Thursday, August 12, 1999
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N E W S Thursday, August 12, 1999 |
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RBI officer held for
misbehaving with German couple CHANDIGARH, Aug 11 — The local police has arrested a Deputy General Manager of the Reserve Bank of India here for allegedly using vulgar language and misbehaving with a young German woman, who had approached him along with her husband regarding some money transfer problem being faced by the tourist couple. The accused, S. K. Sharma, questioned Karin (25), hailing from Wiltenrenth in Germany, about her sexual life after sending Robert, her husband out of his office on some pretext. He also offered his company to the couple in the evening at the Sector 28 Gujjar Bhavan, where the couple was staying, said the police, and Karin on whose complaint Mr Sharma was arrested. Later, the accused, who was booked under Section 509 of the IPC, was released on bail by the police authorities. Narrating her experience at the RBI, Karin, who had come to the city on August 6 along with her husband, said she had approached the RBI office as they were facing problems pertaining to remittance of money with the State Bank of India, since the day they had landed in the city. “Actually, we were not getting our money, in dollars, converted to Indian currency and we had been running from pillar to post for this, before we decided to approach the RBI. But we were shocked the way we were treated at the highest revenue organisation of India,” said an apparently shaken Karin. Narrating the sequence of events which took place at the RBI yesterday, Karin and Robert said when they visited the office, they were advised to see Mr Sharma by the receptionist. They subsequently met him and told him about the problems being faced by them. “After hearing us, Mr Sharma talked to somebody in the SBI on phone and said our problem had been solved. He was quite friendly at that time and offered coffee to us. We accepted the offer. Suddenly, he sent Robert outside on some pretext and even asked him to remain outside for some moments and sent his cup of coffee outside his office room. Meanwhile, he started posing a number of unimportant questions to me regarding my age, my relationship with Robert. He even went to the extent of asking whether I enjoyed sex with Robert, as he looked a “stupid fellow and was much older than me”. When Robert dropped in, Mr Sharma asked whether he could join us in the evening for playing carom, and even fixed 6.30 p.m. as the time of meeting on his own, for which we had to extend our consent since we felt obliged,” said Karin. As they got out of the office, the couple decided to report the matter to the police and subsequently lodged a formal complaint with the Sector 26 police station authorities, which referred the complaint to the Sector 17 police station, as the incident took place in its jurisdiction. Meanwhile, Mr Vijay Raghwan, Chief General Manager of the RBI, confirmed of having received a complaint regarding the incident from the tourist couple, but refused to comment further saying,” we are enquiring into the matter and the action will be taken according to department rules and regulations.” Utterly disappointed at
the treatment meted out to them in India, the couple said
it was not for the first time that they were harassed.
“In Delhi and Bangalore such things happened to us,
as some people think here that white women are more open
and could tolerate such rubbish things,” said Karin,
who added that they were planning to report the matter to
the German embassy in New Delhi before leaving the
country. |
Rickshaw-puller electrocuted CHANDIGARH, Aug 11— A rickshaw-puller from Bihar, Sanjay, was electrocuted at Kishangarh village last night when he touched a live electricity wire. The deceased, who was sleeping on the roof of a row of shops, accidentally touched the live wire when he got up to urinate around 11.30 p.m., said Mr Kuldip Singh, a resident. Sanjay, who lived here along with his brother, died on the spot. The post mortem was performed at the Sector 16 General Hospital today. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter, who live in his native village in Bihar. According to residents, the electricity supply lines in the village were commissioned in the seventies. The shopping complex, close to whose roof the live wires pass, was built much later allegedly in violation of the periphery control Act. Several of the migrant labourers and rickshaw-pullers used the roof to sleep during the night time, residents said. This is not only the
spot in the village where the wires run close to the
roofs of the structures allegedly constructed in
violation of the Act. In fact, there are at least four
more spots in the village where such
"death-traps" could be noticed, added another
resident, Mr Kamal Kumar. |
Pvt Internet provider in
city soon Chandigarh, Aug 11 — A internet provider in the private sector is going to provide competition for the local Telecom Department. This will be beneficial for the internet users, who will have an option of accessing the worldwide web through the telecom operator or through the private provider. Satyam Infoway, India's first private national internet service provider (ISP) at present having services in 20 cities, is launching its services in the city by the end of the month, sources in the telecom sector said today. The service known as Satyam Online, comes in the form of a ready-to-use CD. These CDs can be brought off the shelf, as a retail product, or any of the company's business partners who will also deliver the same at the customer's doorstep. There will be no more waiting and filling forms as registration can be done online. The CDs have to be loaded and the connection is ready to use through a normal telephone line and modem. Subscribers will be able to get their connection running in a matter of minutes. The company already has its services in place in Ludhiana, where it claims to have 2,000 subscribers. Anyone who has a ``Satyam'' account can access the service from all 20 locations where the company is operating right now and from the locations where it plans to launch its services in future. Included in the start-up CD are a host of free attractive features. It is also handy to lock certain sites on the net, the company officials said. For those users who may have some difficulty in understanding and making optimum use of the Internet, the service provider also offers, in the same CD, a software called ''Viagrafix'' that is an interactive, multimedia, self-learning kit on the Internet. These software programmes are free with the connection. Besides the connection, the user will also get an e-mail address, web space, and host of other software programmes accessing the net. The Internet connections come in different packages like 100 hours, 250 hours and 500 hours, depending upon the usage level. The Internet service would be provided with a state-of-the-art infrastructure with digital connectivity spread across the city. One telephone line will be dedicated for every 10 connections that are released, which will ensure instant connectivity, as per the international norms. To enhance the download speed, bandwidth — that facilitates the down loading process — will be more. The company office in Sector 34 will have a 24-hour support staff. The company plans to go
beyond 50 locations by the current year-end. On an
all-India level the provider claims to have a base of
50,000 subscribers. |
AICC defers decision on
Chandigarh LS nominee CHANDIGARH, Aug 11— The All-India Congress Committee again deferred the announcement of its candidate for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat. All the candidates in race for the party ticket are reportedly camping in the union capital along with their supporters. The names that are doing the rounds in the AICC office, sources said, include those of Ms Ambika Soni, Mr Pawan Bansal, Mr Chaman Lal Sharma and Mr Manish Tewari. Though the AICC was expected to take a decision on Chandigarh, Jalandhar and Ferozepore seats this evening, it was deferred till tomorrow. Meanwhile, Dr Ved Parkash Aggarwal of the newly-formed Bharatiya Janata party Loktantrik would contest the 13th Lok Sabha elections from Chandigarh, it was announced today. Mr Aggarwal had been a Jan sangh and BJP activist until a few years ago. The local unit of the
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha will take out "Bharat
Gaurav" procession from the Sector 33 party office
tomorrow. the procession will move through various
sectors and terminate at mani majra. |
Dazzled by high-class life SAS Nagar, Aug 11 — The disappearance of two 12-year-old local school girls and then being tracked down after nine days in Sector 17, Chandigarh, yesterday appear to be a typical case of youth being dazzled by high-class life and landing in the soup. The two girls, students of classes VII and VIII, respectively, of a public school as usual left for school on August 2, but instead went to a goldsmith in Phase I here, Ravi Babbar, one of the suspects named in the first information report (FIR) registered by the local police. Ravi was friendly with the girls as they had been visiting his shop on different occasions. Sources in the police said the girls left their school bags with the goldsmith and took Rs 200 from him before leaving for Sector 17, Chandigarh. The girls went back home to change their dresses. Later they met Harjeet Singh, Avtar and Ajit Pal, all prime suspects in the case, who took them to Morinda. The next day the girls were dropped in Phase 3-B-2. Instead of going home the girls remained at one or other places in and around Chandigarh. Later they met another boy, nicknamed Gary, and stayed with him. Police sources say that girls often went to popular fast food joints in Chandigarh during these nine days and also visited Kasauli. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Ropar, Mr G.P.S. Bhullar, who was in the township, said nothing exact could be said about how many boys were involved in the case till the investigations were complete. "We are questioning the boys on the basis of the inputs being given by the girls. Whatever legal action is required in the case would be taken," he said. The Superintendent of Police, SAS Nagar, Mr B.S. Randhawa, who was also present on the occasion, said the report of the medical examination of the girls, conducted at the local Civil Hospital, was awaited. Section 376 of the IPC would only be added depending on the results of the report. At present the FIR has been registered under Sections 148, 149, 363 and 366 of the IPC. The sources, however, said Section 376 of the IPC was likely to be added. Mr Randhawa, without naming other suspects, said police parties were on the lookout for more boys in the case. The girls have told the police that when they were picked up by the Chandigarh police from the Sectors 16 and 17 traffic lights they had signalled a car for a lift to go to Sector 15. Meanwhile, two of the
arrested suspects, Harjeet and Ravi Babbar, have been
remanded in police custody till tomorrow. |
AOC-in-Chief Patney visits
WC HQ CHANDIGARH, Aug 11 — The Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command, Air Marshal Vinod Patney, visited the Western Command Headquarters at Chandi Mandir, near here, and discussed operational matters with the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lieut-Gen H.B. Kala. He also held discussions with Air Vice-Marshal B.M. Bali, Air Officer Commanding, Advance Air Headquarters, and other senior officers of the Western Command. During his two-day visit, the AOC-in-C would also visit all the Air Force units in and around Chandigarh before leaving for New Delhi tomorrow. Earlier, on his arrival
at Chandi Mandir helipad, the Air Marshal was received by
Air Vice-Marshal Bali and Brig P.S. Hooda, Deputy Judge
Advocate-General, Western Command. |
Vivek Joshi new Panchkula DC CHANDIGARH, Aug 11 — The Haryana Government today ordered the appointment of Mr Vivek Joshi as new Deputy Commissioner of Panchkula in place of Mrs Saroj Siwatch, daughter of Mr Bansi Lal, a former Chief Minister. Mr Joshi will also be Chief Administrator of the Mata Mansa Devi Shrine board. Mrs Siwatch goes as Joint Secretary, Housing department. Mr P.K. Mahapatra, Joint
Secretary, Finance department, has been posted as
Director, Secondary Education and Enquiry Officer
Vigilance II, in place of Mr Joshi. |
Over 11,000 new voters in
Kharar SAS Nagar, Aug 11 — At least 11,325 new voters will exercise their franchise in the Kharar assembly segment of the Ropar parliamentary constituency in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The increase in the number of male voters is nearly four-fold as compared to the women voters. Disclosing this information, Mr O.P.Popli, Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) for the Kalka assembly segment, said against 1,87, 116 voters who had cast their vote in the last parliamentary elections, 1,98,441 voters would cast their vote this time. While in the urban areas of Kharar and SAS Nagar the number of voters was 1,04,208, the figure of the rural areas was 94,233. He said the number of the polling booths in urban areas of Kharar and SAS Nagar were 30 and 99, respectively. In the rural areas the booths would number 103. The number of postal voters in the assembly segment were 418. A rehearsal of the
employees, who have been deputed as Presiding Officers
and Polling Officers, will be held at Shivalik Public
School in Phase 6 here. Besides, meetings for the
representatives of political parties will be held at the
office of the ARO on August 18 and 23. |
Batalik hero dead LALRU, Aug 11 — Subedar Balbir Singh (42) of 153 Medium Regiment laid down his life in the Batalik sector during Operation Vijay. Martyr Balbir, a resident of Dapper village, 4 km from here, had joined the Army in 1976. He sustained injuries on his neck and chest from splinters of a shell fired form across the Line of Control (LoC) on August 9. He was rushed to the Base Hospital at Srinagar in an unconscious condition where he was operated upon the same day. After the operation he regained senses for some time and then breathed his last, family sources said. Before his posting to the Batalik sector, the martyr was in Ferozepore. His unit was sent to Batalik one and a half months ago. He is survived by his parents, wife, Mrs Avtar Kaur, and two sons. One of his brothers is also a Subedar, posted in Army Headquarters in New Delhi, while his younger brother is a Havildar in 62 Field Regiment at Srinagar. His elder son, Satvinder Singh, is a student of Class IV in Kendriya Vidalaya-III, Ambala Cantt. The second son, Dilraj Singh is an infant. The village received the news of his martyrdom with a sense of shock and neighbours and relatives started visiting his house as soon as the news spread. Though his brothers were proud of their brave hero yet the parents were greatly shocked. Mr Jagir Singh (70), father of the martyr, could not control his tears. Meanwhile, no one from
the district authorities visited the aggrieved family
till late in the evening, the neighbours said. The Army
personnel from Ambala Cantt made all the cremation
arrangements. According to Army sources, the body is
expected to reach the village tomorrow morning for
cremation. |
Benefits elude ex-Army doctor CHANDIGARH, Aug 11— While people all over the country are contributing their mite for the victims and martyrs of Kargil and the government is announcing schemes for their rehabilitation, there are those who had served in the Indian armed forces in 1971 and are waiting for the grant of military service benefits. Dr J.K. Kalra, PCMS-I, on deputation with the Chandigarh Administration at present and holding charge of the Civil Dispensary in Sector 8, has been running from pillar to post for almost 10 years for the grant of military service benefits on the pattern of the benefits given to the PCS (Executive Branch). The Punjab State Technical (Medical and Engineering) Service Rules, 1968, lay down that seniority and pay of candidates who are appointed against the vacancies reserved under Rule 3 shall be determined on the assumption that they joined the service or the post, as the case may be, under the state government at the first opportunity they had after they had joined military service or training prior to their commission. The rules were reframed in 1976 and were called Demobilised Indian Armed Forces Personnel Reservation of Vacancies of the Punjab State Technical (Medical and Engineering) Service Rules, 1976. These provided benefit of seniority to the members of the armed forces who were released from service but restricted the benefit of seniority to those who had joined between November 1, 1962, and January 10, 1968. Thus the persons who were recruited in the Short Service Commission after this date were excluded. These rules were made effective from a retrospective date of January 1, 1971. The short service commission officers stood excluded from the grant of benefit from a previous date, which was January, 1971. Dr Kalra joined as a Short Service Commission Officer in Army Medical Corps in the rank of captain in June, 1971. He served in the Indian Army at the Bangladesh border till September 6, 1976, during the war, as an RMO of an Infantry battalion. After his discharge from the army, Dr Kalra joined the PCMS, Class II, as a medical officer on ad hoc basis in February, 1977, against a vacancy reserved for an ex-serviceman. In September, 1977, he was appointed on regular basis through the Punjab Public Service Commission against a post reserved for an ex-serviceman. According to Dr Kalra, the ex-servicemen who had rendered military service from October 26, 1962, to August 10, 1968, and those who had rendered service during the declaration of emergency in 1971 should be given similar treatment. He added that the 1976 Rules could be considered as extension of the 1968 Rules. "The denial of benefits is discriminatory and violative of the constitution of India," he said. The Department of Defence Services Welfare, Defence Welfare Branch, Punjab, said in the communications that were exchanged between Dr Kalra and the department, that grant of pension, counting his military service period towards civil service, should be sanctioned. The following have been
accorded the military benefits under the 1972 rules: Mr
Sukhpal Singh Gill (military service from May 10, 1969,
to September 27, 1975), Mr Phulwant Singh Sidhu (
military service from may 28, 1965, to July 21, 1976), Mr
Kulbir Singh Kang (military service from June 15, 1969,
to September 12, 1974) and Mr Sarup Singh Bhullar
(military service from January 31, 1972, to December 3,
1977). |
French film festival in city CHANDIGARH, Aug 11 — A four-day festival of French films organised by the Chandigarh Film Society, in collaboration with the TTTI Cultural Club, was inaugurated yesterday at the TTTI Campus, Sector 26. Mr Yash Pal Mahajan, Chairman, Board of Governors, TTTI, inaugurated the festival. The inaugural film yesterday was Claude Chabrol's 'A Double Tour', a thriller that revolves around the impact of two outsiders on a bourgeois family. Chabrol, who is known for his racy thrillers, had, for the first time, attacked the bourgeoisie through this film, which highlights the dissolution of this class under the mask of respectability. 'A Double Tour' stars Antonella Lualdi and Jean-Paul Belmondo. Director Abel Gance's black and white film, 'J'Accuse', a re-make of the first version of '1918' — termed as one of the most virulent anti-militarist films ever made — was screened on the second day at the same venue. Starring Victor Francen, 'J'Accuse' tells the tale of a man who decides to prevent a war which he feels is about to break out in a place called Douaumount. This film, in fact, is remembered for its spectacular scenes in which the dead soldiers rise from their tombs to prevent the conflict, at the call of the protagonist. The third film of the festival is 'Lola Montes', directed by Max Ophuls. This film is the story of Maria Dolores Porriz, also called Lola Montes, a circus performer in New Orleans. Considered to be the beauty of Europe, Lola is the lover of the King of Bavaria, among many others. In the film, the protagonist is shown performing death-defying tricks, before she is locked in a golden cage every night, where she is viewed by the audience, who pay a dollar each in order to kiss her hand. This was Ophuls' last film and also believed to be his greatest. The final film to be
screened on August 13 will be Bertrand Tavernier's 'Un
Dimanche A La Campagne'. Since this film revolves around
an Impressionist painter, who is shown to possess some
average talent, Tavernier is said to have created an
impressionist atmosphere in the film that recalls the
works of Monet and Renoir, through some splendid
photography. |
UT future ‘through
consensus’ CHANDIGARH, Aug 11 — The local unit of Rashtriya Raksha Dal will try to find a solution to the future of Chandigarh through consensus, says Col Harsharan Singh Sandhu, President of the unit and a candidate for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. Talking to newsmen here this morning, Colonel Sandhu said that his effort would be get all the three parties — representative of the people of Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana — to sit together and hold negotiations to find a solution to the satisfaction of all. He said all previous agreements or accords on Chandigarh were no more relevant as there was a big change in everything with hundreds of migrants coming to the city every day. Colonel Sandhu said that he would soon come out with a local election manifesto where all major local issues would be taken up. Talking about larger issues, he said that ex-servicemen were convinced that representing different political parties served no useful purpose and men in olive green, after retirement, must stay together. He said the Punjab Government had not bothered to look after 220 widows of various previous actions, including 1965 and 1971. In spite of promises by the Punjab Government of starting a special scheme, nothing concrete had been done. Colonel Sandhu also held that there was no need to float special new funds for Kargil heroes and wanted that the money collected in the name of soldiers should be disbursed among families of those who made the supreme sacrifices or have been permanently disabled in action. He said that formation of the Rashtriya Raksha Dal had been necessitated to check mainstream politicians from "corruption and misusing public funds". Colonel Sandhu said that though the party would emerge at the national level after some time, its independent units in Punjab and Haryana would contest the ensuing elections from four or five constituencies. A large number of
retired defence officers, including Air Marshals,
Lieutenant-Generals, Major-Generals, Brigadiers and
police officers, both from state and paramilitary forces,
were present at the conference. |
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Nursery section
inaugurated Mr N.K.Jain, Home Secretary, who was the chief guest first inaugurated a green house which has been established with the help of the Department of Environment. The green house houses a large variety of plants. Inauguration of the green house was followed by a tree plantation drive where more than 150 saplings of medicinal plants like neem, amla and jamun were planted. were planted. Four teachers were honoured on the occasion. Plea
for war memorial The decision was taken to honour the Kargil martyrs by inscribing their names on the memorial for their invaluable contribution in the defence of the nation. The council also decided to honour all active social workers of Panchkula along with students who have secured more than 80 per cent marks in the recently declared 10+2 and matric examinations . The council will organise a fete to raise funds for the Haryana Chief Minister War Heroes Fund . The council is also preparing a list of blood donors for donating blood for soldiers . Veterinary
camp held During the camp, animals were given free treatment and vaccination. Medicines and Hindi and Punjabi versions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, were distributed free of cost at the camp site. According to a press note issued by the PFA authorities, such camps were also organised during last year as part of the series of mobile camps in the neighbouring slums and villages. During today's camp, 50 animals were treated, the press note said. Order
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