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| Friday, February
15, 2002,
Chandigarh, India
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Land compensation announced
Chandigarh, February 14 The LAO awarded Rs 11.75 lakh per acre for Kajheri village and Rs 12.35 lakh per acre for lands in Palsora and Badheri. The lands are located south of Sectors 43,42,41 and 40. In case of Badheri village the average rate of one year was ignored. The average cost of registry of land sold in one year is taken into account to fix the compensation. The rate in case of Badheri village had worked out to Rs 24 lakh per acre, sources said while adding the compensation was no more than 50 per cent of the rate. As per the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, the compensation has to be on the average basis alone. The LAO is empowered to reduce the rate by 10 per cent and cannot take a separate view of things, as per the Act. Mr Angrez Singh Badheri, alleged the move was anti-farmer, anti-Punjabi and aimed at causing a loss to villagers who will be uprooted from their mother land and the Administration intends to set up labour colonies of slum dwellers from UP and Bihar and on these lands. His fellow villager Mr Bhupinder Singh Badheri said “we will oppose the amount of compensation in court. This is grossly unfair on the part of the Administration.” The residential area, trees and dwelling units will be compensated for separately. The total average rate, including interest for the past few years, works out to be Rs 18.84 lakh for Kajheri and Rs 19.81 lakh for Palsora and Badheri. On the Administration’s part it spent a sum of Rs 45 crore to compensate the villagers for acquiring the lands.  |
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Under siege on Valentine’s
Chandigarh, February 14 Entry to “sensitive” places like Sectors 9, 10 and 11 was restricted from 7 am. The police had set up five checkpoints each on the PU campus and in Sector 11. There were four checkpoints each in Sectors 17 and 15 and three in Sector 10. About 700 policemen were in these areas to check hooliganism. The main entry to ‘geri’ route (road along Hotel Mountview) was blocked. Residents and shopkeepers of the area were issued special stickers for entry. The police was in big strength outside the Sector 11 Government College for Girls and Government College for Men. The girls standing outside colleges, waiting to be picked up by their boyfriends, had a tough time because entry to inroads had also been closed. Finally, they had to call their parents. Boys were seen trying to jump barricades set up by the police, but 40 checkpoints were too much for them. Finally, they went towards Sector 34, where there was a traffic jam from 2 pm to 3 pm. Many more such incidents marked Valentine’s Day in the city. With authorities going all out to restrain the festive spirit, the day, for once, was more about peace on city roads than anything else. Unlike previous years, the whole show, this time, was managed by policemen. The 700 policemen patrolled the city roads from 7 am till well past 5 pm, leaving little space for youngsters to celebrate. Gate Number 1 of the PU was closed and all visitors entering the campus from Gate Number 2 had to clear security check. Only students with valid identity cards were allowed to enter. Students were angry at authorities and even girls were not happy with the police. A girl said, “There was no need for such a heavy deployment, because it looks funny.” Another girl said, “In the past, the situation had never been so tense. Restricting entry to the campus is ridiculous.”Boys were making repeated attempts to enter the girl zone. It seemed that no student attended classes in the GCM-11 today. Mr Malkit Singh, a Sub Inspector in the Sector 11 police station, who had been deployed outside the GCM, said: “There is hardly any student in the college today. We have seen only about 20 since morning.” In the GCG-11, the Principal had issued instructions that students would not be allowed to leave the college before 3 pm. The order was aimed at avoiding any mess outside the college. Seven DSPs, including the three subdivisional police officers, the SHOs of all 11 police stations and a number of inspectors and personnel of the Crime Branch, the Police Control Room and the Police Lines were on duty in the area. The road in front of the Sector 11 market, from the Food Research Laboratory to the Sector 11 Fire Station, and the road from the crossing of Sectors 10 and 11 to the Sector 10 petrol pump had been closed. Mr Ishwar Singh of the Sector 3 police station said, “All inroads can be used, but proofs of identity are being checked everywhere.” Police presence outside schools and girls’ hostels had also been stepped up. At places like Sukhna Lake, Rose Garden, Sector 17, discotheques, fast-food joints and restaurants, too, the police deployment was heavy. There were checkpoints near markets and popular hangouts. |
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The party was here THE party was at the Lake Club, where singers of Bally Sagoo song ‘Aaja Nach Le’ were invited. Nek Chand was also seen dancing to the beats. Most students of the PU were also at the place, where the entry was by invitation
only. Aerizzona in Sector 9 was full of students of the Sector 10 Government College of Arts. The Valentine’s Day theme was brought alive with balloons and buntings. The discotheque was
jam-packed with about 250 couples. Blues in Sector 34 had a live performance by Safri Boys at 2 pm and 8 pm, where only for couples. The night club saw about 400 couples in the day. While Las Vegas in Sector 34 tried to attract crowd by inviting Divya Jaitly, a Miss India competition finalist, Gizeh in Panchkula had Lucky Singh singing for couples gathered there. |
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Shikha entertains Valentine’s crowd Chandigarh, February 14 Shikha, who earned accolades for her role in the Chandrakanta serial on the
Doordarshan, was here for the Valentine Rendezvous - 2002. The celebrations witnessed boys and girls dancing past midnight. The couples who had gathered at the golf range kept waiting for Shikha for more than two hours while dancing on the popular Hindi and English numbers. But once she took charge of the stage, the gathering became enthusiastic. She started various contests for couples like 'the lady dressed in all red' and 'Valentine Couple - 2002'. |
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British
Library gets romance section Chandigarh, February 14 The romance section, a brainchild of Mr Sushant Banerjee, the manager of the library, is entirely a new concept in India. “There has been a tremendous demand for fictions from our members and to keep up with the demand we decided to add this section to our existing collections,” said Mr Banerjee. The section was inaugurated by Gen V.P. Malik (retd) and his wife. An avid admirer of Jaffery Archer, Gen Malik said though people usually found it hard to associate soldiers with books, the notion was often wrong as during the hours of loneliness, books had proved to be the only source of entertainment for them. The members who gathered for the inaugural function shared the same excitement as the creator of the section himself. “I was looking forward to this romance section,” said Dr
Sushmita, Assistant Professor of Radio Therapy Department, PGI. Besides this romance section, the British Library has also introduced Cambridge Young Learners examinations to evaluate proficiency in English among the age group of 7 to 12 years old students. Categorised into starters, movers and fliers, the tests are designed to spot week areas in reading, writing, speaking and listening. The tests will be conducted twice a month and the first batch will start on February 16. |
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Move to extend train services to city Chandigarh, February 14 The GM was on an inspection visit to the Chandigarh railway station and he would also meet the Chief Secretaries of Punjab and Haryana. The proposals under consideration include the extension of the Kerala Express service, a train service from Patna and another from Lucknow. Besides, the introduction of a fast train between New Delhi and Chandigarh is also being considered, according to sources. Meanwhile, Mr K.J. Singh, said he would take up the case of opening a railway reservation office at SAS Nagar with the Punjab Chief Secretary. The plan is four-year-old, but, it could not take shape as the Railways refused to pay the rent on commercial basis. It said it was servicing residents of SAS Nagar and not making money from sales. On the issue of extending train service to Chandigarh, Mr K.J. Singh said the washing line was almost complete, but everything would still depend on the Railway Minister. There has been a demand to shift the ticket-booking counter from the main railway station to a nearby building. |
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MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME Chandigarh, February 14 In an affidavit filed in compliance with the orders of November 28, 2001, Supreme Court, the UT Administration has sought time till July 1, 2002, to serve 41,000 students with “ready-to-eat” food with a value-content of 300 calories with 8 to 12 gms of proteins in schools on grounds of non-availability of infrastructure. They have mentioned that it would take six months for the Food Craft Institute, Sector 42, to create production facilities in the form of a central kitchen complete with the requisite machinery and other related equipment and storage area. The court had sought a compliance report from the Administration within six weeks of the issuing of orders. The Administration has also stated that it would initiate steps to provide three slices of frutti bread, already being supplied to 14,000 students of 40 urban schools under a state-sponsored scheme, as interim arrangement to all students by April 1 this year. Sources said that the UT Administration had also requested the Government of India to meet the expenditure involved in the conversion of foodgrains into prepared meals and its distribution process. The students in primary classes of rural schools and those in the slums were being provided with 3 kg wheat per month per child subject to 80 per cent attendance under the centrally-sponsored scheme for 180 days. Under this, as many as 33 rural schools were being “fed”. It is learnt that the Administration has proposed a budgetary allocation of Rs 1 crore to meet the expenditure involved in supplying ready-to-eat food to children for the forthcoming academic session. Work on the Supreme Court orders, passed in November last year, began with the UT Education Department widening the scope of the “bait” of mid-day meals to primary classes by extending it to all government and government-aided schools of the city. However, replacing the convention of giving foodgrains to students under the centrally sponsored scheme of mid-day meals, the Supreme Court also directed that students be given cooked meals with food value of not less than 300 calories and 8 to 12 gm of proteins. Also, instead of the prevailing 180 days, the duration of the scheme was also extended by another 20 days, meaning thereby that the mid-day meals would now be provided for 200 days in these schools. |
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National
award for Bal Niketan Panchkula, February 14 Though most inmates are too young to understand the importance of the award, they joined the celebrations with older inmates. Dr Madhu Sharma, who has been doing exemplary work here, is happy that the institute has received due recognition from the government. She said, “This award is not the end, but the beginning. This is an encouragement for us to keep working hard to give orphan and destitute children a good life.” The institute has come a long way since 1983 when it was established by a former IAS officer and Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University, Mr J.D. Sharma, in his Sector 6 house with 10 children. In 1990, the Haryana Urban Development Authority gave land for the home at a concession. Over the years, the building in Sector 2 has come up, with donations from the good Samaritans. The home houses 70 inmates, the youngest one being a-month-old, and 20 children have already passed out from here. Eight former women inmates are now married. These children have carved a niche for themselves in Merchant Navy, services and the other professions. Other than the orphanage, a vocational training centre is also being run that gives training in computer skills, electrical repair and embroidery and stitching. About, 1,000 children have received training here. It is the work as a placement agency for the in-country adoption of children that has fetched Bal Niketan this award. Of the 25 children that have been left at the home after 1996, more than 20 have already been placed in good families. Also, in spite of the poor sex ratio in the district and female foeticide being common, the placement agency has been promoting adoption of girl child. |
Probe deletion of voters’ names: Bir Devinder SAS Nagar, February 14 Mr Bir Devinder Singh, who was addressing a press conference here, said the number of persons who had been denied the voting right in yesterday’s polling was around 23,000. This figure constituted about 22 per cent of the total votes polled and could affect the election result for the constituency. The Congress leader also demanded that the Ropar Deputy Commissioner and the SAS Nagar SDM should be removed immediately so that they could not influence or interfere in the process of re-verification of the deleted votes. Mr Bir Devinder Singh, who has also written a letter in this connection to the Chief Election Commissioner of India, said the process of re-verification of votes should be conducted in a week’s time and legitimate voters given the right to vote. Special arrangements should be made on or before February 23 to allow them to cast their vote, failing which a mere inquiry into the conduct of the SAS Nagar SDM would not provide justice to the voters of the area whose names had been wrongfully and arbitrarily deleted. He urged the Election Commission to ensure that the official responsible for the re-verification of such votes should be of the rank of Commissioner or Secretary. In his letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr Bir Devinder Singh said thousands of eligible voters of SAS Nagar and Kharar towns, whose names appeared in the main voting list issued in 1999, were highly disappointed to note that their names had been deleted in a supplementary list prepared by the local administration. These voters had been living at the same address for the past many years and some of them were even the owner of the houses. Some of the voters even had the voter I-cards issued by the Election Commission of India. In other cases the voters had other identification documents like passport, ration cards, driving licences etc. The Congress leader alleged that the authorities had indulged in large-scale bungling and as such murdered the democracy. |
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Mohali
village records lowest polling SAS Nagar, February 14 Only 13.93 per cent votes were polled at booth 190 located in Mohali village, while 96.49 per cent votes were cast at booth 116 in Patton village. At booth 24 located on the premises of Christian High School, Kharar, 92.72 per cent votes had been polled. However, the overall poll percentage for the Kharar constituency was 60.44. There are a total of 1,75,980 voters in the constituency out of which 95,224 are male voters. The votes had been cast by only 1,06,362 persons. There are 64,500 voters in SAS Nagar out of which 34,937 are male, while 29,563 are female voters. Only 27,319 persons had polled their votes yesterday. The total poll percentage was 42.36. While Mohali village here recorded the lowest polling percentage, Mataur village, near Sector 70, here (booth 133) recorded the highest in the town which stood at 71.75 per cent. Polling booth 160 located at Government Primary School, Phase V, witnessed a polling percentage of 60.99. |
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Tenders
for sanitation contract Chandigarh, February 14 Between 15 to 20 contractors bid for the contract of sanitation of Butela Badheri, Attawa and Burail and duplex houses in the Modern Housing Complex, Mani Majra. Sanitation of these areas is already being done by private contractors and today’s bid was a fresh effort. The list of the lowest bidders will be prepared tomorrow, which will be placed before the Finance and Contract Committee meeting. |
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Traffic
chaos at Pinjore level crossing Pinjore, February 14 The gate is closed to vehicular traffic by the gateman for eight to ten minutes to allow the train to pass. As minutes roll by, traffic chaos is all-pervasive on both sides of the crossing. Honking of the horns and smoke-billowing vehicles add to the pollution. Haphazard parking of the vehicles leads to more chaos as everybody is in a great hurry to leave. The un-scheduled repair of the track takes considerable time and the traffic on the road remains held up for hours. These cause inconvenience to commuters and passengers. The passengers get delayed for their onward journey and some even miss the train they have to catch. Daily commuters get delayed for their places of work. The ambulances and taxis carrying patients which are referred to Chandigarh from the hospitals at Parwanoo, Solan, Shimla and Kalka also get delayed if they reach this level-crossing gate at the train time. During the apple season, the increasing number of loaded vehicles on the highway adds to more congestion on the level-crossing. On an average, the gate remains closed from a minimum of 10 minutes to a maximum of 20 to 30 minutes at different intervals. At least six to ten trains including goods trains pass through this level-crossing gate everyday. The daily commuters from Chandigarh, Panchkula, Nallagarh and Baddi face problems on this gate everyday. The chaos here can be ascribed in large measure to drivers of the vehicles because they do not follow the rules of the road. The drivers also seem to have no patience to wait and let the train pass. The lawbreakers are mainly light motor vehicle owners ( specially cars and scooters) who do not park their vehicles in a single line for smooth flow of traffic and avoiding blockades. Mr D.S. Guleria, who commutes daily from Chandigarh to Parwanoo, says there is no traffic awareness among drivers, especially the younger lot. Mr Jaspal Sainy, who also commutes daily from Chandigarh, suggests a permanent solution to the problem — construction of a flyover. |
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YOUNG VOICE AT 19, when dreams take shape and youngsters do career planning, Nakul Goyal has became the CEO of a Web-solutions-and-designing company that he established himself. He says, “Specialise in one field and there will be a plethora of jobs and work for you. Information technology will never be out.” For this Brainbench certified ‘Most Valuable Professional’, the Internet has been the main source of learning. However, money is not his motive; he seeks gratification in creating websites that benefit those affected by the Gujarat earthquake. He has formed an anti-website-hacking club for small enterprises. “Awareness and hard work in right direction leads to success,” says Nakul, who also writes in various newspapers as a freelancer. He gives the credit of his success to his parents. “Whatever I have achieved is due to them. I had no plan to begin my career early, but computers became my passion and gave me a good career as well. This is true for any field one decides to get into. |
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Zonal seminar on environment Chandigarh, February 14 For the purpose the CSIO, in association with the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, Chandigarh Chapter, here today organised a zonal workshop-cum-brain storming session on “environment and society”. Local MP Pawan Bansal, while inaugurating the workshop, stressed the need to strike a balance between environment and society. A senior Humboldt fellow, Dr B.K. Handa, in his keynote address, underlined pursuing an integrated approach towards environment with noise, air and water pollution only being its separate manifestations. He said water conservation would be key to deal with water pollution. In the first session of the seminar focused on life sciences, speakers opined the need of developing technologies which are economically viable, environmentally sustainable, socially acceptable and scientifically adapted to the well-being of the society. The CSIO director and president of the foundation, Chandigarh Chapter, Dr R.P. Bajpai, assured the people that the CSIO would continue efforts in supporting programmes involving the interest of the common man. |
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Book on love signs Chandigarh, February 14 As Mr Khurana puts it, “The readers of Linda Goodman’s book on love signs would find this a more comprehensive one written keeping in mind our own culture”. “Love Signs” has elaborate discussions on one’s personality traits, various kinds of compatibility. Unlike most of the books written earlier on compatibility which do not contain more than this, “Love Signs” provides tips to individuals who are astrologically incompatible, but are bound together by way of marriage, blood relation or business relationship, and want to sustain their relations. “In western countries, non-compatibility leads to divorce which is not what our culture tells to,” Khurana emphasises the essentiality of tips to improve relations. To be made available in 13 countries , the book will soon come out in Hindi version also. |
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Phone numbers
changed Dera Bassi, February 14 According to sources, one has to dial 4 as a prefix to the existing numbers. Similarly, the telephone numbers in the Lalru area have also been changed by introducing 27 as prefix. The STD code for the Dera Bassi telephone exchange is 951762 and 95171 for Lalru. |
Two arrested on trespass charge Chandigarh, February 14 In a different case, the police has arrested a resident of Palsora Colony, Balwinder Singh, for allegedly threatening a woman of the same colony after trespassing into her house along with another person. The second accused is still at large. A case has been registered. Held:
A resident of Darwa village, Chunmun Parshad, was arrested from the same colony for consuming liquor in a public place. A case under the Excise Act has been registered against him. Cases of theft:
A resident of Industrial Area, Arvind Gupta reported that 60 pieces of iron rods have been stolen from his plot. A case has been registered. Sector 16 resident Vaneet Walia reported that the stereo from his car parked at his residence was stolen. The police has registered a case. PANCHKULA PO arrested:
The police has arrested a proclaimed offender accused of running away with tickets of a Haryana Roadways bus in 1986. It is learnt that accused Chand Singh, a conductor with Haryana Roadways, had been declared PO in 1999. It is learnt that he was given tickets (6822 to 60) to be sold off to passengers on a bus bound for Hisar from Kalka. However, he ran away with the tickets. He had been booked under Section 409, IPC. Cases of burglary:
Unidentified miscreants broke into the Government Bookseller Store in the Industrial Area (Phase I) on the night of February 11 and decamped with Rs 218 lying in the cash box. In another case, the house of Mr Gulshan Mehta in Sector 16 was broken into, while the family was away. The almirah in the house was broken and the cheque book was missing. SAS NAGAR Body found:
The body of an unidentified person was found behind the market in Phase II here today. It is reported that the man was under the influence of liquor when he fell off the bicycle he was riding. A pouch of liquor was recovered from the pocket of the victim. The police has handed over the body to the Civil Hospital for post mortem. |
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Truck driver robbed Panchkula, February 14 In this incident, a truck driver was reportedly robbed of Rs 21,000 in Sector 12-A. He had come here to sell his produce of bananas from Behrainpur in Madhya Pradesh. It is learnt that the truck driver, Yudhvir, had come to Industrial Area to sell his produce in his truck (TL-1GA-8675). He reportedly made Rs 19,900 from this deal. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law, Lucky. In his complaint to the police, Yudhvir alleged that after he had sold his crop, he went on the Zirakpur road to clean his truck where he met two scooter-borne youths who offered to send some goods to Panipat in Haryana. They struck a deal for Rs 2400 and Yudhvir followed them to Sector 12-A, leaving the truck with his brother-in-law. Upon reaching the place, these men asked Yudhvir to stay put, while they went to Sector 4 in order to get the slip for carrying the goods out of Panchkula. Yudhvir waited for a long time, but the man did not return. It was then that he hired a rickshaw and went back to his truck. He was, however, stunned to find that other than the Rs 19,900 that he had earned here, an additional Rs 1000 that he was carrying had also been stolen. His brother-in-law was also missing and since then there is no information about him. |
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