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| Tuesday,
April 10, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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SPECIAL STORY Chandigarh, April 9 This imbalance is despite the fact that population in southern sectors has increased manifold in the past 10 years, while in the northern sectors, it has declined. There are 435 personnel that police all sectors, villages and slums to the south of Dakshin Marg. Compared to this, 733 personnel police sectors to the north of it where most VIPs live. This is reportedly affecting policing in southern sectors. The actual force on the ground is, however, much less than this, as a large number of police personnel are drivers, ‘munshis’, readers, orderlies and personal security officers. Senior police officials, on the condition of anonymity, say that the police deployment here is biased towards the northern sectors. A senior police official said, though southern sectors needed more force for curbing increasing crime rate, northern sectors required even more personnel for the security of the VIPs. A preliminary report of Census 2001 puts the city’s population at 9,00,914, which means that it has increased by about 40 per cent since the 1991 census. Though the Census Directorate has not given separate data for northern and southern sectors, sources in the directorate say that population has increased in southern sectors and declined in northern sectors here. Sources in the Police Department say that, compared to southern sectors, there are more PCR vans in northern sectors. The presence of the traffic police in southern sectors is also bare minimum. Most PCR vans, motor cycles and the traffic police personnel are deployed in northern sectors for the “VIP-motorcade route alert” each day. Little staff is left for the enforcement duty. Senior police officials admit that there is more crime in southern sectors, as many labour colonies are coming up there. They, however, say that more force cannot be deployed there because of a shortage of staff. They say that they are making up for this “VIP bias” by launching several special drives in southern sectors to curb crime. The Ministry of Home Affairs has declined several proposals to increase the number of personnel, police stations and police posts in southern sectors here. However, the police has already created a new police post in Burail, besides Sectors 51 and 62, without the approval of the MHA. Another police post is likely to be created at Palsora. About 2,000 police personnel out of 3,929 are in the VIP security, CID, PCR staff, wireless squad, Crime Against Women Cell, Economic Offences Wing, CIA, COB, MOB, Photo Section, the DDA Branch, Vigilance Squad, enforcement and excise staffs. Even those in the MT section, dog squad, Police Lines, mounted police, band staff, tear gas squad, players’ squad etc are also exempted from routine policing duty.
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Water at the cost of petrol Panchkula, April 9 The promised “happy motoring”, however, turned out to be a nightmare for Mr Goel when his vehicle stalled near Lalru. He was in for a rude shock when Mr Goel, an engineering graduate, found water in the
carburetor. His suspicion was confirmed by a local mechanic. He could not believe his senses because he was confident about the quality of fuel dispensed by a “company owned, company-operated (COCO)” filling station. The vehicle had to be towed away to a workshop in Ambala, where the fuel tank and the
carburetor had to be cleaned. The mechanics took out three litres of water from the tank. Inquiries by Mr Goel at the filling station revealed that he was not the lone sufferer. Many persons had come to the pump with similar complaint and they were refunded money by the attendants. Mr Goel was also offered the same concession after talking to the Indian Oil Sales Officer, Mr Mahesh Gupta, who sits at Ambala. When TNS contacted Mr Gupta, he confirmed the complaint of Mr Goel. Mr Gupta also admitted that there was a “watery problem” at the filling station. He said a new dispensing unit was installed at the filling station. During the recent rains, water somehow seeped into the fuel tank. He said now the problem had been sorted out. To avoid such incidents in future, he said, instructions had been issued to the attendants to check everyday before opening the sale if there was any water in the fuel tanks. He said they had been asked to put “acqua paste” on the dip rod to check the presence of water in the fuel tanks. Interestingly, the Indian Oil is misleading its customers by publicising the filling station as “COCO Pump”. It is reliably learnt that while the filling station is owned by the company, its operation has been leased out to a private party. Because of the success of a IBP COCO pump in Sector 33, Chandigarh, motorists have shown great faith in such pumps. |
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Commuters inconvenienced Dera Bassi, April 9 Vehicular traffic heading for Ambala was diverted from the Zirakpur light point to the Zirakpur-Rajpura-Ambala highway, while vehicles coming from the Ambala side were directed to take the reverse route to meet the highway at Zirakpur. Chaos prevailed as the highway was partially closed for over two hours and the passengers reached their destinations over two hours late. The alternate routes which were unable to bear the volume of traffic resulted in traffic snarls at various places. Due to long traffic jams many passengers failed to catch trains from the Ambala railway station. Some ambulances, carrying patients to the PGI in Chandigarh, were also stuck in the traffic jams. Being located along this particular stretch of the highway, a majority of industrial units witnessed thin presence in the forenoon session as employees were stuck in traffic jams for over two hours. The fate of the commuters was no different. Local residents, who tried to use link roads, were also stopped by the police personnel deployed along the highway. Those who were familiar with the local route opted for “kutcha” link roads to reach their destinations. Some of the passengers said that the authorities should have given prior information about the road diversions so that they might be prepared accordingly. Tempers ran high as the agitated passengers were seen arguing with the police personnel on duty. |
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TRIBUNE
VIGIL Chandigarh, April 9 The latest amendment by the Government of India in Act 4, Management Handling and Storage of Hazardous 2000, is not only more stringent but encompasses new areas, and for the first time covers processes. Following this a lot more industries will be expected to check their current status of hazardous waste generated and its safe disposal. Ironically, the UT Administration seems to have turned a blind eye to the problem with no plan to deal with it. Two years ago, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had recommended identifying a hazardous waste landfill site for dumping the toxic waste. Following this, the Administration had tentatively selected two sites in Raipur Kalan and Khuda Lahora. However, no environment impact assessment (EIA) study was carried out for practical suitability of the area nor any further concrete plans made. Exposure to hazardous waste can generate serious health problems, including respiratory complications, neurological disorders, skin diseases, among other. If effluents generated by these industries are not collected and treated properly, these can seep into the groundwater and pollute the aquifers. According to the latest CPCB report, Chandigarh industries produce around 316 metric tonnes of hazardous waste every year which is dumped in open and in a totally unscientific manner, threatening the environment. It further suggests many electroplating industries operating in the city are dealing with heavy metals such as nickel, chromium, and also cyanide, without any effluent treatment plants. These pollutants are extremely hazardous in nature and can cause serious health complications, say environmental experts. The CPCB annual report also suggests that there are more than 2144 industries (mostly small-scale and dealing with electroplating) located on the periphery of Chandigarh, out of which about 72 produce hazardous wastes. As per the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) guidelines, the hazardous wastes can only be dumped in a proper hazardous waster landfill site. When contacted, the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee, Member Secretary, Mr P.J.S. Dadwal, admitted that no site has been finalised for the dumping of wastes. He, however, added that the amount of such wastes generated by the industries in Chandigarh was negligible (0.0006 percent) of the national average and was, therefore, not a big problem. But, environment experts add that in the absence of proper analysis, hazardous waste is being treated as ordinary waste and is dumped into sewage and soil. Mr Dadwal, however, stressed that individual plants were conducting their own tests. Experts add that present rules have concentration limits so low that they can only be detected after analysis using sophisticated instruments such as atomic absorption, high pressure liquid chromatograph and gas chromatograph equipped with detectors such as flame Ionisation detector and electron capturing detector , which are available with IDMA laboratory and Panjab University. While officials at IDMA refused ever receiving such samples from Chandigarh region, sources add, that facilities in Panjab University were rarely ever functional. Meanwhile, it is learnt that industries are not even storing sludge coming out of effluent treatment plants (EPTs). The effluents produced by these industries contain heavy metals, toxic organic, oil emulsions. As per rules, the sludge should be incinerated properly and the residue dumped in hazardous waster landfill site.
Hazardous waste landfill site should ideally be constructed far from human settlements. Normally, a layer of high density poly ethylene (HDPE) liner system is spread over surface of the site which is not permeable.. After the dump site is completely filled, it should be properly covered so that wastes and their leachate do not mix with rain water. Apart from hazardous waste generation, the industries in Chandigarh are also producing hazardous effluents that must be treated in primary effluent treatment plants (ETPs). Normally after treating the effluents in primary ETPs, these should once again be treated in common effluent treatment plant (CETP). However, it seems no such CETP has been set up in this regard. It is also learnt that sludge coming out, after treatment of affluents, has to be stored scientifically. Even this is not being done in a proper way, sources add. It may be mentioned that industries all over the country do not want to create scientific landfill sites because that requires a huge investment. Moreover, industries even hesitate running their ETPs, as these again increases the cost of production.
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More power cuts inevitable Chandigarh, April 9 The CERC has decided to charge three times the existing cost of power from any state which draws more than its allocated share from the northern grid, thus forcing the states to stop overdrawals and impose power cuts as the only available option. This has been done to maintain grid discipline and prevent a collapse of the grid due to overdrawal in the summer. The new regime, named availability built tariff (ABT), comes into force from June 1, say sources in the power sector adding that the penalties will be so high that it will be unviable for states to overdraw from the grid and then supply power to consumers. Earlier, the penalty for overdrawl was no more than 70 paise per unit, which was hardly a deterrent for states indulging in overdrawal as the charges levied on consumers were three times that amount. The Northern Region Electricity Board ( NREB), which regulates power in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, at a recent meeting informed the states concerned about the impending penalty tariff. The tariff will be calculated on the basis of the prevailing frequency on the grid. As per the Indian Electricity Grid Code, the frequency of the grid has to be over 49 cycles per second. The lower the frequency at the time of overdrawal, the higher the penalty, explain sources in the power sector. The highest penalty will be about Rs 4.68 per unit taking the cost of a unit to a whopping Rs 6. As part of the implementation from June 1, as many as 686 special energy meters are being installed at locations throughout the partner states where power is drawn from the northern grid. The work is expected to be completed by the end of this month. Each meter will record all parameters of the available power and will be connected through overhead fibre optic lines to pass on information direct to the New Delhi-based Northern Region Load Despatch Centre, which will monitor the overdrawals. The northern grid has about 25,000 MW of available power every day. All partner states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh have an allocated share of power. Out of the 25,000 MW about 13,000 MW is collectively generated by the states. The rest (12,000 MW) is from the Central pool. To start with, the NREB has said, the penalty will be levied on the power overdrawn from the Central pool. Sources say the main idea of the penalty is to prevent grid failure. During the past two years the NREB has tried fitting under frequent relays
(UFRs) on the grid, which trip whenever the frequency drops below 48.2 cycles per second, and has been issuing warnings to the overdrawing states. The last major failure occurred on January 2 when trains stopped and other services were paralysed for several hours. |
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Key witness reports sick: Madhan
case Chandigarh, April 9 Colonel Ravindranath, Commanding Officer of 2 Rajputana Rifles, stated before the court that he was suffering from a severe toothache and required treatment. The court adjourned for half an hour to enable the witness to visit an MI room nearby, but, thereafter, he proceeded to the Command Hospital,
Chandimandir, where he was advised “sick in quarters” (complete rest) for 24 hours. Later, the prosecution counsel submitted that since the witness was indisposed for 24 hours, the court should be adjourned till 2 p.m. tomorrow. He also produced a medical certificate, but the Judge Advocate declined to accept it on the ground that the prosecution was not the competent authority to produce it. The defence replied that it had learnt that the witness was required to undergo a tooth extraction, for which he might be indisposed for a longer period. The defence also submitted that in such a situation, the prosecution should proceed with the examination of other witnesses who were available. The Judge Advocate, in his advice to the court, stated that the prosecution had not been able to examine any witness since yesterday and had repeatedly sought adjournments on small issues, which could have been avoided if it had prepared its case well. He also stated that the prosecution could examine other witnesses till Colonel Ravindranath was available. The Judge Advocate also pointed out that while deciding upon the adjournment, it should be borne in mind that the witness might have to go in for medical re-examination after his rest period was over. |
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‘Eloped’ girl contacts
police Chandigarh, April 9 The police sources say that the girl called up at the two places and said she was at Badheri near Chandigarh. A police party was sent there, but it was unable to locate the couple. Later, Arvind who has been accused of abducting the girl, also reportedly contacted the Crime Branch officials to say that he wanted to return. He said he was calling from Vikas Nagar in Kharar. However, the police found that there was no such place in Kharar. The police party that had been sent to Ludhiana to locate the couple, has also returned with no success. An accomplice of Arvind, Rajesh, who was arrested by the police yesterday, has been sent to the police custody till April 12. He has reportedly confessed that the van in which the girl was picked up had been borrowed from a person called Mohan. They took it on the pretext of attending the marriage of one of Arvind’s relatives. After they picked up the girl, they took her to Arvind’s relatives in Naya Gaon. Rajesh says that, later, he returned to Chandigarh and now he has no knowledge of the couple’s whereabouts. |
TRIBUNE IMPACT Chandigarh, April 9 The order is significant as on March 31, a ten-year-old boy of Dhanas village had drowned in a ditch dug by a private contactor in Patiala-ki-Rao near the village while quarrying. The villagers had alleged that the boy had died because of negligence in carrying out quarrying work in the riverbed. The Administration has also asked the Forest Department to solicit cooperation from the panchyat of Dhanas village to keep an eye on the quarrying operations and ensure that deep ditches are not created in the process. In addition to this, the Administration made an appeal to the residents of Dhanas village to keep a vigil on the movement of small children as an additional precaution to avoid recurrence of such unfortunate incidents in future. It is learnt that now the Engineering Department has taken precautionary measures by fixing red flags on the pit sites, putting barbed wire fencing around the depression sites and putting boards on up-stream and down-stream sides of the bridge. |
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NCO ‘threatened’ by lady
officer Chandigarh, April 9 In his complaint, forwarded to the higher authorities last month, the NCO, Nk Sanjeev Kumar, claimed that he was being victimised as he refused to indulge in irregularities going on in the unit. He also apprehended danger to his life.. The unusual controversy started when the battalion’s Commanding Officer (CO), on the recommendations of the second-in-command (2 I/c) posted Nk Sanjeev Kumar in the unit’s fuel oil and lubricants section in an effort to curb misappropriation. This, as per the complaint, upset those already posted there and they approached the unit’s adjutant, a lady officer, and started instigating her against Nk Sanjeev Kumar. In addition to alleging that another young officer of the unit threatened him with dire consequences and instigated certain jawans against him, he also alleged that several jawans were instigated and sent to his house to assault him at the behest of the adjutant. He said that he managed to get away and the matter was brought to the CO’s notice, who ordered the 2 I/c to conduct an inquiry into the matter. Two jawans were also apprehended that night in connection with the events. It is learnt that though the conduct of these two officers led to a “mutinous” situation in the unit on two occasions., this was not reported to Command Headquarters by the CO, as required under the Special Army Orders. Apprehending that she would be trapped if an inquiry was conducted, it is learnt that the lady officer allegedly tried to implicate the officer conducting the inquiry on charges of sexual harassment, besides forwarding a complaint to the higher authorities that the Commanding Officer of the unit was allegedly involved in illegally cutting trees within the unit’s precincts and disposing of the timber. The matter, thereafter, went further up the hierarchy to 21 Sub Area, which ordered another probe into the charges levelled by the adjutant. It is learnt that some differences developed between the CO and the 2 I/c on the manner the situation was being handled. After HQ 21 Sub Area came into the picture, the officers involved are said to have brought some of the wood sold earlier back to the unit from the contractor and dumped it in the JCOs’ mess.
As per information, the complaints are still awaiting action. |
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Govt should resign: Mahila Cong chief Chandigarh, April 9 Addressing a press conference here, she, however, did not favour the mid-term poll, saying that the Congress Working Committee (CWC) would take appropriate decision whether to go in for alliance for the formation of the government after the current government stepped down. Ms Chandresh Kumari said the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, owed an explanation to the nation as certain top PMO officials like Mr Brijesh Mishra and Mr N.K. Singh were allegedly involved in the shady defence deal. She said the Mahila Congress would organise protest rallies at the block levels to make people aware of the “misdeeds” of the government. Earlier, she addressed a protest rally jointly organised by Chandigarh Territorial Mahila Congress (CTMC) and Punjab Pradesh Mahila Congress (PPMC) to demand the resignation of the Central Government in the wake of the tehelka.com expose. Prominent among those who spoke at the rally included, Ms Parsanni Devi, General Secretary of the All-India Mahila Congress; Mr Raj Kumar Goyal, Mayor; Mr B.B. Bahl, president of the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee (CTCC); Ms Gurkanwal Kaur, president of the PPMC and Ms Lalit Joshi Bhardwaj, CTMC chief. Later, a deputation of the
CTMC, led by Ms Bhardwaj, submitted a memorandum at the Punjab Raj Bhavan. The memorandum demanded the “immediate resignation of the Vajpayee government, failing which the President should dismiss the government.” The judicial commission set up by the government was nothing but a digression tactic aimed at providing breathing space to the persons allegedly involved in the deal. Though the Prime Minister had to seek the resignation of the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, under public pressure, yet Mr Fernandes had been retained as the NDA convener. The government was bending the law to suit its interest, as was evident from the fact that no FIR had been registered despite the fact that several politicians, bureaucrats and senior military officers had been shown accepting the money in the tapes, the memorandum added. |
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Donations for quake relief continue Chandigarh, April 9 Members of the various residents welfare associations of Panchkula under the umbrella of the Panchkula Residents Welfare Federation today presented cheques for Rs 18,900 to the Editor, The Tribune, Mr Hari Jaisingh, for onward transmission to the Gujarat Chief Minister. The residents of Panchkula, according to Mr V.K. Kapoor, President of the federation, had earlier contributed more than Rs 75,000 for the quake victims. “This is our second instalment of donations which have been coming in on voluntary basis,” says Mr Kapoor. Two residents of Panchkula, Mr Des Raj Jain of Sector 9 and Mr Subash Papneja of Sector 16, donated Rs 5,000 each, while Mr Joshi, an employee of the State Bank of India, contributed Rs 4,000. There were three others who donated Rs 1,000 or more each and three others gave Rs 500 each. |
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‘Speed up trials of aged prisoners’ SAS Nagar, April 9 Talking to mediapersons here, he said considering the age factor of the inmates in the jails, the government should speed up their trials or remit their sentence and rehabilitate them from human rights angle. He said as per information available, at least 107 inmates in different jails were 70 years of age and 183 had crossed the 70-year-old mark. Issue of poor conditions in the jails was also highlighted by him. Citing a specific case, he said in Patiala Central Jail at least 38 inmates were above 70 years of age. In Ferozepore Central Jail, eight women were serving sentences for different crimes. An 86-year-old Ranjit Singh and 81-year-old Roshan Kaur were lodged in Jalandhar Central Jail. He claimed that there was one inmate above 90 years of age each in Gurdaspur, Moga and Amritsar jails, respectively. Dr Paramjit Singh has already made a representation in this regard to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Human Rights Commission. |
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Encroachments removed Chandigarh, April 9 As many as 50 personnel, including police staff, bulldozers and two trucks carried out the drive. The drive will be carried out tomorrow also, it is learnt. The staff later went to the wool market, but did not undertake the drive due to some resistance. However, they verbally warned the shopkeepers to voluntarily remove their illegal extensions towards the road berms following which they will be forced to remove the same. On the basis of a complaint, encroachments were also removed from near Government Senior Secondary School, Mani Majra, where a person had encroached upon vacant MC land by putting up wire. |
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Confusion at ITBP recruitment rally Chandigarh, April 9 A number of candidates, who had come from places in neighbouring states, including Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir, found their hopes of enrolling into the ITBP dashed to the ground when ITBP officers pointed out the ambiguity and said that they could not be considered for enrollment in this rally. According to ITBP officers, 1185 call letters had been issued for 50 vacancies in the general duty category. Screening of the applications revealed that only about 20 applicants had Chandigarh domicile. They added that as per policy, if the number of candidates from the required domicile falls short, candidates of other domiciles or states can be considered to fill up the vacancies. When confronted with this situation today, the local ITBP authorities contacted the headquarters, but were directed to consider candidates having Chandigarh domicile only as a major ITBP recruitment drive is already on to fill up 1985 vacancies in the near future. Recruitment is being done in respective states. With the Ministry of Home Affairs sanctioning an increase of 2 companies per service battalion, the ITBP has an additional requirement of about 6000 personnel at the level of constables and inspectors. Documents of candidates were scrutinised today and a physical test, including a 600 mts run, long jump and high jump will be conducted tomorrow. Those who clear the minimum laid down standards will be required to sit for a written examination followed by an interview. |
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Country liquor to
cost more in city Chandigarh, April 9
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DSP (South) to probe Nishant case Chandigarh, April 9 It is learnt that the boy had gone out to play with his friend, Pankaj, when he was crushed under the Cielo car being driven by a youth on the Sector 41 and 42 dividing road. Computer, camera
stolen Burglaries Six
Injured One
booked SAS Nagar Purse
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‘Imperialism penetrating our economy’ Chandigarh, April 9 The WTO is nothing but continuation of the GATT package. Under pressure from the WTO, the NDA government was opening the economy for the multinational corporations to take over. India is becoming dumping ground for foreign goods with doing away with the quantitative restrictions on 715 items. Vara Vara Rao, a revolutionary poet from Andhra Pradesh, said imperialisation was not only penetrating our economy, it was also colonising the minds of the masses. It was adversely affecting the Indian culture and literature and the situation was bent on remoulding the thinking process of the intelligentsia. Rao made references to certain sections of society in particular reference to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh where “people had taken up arms to protect their economic, social and political rights.” Mr Arjun Prasad Singh, Joint Secretary of the AIPRF, talked on the impact of the globalisation on the Indian agriculture, small and medium sized industry and the service sector. He said the ruling classes had opened these sectors to the MNCs for loot and plunder. Mr Prasad said Opposition parties were making hue and cry against globalisation. When they themselves were in power they had done the same. It was high time to organise the real democratic and revolutionary forces against the ongoing process of globalisation, he added. Dr Darshan Pal gave details of the “anti-imperialistic campaign” taken up by the AIPRF. Nardev Singh, Secretary, gave a look on the ongoing process of exploitation in Punjab. Mr Balbir Singh Randhawa, President, proposed the vote of thanks. |
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