3 held for drunken driving
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 27 — Three persons who were allegedly driving in a drunken state were arrested and their vehicles impounded last night.

The police had cordoned off Sector 40 here for a routine check when the men were nabbed. A Tata Safari, a Maruti van and a scooter were impounded. Action under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act was taken against them.

Five arrested
Five persons, including a woman, have been arrested for allegedly roaming around aimlessly from various places in the city. Kiran of Sector 9, Panchkula, Sunil Kumar of Pinjore, Vijay of Sector 28, Chander Shekhar of Sector 22, and Upendra Kumar of Karnal were nabbed and booked under Section 109 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr PC).

Injured
A constable of the Chandigarh Police and a woman have been injured in separate road accidents. Baljit Singh of the traffic staff was riding a motor cycle (CH-01-G-9792) when he collided with a car (CH-01-W-0657) driven by Mohinder Singh near the roundabout at Sectors 31, 32, 46 and 47.

Meanwhile, Ms Komal Gupta, of Sector 45, was injured when her moped (CH-01-J-7765) collided with an unidentified Tata Sumo on the road dividing Sectors 45 and 46. Both were admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32.

House burgled
A house in Kajeheri has burgled. Gas cylinder and other domestic articles were stolen. The house owner, Mr Satya Narain, lodged a complaint with the police.

Couple killed
A collision involving a rehra, a truck and a tanker resulted in the death of a couple and a mule on the spot, on the Dera Bassi-Lalru highway, this morning.

According to the police, the deceased, Barfi Ram and his wife Ballo Devi of Mirpur, were riding their rehra to Ambala, to sell traditional brooms. A truck number (HP-14-1609) rammed into the rehra and knocked down the couple, crushing them.

Audio-visual lecture on Patiala fort
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 27 — An audio-visual lecture on “Qila Mubarak, Patiala — a refuge of arts” was presented today by Ms Sat Kaur Sukhanda, a French scholar, from L’Ecole du Louvre, Paris, in the auditorium of the Alliance Francaise, Sector 36.

Talking about the beauty of the now badly desecrated and ruined fort, Ms Sukanda presented almost 60 slides to show the “richness of Punjab’s heritage, that showcases a certain religious and artistic unity in diversity”. The lecture started with the tracing out of the history of the city of Patiala.

Interestingly, various pictures showing mural paintings housed inside the Qila seemed to present them in a lesser state of despair than they actually appear to be in.

Talking about her interest in the Qila Mubarak, Ms Sukanda said it was after seeing the destruction of the mural paintings of the Darbar Sahib at Amritsar in 1997 that the idea of preservation of the Punjabi heritage struck her. The large audience attending the lecture certainly seemed to be hit by the fact that it was yet another time that a foreigner and an “outsider” had to come to India to make them have a re-look at their “glorious past”.

It was a sad sight indeed to see a series of Sikh paintings, bearing the influence of the Kangra school; the architecture, influenced in some parts by the Rajasthani and some even by European, in such a state. The apathy of the Administration towards our cultural heritage was visible in a series of slides showing certain rooms being used by officials, whose ceilings have all been carpeted with cement!

Mrs Preneet Kaur, Maharani of Patiala, was the chief guest on the occasion. While speaking on the Qila, which she said was the “very foundation of Patiala”, Mrs Preneet added that since the Qila was no longer in the “possession of the family” it was lying in a state of distress and “did not know for how long it would last”.

School refunds caution money
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 27 — Alpine School, Pinjore, has refunded a sum of Rs 30,000 to an NRI student after the intervention by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum- I headed by Dr H.C. Modi.

Earlier in the complaint, Ms. Poonam Sahota had alleged that she was admitted by the school in its ninth class for the 1997-98 session under the foreign students of the NRI category. The requisite tuition fee and other charges had been paid along with a refundable caution money of $ 1000. Upon completing the session, she left the school for further studies in the USA, but the school did not refund any caution money in spite of several reminders.

The Forum bench comprising its President, Dr H.C. Modi, and members, Dr R.K. Behl and Ms Shashi Kanta, issued notice to the school and directed it to produce the relevant record for ascertaining the quantum of refund.

On the date of hearing, the officer of the school informed the court that a sum of Rs 30,000 had been refunded to the complainant in full and final satisfaction of her claim. The forum, therefore, disposed of the complaint as the grievance of the complainant had been redressed.

Appeal dismissed
The Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, comprising its President, Mr J.B. Garg, and members ,Col. P.K. Vasudeva and Mrs Devinder Jit Dhatt, have dismissed with costs an appeal filed by a transporter of goods against the order of the District Forum allowing the complaint of a consignee.

Earlier, on a complaint filed by Messrs Micron Instruments Pvt Ltd. against Messrs Prakash Roadlines Ltd the District Forum had held the tranporter guilty of having caused loss to the consignment of the complainant. The forum had found that the consignment had reached the godown of the transporter at Chandigarh but a considerable part of the goods were lost/stolen in the godown. Out of 141 pieces of alloy ingots weighing 1000 kg, a bulk consisting of 110 pieces weighing 785 kg was lost while in storage in the godown of the transporters.

The complainant had put forward a claim of Rs 61, 810 on account of actual loss, Rs 50,000 on account of physical and mental harassment, and Rs 5,000 as cost and interest at the rate of 18 per cent per annum. After going through the records, the District Forum had ordered that a sum of Rs 57148 be paid on account of shortage of material along with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum and costs of Rs 1100.

Against this order, the tranporters went in appeal before the State Commission. The commission also held that transporters guilty of deficiency of service and rejected the plea of the transporters regarding jurisdiction and the complainant not being a consumer. It therefore upheld the order of the District Forum in toto and further imposed costs of Rs 1100 in respect of the appeal also.

Nigam fined for inflated bills
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, April 27 — The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam, erstwhile Haryana State Electricity Board, has been directed by the local consumer court to pay a compensation of Rs 2,000 to a Barwala-based consumer for being harassed on account of being issued an inflated electricity bill.

The order was passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum on a complaint filed by Mr Sondhi Khan of Rehna village near here.

Mr Khan, in his complaint alleged that he had been an electricity consumer for the last 20 years. During 1992-93, his electricity meter went dead and since then the power bill was being issued on an average basis. Even a representation to replace the defective meter was made to the authorities.

He further alleged that he was made to pay four times the money against his electricity bills and still an additional demand of Rs 4,027 was made from him. He pointed out that an electricity bill issued in February 1993 showed the units consumed as 34, but another bill issued in February 1994 showed the units consumed as 100. In another subsequent bill, the units consumed were increased to 170.

The nigam, in its reply, said that the complainant never moved an application to replace the defective electricity meter. It further said that though the defective meter was replaced in January 1998, the complainant did not make the full payment against arrears of electricity bills. Moreover, the complainant did not inform about the increased load from 0.4 KW to 1.126 KW.

The forum, in its order, observed that the nigam had failed to remove the defective meter and had issued inflated electricity bills. The consumer has been allowed Rs 500 as costs of proceedings.

Ginger price puts off many
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 27—While the price of ginger has gone through the roof, gourd and brinjal have become cheaper in the local market during the past two days.

During a survey of the local market today, it was found that the price of ginger has doubled during this period, thus giving tough time to housewives, particularly those who think any vegetable preparation is incomplete without ginger. A kg of the vegetable, which was available in the market just two days back for Rs 48, was today priced between Rs 70 and Rs 80. The wholesale price of the vegetable has gone up from Rs 225 to Rs 300 per 5 kg.

Reacting to the hike, Ms Kiran, a housewife, said she would have to shun the vegetable due to the unprecedented hike in its price. She said she used to add ginger in almost every preparation made by her.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the hike in the price of the vegetable was because of negligible supply of the vegetable from Himachal Pradesh. “Earlier, we used to get some supply from the hill state, now the arrivals have been restricted to cold storages in the region, which had resulted in sudden spurt in the price of the vegetable,” said a Sector 27 vegetable market trader. He said the price was likely to witness further hike in the coming days.

Similarly, lemon prices again witnessed a hike during this period. After selling for Rs 40 a kg during the past week, the vegetable was priced in the market today for Rs 50 a kg. The wholesale price of the vegetable has also increased from Rs 150 to Rs 200 per 5 kg during this period. The vegetable had even fetched an astronomical price of Rs 100 a kg during the first week of the month. The traders attributed the hike to less arrival of the vegetable, which is a major factor as far as the price was concerned, from Chennai, from where the vegetable is coming these days.

“As lemons are out of my reach, it seemed that I will have to remain without my favourite ‘nimbu-pani’ this summer,” said an old man.

On the other hand, the prices of cauliflower, cabbage, peas have come down during this period. A kg of cauliflower, which had been selling for Rs 16 just two days back, was available for Rs 12 in the market today. The wholesale price of the vegetable has come down from Rs 60 to Rs 48 per 5 kg during this period.

Likewise, a kg of cabbage, which had been selling for Rs 8 a kg just two days back, was available in the market today for Rs 6. The wholesale price of the commodity has come down from Rs 25 to Rs 20. Similar was the case of peas, which have become cheaper during this period. A kg of peas, priced between Rs 30 and Rs 40 just two days back, were priced today for Rs 24 a kg.

The wholesale price of the vegetable has come down from Rs 150 to Rs 100 per 5 kg during this period. Similarly, the price of brinjal has come down from Rs 12 to Rs 10 a kg during this period. If a kg of radish was priced at Rs 8 two days back, it was available in the market today at Rs 4 a kg. The price of gourd has come down from Rs 10 to Rs 8 a kg.

There was no change in the prices of vegetables such as garlic, potato, onion, beans and tomato as these were available at Rs 24 a kg, Rs 4 a kg, Rs 8 a kg, Rs 20 and Rs 6 a kg during this period.