& V I C I N I T Y
Thursday, September 24, 1998
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C H A N D I G A R H & V I C I N I T Y |
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Thursday, September 24, 1998 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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No water, light All-weather
road More
rain predicted |
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 Students take to streets SC
rejects Sharma's pre-arrest bail plea |
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No water, light in CHB Colony CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — Residents of the Sector 61 Chandigarh Housing Board Colony had a powerless night yesterday and a waterless day today. Alleging discrimination by all departments, both of the Chandigarh Administration, including the Municipal Corporation, and the central government, the residents say they have been facing a plethora of problems ever since they moved into their new houses a few months ago. For the past two weeks, none of the telephones inside the colony has been functional. The reason — the cable linking the colony with the exchange of the area has been washed away along with the causeway connecting Chandigarh with SAS Nagar. There is no immediate solution to this problem. Their requests for alternate connections have been in vain. Dead telephones apart, the power supply has been playing hide-and-seek with the residents. The reason has been "unauthorised kundi connections" because of line trips. A senior official of the electricity operations wing of the Engineering Department says that all attempts made by the department to remove "illegal kundis" have failed. "We organised special camps in Pandit Colony and in Kajheri Katchi Colony. We received only 450 applications for regular connections against more than 1500 illegal kundi connections. Twice we removed these kundis, but they were back in the evening," he added. The electricity wing provided an independent 11 KV transformer for the tubewell in the colony so that the power supply to this source of drinking water was not affected on account of "kundis." But the tubewell remained out of operation last night and this morning because of total disruption in the power supply. The nearest source of water is Phase VII of SAS Nagar. A large number of colony residents can be seen fetching buckets of water from Phase VII in the morning. A senior functionary of the Engineering Department explained that an alternate supply system for CHB Colony has been approved. Even estimates have been approved. But it will take a while for the scheme to be executed. Because of its location, CHB Colony faces some problems. A portion of the road to be built by the UT Engineering Department is still to be taken up. The board still to auction shops built in the colony. In the absence of any market nearby, the residents have to go to far-off places even to buy items of daily use, including milk, butter and bread. There are complaints about
the quality of construction also as some of the units
have started leaking in the first year itself. A number
of other construction flaws are also being pointed out by
some of the residents. |
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All-weather road to SAS Nagar CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — With the construction of "box culverts" on the site of the causeway, which collapsed recently, the road connecting the city with SAS Nagar will become an all-weather road. According to corporation sources, with the construction of six box culverts at the present site of the causeway having a designed water discharge taking capacity of about 7,200 cusecs of water, the road will be open to traffic throughout the year. Till now, road used to be closed for vehicular traffic during the monsoon as pipes had the water discharge-taking capacity of only about 500 cusecs, resulting in the water overflowing the causeway. The high flood discharge in the choe was of the order of 5000 cusecs. It may be recalled that the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh (MCC), had planned a high-level bridge near the existing site. The bridge, which was to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1.70 crore, had been hanging fire since the land for it had not been acquired yet. The sources said the construction of the box culverts was a low-cost solution as it would cost only Rs 65 lakh. It was suitable to the land having "dip" as the present site and was as good as the bridge, the sources added. The sources said after the visits of senior officials of the MCC and the Chandigarh Administration to the site, various alternatives like the construction of the high-level bridge, repair of the causeway with RCC pipes and providing the box culverts were discussed. Ultimately the construction of the box culverts was okayed as it was found to be cheaper. The construction of the box culvert was also preferred as it is a high traffic road and it could not have been closed for over two years in case of construction of a bridge. As the culverts were to be made of the RCC their life would be as longer as the bridge. The Chief Engineer, Mr Puranjit Singh, when contacted, said it would also be possible to add more box culverts upstream and downstream if the need arose. Allaying the fears of delayed completion of the project, he added that a "penalty clause" had been inserted in the tender under which a penalty of Rs 5000 a day for delayed work would be imposed on the contractor. He hoped that the project would be completed well in time. Moreover, a four-foot pedestrian way on both sides of the 48-foot wide road is also proposed for the convenience of pedestrians. Similarly, a separate duct for telecom cables passing from the site is to be constructed as the MCC and the Telecommunication department had agreed in principle to share the cost for the same. Mayor's visit: The Mayor,
Mr Gian Chand Gupta, will attend the three-day 33rd
all-India Mayors' conference to be held at Bhopal from
September 26. |
Students take to streets CHANDIGARH , Sept 23 — Students of Raja Ram Mohan Roy Institute of Vocational Studies, Sector 27, took to the streets today following announcement of non- recognition of the institution by the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE) recently. An advertisement of the NCTE published in leading newspapers has listed 24 institutes in the region which do have the recognition of the council. The list includes four institutes of the city which offer vocational courses in teaching. These are DAV Model School, Sector 15, Chandigarh Polytechnic for Women, Sector 24, and International Polytechnic for Women. Students of Raja Ram Mohan Roy Institute alleged that they had been misled while seeking admission to the institution at the beginning of the session. Apart from the prospectus, the board at the gate of the institute also reads that the institute is recognised. Students gheraoed the principal 's office and raised slogans against the management. Students also alleged that the residents of the hostel were not being allowed to join them and had been kept behind gates. A large number of students are in the last six months of finishing their two-year course . The institute runs a two-year course for students who have passed their matriculation and a one year course for those who have done their graduation. The completion of the course makes them eligible to take up assignments of primary teachers . The principal of the institute when contacted said she was helpless in the matter as the correct information in this regard could be provided only by the director, who is based in Delhi. The director is out of the country till October 9. The principal said that former students of the institute were working in schools of various states and information about non- recognition of the school had come as a surprise to her. The principal said the trust had two institutes in Delhi and one at Hisar apart from the one in the city. Names of none of other institutes had appeared in the advertisement. There might be a possibility that the main office had not filled the affiliation form correctly. She said she could say anything only after consulting the authorities. Meanwhile, students are planning to meet senior officials of the education department, demanding that steps should be initiated to get the course recognised. The loss of time cannot be compensated with money, one of the students said. The NCTE pointed out that a number of institutes in the country are providing misleading information to innocent students promising them degrees (regular and through correspondence) in teaching courses. The NCTE is a statutory body on teachers education of the central government under an Act of 1993. After 1993, it became mandatory for all teachers training institutes to get an affiliation. Each institute under the new rules is required to make admissions based on an entrance test to be conducted by a recognised university. Each institute is required to have at least 210 teaching days before conducting the final examination. The NCTE has clarified
that any student who acquires a degree from a
non-recognised institute will not be qualified for a job
in the central government, state government, schools or
colleges. Students have been warned not to take admission
in such institutes. |
More rain predicted CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — Intermittent rain continued to lash the city and its surrounding areas for the third day today, leading to normal life being disturbed and several roads and low-lying areas getting flooded besides hindering the movement of vehicles. The present spell of rain is likely to continue for the next 24 hours over the entire north-western region, comprising Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, the Met office has predicted. Today the rain intensified only in the afternoon and the daytime temperature dropped. Heavy rain lashed the city yesterday evening and the sky cleared up late in the night. The drop in day and night temperatures made many people switch off fans. The afternoon sharp showers reduced visibility to a few metres making driving difficult. As it happened yesterday children returning from schools were caught in the showers for the second day. Youngsters, including girls, returning from colleges could be seen walking with their two wheelers in knee deep water a repeat of yesterday's scene. People returning from offices rather late faced a similar ordeal. Several cars and four-wheelers were stranded in water. The low-lying point near the Sectors 34, 35, 43 and 44 roundabout was flooded. Calculating the rainfall in the past three days, the Met office has recorded 9 cms of rain till 5. 30 p.m. today. Of this 3 cm of rain was recorded between 8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. today. While markets and other places had few visitors, it was another poor day for roadside mechanics, rehriwalas, vegetable sellers and ice cream sellers. In labour colonies, several jhuggis were damaged. Bapu Dham witnessed further damage today as the water level in the Sukhna choe rose. Colony No 4 in Industrial Area Phase I was inundated, while the causeway leading to Makhan Majra was submerged. The roof of the PGI's main
building near the radiology department's fee counter has
been leaking since yesterday, although no damage has been
reported to the computers used for fee collection. In
Mani Majra the roof of Government High School has been
leaking for the past two days. |
SC rejects Sharma's pre-arrest bail
plea CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — The Supreme Court today rejected the anticipatory bail plea of K.B. Sharma, Superintending Engineer with the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The order was delivered by a two-judge Bench consisting of Mr Justice M.K. Mukherjee and Mr Justice Srinivasan. Sharma was apprehending arrest in connection with the ongoing kickbacks case registered by the Chandigarh Administration against certain officials of the Engineering Department. He was granted ad interim bail first by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Later, however, the court rejected the bail plea. He then contested the court order in the Supreme Court. The apex court had, too, first granted interim bail. After hearing arguments for and against the bail plea the apex court this morning rejected his request for anticipatory bail. The administration had earlier arrested a number of officials, including Jagdish Mitter, Superintending Engineer; N.K. Gupta, Executive Engineer; R.P. Vashist, former P.A. to the Chief Engineer; Heera Mani, a peon attached to the office of Chief Engineer. After custodial interrogation they were remanded in the judicial lock-up. However, due to the failure of the administration to put up a challan in court within 90 days, all of them were bailed out. Similarly, three alleged middlemen Dinesh Sharma, Suresh Sharma and Sunil Kalia were also arrested but later bailed out by the high court. Mr G.C. Gilhotra, former Chief Engineer with the Punjab State Electricity Board, who was on deputation with the Chandigarh Administration as Superintending Engineer (Electricity), is also apprehending arrest in the case. He, too, was granted ad interim bail by the high court. However, following the rejection of Sharma's bail application, he too will face difficulty in getting bail. Sadhu Singh, Executive
Engineer, and K.K. Salgohtra, a junior engineer, were
arrested by the Vigilance Department some days ago. After
their custodial interrogation, they were sent to the
judicial lock-up. |
MC staff to strike work in
November CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — Members of the joint action committee of the Municipal Corporation Employees and Workers and the Municipal Corporation B and R Engineers' Association held an impressive rally in front of the corporation here today. Hundreds of workers braved the rain and raised slogans against the "indifferent" attitude of the civic authorities and the local administration towards their demands. It was resolved that a torchlight procession would be taken out on October 28 and a complete strike held on November 11. Mr Ramesh Kant, convener of the committee, Mr Balkrishan and Mr Amrik Singh, both senior leaders and Mr Maninder Singh, president of the engineers association, said that all employees sent on transfer to the corporation from various departments of the administration should be treated as being on deputation if their services are required by the civic body. The employees had all along been agitating for getting the demand redressed, and in view of their agitations the Administration had assured them in January that a representation would be sent to the Centre. Nothing had come out of this, they alleged. Besides this, the engineers have demanded a ban on calling deputationists to the corporation, promotions to corporation employees to fill vacant posts, and all subdivisional engineers and sectional officers' posts must be filled by considering the eligible employees of the civic body. The stagnation at the sectional officers' level was such that there was little scope for promotions even after putting in 20 to 25 years of service while the norms provide for promotions after every 10 years. As there were competent and eligible officers available where was the need to call outsiders on deputation? they asked. The formulation of recruitment and promotion rules and the formation of a mechanical subdivision at the earliest was also demanded. A memorandum was submitted
later to the Municipal Commissioner. |
Forum indicts dealer CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — The UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum II has come to the rescue of a regiment of the Indian Army whose computer printer given for repairs to a local dealer was lost in the process. The forum has ordered Data Management Services, Sector 20, to pay Rs 10,000 on account of the lost printer and Rs 2,500 for harassment caused to a unit of 16 Punjab (Patiala). Mr R.P. Bajaj, president, and Mr H.S.Walia and Mrs Kamlesh Gupta, both members, handed down the order on a written complaint filed by the Commanding Officer of the 16 Punjab. It was in the complaint alleged that a computer printer was bought from the the Management Services in 1991. In September, 1995, the printer developed a fault and was sent to the dealer who demanded Rs 5000 for repairs. The Army unit thought the cost of repair was on the higher side and gave up the idea of getting it repaired from the local dealer. However, after repeated visits the printer was not handed over. In October, 1996, the dealer acknowledged that the printer had been lost and offered a sum of Rs 3000 in return. After going through
details, the forum ordered the Management Services to pay
Rs 10,000 as costs of the printer. An additional sum of
Rs 2500 has been ordered on account of harassment. The
Data Management Services has to pay the amount within a
month of the receipt of the copy of the order. |
Parties
submit memo to President CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — Leaders of the local units of five major political parties — the Samajwadi Janata Party, the CPI, the CPM the Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party — today criticised the recommendation of the dismissal of the Rabri Devi Government in Bihar. In a joint memorandum
submitted to the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, through
the Administrator of Chandigarh, Lieut-Gen BKN Chhibber,
the leaders — Mr Devinder Singh Babla, Mr Sohan Lal
Bansal, Mr Ajay Jagga, Mr Inderjit Singh Grewal and Mr
Shivi Jaiswal — said that the recommendation by the
BJP-led government was "politically motivated murder
of democracy," and urged the President to reject the
recommendation. |
RPO's claim CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — The local Regional Passport Office has processed all the applications for fresh passports which were submitted till July 15, and were found complete in all respects. This information was given
by the RPO in his weekly report on the status of
applications for the week that ended on September 18. |
Tinytots
steal the show CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — Tinytots, aged below five, studying at Aanchal Preparatory School, Sector 35, gave an impressive performance at a cultural programme to mark the annual day function here today. Mr Brahmjit Kalia, DEO (Schools), was the chief guest. Dances, both Western and Indian, and folk songs and skits were presented. A 'giddha' by students of
LKG was an instant hit with the audience. |
CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — The Panjab University Teachers’ Association at a general body meeting has resolved to form an all-India organisation of university teachers to carry on the struggle for the teachers’ demand of better pay scales. Members expressed their "anguish and anger" at having betrayed by the All-India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation leadership in the present struggle". Dr P.P. Arya, a former president of PUTA, has been made the convener of the proposed body. "While we are annoyed with AIFUCTO and look for alternatives we still continue our faternal ties with it", a press note said. PUTA has raised various demands for research and associated activities. Enhanced amount for research work, modern communication facilities, and computerisation are a few of them. PUTA has also demanded a ban on the entry of heavy vehicles to the campus, including CTU buses; checking noisy movement of vehicles and more speed breakers. Streamlining of work at the construction office and other facilities were also discussed in the general house. Social service: Various social service activities are being taken up by NSS units of different educational institutes. A campaign against congress grass was launched by the NSS unit of Government College of Education, Sector 20 on Wednesday. Mr Gian Chand Gupta, Mayor, was the chief guest. At least 160 volunteers of the college are expected to carry out the campaign within the complex of the institute and Sector 20. The NSS unit of Punjab Engineering College organised a blood donation camp in collaboration with the Rotaract Club and State Bank of India. More than 300 volunteers, including teachers, donated blood. The 10 day-camp underway in Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, will take up activities at the Blind Institute, Prayas, Old People Home and the SPCA camp at Kajheri, Mrs Promil Sharma, programme officer said. The 10th camp of Dev Samaj College for Women, Sector 45, will be inaugurated on Thursday. A seminar on "Environment: the basic requisite for good health", will be organised on the first day. Exams put off:
Panjab University has postponed MFC (part I and II), MA
in public administration (I and II) and MA psychology
(Part I) examinations which were to be held along with
the supplementary examinations from September 28 onwards,
an official press note said here. |
CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — A woman has died while two others, also women, have been injured in separate road accidents in the city in the past 24 hours. An unidentified woman was hit by a bus of the Punjab Mandi Board on the road dividing Sectors 11 and 12 last night. She died on the spot.Her identity could not be ascertained till today. While no arrests have been made, the police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 304(A) of the IPC. The bus had sped off. A 65-year-old woman, Veer Amma , was walking along the Chandigarh-Panchkula road when an unidentified car hit her and sped off. The injured is a resident of Bapu Dham colony. In another accident, Ms Poonam of Sector 35 was injured when a Maruti van (PB-02-B-1155) hit her Kinetic Honda. Both have been admitted to the PGI. Arrested: A woman and her paramour have been arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide by the woman's husband. Anita and Surinder Pal were arrested by police on Wednesday. Anita's husband , Mohan Lal , a ward boy in the PGI had burnt himself to death two days ago. The deceased was reportedly under depression over the alleged affair between his wife and Surinder, a bus conductor. Cheated: A resident of Nangal has been cheated of Rs 45000 by Mrs Surjit Kaur, a resident of the Sector 15. The woman promised to get a job for Tarlochan Singh and took Rs 45,000 for the purpose. The police has registered a case. Stolen: A sum of Rs 50,000 and a camera belonging to Mr Vinod Kumar Sharma have been stolen from a shed in the timber market in Sector 26. A case under section 379
of the IPC has been registered. |
CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — The local Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal today cleared the way for appointment of lecturers in the Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, by quashing a part of the impunged advertisement of July, 1997, for filling the post of lecturers in different departments of the college and quashing the qualification of the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) as essential for eligibility. Ms Puneet and about a dozen other ad hoc lecturers with five to 15 years' service had challenged the 1993 recruitment rules and the impunged advertisement which made them ineligible for recruitment as lecturers on a regular basis. The Bench comprising Mr S.C. Vaish and Mr J.S. Dhaliwal, which handed down the judgement, observed that the respondents could not show us the relevance of including the qualification of having passed GATE for appointment. Respondents Nos 2 and 3 (Chandigarh Administration and the college principal respectively) had already moved the tribunal for deletion of that clause from the recruitment rules, the Bench pointed out. The qualification was introduced by the 1993 recruitment rules for the posts. The Bench was of the view that there was absolutely no relevance for the qualification in the case of those who had got a Master's degree in the first division. Making them ineligible because at that time either GATE was not in vogue when they did the Master's degree or those considered were employed and thus could not seek scholarship was unfair to them. Such a rule in the recruitment rules and in the advertisement was found to have absolutely no nexus with the objective. The bench also quashed part of the Schedule of 1993 rules to the extent, it makes qualifying in all all-India examination like GATE as an essential condition. The applicants would be deemed to be eligible even without having certificate of GATE, the respondent, UPSC, can now declare the result or take steps to proceed further on the appointments, the Bench ordered. Railway transfer order quashed The tribunal Bench, comprising Mr S.C. Vaish and Mr J.S. Dhaliwal, today quashed the Railway Board's letter dated April 4, 1966, which allowed transferees to be appointed against the quota meant for direct recruits and those appointed need not possess the qualification meant for such posts. The Bench felt that the letter led to the transferees usurping the direct recruits' quota. The order was handed down in an O.A. filed by Mr Anand Parkash and other junior engineers I (C&W) working in Northern Railway workshop in Jagadhri who challenged the Railways order transferring the private respondents working at the Railway Coach Factory, Kapurthala, as section engineers at Jagadhri. The applicants felt aggrieved that the respondents had not notified the vacancies of direct recruits under their quota (20 p.c.) in various cadres of section engineers for extraneous reasons. They had resorted to filling these vacancies meant for direct recruits on transfer from the RCF, Kapurthala, which was a separate division of the Railways. The transfer orders had the effect of changing their trade. It was alleged that the chances of the applicants for appointment against the posts had been jeopardised by the impugned transfer orders. The applicants also alleged that the persons sought to be transferred as section engineers were not engineering graduates which was the minimum qualification for quota posts. The Bench quashed the
transfer order of the three private respondents. |
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