MC crisis likely to continue
CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — Even as seven BJP councillors, served show-cause notices for absenting themselves from a meeting of the Municipal Corporation, file their replies tomorrow, the crisis in the local unit of the party over the "Goel issue" is far from over and is likely to linger on.

Road goes bald in a day
PANCHKULA, Oct 5 — Can the condition of a road deteriorate within one day of being recarpeted ? The answer may be no. But exactly the opposite has happened in Industrial Area (Phase-I) here due to alleged negligence of a contractor.

Villages' committee plans fresh stir CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — The Action Committee for Development of Villages will restart its chain hunger strike from November 9 to protest against the indifferent attitude of the Chandigarh Administration towards the demands of the villages.

Armed assault

Valmiki Jayanti celebrated
CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — Hundreds of devotees thronged temples to pay obeisance to Maharishi Valmiki on Valmiki Jayanti here today.

Chatrath VP of PU Alumni Association
CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — Mr G.K. Chatrath was elected as the vice-president of the Alumni Association of Panjab University at a meeting here today.

Sanghi takes over

MC crisis likely to continue
By Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — Even as seven BJP councillors, served show-cause notices for absenting themselves from the meeting of the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh (MCC) on September 30, by defying the party whip, file their replies tomorrow, the crisis in the local unit of the party over the "Goel issue" is far from over and is likely to linger on much to the embarrassment of the party leadership.

With leaders owing allegiance to both the factions — the Satya Pal Jain group and the Gian Chand Gupta group — making repeated trips to Delhi to justify their points of views to the party high command over the the past several days, the matter now seems to be in the court of the party high command.

The immediate solution to the problem may still not be possible in the current week as the party in charge for Chandigarh affairs, Mr Narindra Modi, is away to Mauritius and would only return on October 10. In any case Chandigarh is low on the national priorities of the party and the party high command's hands are full with several assembly elections due in the coming months.

Party sources here, while conceding that the party was passing through one of most difficult phases, said now only the party high command could hammer out a solution as the crisis had reached such a stage that compromise at the local level was not possible.

In fact, the party president, Mr Dharam Pal Gupta, who made repeated visits to New Delhi to apprise the party high command of the the "latest" position in the party here in the wake of the expulsion of Mr O. P. Goel" from the the party, when contacted, said that it was for the party high command to sort out the matter now.

Meanwhile, in their replies to the the show-cause notices tomorrow, the seven party councillors — Mr Prem Sagar Jain, Mrs Kamla Sharma, Mr Kewal Krishan, Mr Bachan Singh, Mr R. L. Arora, Mr Kanhaiya Lal, and Air Marshal R. S. Bedi (retd) — are likely to reiterate their demand for the revocation of the expulsion of Mr Goel. They have already tested the waters for this by demanding the resignations of the Mayor Mr Gian Chand Gupta, and the party leader in the MCC, Mr Des Raj Tandon.

Since the party leadership has not taken any action against them following this, the mood is upbeat in the Jain camp. The sources added that if the expulsion of Mr Goel was not revoked within "a few" days, the Jain group would go ahead with the election of the a new leader in the House as a first step. They had already demanded a meeting of the councillors for this purpose.

The other grouse of this faction is that Mr Goel was expelled without following proper procedures. His expulsion was first communicated to the press without giving Mr Goel any opportunity to explain his side, giving rise to apprehensions that the expulsion was more for personal reasons.

Mr Prem Sagar Jain, Senior Deputy Mayor and former president of the party, alleged that the "adamant" attitude of Mr Dharam Pal Gupta and Mr Tandon had delayed a solution of the issue. He had earlier shot off a letter to the national president, Mr Khusabhau Thakre, to ask Mr Dharam Pal Gupta to "behave like matured man and restrain him from taking such steps which go against the interests of the party".

The Jain group is sitting pretty since it has majority support of seven councillors besides Mr Goel. The group claims that a couple of councillors from the other group are also in touch with it. The party has 13 councillors in the 29-member House.

What has buoyed the Jain group further is that certain nominated councillors have also condemned the expulsion of Mr Goel and may support the faction having majority support at the time of election to the post of mayor in December this year.

Whatever the turn of events in the coming days, the battle between the two factions, which till now was not out in the open, has now come into the open with the result that the much-touted disciplinarian image of the party has taken a severe beating in the end though the high command, as in intra-party disputes in other states, is likely to have the final say in this issue also.

Road goes bald in a day
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, Oct 5 — Can the condition of a road deteriorate within one day of being recarpeted ? The answer may be no. But exactly the opposite has happened in Industrial Area (Phase-I) here due to alleged negligence of a contractor, engaged by HUDA to carpet certain roads in the industrial estate here.

The HUDA officials say the contractor was solely responsible for violating the norms for recarpeting a road.

The carpeting on the road in front of industrial units (from plot no.325 to 335) done last night came off at many places. As the pre-mix did not stick to the surface. At some places water oozed out as proper ground work had not been done before the recarpeting.

When this correspondent reached the site the patch work on the recarpeted road was being done. An SDO of HUDA, Mr V.K.Sharma, squarely blamed the contractor. He said as per the laid procedure a road surface has to be cleared off soil and water so that the pre-mix layer sticks to the surface.

The negligence in recarpeting the road is visible on some other stretches in the Industrial Area, (Phase-I). A survey of the recently carpeted roads, especially in front of the industrial plot no. 252, 273 and 307 revealed that they had been treated the same way.

The Chief Engineer, HUDA, Mr K.K. Bhugra, maintained that as the contractor had not informed the officials concerned before starting the work the same had been rejected. The contractor will be asked to recarpet the road again, he added. When asked the condition of the other roads recently carpeted in the Industrial Area, (Phase-I), he said he had no knowledge about them but assured of looking into the matter.

The proprietor of the company given contract for recarpeting the road, Mr Gurinder Singh, said as the HUDA officials concerned were not available the site in charge of the company, Ramesh got the work started on his own.

Garbage litters this road
Tribune News Service

Place: The circular road separating Sector 45-B and Burail village.

Problem: Unhygienic conditions prevailing in the area due to garbage lying on the road.

History: The problem has been persisting for about 20 years. Nothing has been done by the authorities to eradicate the problem by clearing the road of garbage and cow dung. Even as newspapers have been taking up the issue regularly nothing has changed the lot of the residents of the village, who are forced to live under unhygienic conditions. Residents say every time the issue is raised by them the authorities end the matter by clearing only a portion of the road, which is dotted with heaps of trash and cow dung.

The road is virtually non-functional due to storage of construction material like bricks and sand by the shopkeepers of the area. The accumulation of trash coupled with encroachments has left the road choked to such an extent that practically only about one-third portion of the 35-ft-wide road is being used by the heavy volume of traffic, thus causing frequent traffic snarl-ups, practically in the backyard of the Dev Samaj College for Women. A visit to the area revealed the gates of the college have remained locked for several years as a result of the mounds of cow dung thrown by the residents of the village.

Response from public: Residents and road users maintain that in addition to the traffic problem the situation aggravates during rains as rain water and slush, which remain accumulated on the road for days, can lead to the outbreak of several diseases. They say due to the stink emanating from garbage heaps they cannot venture out on the road without covering their noses. They allege the situation worsened after the area came under the control of the municipal corporation. Besides getting the area cleaned without any further delay, the residents demand the authorities should do something to remove the "rehras" which remain parked on a major part of the road.

Villages' committee plans fresh stir
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — The Action Committee for Development of Villages will restart its chain hunger strike from November 9 to protest against the indifferent attitude of the Chandigarh Administration towards the demands of the villages.

Mr Harbhajan Singh and Mr Chaman Lal, president and general secretary of the committee told mediapersons here today that despite assurances by the administration and the then Prime Minister nothing had been done.

The main demands of the committee are more rights to the panchayats, constitution of the zila parishad and panchayat samiti, regularisation of constructions outside the lal dora, providing basic amenities to the people living in such areas,better compensation to farmers whose land was to be acquired, plots to such farmers and withdrawal of notices to residents of Deep Complex, Hallomajra.

Valmiki Jayanti celebrated
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — Hundreds of devotees thronged temples to pay obeisance to Maharishi Valmiki on Valmiki Jayanti here today.

Functions were organised at the Sector 24 Maharishi Valmiki Bhavan, the Sector 32 mandir and the Sector 20 Ravidass Bhavan. The mandirs and bhavans had been colourfully decorated and stalls selling sweets, fruits, toys and portraits of the Maharishi did brisk business. Merry-go-rounds and other games set up for children were another major attraction.

The local Congress chief, Mr Vinod Sharma, was the chief guest at a function held at the Sector 24 bhavan. He said imparting education to Dalits was the need of the hour. Besides this they should be given adequate representation on various committees formed by the administration. A library should also be opened at the bhavan.

The members of the Maharishi Valmiki Bhavan Committee demanded a national holiday on the eve of the jayanti.

Chatrath VP of PU Alumni Association
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 5 — Mr G.K. Chatrath was elected as the vice-president of the Alumni Association of Panjab University at a meeting here today.

While Mr Anirudh Joshi was elected joint secretary-cum-treasurer, the Vice-Chancellor Prof M.M. Puri will be the ex-officio president of the association.

Speaking on the occasion, Professor Puri informed that an alumni house to be built would be financed through donations. Contributions for this would be exempt from income tax, he added

Those who spoke on the occasion included Mr Rajinder Deepa, Dr D.S. Gupta, and Mr P.S. Sangha.

Sanghi takes over

Chandigarh, Oct 5 — Mr A.K. Sanghi today joined as Area Manager (North) in the Chandigarh Telcom District relieving Mr Naresh Kumar of the charge. Mr Sanghi will be available at SCO 56-57 third floor Sector 17-D.

4 armed men strike in Panchkula
From Tribune Reporters

PANCHKULA, Oct 5— Four youths armed with knives tricked their way into the house of an SDO while posing as his acquaintances and assaulted a women in the house before decamping with a sum of Rs 1500 in Sector 12-A here today.

The owner of the house, Mr Rampal Agnihotri, who is working as an SDO with Punjab Mandi Board, was out of station at the time of the incident. Three other female occupants — wife and two daughters — of the official who were present in the house were spared by the assailants.

According to the information available the youths came asking for the SDO with a gift in the hand of one of them. They told the mother of Mr Agnihotri, Mrs Sita Devi, that they wanted to give the gift to her son. When she went to the kitchen to make tea for them they attacked the sister of the official, Ms Satya Devi with a knife.

The S.P, Mr Alok Mittal, said the youths were looking for a file. The police had registered a case under Section 392 and 394 of the IPC. He said the case would be become clearer once Mr Agnihotri returns.

The assailants, after locking the woman occupants of the house, in a room ransacked two rooms located on the first floor of the house. They remained in the house for over two hours before decamping with the cash.

CHANDIGARH

Body found: The highly decomposed body of a youth in his twenties was found inside a Sector 20 home this morning. The youth was identified as Sanjay Soni, who used to live alone as tenant in the house.

The body had decomposed so badly that the room was emitting a foul smell. This actually led to the discovery of the body. Neighbours suspected something fishy and broke open the door only to find the body lying inside the room. The body was sent for post mortem. It could not be established if Soni committed suicide.

Lovestruck youth: A youth barged into a Sector 37 home and told the house owner that he wanted to marry his daughter. The lovestruck youth, Meharbhan Singh Bhandari, a resident of Naya Gaon village, was over powered by the house owner, Mr Prakash Singh , and handed over to the police. Bhandari works in courier company based in Ram Darbar. Mr Parkash Singh, who has just returned from USA, has alleged that Bhandari had entered his house with an intention to steal. However, after seeing him Bhandari started saying that he had come to ask the hand of his daughter, Mr Prakash Singh alleged.

Axe attack: Two brothers living in Dhanas village were attacked with an axe by a resident of the same village over a minor issue. The brothers Kuldeep Singh and Amrik Singh, were allegedly attacked by Jasbir Singh. The incident occurred when the wife of Jasbir Singh went to throw cow dung near the house of Kuldeep Singh. Amrik the younger brother of Kuldeep was sitting outside the house and he objected to this. A verbal duel ensued between the woman and Amrik. The woman returned home. Moments later a furious Jasbir Singh reached the spot where he hit Amrik with an axe. Kuldeep, the brother of Amrik , intervened and he was also allegedly hit by Jasbir .

Arrested: A resident of Bapu Dham colony, Rakesh Kumar, was arrested for allegedly possessing a knife. Meanwhile in a separate incident Kamaljit of Mani Majra was allegedly attacked by Sonia , Gurinder Kaur and Tejpal. A case has been registered.

Personator held: A youth personating for a friend in a Combined Defence Service (CDS) entrance examination was nabbed by the police from the Government High School, Sector 32, yesterday. Ravi Prakash was nabbed while personating as Ram Prakash.

House burgled: The Sector 36 home of Mr Rameshwar Gupta, was burgled while he had gone out of station. Gupta lost a VCR, a camera and a sum of Rs 25000 besides wrist watches. He had gone out of station on October 3 and returned the next day.

Injured: Two persons were injured in separate incidents and admitted to the PGI within the last 24 hours. Ajay Kumar a resident of Dera Bassi fell from the roof of his house while Johar Singh of Dhanas village was injured when he fell from a tree that he climbed.