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Sunday, July 19, 1998
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Transfers cast shadow on clean-up drive
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — The recent transfers of five senior functionaries of the investigation cell of the income tax department and the Chief Vigilance Officer of Chandigarh have raised doubts among ...

Subdivision sans judicial complex
SAS NAGAR, July 18 — Even though about three years have elapsed after the creation of SAS Nagar subdivision, the authorities concerned have not provided the necessary judicial and tehsil-related facilities...
Notice to Punjab DGP
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — The Judicial Magistrate, Mr Jasbir Singh, today issued notice to the Punjab Director-General of Police for August 20 an application moved by Mr D.S. Rajput, a local lawyer, claiming damages of Rs 10 crore...
line Chandigarh map
Over 40 school buses challaned
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — In a major crackdown on school buses not adhering to the stipulated safety norms, over 40 vehicles have been challaned in the past few days...
‘Protest march’ by teachers on July 21
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — After the postal strike it is now the turn of teachers to take to streets. On a call given by the AIFUCTO...

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50 years on indian independence
Building to be named after Dr Chhuttani
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — To perpetuate the memory of Dr P.N. Chhuttani, a former Director of PGI the local unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has decided to dedicate and name its coming building complex in Sector 35-B here as "Dr P.N. Chhuttani Memorial IMA complex"...
Opposition burns Admn effigy, blocks traffic
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — Local units of all major Opposition parties joined hands to hold a rally against the reported acquisition of land in Hallo Majra village and blocked traffic on the busy Dakshin Marg near The Tribune roundabout for an hour this evening...
Sector 21 roads in bad shape
PANCHKULA, July 18 — Providing basic amenities to the residents of Sector 21 in this urban estate appears to figure nowhere on the agenda of HUDA. People, who have been living in the sector have represented in this regard to the officials time and again...
Canadian Opposition leader coming
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — Mr Preston Manning, leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons in Canada, will visit Chandigarh and Punjab in the first week of next month...


campus beat.............................................. ....................crime file

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Transfers cast shadow on clean-up drive
by Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 18 — The recent transfers of five senior functionaries of the investigation cell of the income tax department and the Chief Vigilance Officer of Chandigarh have raised doubts among knowledgeable circles about the seriousness of the present government's drive against officials with "doubtful integrity".
Almost a year ago during the UF regime, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) through the Cabinet secretariat issued directives to all state governments and UT administrations throughout the country to prepare "detailed notes" of senior functionaries perceived as enjoying "suspect reputation". The state governments and UT administrations were asked to intimate details about all such officers, including those belonging to the Central Civil Services.
Besides, the Enforcement Directorate of the Department of Income Tax and the Special Cell of the Central Bureau of Investigation were directed to start investigation against all those senior functionaries of the government.
And since the Cabinet Secretariat maintained pressure, the investigation cells of the IT department and the special cell of the CBI swung into action.
Raids were conducted at the offices and residences of many officials at several places, including Kanpur, Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh besides other places.
In Chandigarh , the major success of the operation was the simultaneous raids at 22 premises, including at offices and residences of engineers, especially Secretary Engineering-cum-Chief Engineer, Mr K.K. Jerath, and several contractors and suppliers. Concealed income worth a few crores was detected. At other places, certain civil servants were also targeted.
After seven to nine months of this massive exercise, all those who supervised such major raids, are being shifted.
For example, the Director of the Investigation of Income Tax Cell at
TopChandigarh has been shifted to Ahmedabad. Earlier, an Assistant Director of Investigation of the cell here was shifted to the Assessment Cell. Similarly, directors of Investigation cells at Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Kanpur , who spearheaded the campaign, have been issued transfer orders in the past one week.
And in a majority of these cases, those transferred have not even completed their stipulated tenures.
And when the campaign was started , the revenue secretary was asked to monitor cases processed by the investigation cells of the IT department while the Director of the CBI was asked to personally supervise the cases investigated by the special cell of the bureau throughout the country.
After the issuance of directives late last year, the special cell of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate of the IT department started collecting intelligence and once the ground work has been completed, the raids started.
The books seized during raids here were believed to be "actually cash books and ledgers and not mere diaries". The investigating officers compiled over 10 huge volumes of detailed reports after interviewing hundreds of those connected with the case.
Some of the startling disclosures of the investigation included running of hundred of bank accounts by a contractor who allegedly continued to maintain the account of a smaller contractor several months after his death. Even contracts were taken and executed in the name of the deceased contractor.
Similarly, in another case some electrical equipment supplied by a local manufacturer for a little more than Rs 2 lakh was shown to have been purchased for more than Rs 12 lakh by "fraudulently changing the bill". Investigation revealed that one of the contractors used to make a profit of anything between 60 per cent and 80 per cent each on most of the contracts given to him.
After the investigation cell completed its preliminary work, the Vigilance Cell of the Chandigarh Administration followed it up and on the basis of further investigation and enquiries registered criminal cases against several engineers , suppliers and contractors. Other works, too, were investigated. And an alleged major "fraud being committed on public funds" was exposed.
The local MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, who belongs to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, maintains that there will be no let up in the fight against corruption.
"All those involved in playing fraud with the public money must be convicted. I have already raised a question in the Lok Sabha on this issue. One of top engineers had tried to put pressure on me at one stage but I made it very clear that the law will take its own course and no laxity will be shown towards those who played fraud with public funds.
"As far as the recall of the Chief Vigilance Officer-cum-Home Secretary is concerned, I have already taken up the issue both with the Home Minister and the Haryana Chief Minister. I cannot comment anything beyond this.
"I was not aware of the transfer of officials of the income tax department. I will take it up with the Union Finance Minister and make sure that no one who is involved in investigating this case gets transferred in between, " Mr Jain said.
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Subdivision sans judicial complex
From Our Correspondent

SAS NAGAR, July 18 — Even though about three years have elapsed after the creation of SAS Nagar subdivision, the authorities concerned have not provided the necessary judicial and tehsil-related facilities, putting residents to great inconvenience.
Residents still have to go to Kharar to file suits in judicial courts. Besides there is no treasury here and residents again have to travel to the neighbouring town to meet requirements of non-judicial stamp papers to effect the preparation and registration of deeds. A development block has also not been created for the area.
Subdivisional offices are at present located in the PUDA building in Phase I where earlier the Punjab School Education Board was housed. There is no separate judicial and tehsil complex.
It is a pathetic sight to see lawyers and others huddled together in the cramped space on the first floor passage in front of the office of the Naib Tehsildar. The area is stuffy and stinks with matters becoming worse when the power supply fails.
The chairman of the Subdivision Bar Association, Mr Ujagar Singh Sandhu, says there are no proper drinking water arrangements for the public in the building. People have to depend on handpumps outside to quench their thirst. He laments that the power supply is erratic, frequently remaining off for more than half the day.
Mr Sandhu suggests that to mitigate the problems of the residents a judicial and tehsil complex can be constructed in Phase VIII. He wonders why Kharar subdivision was bifurcated at all to create the new subdivision when the government was unable to provide the related facilities to the local residents.The SDM, Mr M.P. Arora, says his office clerks have no rooms. There is only one chamber in which the subdivisional Literacy Samiti has opened its office. He says since the samiti has no dealing with his office, he has asked it to shift to the Senior Secondary School in Phase IIIBI.
Mr Arora also says there is staff shortage. In a subdivisional set-up there are normally four senior assistants. In his office there is only one senior assistant. The number of clerks is also inadequate. Besides, he and the Tehsildar have one vehicle each but no post of driver has been sanctioned. A driver has been sent by the Kharar authorities to keep matters going.

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  Over 40 school buses challaned
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 18 — In a major crackdown on school buses not adhering to the stipulated safety norms, over 40 vehicles have been challaned in the past few days. The joint operation is being carried out by the State Transport Authority and the Traffic Police following the Punjab and Haryana High Court order to ensure safety norms.
More than 20 impounded buses could be seen in the Traffic Lines, Sector 29, today. A most of them are school buses. Sources pointed out that they had been impounded for want of a requisite permit, unavailability of registration documents, absence of first-aid kit besides other lacunae.
Most of the vehicles had left the place by evening after their owners had paid fines.
A traffic official who accompanied the STA team said buses were let off after the payment of fine on the spot. Children in the impounded buses were first dropped at their respective residences before vehicles were brought to the Traffic Lines, he added.
A senior officer of the police said that schools had been issued warnings from time to time to maintain a parking place in their compounds and ensure that the vehicle staff carrying children was well trained, apart from keeping the vehicles in fine fettle. In a large number of cases, schools did not take up the responsibility of transporting children but gave it on a contract basis to private parties.
A total of eight vehicles were challaned on July 13. This included two buses. On July 15, as many as 14 three-wheelers out of 20 odd vehicles were challaned. One of the three-wheelers was transporting 20 children, an official said, showing a challan slip of overloading to the TNS.
On July16, a total of 20 buses were challaned. The date for July 17 and 18 was yet to be compiled, sources said. During the same period, 11 Sumos and approximately 20 LCVs have been challaned. Schools whose buses could be seen, among others in the compound today evening included APJ International Public School, Vivek High School and DAV Model School.
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  Campus Beat
Appointment rejected
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — The Panjab University Syndicate today rejected the appointment of Dr Ajaib Singh as the Director of Centre for Adult, Continuing Education and Extension.
The matter generated a lot of discussion with Mr Rajinder Deepa pointing out his reservations on the appointment. The matter was finally resolved by voting. Eight members favoured the rejection while seven voted in favour of the appointment. Mr K.S. Gill did not attend the meeting. Even Mr Ajaib Singh, who is a syndic was allowed to vote, sources said.
Those who voted against the appointment included Prof Charanjit Chawla, Dr R.D. Anand, Ms K.K. Pannu, Mrs Satinder Dhillon, Mr Rajinder Bhandari and Mr S.S. Gill.
The university decided to start Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Computer Application courses from the academic session 1998-99. It was decided that the colleges seeking affiliation should meet the requirements strictly.
The university decided to give 5 per cent weightage to students of vocational courses at the undergraduate level while seeking admission to postgraduate courses.


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  ‘Protest march’ by teachers on July 21
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — After the postal strike it is now the turn of teachers to take to streets.
On a call given by the All-India Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation, (AIFUCTO), an apex body of approximately three lakh teachers, working in 207 universities and 9,278 colleges across the country, teachers will "protest march" from the UGC building to Parliament in New Delhi on July 21.
These teachers, just when the new academic year starts, will cease-work on August 4 and hold demonstrations in all states and proceed on an indefinite strike from August 11.
That is the agenda of the teachers for the new academic calendar.
The reason for such an action? The non-implemenation of modified recommendations of the Rastogi Committee report by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, headed by a once teacher-turned-politician , Mr M.M. Joshi, despite the UGC having endorsed the same. The unilateral announcement of certain scales of pay by Mr Joshi on April 25 has already been rejected out of hand by the teachers.
A former general secretary of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union, Mr Charanjit Chawla, told TNS that the HRD Ministry had "total disregard" for the UGC, which was constituted as a statutory body by an act of Parliament (1956) for "uniform governance" of universities and colleges. Why deny the teachers UGC scales of pay?
AIFUCTO had rejected the scales of pay announced by Mr Joshi on April 25, 1998, dubbing the same as "anti-teacher" since he had taken a decision contrary to recommendations of the UGC, which had modified the recommendations of the committee headed by Mr R.P. Rastogi at a three-day meeting at Baruni (Bihar) in October (26-28), 1997, and approached the UGC.
The modified scales were to be effective from January 1, 1996. Except for the teachers, Mr Chawla said, all other employees had got their new scales of pay as per recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission for central employees.
The worst affected was the staff (teachers) placed in selection scales (readers: Rs 3700-5700). The central pay commission had placed employees in the grade of Rs 4100, in the grade of Rs 14,300-18,300, whereas, in the case of university and college teachers, the grade was Rs 12,000-18,000, lower scale
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Crime File
No clue about missing boy
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, July 18 — The police is clueless about the whereabouts of the 11-year-old boy, Sandil Kumar, who was allegedly kidnapped from outside his school, Kendriya Vidyalya, Chandimandir, on July 7.
The boy's father Mr G. Ramesh, had in a statement to the police alleged that his son had a tiff with one of his classmates Amit Tiwari, who had snatched his lunch box from him.
The elder brother of Amit, Ajay Tiwari had been named by the father of the missing boy.
Police officials say that questioning of the boys named by the father had not yielded much results. The boy was reportedly seen taking lift from a stranger outside his school, a police official said.
CHANDIGARH (TNS)
Snatched: Two scooter-borne youths snatched a gold chain worn by a Sector 40 woman, Mrs Leena Sood, last night. The woman alighted from rickshaw outside her house around 8.30 p.m. when the duo snatched her chain and fled the scene.
Caught red-handed: A Panchkula-based youth, Kamalpreet Singh, was caught red-handed while allegedly stealing money from the donation box of the Sector 47 gurdwara, according to police sources.
Stolen: Two gold chains, three rings and three pairs of gold ear-rings were stolen from the Sector house of Mr Jai Singh, the police said on Saturday.
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  Building to be named after Dr Chhuttani
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 18 — To perpetuate the memory of Dr P.N. Chhuttani, a former Director of PGI the local unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has decided to dedicate and name its coming building complex in Sector 35-B here as "Dr P.N. Chhuttani Memorial IMA complex".
Dr Chhuttani, a legendary physician, a committed teacher, an aspiring leader of the medical profession and an administrator par excellence, was one of the founding creators of PGIMER, Chandigarh. He headed various organisations like National Academy of Medical Sciences, the Indian and Asian Society of Gastroenterology and the Indian Association for Advancement of Medical Education and closely guided the activities of the Indian Medical Association.
The IMA is a body of about 1.40 lakh (MBBS and Postgraduate) doctors from all over the country both from the private and the government sector. The Chandigarh state branch of the IMA has its headquarters in Sector 35-B. It is a very active branch with a membership of more than 500 doctors in both government and private sector. The association gets due recognition for its work from the Chandigarh Administration, the municipal corporation, all other major institutes of the city and residents of Chandigarh.
The association has built a headquarters building on a 1.5 kanal plot in Sector 35 which comprises a small hall and three rooms which are used for holding meetings of the association, educational and social programmes and by the delegates from among members of other IMA branches.
An additional 4.5 kanal plot (approximately 2200 sq. yards) adjacent to the existing building was allotted to the IMA, Chandigarh state branch, by the Chandigarh Administration, keeping in view the growing needs of the medical fraternity. This land is for building an auditorium complex with a sitting capacity of 500 persons along with other necessary infrastructure like a seminar hall, a library, visitors' rooms for visiting medical professional from all over India and abroad.
The Tilok Tirath Vidyavati Chhuttani Charitable Trust has donated Rs 20 lakh towards the building of this complex.
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  Opposition burns Admn effigy, blocks traffic
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 18 — Local units of all major Opposition parties joined hands to hold a rally against the reported acquisition of land in Hallo Majra village and blocked traffic on the busy Dakshin Marg near The Tribune roundabout for an hour this evening.
Members of the Congress, the Samajwadi Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Janata Party, the CPI, the CPM, the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal, accompanied by residents of the village, marched in procession from the roundabout near Hallo Majra village towards The Tribune . There they burnt an effigy of the Chandigarh Administration and raised slogans against the acquisition.
Mr Pawan Bansal , president of the local unit of the Congress, said there was a piece of 38 acres of land adjacent to the prevailing CRPF complex and that could be acquired in lieu of the present site. There was no need to acquire this particular piece of land and then demolish the houses of people who had bought the land from farmers to build houses.
A leader of the Samajwadi Janata Party, Mr Devinder Singh Babla, condemned the BJP MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, who had promised that no houses would be demolished under the periphery Act. He said the houses had been built on private land and these people should be provided power and water connections.
Earlier during the late afternoon hours the fourth meeting of the "Opposition front" was held. Among those attended it and also took part in the rally included Mr Daulat Ram Sharma, Mr Subhash Chawla, Mr Ajay Jagga, Mr Shivi Jaiswal, Mr Mata Ram Dhiman, Mr Rajendra Mohan Kashyap, Mr Inderjit Grewal and Mr Harbhajan Singh .

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Sector 21 roads in bad shape
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, July 18 — Providing basic amenities to the residents of Sector 21 in this urban estate appears to figure nowhere on the agenda of HUDA. People, who have been living in the sector have represented in this regard to the officials time and again.
The sector, separated from the main town by the Ambala-Shimla national highway, is replete with problems. Potholed roads, cesspools of water and wild growth in parks and open spaces greets a visitor to the sector.
A survey of the sector reveals that several stretches of internal roads have not been repaired for the past several years. With the recent showers the condition of the roads has further deteriorated.
The House Owners Welfare Association of the sector laments that repair of roads had been promised by the authorities concerned but nothing had been done so far.
The general secretary of the association, Dr Brij Lal, said at least 700 houses had already been built and several others were under construction but the development works in the sector had been slow.
Moreover, as per the approved plans, the sector had to be linked with the national highway at three points, Dr Lal said adding that on one of the planned B-roads a hot mix plant, owned by a politician, was coming in the way.
Another headache for the residents are uncovered sewerage manholes. During rains the overflowing sewage results in collection of stagnant water on the roads.
Barring two parks, which have been developed by HUDA all other parks and open spaces are full of wild growth. Abundant growth of congress grass has become a cause of nuisance for the residents. Removal of unauthorised jhuggis has also been sought by the residents.
The Superintending Engineer (SE), Panchkula Mr S.K. Khanna, when contacted said repair of the roads would be taken soon after the monsoon. The cleaning of parks and open spaces would also be taken up soon, he maintained.
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Notice to Punjab DGP
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 18 — The Judicial Magistrate, Mr Jasbir Singh, today issued notice to the Punjab Director-General of Police for August 20 an application moved by Mr D.S. Rajput, a local lawyer, claiming damages of Rs 10 crore.
Mr Rajput in his application stated that his reputation had been damaged as he had been implicated falsely in the jail blow-up conspiracy case.
He rebutted the DGP's claim that he had supplied mobile phones to Jagtar Singh Hawara, one of the suspects in the Beant Singh assassination case and lodged at Burail jail. He alleged that he had been implicated in the case simply because he was contesting criminal cases against senior Punjab police officers.
His counsel further stated that the DGP was not appearing in the court intentionally. He was aware of the date as reports to this effect had appeared in several newspapers.
Seeking an early date, he added that the retirement of the DGP was due in September.
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  Canadian Opposition leader coming
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — Mr Preston Manning, leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons in Canada, will visit Chandigarh and Punjab in the first week of next month.
Accompanied by two other members of Parliament belonging to his Reforms Party — Mr Gurmant Singh Grewal and Mr Bob Mills — Mr Manning is expected to arrive in the Capital on July 31. He will also visit Mumbai during his seven-day sojourn in India.
The Reforms Party, which moved to the position of main Opposition party in the House of Commons in the last federal elections in 1997 by winning 60 of 295 seats in the House, had opposed the recall of the High Commissioner of Canada to India after the latter conducted nuclear tests at Pokhran early this year.
"Instead, we have been pressing the Canadian Government that imposing of sanctions, both against India and Pakistan, was no solution. The idea is to defuse the situation through negotiations. It is the longest pending dispute as none of the four resolutions of the United Nations on this Indo-Pakistan dispute could be implemented.
"As far as nuclear technology is concerned, Canadian fingerprints can be found everywhere. Canada enjoys the reputation of a negotiator. And keeping in view the South Asian situation, all that is needed is to try to defuse the situation than impose economic sanctions," says Mr Gurmant Singh Grewal, the first ever ethnic Caucus leader of any federal political party of Canada.
Ludhiana-born Mr Grewal is a product of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, from where he did his B.Sc. (Agriculture) and MBA, before immigrating to Canada.
Mr Grewal has become the member of the House of Commons in shortest span of five years and eight months as an immigrant in the 131 years history of Parliament in Canada. He is also the first Punjabi and a Sikh MP to be a critic in the official Opposition of Canada.
After his election in June last year, Mr Grewal has risen to be the Deputy House Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Official Opposition Party in June this year besides being the Deputy Critic (shadow minister) for Foreign Affairs and Chief Critic of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Besides, he is also a member of the Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Public Accounts; Private Members Business; and Procedures and House Affairs Committees of the House of Commons.
He feels that Chandigarh office opened by the Canadian government was not doing much as those seeking visas and other assistance still have to run to Delhi. "This Chandigarh office needs to be strengthened and made much more functional. Similarly, the facilities at Delhi high commission too are far from satisfaction.
He feels that lot of Canadian Indians are keen on investing in India. "If Canada can sign tax treaties with more than 70 countries to avoid double taxation, why not with India?, he asks.
Accompanying him on this tour of India are his wife, Narinder, and two sons.
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