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Neerja Bhanot’s parents relieved Chandigarh, May 14 Neerja, a senior flight purser with Pan Am, was among the crew of Flight 73 that was hijacked at Karachi airport on September 5, 1986. She fell to terrorists’ bullets while trying to save the lives of passengers on board the aircraft. The bullets that felled her were meant for three small children whom the terrorists tried to kill when they were escaping. “We are relieved it has finally ended,” they told Chandigarh Tribune. Sitting in their house in Sector 46, Chandigarh, Mr Harish Bhanot and Ms Rama Bhanot, parents of the Ashok Chakra-awardee Neerja, recounted the sudden change in their lives after they heard that their daughter had been killed. “There was a void. She was the centre of our lives. When it dawned on us that terrorists’ bullets had taken away our only daughter, we did not know what to do. But, when people told us how bravely she had acted, we were proud. After all, how many parents can boast of children who have died while trying to save the lives of hundreds of other unknown persons,” recalled Mr Harish Bhanot. What probably helped the couple overcome their feeling of great loss was the huge support they received from well-wishers, most of them unknown to them. “We received over 1,700 letters, most of them from people we did not know. Our daughter had made us so proud,” Mr Bhanot said. Among the few letters that Mr Bhanot still has with him are two letters written by a Jalandhar-born Muslim, settled in Abu Dhabi. In his letters, the person wondered why will anyone kill his “sister”. The man also offered assistance to the family. “Go to my village. I will request the villagers to take care of you. Your daughter was very brave,” he wrote. Another person, who wrote to the family after the incident, offered to shoot the persons responsible for
the crime. Though initially, he was not happy with the decision of the US court not to award the death penalty to the main accused in the Pan Am case, Mr Bhanot felt that justice had been done, albeit belatedly. “Had he (Safarini) remained in Pakistan, he would have escaped. The FBI caught him while he was trying to flee from Pakistan after having been released by the authorities after completing just five years of his life sentence. The US Government has done whatever was possible,” Mr Bhanot maintained.
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66 cellphones stolen from Sec 35 shop Chandigarh, May 14 The burglars entered the shop through an opening where an exhaust fan had been fitted. A ladder was used to climb up and the exhaust fan was removed by the burglars, the owner of the Akash Agencies, Harish Inder, told mediapersons here today. The mobile sets had been insured. The burglars left behind the boxes of the mobile phones apparently to save space for stuffing them in a bag. Mr Harish Inder said the matter had been reported to the police and he was making a list of the items missing from the shop. The owner of the shop said he came to know about the theft when he opened his shop this morning. He was told by his staff that there was a ladder in front of the opening for the exhaust fan. The staff members of Mr Harish Inder come and park their scooters and
bicycles in the backlane of the shop-cum-office. The staff opened the lock of the shop from the rear and entered it, only to find that it had been ransacked. The owner of the shop said he did not suspect any of his employees and all of them were present in the shop today. He had shifted to this shop seven months back. Mr Harish Inder said the burglars had searched for cash also as the safe had been opened. He said no cash had been lost as it was taken away at night. |
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Murder case: 2 singers questioned Mohali, May 14 The police said the victim had been working with a dance troupe and had performed at certain shows of two Punjabi folk singers based in Mohali. These two singers, whom the police requested not to be named till investigations led to some concrete evidence, were interrogated. One of these singers had helped Harjit Kaur get rented accommodation in Mohali. The sources hinted that Harjit Kaur did not have a good reputation. They said she had been caught with Bunty of Ludhiana under questionable circumstances in Ludhiana. |
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INLD, BJP blame each other for defeat Panchkula, May 14 Talking to TNS, Mr Amardeep Chaudhary, INLD secretary and election in charge, said the anti-incumbency factor against the NDA Government cost the party dear. The development works undertaken by the Chautala government during the past four years had got sidelined, he added. On the other hand, leaders of the BJP, whose performance was better than the INLD, held the INLD-BJP alliance for the past over four years responsible for the massive Congress win.The electorate punished the BJP for being a party to the "anti-people" policies of the Chautala regime, a senior BJP leader said. Meanwhile, the head of the local Municipal Council (MC), Ms Seema Chaudhary, who campaigned for the INLD extensively, discounted the local issues, saying it was a verdict against the working of the NDA government. The MC planned to complete the pending development works in the days to come, she added. |
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Only 1,000 service votes cast in Punjab, Haryana More than one lakh servicemen are registered as voters in these two states. The ballots received by returning officers were just a little over a thousand. Inadequate time for sending and receiving ballots through post, operational commitments of the soldiers deployed in far flung areas or in counter-insurgency operations and lack of interest on the part of servicemen are among the reasons cited for the low response. Punjab and Haryana contribute sizeable manpower to the Army. Intake into the Punjab Regiment, Jat Regiment, Sikh Regiment, Sikh Light Infantry and to some extent Grenadiers, Mahar, Dogra and other services is from these two states. Haryana has a total of 62,975 service voters, but received just 733 ballots till the cut-off time. Out of the 10 parliamentary constituencies, no ballots were received by returning officers in five constituencies. These include Mahendragarh, Bhiwani and Rohtak, which account for the highest number of service voters, this being 14,047, 13,058 and 12,116, respectively. The maximum number of postal ballots in Haryana, 297 were received at Karnal, which has 2,987 voters. This was followed by Hisar (201) and Kurukshetra (178). Faridabad received 57 ballots. While the voter turn-out in the state was 66 per cent, it was 1.1 per cent for the state's service voters. In Punjab, there are 43,806 registered service voters in the 13 parliamentary constituencies, but just 338 ballots were received by respective returning officers. While the voter turnout in the state was 62 per cent, it was just 0.8 per cent for the service voters. The maximum number of ballots, 66, were received at Sangrur, which has 3,047 voters, while the lowest, four, were at phillour which has 3,701 voters. Gurdaspur, which tops the chart in Punjab with 8,745 service voters, received just 21 ballot votes. Time taken in transit of ballots is a major factor in casting postal ballots. Returning officers despatch ballots to respective regimental centers, where soldiers' records are maintained. The regimental centers then despatch the ballots to units. After the soldiers cast their votes these are sent back through the same route. "For example, postal ballots meant for troops in a Sikh battalion are first sent to its Regimental Centre at Ramgarh in Bihar. There after the centre forwards the ballots to the battalion whether it is based in the south, the north-east or in J&K," a source said. The time taken in transit can well be imagined," he added. Though election officers say that they have not received any complaints of postal delays, ballots continued to trickle in after the deadline. They expect it to continue for a few more days. It has also been suggested by officers that the Election Commission can nominate a returning officer at the regimental centre, who could tabulate the votes there and forward the final figures to the respective electoral office. Even the response to the proxy voting scheme, which was introduced for service voters for the first time, evoked a poor response. |
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Those who couldn't vote — 4th list Chandigarh A.J. Kanwar 78, Sector 24-A Kamlesh Kaur 78, Sector 24-A Harpreet Singh 78, Sector 24-A Alka Rana HIG-119, Sector 48-C Anil Rana HIG-119, Sector 48-C Amarnath ESI Dispensary Campus Sector 29 Anish Bhatia 5550/3 ,Category IV, Modern Residential Complex Anuradha 3582, Sector 46-C Arunima Mukherjee 4, Sector 41-A Asha Chaku 1134,Pushpac Society, Sector 49-B, Balraj Singh 5243/1 Modern Complex, Manimajra Banta Singh 1597, Sector 36-D Darshan Kaur 1597, Sector 36-D Bhavnish Dhillon 211, Sector 35-A Bhushan Lal Chaku 1134, Pushpac Society, Sector 49-B D.L. Banga 696, Sector 8-B Kiran Kumari Banga 696, Sector 8-B Dalip Singh Rawal 1422, Pushpac Complex, 49-B Deepak Bhatia Flat No. 19A, Sector 42-A Shashi Bhatia Flat No. 19A, Sector 42-A S.G. Jones Flat No. 19A, Sector 42-A B. Jones Flat No. 19A, Sector 42-A I. T. Jones Flat No. 20, Sector 42-A J. S. Narang Flat No. 20, Sector 42-A, Jaswinder Narang Flat No. 20-A, Sector 42-A Ashish Bose Flat No. 20-A, Sector 42-A Bose Flat No. 21 Sector 42 A Deepak Vats 1320, Sector 20-B Deepali Malhan 118-A Govind Vihar, Baltana NAC, Zirakpur Vishal Malhan 118-A Govind Vihar Baltana NAC, Zirakpur G.S. Singh 5243/1 Modern Complex, Manimajra Gopal Chandra 1613, Sector 44 B Gurdepinder Singh Dhillon 211, Sector 35-A H.S.Sharma 1199, Sector- 11 Harish Kakkar 3429/2, Sector 35-D Nidhi Kakkar 3429/2, Sector 35-D Harjinder Kuar 1746/1, Sector 43-B Harmesh Kumar Sharma 708, Sector 8-B Jagbir Singh Dhillon 211, Sector 35-A Janki Devi 2080/1, Sector 45-C Jasmer Singh Verka 44, Sector 33-A K.C. Jain 154, Sector 15-A Kurali Kurali Darshan Singh Bains Chakwal Natinal School Jagit Singh Bains Chakwal Natinal School RAJPURA Tilak Raj H-3/21, Adarsh Colony PATIALA Avinash Gupta 24-B, Ram Bagh Behind GPO Jagjit Singh 307, Urban Estate -I Kusum Lata Garg 403-D Azad Nagar Raj Gupta 24-B Ram Bagh Behind GPO Raj Kumar Garg 403-D, Azad Nagar Vikas Garg 403-D, Azad Nagar Moga Ambika Passi 601, Pattiwali Gali , Court road Damayanti Passi 601, Pattiwali Gali , Court road Prem Sagar Passi 601, Pattiwali Gali , Court road Sanjay Passi 601, Pattiwali Gali , Court road PANCHKULA Brig Pawan Kumar Kapur (retd) 95, Sector 2 Karan Kaul, Sector 12-A Parmeshwari Devi 1293, Sector 11 Raman Rathee 1293, Sector 11 Sheetal Makkar 688, Sector 10 Shikha Vig 479, Sector 2 Sushma Kapur 95, Sector 2 MOHALI Atamjit Singh Chopra 68, Phase 2 Bhupinder Singh 1815, Phase 5 Gursharan Randhawa 2966, Phase 7 Harbans Singh Chopra 68, Phase 2 Jasbir Kaur 2598, Phase 11 Jasmuinder Singh Randhawa 2966, Phase 7 Kishan Singh 2598 Phase 11 Manjit Singh 547, Phase 10 Rama Arora 547, Phase 10 Amrit Kaur 547, Phase 10 Rajinder Pal Singh Chopra 68, Phase 2 Rajvinder Singh Chopra 68, Phase 2 Renu R.P.Singh 68, Phase 2 Ratul Oberoi 2285, Phase 10 Sudesh Kumar Oberoi 2285, Phase 10 Radhika Oberoi 2285, Phase 10 Usha Oberoi 2285, Phase 10 Surjit Singh 175, Phase 7 Surjit Singh 175, Phase 7 Urminder Kaur 68, Phase 2 Ved Kumar Sharma 1799, Phase 5 AMBALA Banarsi Dass 59, Model Town D.K.Jain 11-A, Ashok Vihar Vinod Vihar 11-A, Ashok Vihar Kharar Navneet Kaur 2187-D, Ward No. 10 Onkar Kaur 2187-D, Ward No. 10 Satnam Kaur 2187-D, Ward No. 10
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Development works
restart in city Chandigarh, May 14 The code had come into force on February 29. This morning, the Chandigarh Administration started work to widen the national highway passing through the city. The stretch between the Piccadilly Chowk and The Tribune Chowk is being widened to make it a three-lane road on each side. At present, the road is two-laned on each side. The Administration also allotted work to a party to build a modern sewerage treatment plant just south of Sector 47. This will augment the sewerage treating capacity of the city and will cost Rs 5.50 crore. Till now, a part of the sewage from the city has been flowing into a seasonal rivulet, causing problems downstream. Some of it is treated but more capacity needs to be added. Also Chandigarh with its vast lawns, needs more treated water for green spaces as drinking water is in short supply. Another work which started today was to build a bundh, which will keep out rain water from flowing into the area where the Information Technology Park is located in Kishangarh village. The IT park is located in the foothills and is on the natural slope of water. The bundh will stop the water and then channelise it into the adjoining Sukhan Choe. Another work to be started was on cycle tracks in the city. The cycles tracks will also get street-lights. In the next week, work is scheduled to begin on the construction of two school buildings in Kaimbwala village and Sector 56. The Chandigarh Housing Board, which has been entrusted with the task of relaying and widening of several key roads in the southern sectors, will be allotting the work which is expected to start within a week. Also on the list of works of the CHB are rehabilitation colonies in Sector 38 (west) and Sectors 49-C and D. |
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MC office limps back into action Chandigarh, May 14 It may be mentioned here that various areas of the city have been facing acute water shortage since the onset of summer. There have been repeated complaints about the lack of sanitation facilities. Residents in the southern sectors have been repeatedly complaining about the deteriorating street-lighting conditions. Ms Kamlesh, Mayor, has already communicated to the Chief Engineer her concern regarding the water problem. I am conscious of the water problem in Sectors15, 20, 21, 27, 28, 35, Mani Majra and several other places, she added. Mr Pradeep Chhabra, Senior Deputy Mayor, said he had come to the corporation office after a long time today. “I am conscious of the problems being faced by residents with regard to the poor water supply. I am of the opinion that besides short-term solutions like digging of tubewells, the city should seriously consider following up the demand of a dam on Ghaggar river”. Ms Kamlesh said various roads in the city needed to be recarpeted. “Work on this front will start immediately. Work on a road in Sector 17 had already started.” |
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Hat-trick of world records Chandigarh, May 14 This expedition was organised by the Chandigarh Adventure Association with the assistance of the ITBP and flagged off on August 8, 2003, by DIG P.P. Singh of the ITBP. A total of 2,200 km distance was covered by this team, which crossed six challenging passes — Rohtang (13,044), Nakila-la (15,547), Baralacha-la (16,042 ), Lachang-la (16,616), Chang-la (17,350) and Tanglang-la (17,500). Inspired by the success of expedition Khardung-la, expedition Kibber was organised in 2002. This time it was a group of 50 with 38 bikers on 25 bikes and 12 officials in four support vehicles, including two doctors and a well-equipped ambulance. The National Flag was hoisted on schedule on August 15 at Kibber at an altitude of 14,500 ft. Mr Negi, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kaza, was the chief guest, who disclosed that now a new road connected the highest settlement in Asia at Komic at an altitude of 15,800 ft. Expedition Khardung-la started from Chandigarh on August 10, 2001, with the flagoff by Gen J.F.R. Jacob, Governor of Punjab. The National Flag was hoisted by Brigadier J.S. Verma. |
Youth held for stealing Tanzanian’s money Chandigarh, May 14 The dollars were recovered from the Sector 21 house of a drug addict-turned-thief, 25-year-old Inderpreet Singh. He was arrested yesterday morning from Sector 21 and a key of Sunbeam Hotel and stolen belongings of a resident of Sector 21, were seized. Son of a senior manager of the BHEL, he told the police that he was involved in around 30 unreported cases of theft in the city. The media had reported that Inderpreet Singh was caught from house 72 in Sector 21 along with a key, but the police feigned ignorance yesterday. The Sector 17 police station, handling the theft case of the Tanzanian’s money, had not officially been informed about the recovery of the key. The Sector 19 police said the thief could not be properly interrogated yesterday because of his intoxication and he vomitted yesterday. An amount of Rs 10,000, a watch, a mobile phone and three pens were also recovered from Inderpreet when the police searched his house following his disclosure during interrogation today. According to the police, Inderpreet went to Sunbeam Hotel, located near his house, on May 11 wearing party clothes. A wedding party was going on near the hotel. He slipped into the hotel and went upstairs. He rang the bell at the door of at least three rooms before reaching the one occupied by the Tanzanian. He returned from two rooms when he saw women. In the third room, he found Richard Kami Lwekamwa. Inderpreet told the police that the person was having his meal when he rang the bell. Inderpreet said he told the person that there was an urgent call for him at the reception. The occupant of the room told him that his room had an intercom telephone and a mobile, on which he could have been contacted. Inderpreet moved away after saying this, but saw the Tanzanian going out to the reception. Inderpreet picked up one of the two bags and took another set of stairs to go out of the hotel. Inderpreet reached his house and found that there were $ 2,800, Rs 10,000 and some money of Rs 500 denomination in the bag. He took these out of the bag and threw the bag along with the air ticket and passport. This was recovered by the police within an hour. Inderpreet told the police that there were only $ 2,800 in the bag and not $ 17,000, as reported by the Tanzanian. The next day, the thief bought clothes for himself and went to attend a party at Zirakpur. He returned late on night of May 12 and entered Sunbeam Hotel. He saw the person on the front office sleeping. Inderpreet picked up the key of room 221, but the man on the front office woke up. The thief then ran away and entered house 72 in Sector 21, where he was arrested after a woman occupant of the house caught hold of him with the help of her husband. |
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Man booked
for bigamy Chandigarh, May 14 Sunita alleged that Vijay used to harass her for dowry. Unable to bear the harassment, she, along with her child, left the home of her husband in 2002 and joined her parents who had shifted to Mani Majra from Ambala. Meanwhile, the family of her husband allegedly got him married again for getting dowry. Vijay Kumar has a child from his ‘second wife’. The birth certificate of the child from the second woman mentions Vijay Kumar as the father of the child.
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Fake currency racket busted, 3 held Chandigarh, May 14 Pawan Kumar, Ashish and Arvind were arrested on a complaint lodged by one Satpal who said he had struck a deal with them. As per the deal, they had promised to change his Rs 10,000 into Rs 50,000 in counterfeit currency notes. The three were arrested from the roundabout of Sector 40. The Crime Branch officials said during interrogation, they confessed that they had involved policemen in Bihar in cheating. |
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Father
of three commits suicide Chandigarh, May 14 Ashwani had earlier worked as a security guard and had been picking up odd jobs. He had allegedly turned a drunkard and been seen lying unconscious at public places. |
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Two held for smuggling liquor Dera Bassi, May 14 The police laid a trap on the busy Kalka-Ambala highway and arrested Mohinder Singh of Karnal and Ashok Kumar of Panipat. According to the police, the duo had purchased the stuff from Chandigarh and was smuggling it to Haryana. A case under the Excise Act has been registered in this connection. |
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House burgled Panchkula, May 14
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BSNL to provide 10 lakh mobile connections Chandigarh, May 14 Listing out future plans, he said BSNL will extend its services to the far-flung areas in the state shortly. Their WLL mobile service “Tarang” started in Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Chandigarh will be extended to villages in these circles. The work of providing these services in Ferozepore and Sangrur was underway and would be completed by May-June, he added. Mr Bhatia said Global Positioning Roaming Services ( GPRS) will be made available at all places. Services like VPN, video conferencing, video on demand, broadcast applications with affordable tariff and services will be made available in some cities of Punjab and Chandigarh during this financial year. For the convenience of customers duplicate bills of landline telephones can now be downloaded from the website of Punjab BSNL for respective SSA. The bill amount can now be had on the IVRS by dialing 167 for all SSAs. The computerised integrated system called DOT-SOFT has been started in Bathinda, Ferozepore and Chandigarh. Online cash counters would also be opened at smaller places, he added. |
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206 mobile-phone customers win prizes Chandigarh, May 14 Mr Rahul Satyawan of Pathankot won the first prize of 22 inches LG colour television. The second prize, 14 inches LG colour TV, was won by Ms Kamlesh Kumari of Ludhiana and Mr Harpreet Singh of Amritsar. As many as 18 participants from all over the Punjab telecom circle won the third prize of HMT wrist watches. Besides, 184 other subscribers who participated in the contest were given T-shirts. |
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BEL Director
takes charge Panchkula, May 14 A radar specialist and graduate from University Visveswaraiah College of Engineering, Bangalore, he started his career in the radar division. |
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Chandigarh, May 14
