 |
|
| Thursday, February 21, 2002,
Chandigarh, India
|
|
||||
|
CORPORATION
BEAT Chandigarh, February 20 This was informed by Mayor Ms Lalit Joshi after the meeting of the committee, which has been deferred to tomorrow after remaining inconclusive after three-and-half hours of discussion without any final decision. The F&CC member and leader of the Congress in the Municipal House, Mr Subhash Chawla, said the BJP-dominated Municipal House had passed 10 per cent property tax on annual rent value in 1997 and F&CC had framed by-laws. The BJP, however, kept the imposition of tax in abeyance forcing the Congress to take a decision, Mr Chawla said. He informed the members of the committee recommended that money collected from property tax would only be spent on development and it would not be transferred to non-plan head. Mr Chawla said the corporation urged the Municipal Commissioner to bring a major chunk of non-plan expenditure before the F&CC except for fixed expenditures on major heads. He said the Committee also urged the administration to provide matching grant on taxes levied as was reportedly promised by officials from the Union Home Ministry. The F&CC members also wanted the administration to provide the corporation with funds for services transferred to Municipal Corporation as in any case the administration was spending money on these heads. The committee members also urged the commissioner to either call the Second Delhi Finance Commission to Chandigarh or give an appointment to Municipal Corporation to soon give the municipal body a hearing on sharing revenues with the administration. On a question if the rate of property tax was to be reduced to two per cent from 10 per cent and how the gap of around 8 to 9 crore would be met, he said cut in non-plan expenditure and better realisation of value of property sale would fill the gap. The two new taxes are likely to fetch the municipal body five to six crore rupees against a projection of Rs 15 crore in the budget for the year 2002-2003, Mr Chawla said. The members also wanted that any sudden increase in the receipts would not be transferred to non-planned expenditure and the budget would be monitored quarterly. The committee meeting was adjourned for a final decision tomorrow after failure of officers to explain expenditure on water pumps. |
|
RUN
UP TO BUDGET Chandigarh, February 20 “Because of the exemptions of excise on Small Scale industrial units, there is heavy evasion of duty. To remove this, it is essential that the policies for the organised and unorganised sector are the same”, said Mr Satish Bagrodia Chairman and Managing Director, Winsome Textile Industries. He said in order to improve the performance of the textile industry, effective steps in this regard were imperative. “The government needs to take steps in such a manner that a complete chain for levying excise duty from ginned cotton to the garment production stage is formed”, he said. Mr Sachit Jain, Executive Director, Vardhman Spinning and General Mills said the duty should be reduced .” If there have to be exemptions, these should be same for all kinds of manufacturers be it in the organised or the un organised sector”, he said . Following the recession and the US disaster, exports from textiles had received a major blow. The manufacturers started dumping their products in the domestic market, leading to a substantial decline in the prices here. Reportedly even several big players had to temporarily halt their operations . “There should be no discrimination when it comes to incentives for normal and non-Export Oriented Units (EOU)”, said Mr H S. Cheema, Joint Managing Director, Cheema Spintex and President of the Lalru Industries Association. While branded garments are becoming increasingly popular, heavy duty of 16 per cent makes these highly expensive items , he said. “Equal quality and same brand products cost much higher in our country as compared to other countries like Sri Lanka or Bangladesh”, he said. Textile cess, though not very high, is only an additional burden on the industry, said Mr Cheema. The industrialists also say that issues relating to permission to hire contract labour and retrenchment of labour be solved in the forthcoming Budget. “In case of heavy orders, it becomes difficult to process the order as we are not permitted to hire labour on contract”, said Mr Bagrodia. These apart, reduction of interest rates for long-term lending , would contribute towards the overall improvement of the industry, said industrialists. |
|
Morni’s wildlife sanctuary dream may come true! Panchkula, February 20 Sources in the Department of Forests, Haryana, said the stage is set for them to get a nod for this Wildlife Sanctuary from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. The proposed sanctuary is being developed in lieu of the denotification of two sanctuaries — Saraswati Forest, which falls partly in Kaithal district and partly in Kurukshetra and spread over an area of 4,400 hectares; and, in Bada Ban in Jind spreadover an area of 400 hectares. A meeting of Forest Department officials from various states is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on February 26. Following this, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests as well as the Department of Forests, through the state government, will move an application in the Supreme Court, requesting for the denotification of the two sanctuaries in lieu of the new one proposed at Morni. It may be noted that the Apex Court had earlier banned denotification of any forest or wildlife sanctuary. Thus the proposed sanctuary at Morni can be developed only after the approval of the Supreme Court. It is learnt that the issue of developing a sanctuary at Morni was earlier discussed at a meeting of the Indian Board of Wildlife held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister on December 21, 2001. This proposal was then deferred for the next meeting, scheduled to be held on February 26. Sources inform that the area of the sanctuary proposed at Morni will be approximately 12,000 acres. This area includes Khol Raitan, protected forest area in Balwali, Mandana, Asrewali and Bir Ghaggar. Originally the Wildlife Wing of the Forest Department had earmarked an area of the over 50,000 acres, including 14 different bhojs in Morni. They were, however, asked to shrink the proposed area under the sanctuary to 12, 259 acres. Meanwhile, the Department of Forest has been pressing for the setting up of the sanctuary here as the area has a rich flora and fauna. Other than fruit trees, herbs and shrubs other vegetative growth is also present here. The last Wildlife census, done in the year 1997, has also revealed the presence of leopards, cheetahs, sambhars, wild boars, barking deer, wild boars, jungle fowl and a wide variety of birds in this reserved forest. On the other hand, the Saraswati Forest as well as Bada Ban, both of which are irrigated forests , the cover comprises timber like sheesham, kikkar, eucalyptus
etc. Fauna in these forests as well as the terrain is less suitable than in Morni, informed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Mr
J.P.L. Srivastava. |
|
Robbers attack 2 families, injure five Zirakpur, February 20 Armed with iron rods, sticks and batons, a band of masked robbers first struck at a house in Preet Nagar Colony at 2 a.m. They wounded a woman. They stormed into another house in Gazipur village. They attacked a Nepali family living there and wounded four family members. The robbers also decamped with some valuables and clothes from the houses. A band of nearly six to eight robbers struck at the house of Mr Babu Singh, an ex-serviceman at 2 a.m. They were noticed by Mrs Manjit Kaur, a tenant. She woke up her son Baljinder Singh and both of them came out in the courtyard. Hearing the commotion Ms Rajinder Kaur, landlady, also came out. The robbers flashed a torch and started throwing bricks at Baljinder who had came out of the courtyard while looking for the robbers. A brick hit Ms Rajinder Kaur on her head and she became unconscious. An eyewitness and a tenant of the victim, Jagbir Singh of 61 Engineer Regiment, said some robbers overpowered Ms Rajinder Kaur and snatched her gold ornaments, including bangles and chain. In the process the robbers beat her up with sticks and another woman Manjit Kaur was also hurt when robber hit her wrist with a baton. The robbers later escaped in the dark. Rajinder Kaur who was injured seriously, was rushed to the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh by her family members and the police was informed. After getting information Subedar Jagdish Chandra and RHM Balbir Singh visited the spot. Within half an hour of this the same gang of robbers struck at a house in Gazipur village near Randhawa Poultry Farm and attacked Mr Jang Bahadur, his wife Devi, son Som Bahadur and daughter Sita Devi. Jang Bahadur’s youngest daughter, Sonia, told this reporter that six persons, one of whom was wearing a mask, were speaking Hindi. They forcibly opened the door of their room and started hitting her father and mother with stick and batons. ‘‘They hit my father on his head with a wooden log while he was sleeping. As my mother started defending herself, a robber hit her on her head from behind with a stone and she fell off. In the meantime my brother and sister, who were trying to save our parents too were overpowered and beaten up brutally’’ added Sonia, controlling her tears. The robbers also took a steel trunk and some clothes from the house. The trunk was later found brokeopen in a nearby field. After receiving information from the owner of the Randhawa Poultry Farm, Mr Jatinder Singh Khaira, DSP along with SHO, Amarjit Singh, reached the spot and took the injured to the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh. A team of forensic experts and a dog squad were pressed into service to make some headway in the robbery. A case under Section 458 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered. Messages were flashed to the Patiala police besides the
Chandigarh, Panchkula, Ambala and Rajpura police to keep a check on every naka on all exit and entry points to Zirakpur and Dera Bassi, the police said. The exact loss of property, in both the incidents, could not be ascertained in the initial stage. It may be recalled that in a similar robbery incidents a gang of masked robbers had struck at four houses, a farmhouse and a tubewell located in Zirakpur, Nabha, Bhabhat and Chhat villages, stabbed a labourer, beat up 19 persons, including two members of a family, and decamped with cash, jewellery and other valuables worth thousands of rupees, on night of October 16. |
|
A slice of independence with ‘Shaheed-e-Azam’ Bhagat Singh Chandigarh, February 20 And we thought only broken hearts ran into several editions these days. But since some time now, the belief has a strong contender in themes that revel in historical spaces. Turn the leaves of film makers’ recent inspiration schedules and you find that the latest food for their thought has something very strongly to do with the patriotic urge. This alone explains a heartening phenomena now happening in the film city. There is a shift in attitudes — as film bigwigs graduate from hideous issues to sensible ones. Many seasoned directors are busy structuring a tribute to Shaheed Bhagat Singh. After Raj Kumar Santoshi, who has cast Ajay Devgan as the martyr and Sunny Deol who has brother Bobby doing the honours, it was today Iqbal Dhillon’s turn to announce his film, “Shaheed-e-Azam”. The film follows closely in the line with “Shaheed Udham Singh”, the last historical venture by Dhillon. Adding a philosophical edge to the otherwise patriotic matter was Raj Babbar, who presented the film formally at a local hotel today. He also talked about his desire to play the martyr one day. “Bhagat Singh was always my ideal. But the day Manoj Kumar played the character in “Shaheed”, I knew my dream would remain unfulfilled. There is, however, some hope now,” said Babbar. He may not be involved directly in the project, but his heavy indirect involvement was apparent today. Though it would have been difficult for Babbar to take time off from the hectic electioneering schedule in Uttar Pradesh. The MP’s talk took off from the film itself which, he described as another attempt to glorify national heroes and place them on a pedestal they rightly deserved. “Heroism is fast depleting from our society. There is a need to hold on to those who made a difference and bring them before the masses in whatever way we can. The film reflects Bhagat Singh’s golden ideology, which always helped him to look into the future. We wish to tell people of how Bhagat Singh valued growth. He always set high targets for himself and he knew people would pursue them despite him,” he added. Babbar also introduced the name of Soonu Sood, who will play the lead in the film. The project draws authenticity from personal recordings of Prof Jagmohan Singh, the martyr’s nephew, who is involved at every level — from screenplay to costume designing. Apart from putting things together, lifting sequences from the annals of history was also a challenging task. As Babbar explained, “These characters are larger than life. Everyone’s interpretation of their actions is diverse. We have tried to build the chronology so as to bring out the humanist in Bhagat Singh. We have attempted to concise history and we wish well for our efforts.” The conversation often rested upon the need to highlight facts related to those who built the foundations of a free India. As a spokesperson for Dhillon, Babbar said that the team wanted to unleash a process of debate. “Our success story will be written the day people express an urge to know more about our martyrs. They need to know that Bhagat Singh was not an extremist, but a philosopher,” he said. Among the high points of his team, he counted the Punjabi lineage of Dhillon. “Shaheed Bhagat Singh was an Indian first. But the elements of Punjabiyat were an inseparable part of his character. Although we cannot limit the character to the frame of language, we are certainly making sure that Bhagat Singh and his moorings are reflected as they were,” Babbar concluded. (The film is being directed by Sukumar Nair and has musical scores by Makbul Khan, Sardool Sikandar and Sabar Ali. Lyrics have been drawn from the repertory of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, S.M. Sadiq, Khwaja Parvez and Baba Bulle Shah and the photography is by Harinder Gill.) The young Bhagat The spring in his walk is hard to miss, so is the twinkle in his eyes. Playing the young Bhagat, seven-year-old Jaspreet has learnt to settle for nothing less than the best. And he has some reasons to do that...for not only is he playing the role, he also shares his birth date (March 23) with the death anniversary of the martyr. And if this is pure chance, another coincidence is that Jaspreet almost exactly resembles the portrait of Bhagat as a child. So confidence has to flow naturally. There you see him sitting in the company of Raj Babbar, waiting for him to announce his role in the film. But when the favour does not come, he chooses to interrupt the actor and make him announce what he wants. Hence comes the first introduction to Jaspreet Singh, a Patiala boy, who is in love with his new-found role. The latter part of the introduction which he manages himself is much better. With sparkles all around, he assumes a comfortable pose, hangs on to his share of food, and answers all queries in the smartest of tones. “Well, I think Bhagat Singh was just like me — energetic, positive and vibrant,” he begins the conversation, suggesting how well he fits into the role. And then he further validates his point by citing a dialogue from the film: “Ye pagdi hamare liye paanch gaz ka kapda nahi hai...ye nishani hain hamari izzat aur maan ki...” With a great power to retain dialogues, the kid has been a pleasure to work with for all people of the film unit. Even Iqbal Dhillon minced no words in praising him, “He was an instant choice. We all love him for his vibrancy.” Jaspreet has already done about four Punjabi serials, one is being currently aired on Alpha TV Punjabi. Smitten with Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor, the child loves dancing. And he wraps up the talk with great judgment about his favourite film stars: “I like them for their dancing skills. They are fairly good!” |
|
An insight into Emergency era
Chandigarh, February 20 Organised by the Department of History, Prof Bipan Chandra spoke on ‘‘Jaya Prakash (JP) movement of 1973-75’’. He elaborated on the causes for the rise of the movement, his leadership role and the reasons for the failure of the movement. Bipan Chandra said there was a tremendous amount of social and economic discontent since 1973, when people had to stand in long queues for getting even the barest necessities, prices of all products had shot up and everyone was very
sensitive to the widespread corruption being practiced by politicians. At such a time the students of Gujarat launched the ‘nav nirman’ movement and much like the mutinous sepoys of 1857 choosing Bahadur Shah as their nominal ‘badshah’ the students chose Morarji Desai to lead them towards ‘nav nirman’. As the movement spread towards Bihar, the students approached JP to lead them. Given his inexperience of any political movement JP accepted to be the leader of a band of people made up of the RSS, BLD and some socialist bodies etc. Noticing the recalcitrant attitude of the government, JP demanded that the military, police and the civil service disobeyed the orders of the government. Prof Bipan Chandra pointed out that what JP forgot was Gandhi's point that Satyagraha may not be the appropriate weapon against a national government and therefore, when Indira Gandhi unleashed the emergency, the ‘‘total’’ revolution that JP hoped for fizzled out within 24 hours. Prof Bipan Chandra also interacted with students. The lecture was presided over by the DUI Prof R.J. Hans Gill, while Prof Dharmender Goel was the guest of honour. Earlier, Prof Kamlesh Mohan, Head of Department of History, welcomed the guests. |
Protest against dump continues SAS Nagar, February 20 Despite pleas by the Council President, Mr Kulwant Singh, for cooperation and 15 days’ time for making alternative arrangements for garbage disposal, the protesting residents continued their dharna and even offered to court arrest to prevent the use of the area for dumping. “We will not allow the council to dump garbage even for one day,” declared one of the protesters. “Who will take the responsibility if our children fall ill”, asked angry women protesters. Plague does not seem to weigh on the mind of the municipal council staff even when doctors at the PGI, Chandigarh, are struggling to save the lives of plague-stricken people from Himachal Pradesh, said Mr Vikas Salaria. Mr Lakhwinder Singh, another resident, said that the welfare body of the area had written to the Punjab Governor, the Ropar Deputy Commissioner, and others in this regard. Mr Kulwant Singh said the council had started dumping garbage in a low-lying area near Sector 66 since February 11 after PUDA had allotted the land on a temporary basis for this purpose. He said the ACA, PUDA, had assured him that an alternative arrangement would be made at the earliest. He said at present the council was in a dilemma as the garbage in the town was piling up. He said he had assured the residents that garbage dumped would daily be covered with the help of a bulldozer and the area would be disinfected using chemicals but they were not ready to cooperate. He said the council had approached the Ropar Deputy Commissioner for providing police force to tackle the situation. The council Executive Officer, Mr H.B. Garg, said the civic body had no permanent site to dump garbage. Earlier, they had taken land on lease for two years near Badmajra village for this purpose. But the Verka Milk Plant authorities had objected to that and filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court asking the council to shift the site.  |
|
‘Harassed’ Drug Inspector resigns Panchkula, February 20 His resignation follows after the District Chemist Association threatened to go on strike if the State Drug Controller failed to take any action against Mr Deepak Puri. The two sides have been at logger heads for the past fortnight. Mr Puri said that he was being harassed after he turned the heat on some chemists, involved in underhand sale of prescription drugs. He had earlier alleged that they had wrongly tried to project that he, in an inebriated condition, had forced the chemists to close down their shops in Sector 6, when he had gone for a routine checking. However, the chemists were up in arms against Mr Puri and had recently met the State Drug Controller and submitted a memorandum to him. They had demanded that Mr Puri be suspended and a criminal case be registered against him. They alleged that the Inspector, under the influence of liquor had forced chemists in Sector 6 to close down their shops on January 25. He had allegedly threatened the chemists and of late had been issuing show-cause notices to them due to frivolous reasons, they alleged. |
Woman cheated of Rs 7 lakh Chandigarh, February 20 In her complaint, she alleged, that Agarwal, then closed down his shop and vanished with the money. A case under Sections 406, 419, 420, 467, 468, 472 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code has been registered. Assaulted: Mr Chander Dev Yadav, a resident of Ram Darbar, Phase - I, reported to the police that three persons of his area, trespassed into his house and assaulted his wife, Ms Meneki. She received injuries and was admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, for treatment. A case under Sections 452, 323 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against the accused, Bal Mukhi, Satish Chand and Prem Chand. Booked: On a complaint of an Executive Engineer of Electricity Operation, Sub Divsion No 5, the local police has booked Lal Chand, a resident of Darwa village, for allegedly stealing electricity through kundi connection. A case under Section 379 of the IPC and Section 30 of the Electricity Act, 1990, has been registered. Dowry harassment case: Ms Poonam Kalsi, a resident of Sector 37, reported to the police that she was harassed and maltreated by her husband, Vijay Kalsi and mother-in-law, Sudesh Kalsi for bringing more dowry. The complainant was married in January, 2001. A case under Sections 406 and 498-A of the IPC has been registered. Car stolen: A Maruti car (PB-10-AC-3033) of Mr Karanbir Singh, a resident of New Delhi, was allegedly stolen from near a Sector 22-based hotel on Saturday night. A case of theft has been registered. Cops reinstated: Two sub-inspectors, Ashwini Kumar and Dharam Singh, who were suspended in August 2000 in a case of alleged custodial death of a Sector 32 doctor, were reinstated. The orders to this effect were passed by the SSP, Mr Parag Jain. Rickshaw-puller arrested: The police has arrested a resident of Uttar Pradesh, Jawahar Mandal, for plying his rickshaw on the wrong side of the road near the Sector 17 ISBT. He has been booked for causing danger and obstructing public traffic. Dera Bassi Three detained: The police detained three suspects in the Husain murder case. Police parties had been sent to different suspected hide-outs after questioning some suspects for their alleged involvement in the crime. After the post-mortem examination at the Civil Hospital in Rajpura, the body of the eight-year-old was today handed over to family members. A case was registered on the complaint of Mr Haji Sahib, the child’s father. Panchkula Liquor seized:
The local police arrested Vinod Kumar Khateek from Dhaluwal village near Pinjore and seized 28 pouches of country-made liquor. He was booked under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act. Car stolen: A Maruti car (HR-03D-2674) was reportedly stolen from in front of the Sector 2 residence of Mr Shiv Kumar during the night of February 18. A case under Section 379 of the IPC was registered. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
