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| Wednesday,
September 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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Arya College Principal
chargesheeted Ludhiana, September 11 In the charge sheet, Mr H.L. Sethi, secretary of Arya College Managing Committee, has stated that Rs 1.25 crore spent by the Principal on the construction of new blocks in the boys’ and girls’ wings and renovation of his house and college hall is not justifiable. It has been pointed out that even though the records show an amount of Rs 90,000 spent on water proofing of the hall, water pours inside the hall, making it unfit for use in the rainy season. It has also been alleged that no proper procedure had been followed in construction works and there were gross financial irregularities in construction works. Mr Sethi has pointed out that no account of sale of old material has been maintained. Mr Mehta has also been charged with dereliction of duty and financial loss to the college for not claiming arrears of certain staff members from the DPI (Colleges) who were posted against the aided posts. Mr Sethi has also stated that no statement of accounts of college computer centre has been submitted to him “despite repeated oral directions”. Mr Mehta has also been blamed of financial loss to the college due to closure of postgraduate diploma courses in management. He has said that Mr Mehta did not take due interest in the courses. Besides, the secretary has pointed out that even the BBA course was closed due to negligence of the Principal. He has alleged that a major part of the expenditure incurred on advertisement and publicity was unjustifiable. He has been told to give details of the sale of college properties, including trees. Lastly, Mr Sethi has also blamed the Principal for “disobeying lawful orders” of Dr K.K. Pasricha, president, Arya Pratinidhi Sabha and Arya Vidya Parishad, and doing it with “malafide intentions to gain personally” so that his misdeeds are not checked and exposed. Mr Sethi has further told the Principal to not to move out of the city till the inquiry is completed. Meanwhile, Mr Sandeep Kapoor, president, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, has welcomed the step of the Managing Committee to chargesheet the Principal and has told the members to re-open the college. He has blamed that the Principal for supporting some student leaders by remitting their fee and providing them free canteen facilities in the college. |
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Police crackdown on teachers,
cable operators Ludhiana, September 11 While the cable operators were allowed to leave the site after submitting a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, 10 striking teachers, including Prof K.B.S. Sodhi, president, Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union, Prof J.S. Randhawa, general secretary of the union, Prof Kuldip Singh, district president of the union, Prof Parminder Singh, general secretary of the district unit, Prof Tarlok Singh Bandhu and Prof Sukhdev Singh from Arya College and Prof J.S. Dhillon, Dr S.S. Sangha, Dr Rakesh and Dr H.S. Sidhu from GHG College of Education, Gurusar Sadhar, were arrested by the Division No. 5 police at about 2 p.m. and were in police custody till the filing of this report. The teachers had been staging a dharna at the site since September 3. They were also on a chain fast for the non-acceptance of their demands. According to sources, the police action came in the wake of yesterday’s inconvenience caused by the homoeopathic students, who had blocked the traffic for several hours causing inconvenience to the public. While police sources claimed that the action was taken as per law, the teachers, while talking to Ludhiana Tribune, were angry at the manner in which they were treated. The teachers alleged they were treated like hardened criminals by the police and were not even served water. They said the police showed scant respect to their teaching status and were very rude to them. Prof J. S. Randhawa and Prof K B S Sodhi alleged that contrary to the claims of the polite ‘Shreemanji’ scheme, the police officers, who had arrested them, were very rude and directed them to sit in the truck on their own or they would forcibly take them away. They said even at the police station, no one gave them water for several hours despite several requests. At about 4 pm, the police told the teachers that they would be released but on the condition that the teachers give in writing that they would not stage any dharna in future before the Mini Secretariat. The teachers refused to give this undertaking and the matter was not resolved till the evening. Earlier, the Association of Principals of Non-government Colleges of Panjab University, had also joined the ongoing relay fast by the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union in support of the demand of implementation of demands of pension-cum-gratuity scheme, release of arrears, extension of 95 per cent grant-in-aid scheme to unaided colleges, revised UGC scales to principals and teachers and lecturer designation for DPEs and librarians. |
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College teachers give call for Punjab bandh Protesting against the arrest of college teachers and callous treatment given to them, the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers have given a call for Punjab bandh on Wednesday. The teachers alleged that they had ended their dharna in front of the Mini Secretariat and several teachers had even gone back when the leaders of the union were arrested by the police on orders by the district administration. |
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Pay 50,000 or face demolition: MC official ‘threatens’ Ludhiana, September 11 Interestingly, the building owner, in a sworn affidavit, claimed that he had committed no violation of the bylaws. On the contrary, he had paid a composition fee of Rs 77,041, having been assessed at commercial rate whereas the building was being used purely for residential purposes. According to the complainant, Mr Mohinder Kumar Mehta, a local hosiery manufacturer, he owned two adjoining properties, B-IX-715 in Gulchaman Gali and B-IX-293 at Chauri Sarak. The property in Gulchaman Gali, which he had purchased in December, 1994, had a frontage of 9 feet 2 inches, which had been clearly shown in the site plan, attached with the sale deed. He further alleged that at the instance of Mr Rajesh Jain, Mr Sat Pal Jain and Mr Ravi Parkash Jain, all residents of the same locality, he was charged with encroachment and coverage of excess area than permissible as per the building plan. However, a detailed inquiry conducted into the matter, failed to establish the allegation of encroachment and a report submitted by Mr Krishna Moorti, Assistant Town Planner in the MC, in August 2000 explicitly stated that there was no encroachment. However, the same official (Mr Krishna Moorti) was now threatening him and asking him to pay Rs 50,000 or the building in question would be demolished, Mr Mehta alleged. He further maintained that the MC official was in league with Mr Rajesh Jain and others since he had openly stated that the money so collected would be shared by them all. The complainant had appeared in a weekly sangat darshan programme of the Deputy Commissioner and had also submitted a copy of the complaint, along with an affidavit to the MC Commissioner, Dr S.S. Sandhu, who had reportedly marked the same to Additional Commissioner, Mr Raminder Singh, for ‘an inquiry at personal level’. When asked for their comments, the Municipal Town Planner, Mr S.S. Bhatia, said the matter pertained to the period before he took over in his present post. He, however, confirmed that he had seen a copy of the report of the ATP in which the building owner had been exonerated from the charge of encroachment. Mr Raminder Singh, to whom the inquiry was marked, being out of town, was not available for comments. |
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Cops abuse, threaten Tribune staffers Ludhiana, September 11 Jupinderjit Singh and Kanchan Vasdev, Staff Correspondents of The Tribune, in a complaint to the police said while they were passing through the Ghumar Mandi area , they were followed by a white coloured Gypsy with the registration number PB46-A-1226, which was blowing the horn continuously. Since it was a heavily congested area, he could not move aside to leave way for the Gypsy. After covering some distance, when the scribe couple found space to let the Gypsy pass, the security guards hurled abuses at them and also threatened to teach them a lesson. The security guards were annoyed with him since he had not been able to make enough space for them so that the white Ambassador car bearing registration number CH01-G-1097 of their sahib (boss) coming from behind could pass conveniently. This is not for the first time that security personnel have been behaving in this fashion to please the boss they guard. Earlier also there have been similar incidents with common people being bullied, humiliated and embarrassed by these over-zealous cops. Meanwhile, members of the Punjab Press Club have condemned the incident and expressed concern over the bullying behaviour of cops with people. They have demanded that the guilty cops be identified and penalised. |
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Garg murder case: 3 witnesses turn
hostile Ludhiana, September 11 The murder trial is going in the court of Mr B.S. Mehndiratta, Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana. The case will now come up for hearing on September 12, to record evidence of prosecution witnesses. Earlier the bail applications filed by accused had been dismissed by the Supreme Court of India. Nirdosh Dhand is facing the charge that on the intervening night of June 22 and 23, 2000, he committed murder of Tirath Ram Garg by strangulating him in his factory situated at Janta Nagar, Ludhiana. After the death of Tirath Ram, police recorded statement of his elder brother Subhash Garg to the effect that on the fateful day, he had received a telephonic message and when he went to his younger brother’s cycle parts factory at Janta Nagar, he found him lying dead on the office table. Later in January, the staff of police station Division No. 6, claimed to have solved the blind murder mystery and arrested the accused. According to the prosecution, Sadhu Singh had got recorded his statement to the police that on June 22, 2000, when he was passing through Gali no. 9, Janta Nagar, he saw the accused coming out from the factory of deceased and was looking perplexed at that time. And later on he came to know that Tirath Ram had been murdered. His statement was recorded by the then SO police station Division no. 6, Mr Paramjit Singh, but in court Sadhu Singh pleaded total ignorance about the incident and the statement. DSP Manjit Singh had recorded the statement of Amritpal Singh of Pavitar Nagar, to the effect that on January 17, 2001, the accused had come to him and made extra judicial confession, according to the prosecution. But reportedly this witness also pleaded total ignorance about the police recording his statement and pleaded that he did not even know Nirdosh Dhand. |
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Shootout leads to panic
in Phillaur court Ludhiana, September 11 According to an FIR registered at police station Phillaur, Lakhwinderpal Singh and his associates allegedly fired from their double barrel .12 bore rifle in the court room. The bullets hit a door and a wall. However, nobody was injured in the shootout. The police has registered the FIR under Section 307 of the IPC and arrested Lakhwinderpal Singh. Besides the double barrel .12 bore rifle and a box of cartridges has also been seized from him. Lakhwinderpal had come to appear before the court in connection with a case related to a dispute with Sarabjeet Singh and his seven other friends. Meanwhile, family members of Lakhwinderpal Singh claimed that he had not fired at anyone and it was an accidental fire by some of his friends from his licensed double barrel .12 bore rifle. |
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All set to hear music of Vishwa Mohan
Bhatt Ludhiana, September 11 Bhatt is too well known a name to be missed by anyone. While the ardent music lovers would be there with an ear for his musical waves, there will be others as well, who know him as some Indian and probably the only so far, who won the prestigious Grammy Award in 1994 for his world renowned musical album “A Meeting by the River”. And more recently Bhatt hogged the headlines once again for his performance during the visit of Pakistani military ruler General Parvez Musharaf at Agra, where he struck some melodious musical notes amidst the cacophony of an absurd political melodrama. His son Salil also gave him company there. But Bhatt is known worldwide for something more brilliantly musical creations and innovations. He is the creator of the Mohan Veena. Here he has assimilated and synthesised the traditional techniques of the sitar, sarood and veena, thus creating a wonderful confluence of a different music with all the sublime touches of a great classic. He has given it a revolutionary design and shape by adding 14 more strings to it. That is why the musical waves created by the great musical maestro are better felt than heard. These are the waves that touch the soul intimately, rather too delicately. Bhatt has mesmerised the world of music lovers with his dazzling originality, the generosity of rhythm and awe-inspiring command over his self-designed Mohan Veena. Some of the remarkable features of his style include his natural ability to play the tantrakari ang and incorporate the gayaki ang on Mohan Veena. His consistent and generous shower of musical melodies won him the Grammy Award in 1994, the highest award in the world of music. Bhatt has performed extensively in the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, the UAE, the USSR, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Singapore, Norway and many more countries. He has undoubtedly established himself as one of the most “expressively versatile” and greatest musicians in the world. He has composed music for Bollywood art movie “Bhawander” and his music has also been incorporated in Hollywood movie “Dead Man Walking”. Bhatt was born in 1952 in a musician family of Jaipur in Rajasthan. He received his initial training from his elder brother Shashi Mohan. He is now the disciple of another great music legend Pandit Ravi Shankar, who says about his mastery over guitar: “Although guitar is a foreign instrument, he has a tremendous command over it. He has given a new dimension to it by merging the sound and style of guitar, sitar and sarood. The effect of his playing is unique”. Like at Agra, Bhatt will be accompanied at tomorrow’s concert also by his son Salil, representing the tenth generation of the famous Bhatt lineage with a great musical pedigree. He has already created waves with his soulful and vibrant music and is already receiving accolades from the music lovers and critics alike. Bhatt will be accompanied on the tabla by Sandeep Das, a frontline tabla player of the contemporary times and a disciple of the legendary Pandit Kishan Maharaj of the Banaras gharana. |
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LUDHIANA CALLING Sachchai chhup nahin sakti banawat ke assoolon se, ke khushboo aa nahin sakti kabhi kagaz ke phoolon se. This symbolic Urdu couplet is proving wrong in the contemporary world of cosmetic and artificial looks. When there is all possibility and probability of even humans being cloned, cloning flowers is no wonder. Rather artificial flowers have always been there and have always held a symbolic meaning. That even reminds of the famous Guru Dutt’s movie ‘Kagaz Ke Phool’ also. Ludhianvis are fond of good things and flowers are the most sought after thing here. Probably this is also a reflection of aesthetic taste going along with affluence and prosperity. Sensing such taste among Ludhianvis some intelligent city businessmen have started importing artificial flowers (read kagaz ke phool) and they are doing a good business. No wonder if these flowers greet you at most places you go. (see picture) No competitions In a dance competition of pre-school children, it was noticed that nearly 50 participants were totally stressed out and practically all parents were nervous wrecks. The kids were crying and fretting. Some of them climbed the stage, but they refused to budge in spite of the parents trying to motivate them by doing actions. Parents must have spent a lot of money on their outfits and matching jewellery. The girls had applied henna and got themselves tattooed. The whole atmosphere was tense. The parents were bribing their children. The little kids stopped dancing and were asking for soft drinks. Competitions should be avoided for pre-nursery kids as these cause a lot of unnecessary tension. Pati, patni aur woh All unfaithful husbands, beware, lest the prying eyes of your possessive wife fall upon you and your are caught red-handed with the ‘other woman’ and that too at a public place. This happened with a local officer here on Monday night at a reputed restaurant where he was having food with the ‘other woman’. The wife reportedly used to keep a track of his moments. Yesterday when she learnt that her husband was having dinner at the restaurant with the ‘other woman’, she along with her mother reached there and caught the two red handed. And Hell hath no fury as the wife scorned, who unleashed it at her husband and the ‘other woman’. The mother and the daughter pounced upon the two, thrashed them publicly and also told everyone, who passed by, about their affair. Language blues Register an FIR immediately. This policy of the Ludhiana police aims at ending all delays in the registration of cases. But officials of a city finance company had a unique experience of a novel delay in registration of cases. The man had complained to a senior officer about some fraud. Orders to register a case were issued immediately. The senior officers were so sure about the implementation of the orders that the details of the case was given to the press in daily press briefing also. However, the ground reality was that the FIR could be formally registered after three days only. When the exasperated complainant asked an official in the police station about the inordinate delay he was less shocked and more amused at the explanation.The officer blamed the complainant for writing over 10-page-long complaint in English and explained ‘‘Shreeman ji, preshan na howo, mulaziman da angrezi wich hath tight hai jara’’( The employees are weak in English) Teacher’s commands It was an ordinary freshers’ party organised by a city college to welcome its first year MA English students. But the way a teacher took over the charge of the party, disallowing the students to act in their own way, made it an unusual one. Interestingly, the teacher joined the college last month and is, therefore, the junior most in the whole department. While the second year students had fixed up a sequence of the items to be presented, the teacher made them change it as per her desire. It was interesting to watch her pass comments on the performance of the students, pinpoint the mistakes of the two comperes on the spot, direct them to make an announcement and repeatedly tell the first year students to sashay on the stage in a particular manner. It seemed as if only a single member from the faculty was present on the occasion as the rest remained silent spectators, giving the students complete liberty. Don’t mind We, the Indians, are most unmindful of the food we eat during melas or on any other occasion. During Chhapar Mela, the milling crowds were enjoying all types of food stuff ranging from sweetmeats, to cut fruit to mounds of a special sweet ‘khjala’ — a big, round, fluffy sweetmeat famous at the mela without bothering about the layers of dust that would have settled . The people did not even hesitate drinking glasses of cane juice. The sugarcane were unwashed and were lying on the ground. Many a shopkeeper had prepared ‘vicious-looking’ juices ready for the thirsty revelers and many were relishing without thinking of the aftermath. Why is the common man not bothered about the unhygienic conditions in which food is sold? Where were the health authorities? Many a people would suffer from gastritis, fever after consuming contaminated food and drinks, but who cares?
— Sentinel |
Revenue officials in vigilance net; corruption rampant in
dept Ludhiana, September 11 While the vigilance action had, in itself, proved the rampant corruption in the department, investigations by Ludhiana Tribune revealed that each paper moved at a price here. Even a number of orders made by the state revenue officers as well as by the government regarding the speedy registration of property cases, mutation process as well as completion of records were being ignored vehemently. A senior officer of the district administration, in a candid admission, said this had become the way of working here. According to inquiries, getting the registration of the property was quite a tedious task for the common man. While the government fee for mutation was Rs 100, the underhand fee was Rs 1,000. One could add to this Rs 100 more per year for getting the mutation of an old registry. If some person did not submit these unofficial underhand fees, a number of ‘mistakes’ sprung up in his papers. Inquiries from various patwar khanas revealed that the government record was gathering dust in private hands. Even though the State Revenue Department authorities, had in a recent order, prohibited the entry of private persons in the record rooms, a visit to several patwar khanas revealed that the orders were being violated with impunity. According to vigilance sources, despite the arrest of certain persons, the corruption was still rampant in the department. |
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YC asks Badal to quit on moral
grounds Ludhiana, September 11 Addressing a party workers’ meeting organised jointly by the Urban development Cell and the district unit of the Mahila Congress at Habib Ganj here today, Mr Pawan Diwan, chairman of the UD Cell, observed that after the details of wealth and property owned by Mr Badal’s family was made public by Capt Amarinder Singh, President, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Badal should have quit. He further wanted that the CBI should conduct a high level probe to bring out the truth as to how property worth hundreds of crores was amassed by Mr Badal after 1962. He took the functionaries of the ruling coalition to task for their volte face on the poll promise that all key persons, including ministers, would declare their assets immediately after assuming power. “Even after four-and-a-half years of the formation of government, no one from the SAD (B) or the BJP has done so.” Mr Diwan deplored the government for wrecking the state economy and its complete failure to tackle the growing unemployment among educated youth. Contrary to the tall claims made by the government, all sections of the people, including farmers, poor people, traders and industrialists were frustrated over the wrong policies of the government. The district chief of the Mahila Congress, Ms Usha Malhotra, speaking at the occasion, lambasted the government for widespread corruption in all departments. “Under the regime of SAD-BJP coalition government, there are no jobs for the youth, no pensions for widows and senior citizens. The poor people are being burdened with taxes and repeated hikes in power tariff.” Mr Akshay Bhanot, district president of the UD Cell of YC, also addressed the meeting. Prominent among others present at the occasion were Mr Jarnail Singh Grewal, convener,, UD Cell, Ms Joginder Kaur, Mr Randhir Singh Nikka, Mr Amarpreet Singh Aulakh, Mr Surinder Dhesi, Mr Dalip Kumar Johny, Mr Aman Deep Singh, Mr Jasbir Kumar, Mr Ram Dayal, Mr Jasbir Singh, Mr Jatinder Kumar, mr Satish Shukla, Ms Charanjit Kaur, Ms Gurmel Kaur and Ms Suman Kumari. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has urged the Union Government and the Punjab Governor to order a high-level judicial inquiry into disproportionate assets of senior leaders of both Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress. The district president of the party, Mr Rashpal Singh said in a statement that a sitting judge of Supreme Court should be asked to probe into the assets of Punjab Chief Minister Mr Parkash Singh Badal, the PPCC President Capt Amarinder Singh and all other senior politicians from the two parties. He further said that the inquiry should be completed before the coming assembly elections. |
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BSP strong enough: Kanshi Machhiwara, September 11 He said his party would give due importance to the people from every section of society. Among others who addressed the rally were Mr Harbhajan Singh Sharih, Mr Sukhbir Singh Shalimar, Mr M.P. Singh Gorayahan, Mr D.P. Khosla, Mr Gurdial Chand, Mr Inderjeet Singh, Mr Jasbir Singh Galib and Mr Abdul
Shakoor. |
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