Wednesday, April 28, 1999
|
N E W S Wednesday, April 28, 1999 |
|
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
Irate villagers block traffic MULLANPUR- GARIBDASS, April 27— To protest against the inaction on the part of the Punjab Public Works Department (PWD) in completing the Chandigarh-Siswan road, irate villagers blocked the road for more than five hours this morning. This put several office-goers to lot of inconvenience who could not reach their places of work in Chandigarh on time. Buses were stopped and trucks carrying goods halted. Several people, including women and children, walked in the scorching sun to reach their destinations. Mr Paviter Singh, who came from Kharar to visit his ailing son-in-law at the PGI, had to walk up to the hospital as no transport was available. As the main road was blocked several commuters diverted their vehicles through the dry bed of the Mullanpur choe to reach the approach road While a few were able to cross, several had to return as the protesters reached there and blocked the route. Residents of this village, located about 5 km from the PGI, complain that the road was not completed even after four months. Work of metalling the road was started in December last year. However, little had been done so far in this direction. The inability of the authorities to carpet a stretch of less than 1 km led to the protest today. Interestingly there is no road to the village in the records of the district administration. The road was built following an initiative of the villagers in the sixties when Chandigarh was planned. Villagers had demanded an approach road to the "modern city". The land on which this road was built was never acquired by the government and the villagers donated their land to get a link road then. Even in those days, the residents complain, the authorities had paid little attention to the construction of the road. According to Dr G.S. Sohi, who runs a clinic in the village, the road leads to several problems in the area as it becomes extremely difficult to drive in the dust that rises whenever a vehicle passes on the road. The stretch is also prone to accidents because of its poor maintenance. On February 20 this year, the Principal Chief Forest Conservator, Mr K.S. Aulakh, was killed on this road when his car rammed into a truck. Residents blocked the road at about 8 a.m today and the blockade was lifted around 1 p.m. following intervention by the SDM, Kharar, Mr Amarjit Singh. The SDM explained that the delay in the work was because two local residents had moved the court against carrying out repair of the road after widening it. The road has been
widened from 23 feet to 33 feet. The villagers had
alleged that the widening work was not equal on both
sides of the road, The sarpanch, Mr Diwan Singh, said
that some villagers claimed that more land was occupied
on one side of the road. He said the road needed repair
before the monsoon. |
Water bylaws violation CHANDIGARH, April 27 — With the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) issuing 58 notices today, the drive against violators of the water bylaws will be intensified in the days to come. According to corporation sources, in the first phase notices warning the violators were being issued by the public health wing of the civic body for the past over one week. The water connections will be disconnected and fine as per the water bylaws levied in case of repeated violations. The wing has issued notices to over 400 violators in the past week. A majority of those issued notices were found to be watering lawns and potted plants in the morning, washing cars through hose pipes and installing online boosters . Besides, agencies looking after various city roundabouts whose water hydrants leaked were also issued notices. A close look at the data available with the corporation showed that a maximum of 90 notices were served on the violators on April 21. While a minimum of 20 notices were issued on April 20, a total of 42 notices were issued on April 22. While tally for April 23 was 50 notices, the civic body staff issued notices to 60 violators on April 24. Similarly, 77 notices were issued on April 25 and 26. As many as 58 notices were issued today. The Panjab University area, sectors 35 and 43 accounted for sizeable number of violators. The other sectors, which had been covered under the drive undertaken by the civic body daily from 5 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. included sectors 2, 4, 9, 10,15, 20, 21, 36, 37 and 38, the sources informed. The Superintending Engineer of the public health circle of the corporation, Mr Manmohanjit Singh, warned that in case of the repeated violations, a fine of Rs 50 in addition to the disconnection charges would be recovered from the violators. And those using online boosters would be fined at the rate of Rs 500 per violation and the motors would only be released on the production of affidavits stating that they would not be used again. Mr Manmohanjit Singh, while appealing to the public to help conserve water, urged the car owners to refrain from washing cars through hose pipes since a lot of water was wasted in the process. The excess water, which did not reach the road gullies, remained stagnant outsiders the houses which ultimately damaged the roads. Meanwhile, the civic body will start the drive against violators in Mani Majra and villages as there were reportedly a large number of water bylaw violators in these places. It may be recalled that the civic body had recently authorised a number of officials to check the water bylaw violations under the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Sanitation and Public Health), Byelaws, 1999. The officials authorised are the Medical Officer of Health, Chief Sanitary Inspectors, Sanitary Inspectors, Sanitary Officers, the Assistant Director of Malaria, and all SDEs of the Public Health, Roads and the horticulture wings of the civic body. They had been authorised
to impose fine and impound the sprinklers, pipes and
other equipment used for the irrigation of lawns. |
Miraculous escape for Haryana DGP PANCHKULA, April 27 — The Director-General of Police (DGP), Haryana, Mr S.K. Sethi, had a miraculous escape today when the car in which he was travelling was hit by an Army bus on the Chandigarh-Kalka highway near the Command Hospital here. A traffic police personnel, Bhim Singh — who was regulating traffic at the T-junction where the accident took place — received injuries in the mishap. According to the information available, the official vehicle of the DGP, while going towards the CPO building in Sector 6 here was about to take turn from the highway when an Army bus coming from the opposite side hit the right side of the car, thereby damaging it. The bus driven by C. Ratna Chotia of a regiment based at Patiala was returning from Yadvindra Gardens, Pinjore, when the accident took place. A case under sections
279, 337 and 427 of the IPC has been registered against
the bus driver. |
Unique proposal to curb driving
by minors Chandigarh, April 27 — The Chandigarh Police is mooting a unique proposal to curb unauthorised driving by minors. The police will be requesting the licensing authorities to get the date of birth of the children applying for a licence verified from the school records. The IG, Chandigarh Police, Dr Kiran Bedi, asked the traffic staff to request the licensing authorities to include the provision of verification when new licences are applied by children after achieving the age of 18. This was decided after a meeting between the police and principals of various schools at the traffic lines in Sector 29 here today. A unique problem was highlighted by a school principal, who informed that children now park their vehicles away from the school to dodge police officials on duty. The IG said that police officials will be asked to see that no such thing happens. Even the beat staff will be asked to keep an eye on children, who are seeing roaming around in school dress during school hours. The teachers could be asked to educate parents about not sending more than six children on a rickshaw or an autorickshaw. All Sub-Divisional Police Officers (SDPOs) and Station House Officers (SHOs) have been asked to also help in regulating traffic within their respective areas. At a later stage the SDPOs and SHOs will also hold a road safety programme in all schools in their respective areas. A proposal was to train physical education teachers and NCC cadets and scouts and guides in managing traffic outside schools during peak hours. The police also asked
the principals to motivate the children not to drive
vehicles unauthorisedly. Tomorrow the police will carry
out a special drive during the opening and closing hours
of the schools. |
Rally by employees CHANDIGARH, April 27 — Members of the Federation of UT Employees and Workers staged a rally near the Housing Board roundabout here today to protest against the indifferent attitude towards their long pending demands. The agitators from various departments assembled at the venue after office hours and raised slogans against the administration for its anti employee stance. The demands of the protesters include releasing the bonus for 1997 -98 and the present year on the Central Government pattern and release of the DA instalment in cash, regularisation of daily wagers, equal-work-for-equal pay policy, higher pay scales for all employees on the PCS pattern after four, nine and 14 years of service, and to treat employees sent from various departments of the administration to the Municipal Corporation as being on deputation. They also demanded that PSEB scales should be given to left out categories of the Electricity Department, creation of new posts in view of the increased workload, payment of the arrears of the Super Bazaar employees, rules for employees of the CHB, release of pay scales and DA to the workers under the ICCW and enforcement of EPF rules for daily wagers and abolition of the contractual labour system. The agitators will go on
a token one-day strike in case their demands were not met
soon. |
Two skaters, coach to be
awarded CHANDIGARH, April 27 — Two girl skaters of Hansraj Public School, Panchkula, and their coach Balwinder Singh have been chosen for cash awards for their contribution to this game at a state-level function of the Haryana Sports Department to be held at Raj Bhavan, Chandigarh, on April 29. Mr Mahabir Prasad, Governor of Haryana, will honour them along with other sportspersons. Meenakshi Kohli, a Class X-student, will be given Rs 10,000 for being the youngest member of the team which bagged the gold medal in the seventh Asian Roller Skating Championship, held in South Korea in 1997. She was the only skater selected from Panchkula. In the National Roller Skating Championships, held at Pune and Visakhapatnam in 1996 and 1997, respectively, she won two gold medals. She was the runner-up in the National Roller Skating Championship held at Patiala in 1995. Priyanka Sharma, a Class VIII-student, will be awarded Rs 8,000. She won two gold medal in the National Roller Skating Championships at Pune and Vishakhapatnam. Balwinder Singh, the coach who has trained eight international skaters, will be honoured as one of the best coaches. It was due to his consistent efforts that Haryana made its name in roller skating. Mr Rajni Thareja, the
Principal of the school which had provided facilities
such as the skating rink, will be given the 'Best Sports
Promoter' of Haryana award. |
Draw for PUDA plots held SAS NAGAR, April 27 — A draw of lots for PUDA plots was held at the Community Centre in Phase III B1 here today. A large number of applicants turned up for the draw for 207 plots in Sector 68. PUDA had received 9,481 applications for plots of sizes varying from 6 marla to 10 marla. For the 150 sq yd plots PUDA had received 3,592 applications, out of which 3,369 fell in the general category. For the 200 sq yd plots 4,661 applications were received and 4,303 were in the general category. For the 250 sq yd plots PUDA had received 1,228 applications out of which 1,164 fell in the general category. In each category plots
were reserved for SC/ST, physically handicapped, freedom
fighters, defence, gallantry award winners, legal heirs
of Army and paramilitary forces and sportspersons. |
Muharram observed CHANDIGARH, April 27 — “Muharram”, the martyrdom day of Imam Hassan and Hussain, was observed by the Muslim community by bringing out processions in different parts of the city today. Hundreds of Muslims and members of other communities participated in a ‘Tazia’ procession, which was taken out from the Sector 29-C ‘Dargah Sharif’. The procession concluded at the ‘dargah’ after passing out though Sectors 29 and 30. A programme in connection with ‘Muharram’ was held at the ‘dargah’ last night. During the procession,
young members of the community exhibited their skills by
playing “pattu”, a mock war. “Tazias”
were also taken out from mosques at Burail and Mani
Majra. |
Alcoholic cops’ salary to
reach home Chandigarh, April 27 — Families of Chandigarh Police personnel, who are into alcoholism, can now heave a sigh of relief. The monthly salary of such cops will be handed over to their respective families and children so that the money is not wasted on liquor consumption. The Chandigarh Police has started a drive to identify cops who are addicted to liquor and a list will be drawn up shortly. Sources from within the forces are being used to identify such alcoholics, said the Inspector-General of Police, Dr Kiran Bedi, while giving information about the scheme. Attempts will be made to
correct the behaviour of such cops, but for now the pay
will be handed over to the families through the accounts
branch of the department, she added. The making of such a
list commenced last evening. There are a number of cops
who hit the bottle quite frequently and the money does
not reach the family, senior officers admit privately. |
B.Com I exam from May 4 CHANDIGARH, April 27 —While the B.Com I and II exams of PU will commence on May 4 and 5, the B.Com III exams will commence on May 10. However, all these examinations will end on May 24. Releasing the revised datesheet today, PU Controller of Examinations, Dr Sodhi Ram, said no exam would be held between May 21 and 23 to facilitate the conduct of the PU Combined Entrance Test (CET). The examinations will be held between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. According to the datesheet, the B.Com I and II examinations will commence with English papers, the B.Com III year exam will begin with business law-I, history and culture of Punjab and languages. The honours examination for B.Com II and III year will be held on May 24. The last paper of B.Com I will be quantitative techniques and business economics. Meanwhile, Dr Sodhi Ram said preparations were complete for conducting the undergraduate exams of BA and B.Sc. Of the total 180 examination centres, 45 had been set up in government colleges, while 135 are in private colleges. A total of 180
superintendents, 200 deputy superintendents, 1450
supervisors, 720 non-teaching employees had been put on
duty at these centres. He said adequate arrangements had
been made to check cheating at various centres. Flying
squads had been deputed to assist the superintendents at
various centres in the smooth conduct of examinations. |
SNIPPETS Local artist elected member 1100 attend AIDS camps Another batch of 609 persons were treated for reproductory tract infections (RTIs) and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). Medicines were given free of cost. A total of 108 blood samples were collected for diagnosis of RTIs and STDs. The Director Health Services (DHS), Dr R.S. Sandhu, visited the camps conducted at Badheri village, Dadu Majra Colony, Dadu Majra village and Burail village. The camps are being organised by the UT Health Department in collaboration with non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The NGo which participated today were Lions Club ( international), Indian Red Cross Society, Chandigarh branch, Lions Club ( Shivalik ) and the Flame Foundation. Action against colonisers
sought According to information, the committee has written that some persons were developing unauthorised colonies in the Kharar municipal limits. The committee had carried an advertisement asking all unauthorised colonisers to take permission before selling plots, but even after the expiry of four weeks no application has been received for permission. ISKCON function The ISKCON will also
celebrate the birth anniversary of Lord Narsingha Dev on
April 29 on the occasion of Narsingha Chaturdashi all
over the world. The local unit has decided to organise a
play on Lord Narsingha Dev by the children on the temple
premises on the occasion, says Bhakti Vinod Dasa Prabu. |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
