Administration move to improve public services
CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — Make an innovative or workable suggestion for improving the quality of public service besides making the Administration more people-friendly, and you may get suitably rewarded, including a cash prize, says a new scheme of the Chandigarh Administration that was notified today.

Fog-hit trains crawl
CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — Dense fog in Punjab and Haryana delayed all express and mail trains by several hours for the second day today while two trains were cancelled.

• ‘Shobha yatra’ organised
• Literacy drive

• Computer course held
• JTOs' dharna ends

Jain men elected Mayor, Dy Mayor
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — The fight for supremacy between the two BJP factions in the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) ended today with candidates owing allegiance to the local MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, winning the seats of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and the Deputy Mayor in the elections held here.

Later the party president, Mr Dharam Pal Gupta, coming down heavily on Mr Satya Pal Jain, blamed him squarely for the defeat of the party's official candidates.

After a high drama, Mr Kewal Krishan, Mr Kanhya Lal and Mr Bachan Singh were elected Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Earlier, in a tactical move, seven councillors of the Jain group — Mr Prem Sagar Jain, Mr Kanhya Lal, Mr Bachan Singh, Mr Kewal Krishan Adiwal, Air Marshal R.S. Bedi (retd), Mrs Kamla Sharma and Mr Raghubir Lal Arora — resigned from the primary membership of the BJP.

In a letter addressed to Mr Dharam Pal Gupta, they accused him of "inept leadership and handling the party affairs during the time he has been the president". The letter added that "as disciplined soldiers of the party they believed in the ideology, programmes and policies of the party".

In the election to the post of Mayor, process for which was set in motion by Mr Harish Bhanot, who was in the Chair, it was, perhaps, the worst setback for the BJP. In the first round of voting the Congress candidate, Ms Kamlesh and Mr Adiwal were tied at 10 votes each. The official BJP candidate, Mr Rajinder Kumar, could manage only seven votes and was eliminated from the contest.

In the second round, Mr Adiwal defeated the Congress candidate by two votes. While Mr Adiwal secured 12 votes, Ms Kamlesh could manage only 10 votes. The votes of four councillors, believed to be BJP councillors, were declared invalid as they did not mark the ballot papers. Ms Ranjana Shahi (BSP) did not vote.

The faction politics of the BJP was on display with the party activists belonging to the Jain group, shouting slogans against former Mayor Gian Chand Gupta, and in favour of Mr Satya Pal Jain.

In the first round of voting for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor, Mr Mohinder Singh of the SAD-BJP alliance topped with 11 votes while Mr Kanhya Lal (rebel BJP candidate) and Mr Gurcharan Dass Kala were placed second and third, respectively with nine and seven votes.

However, in the second round, Mr Kanhya Lal defeated the alliance candidate by two votes. Mr Kanhya Lal polled 13 votes as against 11 by Mr Mohinder Singh. Three votes were declared invalid.

In was the repeat story for the election to the post of Deputy Mayor. In the straight contest, Mr Bachan Singh (rebel BJP candidate) defeated the official BJP candidate, Mr Des Raj, by three votes. Mr Bachan Singh polled 13 votes as against 10 votes secured by Mr Des Raj. Four Congress members did not vote.

Later, addressing a press conference, Mr Dharam Pal Gupta, while blaming the MP for the defeat of the party candidates, demanded the resignation of the seven councillors as they had already been "expelled" from the party. Since they did not withdraw in favour of the official candidates, they stood expelled from the party even before they resigned from the party.

Brushing aside the demand for his resignation in the wake of the defeat of party candidates, he said on the BJP-Akali alliance had been reduced to a minority alliance members would sit in the Opposition.

On the show-cause notice to the MP, he said it was merely a letter and not a show-cause notice and he had not received any response to it.

He said he had already brought the expulsion of the seven councillors to the notice of the party high command.

The newly elected Mayor said in the wake of the defeat of the party candidate, the party president should resign his post. They had to resign from the party headed by Mr Dharam Pal Gupta though they still had the same faith in the policies of the party.

Talking about his priorities, Mr Adiwal said he would try to implement various decisions taken at the meetings of the House and various committees of the MCC.

Meanwhile, Mr Satinder Singh and Mr Shakti Prakash Devshali, president and general secretary, respectively, of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, have condemned the way the rebel candidates had defeated the official party candidates. They supported the expulsion of the seven councillors.

Symbols to candidates by draw of lots
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — The local panchayat poll will be conducted on non-party lines and free symbols will be allotted to the candidates by a draw of lots. This was announced by the Election Commissioner, UT, Mr B. Prasad, at a press conference here today.

A total electorate of 45,700 will cast their votes at 72 polling stations. A majority of the stations are the same where the people had exercised their franchise during the parliamentary elections.

The filing of nominations will start from January 1. The last date for filing nominations is January 6, between 11 am to 3 p.m. Scrutiny of documents will take place on January 7 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. January 9 is the last date for withdrawal and polling will take place on January 16 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Elaborating on the voting, he said a person could cast one vote each on two ballot papers — one for the sarpanch and the other for the panch. Of a total of 147 panches, 40 seats are reserved for women, 17 for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates and eight for SC women. There are 82 unreserved seats. Of the 17 sarpanches, nine seats are in the general category, two are for SCs, one seat for SC woman and five for women in the general category.

The commissioner said the names of Returning Officers (RO) and Assistant Returning Officers (ARO) had been announced earlier.

Elections are due to 17 panchayats of 18 villages. Makhan Majra and Raipur Kalan villages have a common panchayat.

The Election Commission has imposed a ceiling of Rs 10,000 for each candidate contesting for the posts of panch and Rs 15,000 for the posts of sarpanch as their election expenditure, he said.

The EC also decreased from four to three the offices of sarpanches reserved for members of the SC. Due to a "clerical" mistake an additional village, Palsora had been declared as reserved.

The model code of conduct was being drafted. Similarly, a decision of declaring dry days during and on the polling day would also be announced later, he added.

A dream come true for Adiwal
by Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — "A dream come true," is how Mr Kewal Krishan Adiwal, summed up his victory in the election to the coveted post of the Mayor of Chandigarh, election for which was held here today.

For Mr Adiwal, a son of a retired senior steno of the Haryana Government and a protege of the local MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, it has been a meteoric rise to be the First Citizen of the City Beautiful. The going though had not always been easy for the youngest male councillor of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC).

Born on October 31, 1969 in Amritsar, he started his political career in 1989 by joining the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) in 1989. Then he joined the the Bajrang Dal and in 1991-92 joined the Seva Bharti and did social service in the PGI which won his many friends among the BJP leadership.

For the next couple of years he held various organisational posts in the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the Scheduled Caste Morcha of the party till he was spotted by Mr Jain to be his secretary. Since then there has been no looking back for Mr Adiwal, who was reportedly brought into the BJP by a former president of the local unit, Mr Jai Ram Joshi, in 1994.

A former executive member of the the Scheduled Caste Morcha of the BJP at the national level, Mr Adiwal's unflinching loyalty to Mr Jain had paid him rich dividends. The decision of the local leadership to dissolve the the SC Morcha against the directive of the party high command in 1995 pushed Mr Adiwal to the fold of the Jain group. This gave him an edge over Mr Bachan Singh, another Scheduled Caste leader and an aspirant for the post of the Mayor from the Jain group.

Talking to The Tribune at his modest house in the Housing Board colony, Dhanas, Mr Adiwal said that everything he had received had come after a struggle in his life . He still remembers that he had won from ward no 5 with narrow margin over his Congress rival and the going was tough in the election to the post of the Mayor.

Mr Adiwal, a product of the SD Public School, Sector 24, and a graduate and a diploma holder in journalism from Allahabad University, is the first person from his family to be in active politics though his family history is social service.

A one-time school teacher in a private school, he had dabbled in many odd-jobs, including trade in buffaloes, running a karyana shop and operating a cable network.

This "most eligible" bachelor still feels himself to be unemployed though politics is now his full-time occupation.

Administration move to improve public services
by Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — Make an innovative or workable suggestion for improving the quality of public service besides making the Administration more people-friendly, and you may get suitably rewarded, including a cash prize, says a new scheme of the Chandigarh Administration that was notified today.

The scheme will cover all offices, departments of the union territory. It will be open to all categories of employees, both technical and non-technical, below the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Administration, besides members of the public, consumer organisations and citizens' associations.

It will not only cover the suggestions for improving the quality of public service but also the meritorious service provided by the employees in customer and public satisfaction as well as distinguished service on the lines being honoured in specialised services.

The awards will be mainly given for suggestions on financial saving through a cut in manpower and use of material in the provision of public services; for improvement in customer satisfaction, including attendance on telephone and counter services; for efficiency in providing the services through reduction in time taken, procedural improvement, reduced travel, lesser paper work, etc., and for performance by the operational staff, minimum of 25 per cent above the accepted norms.

According to the scheme, the amount of the award could be a maximum of Rs 50,000 or 10 per cent of amount saved on the basis of the innovative or workable suggestion after financial savings have been realised. An immediate cash award of Rs 5,000 may be given provided departmental committee determines the suggestion as prima facie productive of savings and subsequent award of Rs 50,000 could be considered after the savings have been actually made.

In case a suggestion is accepted, an amount of Rs 5,000 will be awarded. Similarly, an employee with outstanding performance will get Rs 5,000 as award money.

To select the awardees, the departments will constitute committees for scrutinising and rewarding suggestions.

The awards will be presented at a public function. Each department will invite suggestions annually and these will be forwarded by September 31 every year to the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances which in turn will screen the departmental recommendations during October-December and awards will be given between January and March every year.

To make the scheme effective, a suitable provision will be made in the non-Plan budget of each department, the notification said.

Fog-hit trains crawl
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — Dense fog in Punjab and Haryana delayed all express and mail trains by several hours for the second day today while two trains, Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi and the Superfast between Jalandhar-Delhi were cancelled.

The delayed trains created problems for lakhs of commuters while the Railways juggled to run the trains and pacify people, who thronged stations or frantically telephoned to know the arrival and departure of trains. As trains slowed down due to poor visibility, schedules of those wanting to catch connecting trains or flights from Delhi went hay wire while commuters faced problems in reaching their offices in time.

Those wanting to receive their near and dear ones spent anxious moments in the absence of credible information about arrival of trains.

Shatabdis running between Delhi-Chandigarh and Delhi-Amritsar were forced into a virtual crawl today also. All Shatabdis running in the morning were delayed by four to five hours. One of the worst-hit was the Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi that reached Chandigarh around 3.30 p.m. almost five hours behind schedule. Naturally, on its return journey, the train was late. For hours hundreds of commuters wanting to catch the train in Chandigarh on its return journey to Delhi did not know the departure time.

When it was known that the train was not to arrive before 3 p.m. the computerised enquiry kept on repeating that the train was to arrive by 1.30 p.m. For the second consecutive day, one of the fastest trains, Swarn Shatabdi running between Delhi and Amritsar, was delayed. Today the train was delayed by six hours and 15 minutes by the time it reached Ludhiana on its upwards journey.

Long-distance trains originating at Amritsar or Jammu that are bound for South were slowed down due to poor visibility. A similiar story was repeated for trains that are running northwards from Delhi. Trains could not run at optimum speeds due to the early morning fog, said a source. Today was different as fog stayed on the whole day, and by 5.30 p.m. visibility had become poorer as fresh fog had descended, making matters worse.

The delayed trains created a problem of bunching of trains just outside stations. The stations are crowded. When a train arrives late it cannot be berthed at a platform as by that time another train is to arrive or scheduled to leave. This causes further delay. At the beginning of this month speeds had been restricted due to cracks in the track between Delhi and Ambala, and now for the past few days, fog is playing its role, delaying trains.

With the cancellation of the Delhi-Amritsar-Shatabdi it would mean there will be no Shatabdi between Amritsar and Delhi tomorrow morning, railway sources said.

The Shatabdi that leaves Chandigarh for Delhi in the morning was late by two hours by the time it had reached Ambala on its downward journey. Himalayan Queen, running between Delhi and Kalka, was five hours 20 minutes behind schedule by the time it reached Kalka.

The Amritsar-Delhi Shatabdi was late by four hours 30 minutes by the time it reached Ambala on its down- ward journey. Himachal Express that runs between Delhi and Una was delayed by four hours by the time it reached Ambala. The Howrah-Kalka Mail reached Kalka almost eight hours and 40 minutes behind schedule this morning. Sealdah Express, Jhelum Express and Pooja Express were late by seven hours, three hours and 10 hours respectively, on their upward journeys.

Sealdah express on its downward journey was late by 10 hours by the time it reached Saharanpur.

Students exhibit creative skill
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — An exhibition held at Government Model High School, Sector 26, saw students at their creative best today. They presented well-displayed innovative and informative projects covering their entire curriculum.

While students of Class VIII to X put a great deal of effort to show the working of scientific gadgets and instruments, students of classes IX and X also displayed fine arts items comprising sketches, masks and paintings.

Other senior classes presented art and craft items which included painted wall hangings, candlestands, earthen pots and soft toys. Collection of dried leaves, dried flowers, fresh flowers and seeds with complete information about them was also on display.

The District Education Officer, Mr Brahmjit Kalia, the chief guest, applauded the efforts of the students, the contribution of the Principal, Mr Manjit Singh, and the staff in making the exhibition a success.

Recycled paper: A paper recycling group has been installed on the premises of Vivek High School, Sector 38, to give a new lease of life to paper after it has served its purpose. To give a proper blend to hand made paper, the waste paper and rags are treated with chemicals and other ingredients. This paper will be used later to make paper bags for school stationery.

Fashion show on December 27
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — A fashion show, Miss Unique North '98, will be held on, December 27, at Tagore Theatre.

Sponsored by a computer stationery company, the show will feature events to judge attributes like 'perfect 10', 'hair', 'smile', 'eyes', 'talent', and the 'catwalk'.

Twentyfive finalists have been shortlisted out of more that 75 applicants from the northern region — Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. The organisers of the beauty contest plan to "provide a platform for the younger generation to exhibit their talent' through this pageant".

Computer course organised
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — The Western Command headquarters organised a one-day computer hardware introductory course in Sector 35 here today.

The course was inaugurated by Mrs Tina Vij, wife of Major Mohit Vij, who was killed in the counter insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir recently.

Two war widows, two serving officers and two dependents will be selected from the group which attended a free one-week crash course on Oracle 8 and Developer 2000 as part of the rehabilitation training programme.

‘Shobha yatra’ by Christians
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — Christians in the city today held a 'Shobha yatra under the banner of Chandigarh Churches and Institutions Association.

The yatra had a tableau showing the birth of Jesus Christ. The procession was led by local priests and two persons dressed up as Santa Claus. The yatra that began from Sector 38-A culminated in Sector 17 after passing through sectors 37, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19 and 18.

Fight for rights, women told
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23— Dr Upinderjit Kaur, Minister for Technical Education, Punjab, today exhorted women to fight for their rights while addressing a gathering after inaugurating a two-day workshop on "Reproductive health and rights of grassroot opinion leaders," at Panjab University today.

She said a discriminatory attitude towards women was responsible for very low sex ratio of 882 women for every 1000 men in the state, which was much less than the national average. She said though Punjabis were known for their large-heartedness, they did not have the will to accept women as equal partners.

Mrs Harjinder Kaur, deputy mayor of the local Municipal Corporation, said reproductive health should be a matter of concern for all as women were the custodians of national health.

Miss Ravneet Kaur, Financial Commissioner, Punjab, said not only the illiterate, but well-educated persons, too, were ignorant about reproductive health. Among others who spoke on the occasion were Prof Pam Rajput, Dr Manmohan Kaur, Dr S.K. Sandhu, Mrs Vineeta Gupta and Dr N.N. Pathak.

A symposium on high energy physics is being organised jointly by the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India and the Department of Physics, Panjab University, from December 26 to 30 at the university campus.

The symposium will review the recent progress and current status in various thrust areas of high energy physics. At least 200 delegates will participate.

The two-day seminar on "Employment potential for youth in rural industry", which was organised by the Centre for Vocational Studies, Department of Zoology and the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, concluded at the Mathematics Auditorium of the university today.

Addressing the participants, Mr Robert Kelesinski, an apiculture expert, said apiculture had a great potential in the country and it had the capability of acquiring the status of a large industry within a short period of time. He educated the participants on the marketing of honey and other byproducts such as wax, royal jelly and pollen.

Mr Dev Raj Sharma from the Department of Sericulture, J and K, deliberated on the process involved in silkworm rearing. He said sericulture could prove as a means of rural employment .

Dr K.K. Dhir, the Chief Coordinator of the Centre, Dr Anil Dhar from the Silk Board of India, Mr Balbir Singh and Prof G.S.Gatoria, an entomologist from Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana also spoke.

To protest against the delay in the declaration of re-evaluation results by the Panjab University authorities, students of science departments observed a strike in the campus here today.

Mr Dayal Partap Singh Randhawa, president of the Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU), which had given a call for strike, said negligence on the part of the authorities had resulted in a number of problems for the students. Citing an example, Mr Randhawa said while the semester exam for law started on December 3, the re-evaluation result was declared on December 17.

He demanded that the dates for exams, declaration of results and of re-evaluation results should be notified a month before the commencement of exams.

SI, accomplice arrested
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — A Sub-Inspector of the Chandigarh Police and his woman companion were arrested today for allegedly trying to implicate a Sector 18 resident in a false case.

A few weeks ago, SI Kuldeep Singh, who is posted in the Sector 19 police station carried out a raid at the house of Mr Ishwar Singh Bedi in Sector 18. There he allegedly planted a packet of charas in the house of Mr Bedi and then claimed that the latter was a drug peddler.

To let Mr Bedi off, the SI took a sum of Rs 20,000. While the raid was being carried out, two sisters Surjeet Kaur and Meenakshi were sitting in the house of Mr Bedi.

The women had come to take a room on rent. A week before the raid the two women had come for the same purpose. It was later established that the two women were known to Kuldeep Singh and may have given him information about Mr Bedi's financial capacity.

This was known after Surjeet Kaur allegedly stole a sum of Rs 1.5 lakh from the house of Mr Bedi. She was arrested and is now in judicial lock up. During investigations, the police called in Mr Bedi who told the story of Kuldeep Singh after recognising him.

The Sector 19 police today arrested the cop and Meenakshi. A case under Section13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, has been registered. Besides, the duo have been booked under sections 384, 389 and 34 of the IPC.

Crushed to death: A resident of Nawanshahr, Sardar Singh, was crushed to death by a Punjab Roadways bus at the Inter-State Bus Terminus in Sector 17 this evening. The engine of the parked bus ( PB-12-8177) was at idling speed. Suddenly the driver, without sounding the horn or seeing ahead, pressed the accelerator. Sardar Singh , who was passing in front of the bus was crushed to death. The bus driver was arrested.

Meanwhile, a boy and a girl were injured in separate incidents in the city. Ankur Sharma fell off the roof of his house in Dhanas. Gurleen fell off the stairs of her house in Sector 19. Both were admitted to the PGI.

Burglary: A showroom in Sector 7 and a house in Sector 23 have been burgled in separate incidents in the city. Mr Vikram Gupta , owner of the Sector 7 showroom, said a mobile phone, a portable printer, a calculator, a silver coin besides a sum of Rs 72,000 in cash were stolen last night.

Meanwhile a house in Sector 23 was burgled in the afternoon as thieves took away a colour television, a VCR, a camera, a pair of gold ear rings besides other jewellery. The theft took place in the house of Vijay Kumar two days ago.

Injured: A resident of Sector 41, Panna Lal, was injured and admitted to General Hospital, Sector 16 after he was allegedly attacked by three persons last night. The police has arrested Sultan, Manvir and Inder Mehta for their alleged involvement in the case. A case under sections 325 and 34 of the IPC was registered.

SAS NAGAR

Theft: Mr Shyam Samuel, a resident of Phase X, reported to the police that thieves broke into his house on the night intervening December 22, 23 and decamped with household goods.

The stolen goods include a computer, a telephone set and other valuables. A case has been registered.

Rejected candidates can contest MC poll
By Our Legal Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — Ms Krishna Devi and Mr Kanwarjit Singh residents of Pinjore, whose nomination papers for election to the Municipal Committee, Pinjore, were rejected by the Returning Officer, were allowed to take part in the election by a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Mr Justice H.S. Brar and Mr Justice K.S. Kumaran, who comprised the Bench, directed that the result of the election of the two candidates would be subject to the decision on their writ petitions.

The petitioners said they submitted their nomination papers, complete in all respects, before the Assistant Returning Officer on December 3. They did not suffer from any disqualification for contesting the election, which is scheduled for December 30.

It is alleged that whereas the Returning Officer was required to start scrutiny at 11 a.m. on December 5, he accepted proforma and affidavits from two candidates up to 11.10 a.m. and from another candidate even at 11.50 a.m. which showed that he did not adhere to the schedule. The petitioners went to submit their affidavits on December 4, but the same was not accepted and they were asked to come the next day.

It was contended that the rejection of nomination paper of the petitioners on the ground of filing of information late although they entered the Returning Officer's room well in time, was illegal.

A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice H.S. Brar and Mr Justice K.S. Kumaran, today, stayed the retirement of Dr S.L. Singla, Professor of Statistics, Punjabi University, Patiala, who sought a direction to the respondents to allow him to continue till he attained the age of 62, that is the extended age of superannuation.

The petitioner was to retire on December 31, whereas per the retirement age of 60 years, he should have been retired on January 31, 1999. But he also claimed the extension of his age of superannuation up to 62 years on the basis of the Union Government's notification dated July 27, 1998, wherein following the Vth Pay Commissions recommendations, the central raised the superannuation age of university and college teachers to 62 years.

The retiring age according to the university statute, is 60 years.

It was submitted that the state of Punjab and the university was bound to follow the central government's decision to enhance the retiring age to 62 years.

Literacy drive
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — The Adult Education department organised a five-day training camp at Adult Education Centre, Sector 42, in an effort to eradicate illiteracy from villages of UT which concluded here today.

Teachers, supervisors, nodal centre incharges and other volunteers were trained to prepare 'kala jathas' which will give their performance in villages and colonies of the entire city to create awareness about literacy and motivate the illiterates to come forward to learn.

The importance of literacy was stressed upon the residents of Mauli colony through the performance of a 'kala jatha' in which group songs, puppet shows, plays and giddha were presented.

Earlier, the department had imparted training to key resources persons, master trainers and volunteers.

JTOs' dharna ends
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 23 — Members of the Junior Telecom Officers' Association ended their dharna last evening following the transfer of two officials, who, the association alleges, had harassed Satnam Singh.

Satnam Singh had died due to depression after he was allegedly harassed, according to Mr Amarjit Singh and Mr Y.J.S. Sodhi, president and secretary, respectively, of the association.

The dharna was staged in front of the office of the Chief General Manager, Punjab circle, in Sector 34.