doordarshan relay centre in Sector 34 disrupted the transmission of DD Metro for more than six hours today.
According to sources, a cable burst in Sector 34, disrupting the services of the DD Metro from 11 a.m. to 5.42 p.m.
As the centre does not have an alternative arrangement in the shape of a generator set in case of power failure, the transmission was disrupted.
The sources said though the AIR station had a generator but its capacity was "not adequate". Hence it could not be of use.
A large number of DD Metro viewers had to go without their favourite programmes on the channel.

Recognition extended for Sector 32 GMC
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has extended the provisional recognition to the Sector 32 Government Medical College for a further period of one year from August 31.
According to Dr V.K. Kak, Director-Principal, the Medical Council of India continues to withhold recommendation for recognition of the college primarily on the grounds that some faculty members continue to be on "deputation"
This is despite the fact the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had written to the MCI in February last year, observing that the deputation of staff is a time-honoured practice throughout the country in all states and central government organisations and institutions.
"The MCI may go into the standard and quality of staff employed at the college rather than insisting that the staff should not be on deputation and that the MCI may not make deputation of staff an issue for not approving the college. The standard of college should be the main issue."
This, says Dr Kak, was reiterated at another meeting of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in June in Delhi where the MCI was again apprised of this view.
Dr Kak said that the college has 190 total teaching staff, out of which only 10 professors are working on deputation. Interviews for eight posts have already been conducted by the UPSC but the declaration of the results of the interviews has been stayed by an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal, New Delhi.
He further said that there was nothing in the Medical Council Act, rules and regulations regarding not recommending recognition for this medical college on grounds of staff on "deputation". The facilities, equipment and experience of the staff and academic performance of the students makes it one of the best undergraduate medical institutions in the country, he added.

MC to have one more road division
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — The Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, will soon have an additional road division.
A decision to this effect was taken by Finance and Contract Committee of the civic body today.
Through another decision, the MCC decided to construct a community centre in Sector 46. Only the ground floor of the community centre will be constructed in the first phase. An amount of Rs 25 lakh is likely to be spent on the construction, sources said.
An estimate of Rs 60 lakh was passed by the MCC for the concrete pavement of the motor market complex in Mani Majra. It was, however, passed on the condition that the Chandigarh Administration should release the amount.
The committee denied one-year extension to a private vocational institute operating from Sector 8 City Club.
Water shortage: A number of residents had to face inconvenience as there was no evening water supply to their areas.
Residents of Sectors 23 and 40 complained that in the absence of evening water supply they had to fetch water from the adjoining sectors.
A majority of them had to go without evening bath.

Challaning to start from July 25
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 23 — The Chandigarh traffic police will start challaning people violating the provisions of the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the Chandigarh Motor Vehicle Rules, 1990, as per the directives issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
A spokesperson of the department in a statement here today said that challaning would start from the morning of July 25.