Price rise will be the 'poll plank'
CHANDIGARH, Oct 22 — Onions and prices of essential commodities, which are hurting the people most, will be major issues during the ensuing Assembly elections, says Mr Jaspal Singh, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer affairs Minister of Gujarat.

Two roundabouts to be ready in two months
CHANDIGARH, Oct 22 — The construction of two roundabouts on the outer Dakshin Marg and in Sector 42 which has been hanging fire for the past two years is likely to be completed in two months.

• Natwar Singh to address seminar
• Maneka to visit city

Price rise will be the 'poll plank'
by Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 22 — Onions and prices of essential commodities, which are hurting the people most, will be major issues during the ensuing Assembly elections, says Mr Jaspal Singh, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer affairs Minister of Gujarat.

Mr Jaspal Singh, who is on a private visit to his home town, Kapurthala, for the first time in 25 years, had a brief stopover here.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune this morning, Mr Jaspal Singh, a police officer-turned-politician, quotes results of recent byelections to the Municipal Corporation and the municipal committees in Gujarat to corroborate his viewpoint, "Our ruling BJP lost 80 per cent to 90 per cent seats in these elections."

"We lost mainly because of prices of onions and edible oils. Though Gujarat is onions producing state, its price varied between Rs 30 and Rs 35 a kg, which is unprecedented. The price of groundnut oil touched Rs 60 to Rs 70 a kg. Though it has now come down to Rs 50 a kg because of the arrival of the fresh crop of groundnut and the decision of the union government to import 150 lakh tonnes of edible oils, the import decision has come very late," he says.

"In Saurashtra area, we had a good crop of onions at a number of places, including Bhavnagar and Jamnagar last year. Though the onion crop in the neighbouring Maharashtra, especially in Nasik, suffered heavily because of excess heat, farmers in our state continued to export onions. This time, we also had problems with our crop because of heatwave conditions," discloses Mr Jaspal Singh.

Mr Jaspal Singh feels that Food and Civil Supplies is more powerful as a department than even the Home department because of its such wide contact with people. In Gujarat, there are 30 lakh people who are below the poverty line and covered under the subsidised public distribution system.

"We have been making full use of the Prevention of Black Marketing Act to streamline the PDS. Before I took over as the Food and Civil Supplies minister in 1995, there used to be a major diversion of heavily subsidised items supplied under the PDS.

"For example, nearly 40 per cent of kerosene of state's total monthly allocation 90 million litres was diverted. This meant a loss of Rs 45 crore a month on the subsidy alone. We sell kerosene under the PDS at Rs 2.65 a litre as against the actual price of Rs 7.50 litre. The difference is subsidised. This comes to a whopping Rs 540 crore a year which is diverted to other areas. We took it seriously. In one year we had more than 100 cases under the PBM Act. It is a very potent Act which allows the state to detain a person without trial for six months. Both the state and Central governments have concurrent powers to release a detained person.

This had the desired effect. Now we have 20 million litres of kerosene in surplus. We announced an additional quota for consumers for Divali. In other commodities, too, the same thing was happening. 22 per cent of wheat and 18 per cent of sugar under the PDS also gets diverted. Now in Gujarat, you will not fined long queues to get kerosene. While 60 days of my taking over as minister, the oil companies recorded a 40 per cent increase in sales in the state. This year we had 106 persons booked under the PBM Act. This also includes the case for supply of 'substandard edible oil' for the mid-day meal scheme of the government'.

Mr Jaspal Singh admits that consumer awareness has not picked up the desired momentum in his state. He maintains that the BJP Government in Gujarat was stable and had no threat from any side.

Mr Jaspal Singh had a meeting with his Punjab counterpart, Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, and was surprised that Punjab was not using the provisions of the Prevention of the Black Marketing Act to streamline the PDS and stop malpractices.

Mr Jaspal Singh, who belonged to the 1957 batch of the IPS, the same as that of the Punjab 'supercop' KPS Gill, had resigned his job in 1982 to join politics. In 1987, he was elected Mayor of Baroda city. It was this town where he had worked as Commissioner of Police in 1982 for 100 days and his subsequent transfer by the government led to riots in which over 10 persons were killed.

A product of Government Randhir College, Kapurthala, Mr Jaspal Singh, youngest of six sons of Dr Niranjan Singh, personal physician to Maharaja Jagjit Singh of Kapurthala, did his LL.B. from Jalandhar before joining the IPS in 1957. In 1977, he married after the death of his first wife in an accident. Neither his wife nor his two daughters have been ever to Punjab before. For them, it is their maiden visit to their father's hometown.

Mr Jaspal Singh also enjoys a rare distinction. Being a non-Gujarati, he has been elected from the same assembly constituency in Baroda in 1985, 1990, 1995 and again in 1998. He will stay in Delhi to attend a meeting called by the Union Food Minister, Mr Surjit Singh Barnala, of non-government organisations and state governments on October 28 on consumer affairs.

Two roundabouts to be ready in two months
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 22 — The construction of two roundabouts on the outer Dakshin Marg and in Sector 42 which has been hanging fire for the past two years is likely to be completed in two months.

The delay in the completion of the construction of the roundabouts has been causing inconvenience to thousands of road users going from the city towards Mohali. The situation has been particularly worse at the stretch of the Outer Dakshin Marg near Kajheri village, where the roundabout is being constructed, as it has become accident-prone due to an absence of streetlights and spilling of construction material on the road.

Another reason for accidents is said to be the separation of the layer of sand and stone due to recent rains.

Mr S.L. Bhandari, Xen of the UT Engineering department, said according to a completion programme formulated by the department, the Sector 52 roundabout would be completed in last week of the December.

He attributed the delay in completion of the Rs 23 lakh Ministry of Surface Transport project to rain and due to deployment of labour for widening of the road separating sectors 34 and 35.

Mr Bhandari said that at present 25 labourers were working on the project. He expressed hope that work on the roundabout would be completed as per the schedule. He added even a day of rain was capable of delaying the work for about a week.

However, nothing has been done by the municipal corporation authorities for the completion of the roundabout on the road dividing sectors 42 and 43, which is incomplete.

When contacted, the Xen, Mr Yashpal Singh maintained that the roundabout would be constructed within about two months. He, however, clarified that the work had been delayed due to shifting of labour for completion of the causeway in the industrial area.

Commission agent's licence cancelled
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 22 — The Secretary of the Chandigarh State Agricultural Marketing Board has suspended the licence of the commission agent who was found cheating farmers through overweighment of paddy at the Sector 48 grain market on October 15.

The secretary, Mr R.K. Rao, yesterday suspended the licence of Messers Baldev Krishan and for a period of five months during which the firm cannot carry on any trading.

The firm was earlier fined Rs 5,000 and told to refund the difference to all farmers whose crop was weighed after October 10 by a committee of fellow commission agents following parleys with members of the Ropar unit of the BKU.

Farmers had held up the auction of paddy till 659 bags of the complainant farmers were reweighed. The difference after reweighing was found to be as much as 4 kg per bag.

However, market committee officials in the mandi revealed that despite the suspension of his licence the commission agent was in business, albeit conducting his business under another firm, M/s Sham Lal Abhinandan Kumar. As per the norms, there was little they could do about it, they added.

Meanwhile, the arrivals at the mandi has registered a decline and the prices too remained low today, forcing many farmers to take back their produce home for the prices to go up or to other mandis.

Jit Singh, a farmer, who was having his trolley reloaded, told TNS that the price of Rs 350 being offered today was unacceptable to him and he would try his luck at Ambala.

Kaka Singh, another farmer, said that the low remuneration would not even pay for the expenditure incurred in raising the crop, what to talk of a profit. If the prices were to remain low for a few days more "many of us would be forced to accept the price offered to us. Even those farmers who had postponed harvesting their crop due to rain would not stand to gain as the fields were still waterlogged in some places", he added.

On the other hand, commission agents point out that the arrivals in the mandi had decreased from 25,000 to 30,000 quintals a day before the rain to just 5,000 to 6,000 quintals a day.

This figure is contested by officials of the market committee who claim that last year the arrival till October 20 was 2.50 lakh quintals while it had crossed the 3.40 lakh quintal more till yesterday. There are 27 commission agents in the market, they said.

The prices, they said were very low, as the procurement was done by sheller owners in the absence of buying by government agencies. The prices quoted for various varieties were PL 106 Rs 411 per quintal, PL 103 Rs 470 per quintal while the price for paddy which was damaged, wet or had high moisture, was anything between Rs 350 to Rs 380 a quintal.

They revealed that the market had received basmati only once during the season and it was sold for Rs 850 a quintal.

The committee would, however, suffer a loss of commission on more then one lakh bags in view of the arrival prior to the rain.

Grievances aired at open darbar
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, Oct 22 — Gram panchayat members of at least six villages of the Raipur Rani block apart from residents of the area aired their grievances at an open darbar organised by the district administration at Kakkar Majra village near here today.

The sarpanch of Golpura village, Mr Kedar Nath, sought an early release of power connection to new tubewells in the village. A demand for the repair of the building of a government senior secondary school in Kakkar Majra village and filling of vacant posts of teachers in the school was raised by the sarpanch.

Mr Bachna Ram, sarpanch of Bichpadi village, urged the officials to get the repairs of the village bylanes done. Similar demands were raised by gram panchayat members of Bhagwali, Darwa and Bhaidon villages.

The Deputy Commissioner directed the officials of the departments concerned to redress the complaints.

Life term for 4 in murder case
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, Oct 22 — In a three-year-old murder case of the wife of a doctor in Sector 7 here, the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Ambala, Mr R.C. Bansal, has sentenced all the four accused to life imprisonment.

The victim, Mrs Madhu Sharma, was strangulated to death by the accused — Balwinder Singh, Swaran Singh, Rakesh Khan and Gurmukh Singh — on the night of August 21, 1995.

The judge ordered the accused to undergo imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs 500 under sections 302/34 of the IPC. He further sentenced rigorous imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of Rs 500 to all the four accused under 307/34 of the IPC.

One of the accused, Swaran Singh, was convicted for 10 years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500 under Section 460 of the IPC.

The judge also sentenced to of the accused — Rakesh Khan and Balwinder Singh — to further two-year imprisonment under Section 411 of the IPC.

The period of sentence already undergone during the investigation and trial will be set off.

'Help improve' administration of justice
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 22 — Mr Justice H.S. Brar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today completed the inspection of the local district courts.

Mr Justice Brar also addressed members of the District Bar Association and asked them to bring improvement in the administration of justice.

Mr A.S. Chahal, president of the District Bar Association, and Mr G.C. Dhuriwala, president of the High Court Bar Association, apprised the inspecting Judge of the problems faced by lawyers. These included shortage of chambers for lawyers and the parking problem in the district courts premises.

The judge assured members of the Bar that he would take up the matter with the authorities.

UT resident to join peace mission team
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 23 — A city resident, Mr Avtar Singh, has volunteered to be part of the five-member team of the Multi-Religious World Peace Mission, which is now on a world tour to promote peace and universal brotherhood.

This was disclosed to The Tribune by the leader of the team, Mr B.V. Narayana, here yesterday.

It may be recalled that in a report published by this newspaper yesterday Mr Narayana had hoped that a member of the Sikh community would join the team from this region.

Mr Narayana informed that Haryana Chief Minister, Bansi Lal had announced a grant of Rs 20,000 for the mission.

A grant of Rs 5,000 had also been given by the Punjab Governor, Lieut-Gen, B.K.N. Chhibber (retd).

Natwar Singh to address seminar
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 23 — A former Union Minister for External Affairs, Mr K. Natwar Singh, and Mr Romesh Chandra, President of Honour of the World Peace Council, will address a seminar on "India after the bomb agenda for peace and security", being organised by the local chapter of the All-India Peace and Solidarity Organisation on October 24 at the English auditorium of Panjab University.

Maneka to visit city
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 22 — The Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ms Maneka Gandhi, will visit Chandigarh on October 25.

She will inaugurate an exhibition of paintings by Manu Parekh "Art from the Heart-A Chandigarh Special" at the Sector 36 Alliance Francaise.

The exhibition is being organised as a fund raiser for the local chapter of People For Animals and all the proceeds of it will go to various welfare projects undertaken by the PFA in the region.

Advisory panels for community centres
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 22 — The Mayor, Mr Gian Chand Gupta, has constituted advisory committees for nine community centres in the city.

The eight-member committee besides having the area councillor and councillor or councillors living in the area, will have three non-official members. In addition to this the Executive Engineers, (Public Health and Bridges and Roads) and the Station House Officer (SHO) of the area concerned will also be part of the committee.

The community centres for which the committees have been formed are that of sectors 8,15,27,29,35,37,38,44 and 47.

Watches distributed: Mr Gupta today distributed wrist watches to 50 safaikaramcharis at a function organised at Poly Clinic in Sector 22, on Thursday.

The watches will be to be given to about 1776 safaikaramcharis under a grant received from the Central government.

Mr Gupta announced that the new timings for the women safaikaramcharis would be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. He also announced that an immediate relief of Rs 2,500 to the family of any deceased safaikaramchari.

Case against Syndicate member
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 22 — After almost five weeks of a slapping incident allegedly involving a Syndicate member of Panjab University, the Chandigarh Police has registered a case against Syndicate member, Rajinder Deepa.

A special assistant in the office of the Vice-Chancellor, Mr Devinder Kumar Marwaha, had alleged that Deepa had slapped him on September 9. The alleged incident took place in the office of the Vice-Chancellor when he and another Syndic Charanjit Chawla had gone to meet the VC.

According to sources in PU, a few days before the incident Mr Deepa had recorded his dissent over the promotion of Mr Marwaha at a syndicate meeting.

The police has booked Deepa under Sections 323, 332 and 353 of the IPC.

After the incident both parties had reached a compromise that was reported in the media. Before the compromise Deepa had alleged that he was also allegedly assaulted by another official of the university in the melee.

Case registered: The Chandigarh police tonight registered a case of negligence against the licence holder of a petrol station located in Sector 21 on Dakshin Marg. The licence holder was booked as a tanker was reportedly being filled without the necessary precautions.

Police sources confirmed a case under Section 336 of the IPC had been registered.

Motor cycle stolen: A Royal Enfield motor cycle (HR-18-A-0026) owned by Rajesh Kumar of Panchkula has been stolen from Sector 17 here. In a separate incident a resident of Dadu Majra colony, Tulsi Ram, was caught while allegedly carrying 12 bottles and 50 pouches of liquor.

A case under the Excise Act has been registered.

New singers on classical horizon

The voice of a new generation carrying the pride of traditional Indian classical music will be presented in Chandigarh from October 23 to 25. The 21st Chandigarh Sangeet Sammelan organised by the Indian National Theatre at Hathi Sadan, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan will present to the music lovers a few voices of the new generation making their mark.

The Sammelan will open with vocal renderings of the Jaipur Idiom by an upcoming vocalist Ms Vijaya Jadhav Gatlekar, a disciple of Pt Nivruttibuva Sarnaik. Widely travelled, her concerts have received tremendous success at home as well as abroad. Ms Gatlekar's recital will be followed by the famous vocalist duo Pt Rajan and Sajan Mishra, exponents of the Banaras style of singing.

The second day will present a blend of instrumental and vocal renderings. The evening will open with a Sarod recital by Shri Narendra Dhar from Bhatkhande Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Lucknow, which will be followed by a vocal recital of Ms Shanti Sharma, Head, Dept. of Music, Shri Ram Bhartiya Kala Kendra, Delhi. Shanti Sharma's gayaki reflects both beauty and maturity of her legendary guru Pt. Amarnath.

On Sunday morning the Sammelan will conclude with a recital of the Mohan Veena by Pt. Vishva Mohan Bhatt. An innovation of Pt. Bhatt the Mohan Veena is a combination of the Hawaian guitar and the Veena. Recognised by the highest musical award, The Grammay, Pt. Bhatt is loved by both traditionalists as well as experimentalists. His composition of Kalidasa's Meghdootam has won him great applause from both these quarters.

As the rates commanded by the big artists are getting exorbitant, organisations like the Indian National Theatre, whose objective is not commercial, find their endeavour of popularising classical art forms harder to sustain, yet, contends Secretary, Indian National Theatre, Mr N Khosla, that almost all the big names of classical arts today were invited by him in the annual Sammelans while they were budding. Hence, it makes more sense to listen to today's upcoming stars.

— Vandana Shukla