UT Administration plea rejected
CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr G.S. Sandhu, today turned down the prayer of the Chandigarh Administration for permitting it to cancel the FIR registered against Sameul James Phillip Allan, a British national, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Petrol price hike on anvil?
CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 —The cost of petrol will rise by nearly 40 paise per litre while certain classes of light commercial vehicles and paper will cost less in Chandigarh once the proposals of the UT Excise and Taxation Department get a final shape in the next three weeks.

More drainpipes for city
CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — With a view to augmenting the storm water drainage system, the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh has decided to lay additional drainpipes in various parts of the city.

Villagers demand temple takeover
PANCHKULA, Feb 4 — Residents of Saketri village have demanded that on the pattern of the Mata Mansa Devi Temple Pooja Sathal Board the control of the Shiv Mandir at Mahadevpur village here be taken over by the government.

PGI to host symposium on eye inflammations
CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — A two- day international symposium on "uveitis and intraocular inflammations" will commence at the PGI from Saturday.

Adviser visits Mani Majra
CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — The Adviser to the Administrator, Mr Jagdish Sagar, today visited Modern Housing Complex, Mani Majra.

Bhupi to perform on Feb 7
CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — A musical nite along with a fashion show will be held at the Chandigarh Club here on February 7.

Education dept to set plus I papers
CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — A number of question papers for annual examination of plus one classes in government schools of the city will be set by the UT Education department in the current session.

UT Administration plea rejected
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr G.S. Sandhu, today turned down the prayer of the Chandigarh Administration for permitting it to cancel the FIR registered against Sameul James Phillip Allan, a British national, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Handing down a detailed order spanning over eight pages Mr Sandhu held: "I reject the prayer of the prosecution for the cancellation of the FIR and order to take cognisance of the offence against the accused under Section 20 of the NDPS Act.

Accused Allan accompanied by his counsel was present yesterday in the court. Today his counsel is present but he is not available. He is ordered to be produced in the court for the supply of the relevant documents as required under Section 207, Cr P.C.

The FIR was registered against the accused on December 1, 1998, and the report for the cancellation was submitted on January 21.

The facts of the case were that SI Ved Parkash, constables Satish Kumar and Prem Nath were on patrol duty near the bus stand. They had received information that one British national, Sameul James Phillip Allan, was in possession of cannabis. He was coming from the direction of Hotel Divyadeep and was going towards Sector 17. He was searched and a polythene bag was recovered from him. A sample of the material contained in the polythene bag was sent to the laboratory for analysis. The lab report said that it was charas.

The argument of the Public Prosecutor was that the story set out by Sub-Inspector Ved Parkash in the FIR was concocted. He told the court that recovery of charas was not effected under the circumstances set out in the FIR.

The judge held: "The Public Prosecutor has failed to cite any ruling that if there is non-compliance of Section 50 of the NDPS Act accused is to be discharged before facing the trial."

The stand of counsel for SI Ved Parkash was that the case was genuine. The recovery was effected rightly from the accused and the cognisance of the accused under Section 20 of the NDPS Act be taken against the accused.

Mr Sandhu ruled: "The alleged offence is very serious which attracts 10 years' minimum imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh. FIR of such an offence cannot be cancelled in a light way without testing the veracity of witnesses."

The judge further held: "These authorities (Bhagwant Singh vs Commissioner of Police and India Carat Pvt Ltd Vs Karnataka, SC) fully support the 'view taken by me that when there is, prima facie, case against the accused FIR should not be cancelled,' rather cognisance of the offence should be taken and the accused be put on trial."

How police hushed up murder
By Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — A BJP worker was gunned down by two youths 15 years ago. Now, the 'ghosts' of the ham-handed efforts of certain police officials in dealing with the case have returned to haunt the Chandigarh Police.

In April, 1984, Mr Inder Pal Gupta, president of the then formed Hindu Suraksha Samiti, was killed outside his general merchandise shop in Sector 27 by two motorcycle-borne youths. The duo had lobbed a hand grenade, injuring seven persons in the process.

They were arrested by the CIA wing of the Chandigarh Police a few days later. They were booked under Sections 302, 34 and 307 of the IPC, Sections 25, 54, 57 of the Arms Act and Sections 4 and 5 of the Explosives Act.

After a few weeks of the incident, the two accused were released on bail. And in these 15 years no challan was filed in court, no further investigations are on record, all other papers pertaining to the matter are reportedly missing from police records and finally, to top it all, the case was never sent as untraced, sources in the police department confirmed.

Only a copy of the original FIR and a few splinters of the exploded bomb were lying in the malkhana at the Sector 26 police station, the source said.

Some two months ago, during a routine annual checking of police stations, the case was listed in the unsolved cases. Investigations by middle-level police officials revealed that the FIR of the case was missing. This was later put in its place after the matter was brought to the notice of the higher authorities.

When this was found out, an aborted attempt was made by some unidentified persons to destroy the only available evidence lying in the malkhana, the splinters of the bomb. Had this happened no one would have known anything about the murder, a source said.

Independent enquiries revealed that policemen, who had handled the case then, knew about the two men involved, who are still alive. One of them reportedly lives in neighbouring SAS Nagar and other one is in Wadala village, in Amritsar district.

The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Chandigarh, Mr C.S.R. Reddy, today ordered a preliminary enquiry, and the SP, (City), Mr Baldev Singh, has been asked to investigate.

The SSP when contacted confirmed about the enquiry but said the details would be known when the enquiry was completed. All other files pertaining to how the case was fudged have been sent to senior Chandigarh Police officials.

The files pertain to the missing records and how evidence, including the case diary known as "jimni" in police parlance, is missing from the records.

The story will be officially known in two days as cops, who were then entrusted the job of investigation are likely to be questioned in the coming days, sources said. Surprisingly no one took up the matter in the past 15 years.

Immediately after the sensational killing, the local unit of the BJP had taken out a procession in protest .

Petrol price hike on anvil?
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 —The cost of petrol will rise by nearly 40 paise per litre in Chandigarh. Medicines, X-rays, photographs and notebooks will also cost more while computers, certain classes of light commercial vehicles and paper will cost less in Chandigarh once the proposals of the UT Excise and Taxation Department get a final shape in the next three weeks.

A draft notification, inviting objections from the public, was ordered for publication today, according to sources. The final notification will be issued after 20 days thus affecting the price rise.

The department has sought 2 percent sales tax on petrol that has been exempt from tax so far. This will bring the cost of petrol almost on a par with the neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab. Actually, petrol dealers from the neighbouring states have been demanding this parity. The sales tax on medicine has been hiked to 8.8 per cent from 4.4 percent. The tax had been 8.8 per cent on medicines before June 1, last year.

X-rays, photographs and notebooks used in schools are so far exempt from sales tax. However, under the new proposal these items are being brought under the purview of sales tax.

Meanwhile, the sales tax on paper has been reduced from 8.8 per cent to 2 per cent to bring the tax on a par with Punjab. Besides the traditional use of paper in making copies and notebooks it is also used to make a special type of corrugated box used by apple sellers in Himachal Pradesh.

The high tax on paper had diverted business to Punjab and Chandigarh lost on revenue, said a source. The sales tax on computers has been reduced from 4.4 per cent to 2 percent to bring it on a par with Haryana. The sales tax on computers had been reduced from 10 per cent to 4.4 percent in June last year.

The Taxation Department has also reduced the sales tax on light commercial vehicles having engine capacity between 3200 and 3500 cubic capacity. The tax will be down from 4.4 per cent to 1 per cent. The tax was actually raised from 0.5 percent to 4 per cent in June last year. The hike had then affected sales as buyers were attracted to neighbouring states where the tax on this class of vehicles was lower.

UT sectors to have more drainpipes
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — With a view to augmenting the storm water drainage system, the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) has decided to lay additional drainpipes in various parts of the city.

The project, to be undertaken at a cost of over Rs 3 crore, will cover three major "flooding-prone" pockets of the city, including Mani Majra. The laying of additional pipelines follows a survey of the low-lying pockets in the city by the civic body.

According to sources, in the first place the drainage system in the area from the Government Press Chowk, Sector 18, to the N-Choe (Sector 51-52) would be augmented. To be completed at a cost of Rs 2.40 crore, pipes of various dimensions--36, 38, 60,84 and 96 inches — would be laid for augmenting the existing drainage system which has been designed for a rainfall intensity of half an inch.

It may be recalled that area falling in this stretch of land, including the roundabouts near the Inter-State Bus Terminus, the All India Radio building, Hotel South End and the roundabout separating Sector 43 from Sector 44 are one of the most "flood-prone" areas during the heavy rains.

When the drainage system was augmented the problem flooding of these areas during heavy rains would be overcome to a large extent. The outflow of water from these pipes would first go to the N-Choe to be ultimately released into the Ghaggar, the Superintending Engineer(Public Health), Mr Manmohanjit Singh, informed.

To tackle the problem of flooding in the low-lying areas of Sectors 14, 15, 24 and 25, the work on the laying of additional drains was in full swing. Work on the drain, which will cost over Rs 25 lakh, will ultimately be connected to the trunk drain in Sector 37.

Similarly, new drainage pipes would be laid in pocket nos 1, 2 and 3 in Mani Majra at a cost of over Rs 50 lakh. The pipes, which will pass through these pockets will be connected to the "nullah" behind Shivalik Enclave.

Mr Manmohanjit Singh claimed work on the laying of the pipes would be completed by June before the onset of the monsoons.

Villagers demand temple takeover
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, Feb 4 — Residents of Saketri village have demanded that on the pattern of the Mata Mansa Devi Temple Pooja Sathal Board the control of the Shiv Mandir at Mahadevpur village here be taken over by the government.

The issue was raised by the villagers at an open darbar organised by the district administration at Bhainsa Tibba village here today.

They said the maintenance and development of the temple was suffering though it received a lot of funds in the form of offerings.

The villagers of Saketri complained that of the two tubewells meant for supplying drinking water one was in disuse for long. As a result the villagers had to go without drinking water for days together.

The Deputy Commissioner directed the Public Health officials to make the tubewell operational at the earliest. Installation of a tubewell by MITC at the village for irrigation purposes, which has been pending for long long, would also be pursued by the Subdivisional Magistrate, said the DC.

A demand for repair of village lanes and construction of a boundary wall of the government school was also made. The residents of Bhainsa Tibba drew the attention of the DC towards an alleged encroachment by a senior government official near a religious place at the village. The SDM was directed by the DC to conduct an enquiry into the matter.

Unavailability of PDS commodities at a depot of the Bhainsa Tibba village was also highlighted by residents.

PGI to host symposium on eye inflammations
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — A two- day international symposium on "uveitis and intraocular inflammations" will commence at the PGI from Saturday. The symposium will deal with swelling and internal inflammation of the retina.

Prof B.K. Sharma, Director, PGI will inaugurate the symposium. As many as 150 delegates from different parts of the country are participating in this first ever international symposium on "Inflammations of the pigmented structures of the eye" which is not identified and treated leads to irreversible blindness.

These diseases are ill understood in our country and facilities for management of these maladies are available at only at a few chosen centres in the country and includes the PGI, Prof Amod Gupta , head of the Ophthalmology department, PGI , said.

The symposium will focus on these inflammatory diseases and their identification, management, strategies and the use of latest molecular biological techniques by the leading international experts in this field.

The faculty includes Prof Narsing A Rao, Director of Ocular Pathology at Dohney Eye Institute, Los Angeles, USA; Prof ED Howes, Professor of Pathology, The Francis I. Proctor Foundation, San Francisco, USA; Prof Jean Deschenes, Professor of Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, Prof James E Puklin, Professor of Ophthalmology, a leading vitreo-retinal surgeon and an authority on AIDS at Wayne State University, Detroil, USA.

The others who are to attend the symposium are Dr Emmett T Cun-ningham, Co-Director, The Francis I. Proctor Foundation, USA; Dr Shalesh Kaushal, a leading Scientist from Barnes Retina Institute, St. Louis, USA and Dr D.N. Shah from Kathmandu. Dr J. Biswas from Chennai, Dr Virender Sangwan from Hyderabad, Dr S.R. Rathinam from Madurai, Dr B.L. Sunitha from Bangalore, Dr V.K. Singh from Lucknow, Dr S.P. Garg from New Delhi and faculty members of the PGI will deliver lectures.

Adviser visits Mani Majra
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — The Adviser to the Administrator, Mr Jagdish Sagar, today visited Modern Housing Complex, Mani Majra.

During the visit he instructed the Chairperson of the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), Ms Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, to conduct an opinion poll about whether the green area in the complex should be converted into a parking area or a garden. He also asked the Chairperson to complete the elections to the Residents’ Welfare Association within the stipulated time.

Reacting to the demand for the construction of a community centre, he urged the residents to use the community centre, constructed by the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) outside the complex.

Mr Sagar also visited certain areas of Mani Majra and assured the residents that road recarpeting work, repair of streetlights, construction of footpaths, setting up of the water and electricity complaint centres and opening of a post office would be undertaken soon.

Among those, who accompanied the Adviser included the Mayor, Mr Kewal Krishan Addiwal, Ms Ghosh, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr R.K. Rao, and the Chief Architect, Mr S.K. Midha.

Bhupi to perform on Feb 7
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — A musical nite along with a fashion show will be held at the Chandigarh Club here on February 7. Punjabi pop star 'Bhupi' of 'Jogia Khalli Balli' fame will thrill the audience along with dancers from Bombay. Simultaneously, to add attraction top Indian models like Shweta Menon, Mehar Bhasin, Bhawana Singh and Shefali Talwar will participate in the fashion show. Music Director Jawahar Wattal, top choreographer Priyanka Singh and anchor Pallab Bose will accompany them.

The show was originally scheduled to be held on February 7 at Mohali, but the venue had now been changed to Chandigarh Club, according to a spokesman of the organisers, Anmol Arts.

Education dept to set plus I papers
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — A number of question papers for annual examination of plus one classes in government schools of the city will be set by the UT Education department in the current session.

The question papers will be common for all schools, a senior official of the department said while talking to TNS here today.

Now the examinations for the plus one class were being conducted by the schools at their individual level.

Papers which have been identified to be set by the Education department include English, mathematics, physics, biology, business studies, accountancy and economics.

The move has been initiated to provide uniformity and maintain a common standard as students face common examination in the CBSE board for their plus two, the official pointed out.

The examination for plus one will start from the first week of March.

The datesheet will be announced soon.

Religious intolerance ‘threat to all’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — Religious tolerance will have to be defined in a code of conduct which should apply uniformly to all communities. The state should frame a code to the satisfaction of all communities and also show willingness to implement the code strictly and impartially.

These views were expressed by Prof B.S. Brar, chairperson of the Department of Political Science, Panjab University, at a panel discussion on "Religious tolerance in context of conversions" at Gandhi Bhavan here today.

The discussion was organised by the Panjab University Campus Students Council.

Professor Brar said till the time the downtrodden were provided with better education and health facilities by those opposed to conversions, they had no moral right to stop them.

Any form of religious intolerance was not a threat to minority communities alone. Even those in the majority community who had an open mind were likely to be the targets.

The problem of religious intolerance has never really been dealt with appropriately by the country's leadership at any point of time. This is true even during the freedom movement. Those opposed to British rule got under a common umbrella for their ouster. Now after freedom, communities in many cases had started asking for their share. The leadership will now have to strive to find an answer to their problems, Prof Brar noted.

Intolerance was an in-built phenomenon in any organised religion, for that matter even in communities. Leaders always raised slogans as if there was a threat from outsiders as also certain insiders who did not comply with the rules. This was done to maintain cohesion.

Prof Ramjee Singh, a former Vice-Chancellor of Jain Vishva Bharti, said the matter needed to be discussed at the national level. Stray incidents over a week's time had forced the entire nation to stop and ponder over the future course of events. The Prime Minister had to sit on a fast to express his concern.

Professor Ramjee Singh said that even the friends of India in the US House of Representatives called the incidents in Orissa as "sad". This meant that the happenings were not only of interest at the national level but also had a global impact. The youth in particular should be more conscious of the future impact of such sensitive issues.

Dr Raziur Rahman of the Department of Urdu said the country should be ashamed of the recent happenings in Orissa. He spoke on tolerance, quoting from the Koran and the life of Prophet Mohammad.

Earlier Mr Dayal Pratap Singh Randhawa, president of the campus council,welcomed the guests.

No Valentine's Day at PU
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — There will be no official Valentine's Day function in Panjab University this session.

This was announced by Dr R.S. Grewal, Dean Student Welfare, while addressing a student gathering here today.

The announcement was greeted with applause from student gathering at a seminar on the campus. Certain organisations had approached him, seeking permission to organise a function at the Students' Centre on February 14. "I have declined", the DSW said.

Dr Grewal said in the past few years the university had witnessed unruly scenes on the campus. "As elders, we have a duty to save the value system of our culture. Such immodest acts will not be permitted".

It is unfortunate that student participation in constructive activities like seminars and sports was negligible. Only 200 students of the approximately 5000 who turned up for the campus sports held recently. It is a sad commentary on youth, he added.

University teachers' move
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — The All-India Federation of University Teachers' Associations in a press note here today threatened that paper setters for various university examinations will retain the question papers with them till the revision of the pay scales announced by the UGC was implemented.

"If the governments continue with their delaying tactics, the university examinations, both theory and practical, may not be held as teachers will not cooperate in the conduct of examination", Dr P.P. Arya, president of AIFUTA said.

On February 16 , a protest rally will be held on the Panjab University campus. Teachers from universities in Haryana, Himachal, Punjab and Chandigarh will participate in it.

The Panjab University Teachers' Association in a separate press note said that teachers would continue the agitation till new grades were implemented.

'Purpose of life to reach self'
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — The purpose of life is to reach the self through the body using specific techniques of breathing, Mr Sunil Gulati, a volunteer of the Art of Living Foundation, said at a lecture organised by Dr R.C. Sobti, Dean, Alumni Relations, at the Department of Biotechnology, Panjab University, here today.

Defining life as an interval between the first and last breath, Mr Gulati said what we do during this interval constitutes our lives. Specifying that the root cause of disease was tension of any kind, he said mind manipulated breath according to mood but taming it and bringing it round to concentrate on the present can make a difference to life.

The human mind continues to vacillate between the past and the future. It hangs on top negative events of the past which leads to regret and dwells on the future causing anxiety to man. Therefore, man should make the most of the present.

He stressed though there was potential in every human to rise to great heights, very few could tap it enough while most continued to exist rather than live their lives. Further, man kept looking for happiness where it did not exist while the system ensured an individual did not remain happy, it was always creating new products to keep him dissatisfied with whatever he had.

Mr Gulati added that to reach the self which is God, man has to cleanse himself and cross the seven layers of existence. These are body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and self. The achievement of self brings complete happiness and joy to man which is the ultimate goal of life.

K.A.P. Sinha is Joint Secretary, Finance
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — Mr K.A.P. Sinha, an IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, has been appointed Joint Secretary, Finance, Chandigarh Administration.

A formal order to this effect was issued today.

Woman found dead in house
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — A woman died under mysterious circumstances in her house in Burail village this afternoon. The woman, Mrs Surjit Kaur, died while her husband, Avtar Singh , was away to work.

Police sources said that no injury mark was found, and nothing was found in the house that the woman could have consumed to kill herself. There was no sign of forced entry either.

The body has been sent for post mortem to the General Hospital Sector 16.

The post mortem, to be conducted tomorrow, will be the only answer to the death, the police said.

No case has been registered so far.

The woman was reportedly under tension as her only child had died in last April.

Two arrested: The Sector 11 police on Thursday arrested two persons who are allegedly involved in the kidnapping and killing of a Narwana-based financier, Balbir Chand, last month. The duo — Suresh Lamba of Hisar and Ram Karan alias Karna of Kaithal — were nabbed by Inspector Vijay Kumar. They have been living in the firing range in Sector 25 for the past few days.

The police arrested them under Section 109 of the Cr P.C. that is used to detain a person who cannot give details of his address. Upon interrogation the two reportedly told the police that they kidnapped Balbir Chand on January 6 and his body was dumped in a canal.

The body was found in Bhatla village in Hansi on January 14. Since then the duo were on the run and were living in Chandigarh for the past six days.

Four injured: Four persons were injured in separate road accidents in the city. Mr Vijay Kumar of Kumhar colony, Sector 25 was injured when he was hit by an unidentified vehicle on the road dividing sectors 24 and 25. An unidentified person was seriously injured when he banged his car into the roundabout at sectors 7, 8, 19 and 18 on Wednesday night. A cyclist, Mr Beant Singh , was injured when a Tata Sumo hit him on the road dividing sectors 18 and 19. Mr Prem Chand of Kansal village was injured when he fell off his bicycle near the roundabout at sectors 9,10,16 and 17.

Trespass case: A case of trespass has been registered against Ravi and Beeru for allegedly forcibly trying to enter plot no 136-140/72 in the Industrial Area Phase I. Mr Amar Iqbal Singh Bedi lodged a complaint with the police in this regard.

A case has been registered.

Car stolen: A car ( CH-01-R-5561) owned by Mr Ravi Kochhar of Sector 29 was stolen from his residence.

Hurt in hand: An employee of the Shivalik View Hotel, Mr Lawrence, was injured when his hand came into a machine.

PANCHKULA

Succumbs to burns: Satish Kumar, a resident of Sector 19 here, who was admitted at PGI, Chandigarh, with burn injuries on Monday, succumbed to his injuries at the hospital on Wednesday.

Injured: A scooterist, Kanav Sagar, was injured after he was hit by an unidentified truck near Maheshpur village here on Wednesday.

The police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 337 of the IPC.

Lalit Joshi Bhardwaj heads CTMC
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — Ms Ambika Soni, President, All-India Mahila Congress, has nominated Ms Lalit Joshi Bhardwaj as President of the Chandigarh Territorial Mahila Congress (CTMC), it was stated here today.

Ms Bhardwaj, a gold medallist for distinguished service from Kurukshetra University and an advocate by profession, has been associated with the Congress for a long time as she has held various positions, including those in the Youth Congress, District Congress, and various cells of the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee.