Stolen moped seized
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh July 2 — The police has arrested a Sector 41 resident for allegedly possessing a stolen moped.

According to police sources, Dharminder Singh was arrested following a complaint lodged by Mr Vijay Kumar, a resident of the same sector. The moped, HR-08-A-6171, has been seized from him. A case under Section 379 / 411, IPC, has been registered at the Sector 39 police station.

Scooter taken away

Mr Jagseer Singh, a resident of Sector 7, complained to the police that a person to whom he had given a lift fled on his scooter (CHOIL 5976) from near the Sector 8 gurdwara.

According to the police the complainant gave a lift to an unknown person from Sector 7 but when they neared the gurdwara, the pillon rider pleaded with him (the complainant) to give the scooter as he had forgotten some keys at his residence. Mr Singh reportedly agreed and that was the last he saw his scooter.

A case has been registered under Section 379, IPC, at the Police Station North.

Arrested

The police has arrested Jagdish Singh, a resident of Bapu Dham Colony, for allegedly possessing a “kamanidar” knife. A case has been registered under section 25 - 54 - 59, Arms Act, at the Sector 26 police station.

Assult case

Mr Ravi Sharma, a resident of Sector 41, has reported to the police that he was assaulted by Sumit Batra, Gagandeep Singh, Sanjeev Kumar and Munish Kumar — all residents of the same sector.

A case has been registered under Section 325 / 34, IPC, at the Sector 39 police station.

Arrested

The police has arrested two couples for fighting noisily at a public place near the B. Ed college in Sector 20. The accused — Lal Bahadur and his wife Durga and Jarnail Singh and his wife Jagir Kaur — have been booked under Section 160, IPC. They were later produced in court and were remanded to judicial custody.

PANCHKULA

Bootleggers caught

Two persons have been arrested in separate cases by the police for allegedly carrying liquor.

A conductor of the Haryana Roadways has been arrested by the local police for allegedly transporting 11 bottles of liquor in a Haryana Roadways bus here on Thursday. A case under the Excise Act has been registered against the conductor, Roshan.

In another case, Som Nath, a resident of Raipur Rani, was arrested by the police for possessing 12 bottles of liquor. A case has been registered by the Raipur Rani police under the Excise Act.

Dances, ballet steal show
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH July 2 — The annual function of Government Central Crafts Institute for Women, Sector 11, was a cultural extravaganza presented by students of the institute at the auditorium of Government Polytechnic for Women, Sector 10, here today.

The programme began with a dance performance, after which, a Punjabi song was presented by Jatinder. The Haryanavi dance was a splash of colour on-stage with girls swaying to the catchy beat of a Haryanavi folk song. The Himachali music with its melodious tunes and accompanying dancers cast a spell on the audience. Girls, dressed as boys, came on the stage and for about ten minutes, presented 'bhangra' with vigour and left the audience pining for more.

The high point of the programme came with a ballet on "Heer Ranjah'' in Punjabi. A well-rehearsed item, it was presented equally well by 15 students. The role of Heer was played by Suman Kapoor while Shalini Chihgal was 'Ranjah'. Jatinder Kaur was the playback singer for the ballet.

This was followed by a prize distribution function to honour students for performing well in the various courses of shorthand and typing, fashion designing and garment making, and embroidery, run by the institute, for 100 per cent attendance, punctuality and participating in cultural events. Over 50 students were given prizes at the function. The prize for the best NCC cadet was shared by Sneh Lata Rani and Manjit Kaur.

The Director of Technical Education, Dr S.K. Aggarwal, was the chief guest at the function. He stressed the need for spreading high quality technical education and urged the youth to take up vocational courses. "These courses promote self-employment and can be a crucial step in solving the problem of unemployment,'' he said.

Earlier, the Principal of the institute, Mrs K. Ranga Rajyam, welcomed the chief guest. She also read out the annual report of the institute in which she highlighted achievements of the institute and its students. She also gave details of activities undertaken during the session.

Relief for phone subscriber
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH July 2 — The UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II has directed GM, Telephones (Communication) to pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 to a consumer for causing a delay of over seven months in releasing a phone connection to him.

The complainant, Raj Kumar, has been contended that he had booked OYT telephone with the GM, Telephones on payment of Rs 15,000 on March 14, and was allotteed a priority number. As per the information made available by the department, the telephone should have been installed soon after payment. But the installation was delayed by over seven months. He demanded a compensation of Rs 1 lakh and interest on Rs 15,000, the deposited amount, at the rate of 18 per annum.

The officials of the telecom department, in their reply, stated that the delay in the installation of the connection was caused due to some confusion regarding the address. The forum bench, comprising its President, Mr R.P. Bajaj and member, Mr H.S. Walia, held that the delay due to confusion in the address could not be accepted.

They observed that the address mentioned by the complainant in the application was legible. They observed that though the complainant had deposited the amount earlier, the connections to few subsequent applicants had been released earlier. Holding the department deficient in services, the bench observed, “Delay in release of connection to new subscribers is a feature of frequent occurrence. The reasons are well known. The telecom department is put to bad name and has to bear extra financial burden as in the case in hand.”

With a view to avoid such situation in the future, the bench directed the department to identify the members of the field staff responsible for this mischief and take strict departmental action against them. They further awarded costs of Rs 1,100 to the consumer as costs incurred by him on litigation.

The Chief Engineer, Mr Puranjit Singh, said that at present there were 12 community centres and 2 junjghars functioning in the city.

Earlier, as soon as the meeting started BJP members, Mr Gian Chand Gupta and Mr Des Raj Tandon,were on their feet demanding that their short-term enquiries regarding the letter of the Mayor, Mr Kewal Krishan Addiwal, to the Commissioner, Mr S.K. Gathwal, advising the latter not to take major policy decisions and make major payments be taken up for discussion first.

While members of the ruling group contended that it should be left to the discretion of the Chair to decide which agenda should be taken up first, the BJP members insisted that it should be taken up first since it concerned the development of the city.

Even as the charges and counter-charges between the members of the ruling group and BJP-SAD alliance continued, the Mayor adjourned the meeting for tea after half an hour of fruitless discussion.

After the tea, the issue regarding the various inquiries came up for discussion. Members expressed concern oover the delay in the submission of an inquiry report regarding the bitumen scam. The Commissioner replied that fair opportunity had to be given to the accused in the inquiry that was why there had been delay in the submission of the report.

Supporting him, Mr R.K. Aggarwal (Nominated) said the inquiry officer could not be compelled to give reasons for delay in the submission of the report.

Regarding the fate of inquiry on the change of design of the bridge connecting the city with SAS Nagar, the Chairman of the committee, Air Marshal R.S. Bedi (retd), said after the resignation of Mr Aggarwal, the only technical member from the committee, the inquiry had made no headway. Till a technical member was appointed, the committee could not complete its work, he added.

The Commissioner informed the House that since the Chandigarh Administration had ordered a vigilance probe, the nature of these two inquiries might be the same. Still the MCC would approach the Administration for the terms of reference of the vigilance probe so that there was no duplication.

Another important matter regarding staffing of the complaint centre was deferred following protests by members that the staff proposed to be recruited by the civic body was on a higher side.

Major-Gen Gurdial Singh (retd) wanted the MCC to introduce the computer technology so that the number of posts could be reduced. While several members wanted that only a telephone attendent-cum-clerk should be employed for each complaint centre, instead of a clerk, telephone attendent and a peon, officials said it needed to be technically examined whether the posts could be combined.

Another issue which generated a lot of discussion was the removal of encroachment. While the Chairman of the Road Committee, Mr R.L. Arora, said that the encroachments should be removed uniformly without discrimination, Mr Gupta wanted to know why the encroachment removal work was stopped in Sector 23 midway recently. The BJP members accused Mr Arora of altering the priorities in the road recarpeting work.

At this moment, when Ms Ranjana Shahi (BJP) was speaking on the issue and the Commissioner and the Mayor intervened, Ms Shahi accused the Mayor of playing in the hands of officials with a view to "insulting" members. She alleged that by siding with the officials, Mr Addiwal had lowered dignity of the House. The ruling group members strongly opposed utterances by Ms Shahi, calling it uncalled for and unparliamentary.

When short-term enquiries by Mr Tandon were taken up for discussion, they were rejected by the Chair since they contained objectionable words. At this the meeting ended and nothing was audible in the din.

The meeting deferred the auction of commercial sites in Sector 9-C and shops in Mani Majra. Instead of auctioning sites, several members wanted the civic body to commercially develop the area which could be a source of permanent income.

The meeting also recommended to the Administration a ban on polythene bags in the city. A discount of 25 per cent in the tariff of community centre at Thakurdwara, Mani Majra, was also okayed to those residents who had donated land for it.

Today's meeting lasted over five hours and most of the time was wasted in discussing small issues and levelling allegations and counter-allegations by the ruling group and the BJP-SAD alliance.

Mangoes become cheaper
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH July 2 — Even as mangoes have become cheaper, the price of litchi has gone up during the past two days.

During a survey of the market today it was found that though there was no major fluctuation in fruit prices it were the prices of mangoes which have come down during this period. A kg of the 'dasehri' variety of the fruit, priced at Rs 25 a kg two days back, was available today for Rs 20 in different parts of the city. The wholesale price of the fruit has come down from Rs 120 to Rs 100 per eight kg pack.

The same was the case with the 'langra' variety of the fruit as its price, too, has come down from Rs 25 to Rs 20 a kg in retail and from Rs 100 to Rs 80 per eight kg pack in the wholesale market. The price of the 'kupi' variety has come down from Rs 30 a kg to Rs 25 a kg in retail and from Rs 115 to Rs 100 per eight kg in the wholesale market. The 'chausa' variety of the fruit was today priced in the market between Rs 25 and Rs 30 a kg in retail and at Rs 120 to Rs 125 per eight kg pack in the wholesale market.

Similarly, cherry was priced on the higher side as a kg of the fruit was priced between Rs 80 and Rs 95. The two-kg pack of the fruit was available for Rs 150. During the last week, the fruit was priced between Rs 50 and Rs 60 a kg. The hike was attributed to non- arrival of the fruit from Himachal Pradesh, where the season of the fruit was almost over. The current crop is coming from Jammu and Kashmir.

The price of peach has also increased from Rs 30 to Rs 40 a kg in retail and from Rs 20 to Rs 25 a kg in wholesale market. Litchi has also become costlier as a kg of the fruit priced at Rs 50 two days back, was available today for Rs 60 in different parts of the city. The hike is an outcome of the stoppage of arrivals of the fruit from the surrounding areas. It is coming from Palampur and other parts of Kangra Valley these days.

There was no change in the prices of a number of fruits. A dozen bananas was still available for Rs 20, while a kg of apricot was priced at Rs 50 and similarly quantity of 'jamun' could be purchased for Rs 40 in different parts of the city. A kg of pomegranate was also priced at Rs 50 while same quantity of plum was priced at Rs 40. One could purchase papaya at its old price of Rs 20 a kg in retail and for Rs 12 to Rs 16 a kg in the wholesale market.

Monika, Vikrant finish 5th
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH July 2 — Monika Dhiman and Vikrant Singh secured the fifth place each at the close of the fifth day of the Chandigarh Open Invitational Ranking Ball Badminton Tournament here today.

The finals and the matches for the third and fourth places will take place tomorrow.

In the girls semi-finals, Sonika will face Kanchana while Rajinder will take on Anisha. In the boys section, Sonu will meet Arun while Lakhbir will take on Mukesh in the second semi-final.

The following are the results:

Pool A(girls): Kanchana drew with Shweta Vyas 15-13, 8-15; Rajinder drew with Kanchana 14-15, 15-13; Monika Panjla drew with Shweta Vyas 15-6, 6-15.

Pool B (girls): Monika Dhiman b Shikha 15-2, 15-6 ; Sonika drew with Anisha 14-15, 15-6.

Pool A(boys): Lakhbir Singh b Amit Chowdhry 15-12, 15-13; Arun drew with Lakhbir Singh 14-15, 15-8 ; Amit Chowdhry drew with Arun 15-14, 6-15; Amit Chowdhry w/o Amit Bhalla.

Pool B (boys): Mukesh b Vikrant 15-14, 15-12 ; Sonu drew with Vikrant 9-15, 15-14; Vishal lost to Vikrant 5-15, 9-15 ; Mukesh lost to Sonu 6-15, 11-15.

Final placings( 5th to 8th places):

Boys- Vikrant Singh 5th; Amit Chowdhry 6th; Vishal singh 7th; Amit Bhalla 8th.

Girls: Monika Dhiman 5th; Monika Panjla 6th; Shweta Vyas 7th; Shikha Sharma 8th .