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June 29, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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All set for panchayat poll Ludhiana, June 28 Giving details, Deputy Commissioner Anurag Verma said the poll parties would put up for the night in the same village where they had been deputed to conduct the poll. Proper security arrangements had been made at all polling booths. In all, 227 polling booths had been declared ‘sensitive’ and 21 as ‘very sensitive’. The ‘very sensitive’ booths falls under the Dehlon block. He said polling would be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the counting would be carried out after the polling at the same polling station by the presiding officers concerned who had been designated Assistant Returning Officers for the purpose of counting the votes. The results would be declared on the spot. Mr Verma said the administration had taken sufficient preventive measures for the smooth and impartial conduct of the elections. He said the polling staff had been directed to remain completely impartial. He also asked people to caste their votes peacefully and extend full cooperation to the polling staff.
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Husbands
lead as women candidates take back seat Jandiali Khurd (Ludhiana), June 28 In most of the villages women are fighting elections in the district just in name. They are mere dummies as their election campaigns have been taken over by the male members of their families, especially husbands. Sadly, in villages reserved for SC or general women candidates, it is the names of their husbands that are making rounds in political circles of the village. On a visit to this village by a Tribune team, it was revealed that villagers happened to know the names of the husbands and not the candidates. “Darshan Singh and Jasbir Singh are in the fray this time”, was a prompt reply from a villager who was asked about the names of the candidates. But when he was told that the village was reserved for SC women, he said: “Of course, their wives are contesting.” While the entire village was experiencing activity in view of the elections, one of the contestants, Ms Surinder Kaur, was not difficult to locate. She was cleaning cow dung in her house when the team visited her. She declined to comment on anything till her husband came. When her husband was summoned by villagers, she came along with her dupatta veiling her face. As the menfolk talked, she looked with a blank expression on her face. “It does not make any difference if my husband helps villagers in their works. Why do I need to go anywhere?’’ she replied when asked whether she would be shouldering her responsibilities if she was elected. “Our woman candidate has vowed to get the development of village done if you elect her”, went a claim by a former sarpanch in a village near Pakhowal, whose wife was contesting the election. The scene is the same in the election campaign of an opposite party but the difference lies in the reason for demanding votes: “The Congress government is backing this candidate. So you bring her into power”, were the words of candidate’s husband, who had been canvassing for her for the past many days. On a visit to villages like Pakhowal, Tusse, Dango and adjoining villages falling under the Kila Raipur and Raikot constituency, the reporter got first hand knowledge of the level of progress made by the women village heads in places chosen under the 33 per cent reservation for women in state panchayats. They are still confined to the four walls of their house. The husband of one such woman candidate, preferring not to be identified, said the reservation was not by choice but was forced on them. He was the village sarpanch and thus after the reservation his wife was contesting elections. If she wins it would only be because of his clout, as the social circumstance have not changed by mere reservation. “Now, we are canvassing from door to door and asking for votes while she does the household work,” he confessed with a sheepish grin on his face. The condition is same in several villages. The media had highlighted this disturbing state of affairs a few years ago, questioning the government claims of working towards uplifting women in the state. It was hoped that after few years the condition would change. Going by the participation level of these women in the elections, one can safely say that the time of women empowerment is yet to come. |
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Liquor days are here again Ludhiana, June 28 In Ludhiana alone as many as 11,000 boxes of countrymade liquor worth over a crore are being sold daily. A bottle of liquor is being sold for Rs 100 to Rs 110 in Ludhiana district while in the districts of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Moga, Sangrur, Ferozepore, Faridkot and Bathinda it is being sold at the rate of Rs 110 to 120 per bottle. Besides, the sale of illicit liquor has also been on without any check. “Bhathis” have been set up at villages to brew liquor to be allegedly distributed among supporters of various candidates. The scenes at villages represent “chhabils” as free distribution of liquor has been going on for days together. The sale of Indian-made foreign liquor(IMFL) has also picked up during this period by at least 15 per cent. The liquor contractors estimate that IMFL worth Rs 75 lakh was being sold daily in the state. Moreover, drugs are also being distributed among the supporters. Interestingly, the state Excise Department did not take any step in this regard. However, some liquor contractors are not happy with this as they maintain that they have to supply liquor to politicians at cheap rates to oblige them. |
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13 booths ‘sensitive’ Machhiwara, June 28 Out of these 13 villages have already elected their panchayats unanimously. |
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MC pulled up for ‘flouting’ CM’s orders Ludhiana, June 28 Making it clear that resolutions aimed at drawing political mileage at the cost of financial loss to the civic body should not be approved in future, the government has indicated that it might come down heavily on the elected representatives if the trend continued. The MC house has drawn flak from the government with regard to a proposal for interest-free payment of arrears of water and sewerage cess. The proposal was unanimously adopted by the new Congress regime in the civic body last year. In a communication dated May 5 to the MC, the Additional Secretary of the Local Government Department has said, “A similar proposal received from your side (MC) was rejected after discussion with the Chief Minister and an intimation was sent on May 30, 2002. Despite this, a resolution on the same lines has once again been approved by the house which is tantamount to flouting the orders of the Chief Minister and a financial indiscipline. In future, the MC house should desist from making such recommendations.” The communication will be placed before the MC general house in its meeting on June 30. Among 14 other items listed on the agenda are the allotment of land on lease basis to a social group ‘Ek Prayas’; approval for auctioning municipal properties, including two shops in Jawahar Nagar Camp, residential plots in Haibowal Kalan, Fatehpur, Jawaddi, a petrol station site each at Barewal and Sukhdev Market, Civil Lines, eight shop-cum-offices in Barewal and 10 booths in Jawaddi. In the wake of the decision of the state government to award certificates of merit to several MC officials and fire brigade personnel, who had displayed exemplary courage and diligence while tackling the situation at the time of devastating fire in Khud Mohalla in the old city. The MC house will be asked to make a recommendation to the government for giving effect to the decision at an appropriate time. Those who will receive merit certificate include Mr S.K. Sharma, MC Commissioner, Mr Kartar Singh, Assistant Divisional Fire Officer, Mr Kamaljit, Mr Surinder Kumar and Mr Parshottam Das, all fireman, and Mr Naseeb Singh, driver. A proposal for shifting dairies from residential areas like Moti Nagar, Guru Arjun Dev Nagar, Jagdishpura and Subhash Nagar will also be placed before the house. The shifting of dairies from these localities had been hanging fire for a long time now. The MC had offered to provide plots to dairy owners in Jamalpur area at Rs 1,200 per sq yrd, but the dairy owners were demanding reduction in the price of land and payment in instalments spread over a longer period of time. |
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Woman found murdered Ludhiana, June 28 Amarjit Kaur(40), wife of a retired bank manager, Mr Harpal Singh, was alone at the time of the murder, which took place between 8.45 p.m. and 10p.m. The couple lived in a rented
apartment, house No.68. It was her husband who first spotted the body at about 10 p.m. when he returned home. Police sources said some personal rivalry seemed to be the reason behind the murder. The police has ruled out robbery as the motive behind the crime as no valuables were found missing from the house. About Rs 3 lakh had been kept in a locker in the house but no attempt was made to open it. Moreover, no document was reported stolen from the house. According to Harpal Singh, they lived alone here and there only son had been adopted by the parents of his wife. He said he had taken premature retirement and was running a dairy business these
days. He added that his wife was on medication. He said he usually came late and last night when he came home he found the door open and saw his wife dead on the sofa with blood splattered all over her clothes. The police said a washerman had visited the house at about 8.45 p.m. to hand over ironed clothes to the woman. A tenant, Satpal Singh, told the police that he had seen the woman alive at that time. |
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Allegations
fly thick Mandi Ahmedgarh/Ludhiana, June 28 The staff to be posted at the polling stations in the villages too complained that no proper arrangements had been made by the administration for their overnight stay. The respective returning officers had despatched the polling parties by evening under armed escort. On the other hand Opposition parties alleged that it was physically impossible to collect all weapons from 447 villages in the district. The police was allegedly concentrating on those villages which traditionally vote for the Akalis. Sources reveal that high-ranking officers had identified sensitive villages. A special vigil was being maintained at villages which had a sizeable Muslim population, especially in and around Mandi Ahmedgarh. Mr Rachhpal Singh, DSP, Malerkotla, stated that 160 weapons from sensitive villages, including Kanganwal, Dehliz Kalan, Bishangarh, Dhaler Kalan, Phalaund and Maholi Kalan, had been collected. Enquiries reveal that an equal number of arms have been collected by the Dehlon police. Other sensitive villages include Chhapar, Barundi, Rachhin, Maherna, Dhulkote, Dehlon, Bulahri, Khatra Chunaran, Shanker, Bhutla, Bool, Kilaraipur, Mehma Singhwala, Ghungrana, Rangia, Gujjarwal and Majra. A former Akali Cabinet minister alleged that the police had gathered arms from these villages at the instance of a Congress leader. The office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Payal, also confirmed collection of arms from Rauni, Ghudani Jhallah, Mangewal, Daburji, Seera, Sihar, Maksudra, Dhamot and Jarag. About 100 arms have been deposited with the Payal police station by residents of these villages so far. |
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Let judicial panel probe corruption charges: Tohra Amloh, June 28 Such policies would divert coming governments’ attention from development works to revengeful politics. This was the second meeting address by the veteran Akali leader in support of a candidate for the post of sarpanch, Ms Amarjit Kaur, wife of former sarpanch Harbhajan Singh, who is pitted against Ms Jaspal Kaur, wife of Mr Parampal Singh, also a former sarpanch of the village. The village has 3,780 votes. Sarpanch seat is reserved for general category women candidates. The relief schemes launched by the Akali government for the poor and farmers had been scrapped by the Congress government, Mr Tohra asserted. Lashing out at the alleged remarks of the Finance Minister, Mr Lal Singh, that the Akali unity would make no difference as far as votes were concerned, he said if it was so, why he was crying hoarse against the unity. Among others Mr Harmel Singh Tohra, former Minister, Mr Surinder Singh Tiwana, Mr Harmohinder Singh Reouna, Chairman, Punjab Land Mortgage Bank, Sirhind, and Mr Harbhajan Singh, former chairman of the Market Committee, Chinarthal, also addressed the gathering. Some village elders who did not participate in the gathering said some panchayats of the area could have been elected unanimously had the Akali leaders like Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Mr Harmel Singh Tohra and Mr Kirpal Singh Libra had undertaken a joint tour of the area. This could have obviated the need to spend lakhs on conducting elections in these areas, they said. Tohra village is also witnessing the taste of panchayat elections after thirty years for all these years it had been electing its panchayat members unanimously. This time, Mr Satwinder Singh, seating sarpanch, supported by Mr Gurcharan Singh Torha, will have to face a tough fight from Mr Bahadur Singh, who is supported by the district jathedar Rajinder Singh Tohra. The Congress has also extended support to Mr Bahadur Singh. However, Jathedar Rajinder Singh said he had been loyal to Mr Gucharan Singh Tohra and would remain so in future, but this time he was supporting a rival candidate keeping in view a local issue. In Shahpur village, Mr Kamaljit Singh, son of former MLA Balwant Singh Shapur, is contesting against Ms Charanjit Kaur, wife of his cousin Baljinder Singh, for the post of sarpanch. The panches have already been elected unanimously. At Lakha Singh Wala, village of Rural Development and Public Health Minister Jasjit Singh Randhawa, the panchayat has been elected unanimously. |
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Cong committed to
provide better amenities Ludhiana, June 28 Mr Davar was addressing a function to mark the ceremonial commencement of work for the installation of a submersible pump at Mohalla Ram Nagar here yesterday. The pump is expected to be operational within a fortnight and the problem of scarcity of water and low pressure in the area would be solved to a great extent. The municipal corporation had also approved plans to install a tubewell in the locality to further augment water supply. Speaking at the occasion, Mr Sanjeev Talwar, area councillor outlined various development works in different stages of execution in the ward. These included the sinking of a new tubewell in Field Ganj, surfacing of streets around CMC Hospital, relaying and widening of Brown Road from Lakshmi Cinema to CMC Chowk and the pavement of Khud Mohalla streets. He said in the wake of monsoon, the cleaning of sewer lines was being taken up on a war footing to facilitate easier drainage of rain water. Prominent among others present at the function were Mr Harbans Lal Talwar, Mr Walaiti Ram, Mr Joginder Singh, Mr Virinder Joshi, Mr Parminder Singh Kittu, Mr Honey Sablok, Mr Shori Lal Malhotra, Mr Mool Chand Kapoor, Mr Rakesh Parashar, Mr Sudhir Kalra, Mr Bal Krishan, Mr Charanjit Singh, Mr Dalip Kumar, Mr Rajan Tandon and Mr Pardeep Kumar. |
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Shopkeepers
deny encroachment charge Ludhiana, June 28 About 12 shops in the market near Talab Mandir, charged with encroachment on the MC land, were on the chopping block for partial demolition by the civic body with pressure mounting from various quarters for the execution of a court order delivered last year. The orders had laid down that the encroachment on the land belonging to MC was proved and that the extended portions of the shops on covered nullah be demolished. The owners of only two shops had filed an appeal against the judgement and had obtained a stay order from the sessions court. Addressing a press conference, Mr Mohinder Pal Jain, chairman of the shopkeepers’ association, said the nullah was covered by the civic administration in 1977 at the behest of the then management of Talab Mandir and the mandir committee was duly permitted to construct shops on the covered portion of the nullah to generate income for the temple. However, the documentary proof of any agreement between the corporation and the management of the temple was not available with any of the two parties, which had given an opportunity to certain mischievous elements to browbeat the shopkeepers and mislead the MC administration, he added. He further said the shops were rented out to them by the mandir committee, but the MC, while initiating legal proceedings, had acted only against the shopkeepers and the management of the temple had not been made a party. Refuting the allegation that coverage of nullah had obstructed the flow of water and led to stagnation of rainwater in adjoining markets, Mr Jain maintained that a sizeable length of the nullah had been covered and in some instances the MC itself had constructed shops there and rented these out. |
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Of Mt Everest and its climbers The Himalayas make the longest, highest and widest range of mountains. India and China rank among the few theatres of ancient civilisation and culture. Mountains, seas and rivers make geographical barriers. People make and unmake political borders. Healthy competition is spirit of sportsmanship, the wise always advise thus. The golden jubilee of the conquest of Mount Everest was celebrated recently. The presence of Sir Edmund Hillary (New Zealand) delighted one and all. Sportspersons missed the beaming face of his partner in rope, Tenzing Norgay, the Tibet-born Nepali sherpa. Sherpa means hailing from the eastern region. The geological age of the Himalayas is best left to experts. The British surveyed these mountain ranges with the help of local population. Peaks carried different names with different people. The highest peak was re-christened in 1865 after Sir George Everest, heading explorations/cartography. The Western scientifically-oriented mind first discovered sherpas as the fittest people to lead and guide. They had understood the language of fury of mountains and withstood hazards. Initial expeditions made not much headway. From 1921 to 1933 efforts were made but the mighty Everest stood beyond reach. For the next two decades it was a true story of listening to the call of the mountains and preparing to face the music of adventure. It was matter versus mind. On May 29, 1953 in the fight of man versus mountains, man won. The first human duo that reached Mount Everest comprised Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Ironically, Nepal took no notice of her brave son. Pandit Nehru hailed the hero. Krishna Menon created special job for him and called him a symbol of the resurgence of Asia. To put records straight is perspective Brig Gyan Singh’s work in this field and merits better notice. Again, chronologically speaking M.S. Kohli’s contribution to the cause of mountaineering is unique. He is the first successful Indian expedition leader. He sent the maximum persons atop in 1965. There are more exciting facts about it. On May 18, 1965 the duos were made thus: amateur member with professional sherpa. The first team of prospective Everesters comprised Capt A.S. Cheema and Nawang Gombu. Gombu had already been to the summit twice. Evidently, it made Cheema self-conscious as well as fortunate. On May 19, 1965 Cheema and Gombu left the last camp (altitude 27,930 ft) at 5 am with prayers on their lips. They reached the summit at 9.30 am, stayed there for 15 historic minutes. Planted flags, took pictures. M.S. Kohli had told Capt A.S. Cheema: “Now or Never”. It motivated him to the depth of his core. Reaching at 9.30 am, earliest ever, setting a record. Factually, A.S. Cheema is the first India-born Indian to have reached the summit. He was honoured at the Diamond Jubilee of his alma mater, Government College, Ludhiana, held in 1982. In the chain of glorious firsts we find Junko Tabei (Japan), the first woman to reach the summit. Bachendari Pal (Indian) is the first Indian woman to scale Mount Everest. M.S. Cheema
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'Biscuits' knocked
them out Ludhiana, June 28 They have not told the police so far exactly how much money they were carrying. But they are sure that it were the biscuits offered by a “friend” which knocked them out of their
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MC staff block traffic Amloh, June 28 |
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Robbers strike at Hussainpur Ludhiana, June 28 The other houses robbed belonged to Gurbhajan Singh, Balbir Singh, Shiv Kumar, Baldev Singh and Shamlal.The police has registered a case.
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96 bottles of liquor seized Machhiwara, June 28
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BIZ CLIPS LUDHIANA Service shield: Piaggio Vehicles Private Ltd, a company providing a range of diesel three-wheelers, has launched “ape” service shield programme. The programme was launched at Chadha Motors here by Mr S.S. Bajwa, Regional Head of the company, and Mr Sumesh Chadha through a free service check-up camp. Mr Bajwa said under the service shield the customers were entitled to certain inbuilt service privileges like zero labour charges during the validity of the membership period, 20 per cent discount on labour charges for accident repairs, free washing during the services, discount on the MRP of spare parts purchased and two (four in case of one year scheme) free breakdown services during the working hours within 25 km radius of the dealership location. OC
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