Armed dacoits loot jewellery shop
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, June 5 — Dacoits brandishing guns struck at a jewellery shop, Rinku Jewellers, in the busy Sector 9 market and escaped with cash, gold and silver jewellery items worth lakhs of rupees here this afternoon. This was the second dacoity in the town in the past 45 days. The dacoits, who came to the shop in the guise of customers, escaped on scooter after the crime.

While fleeing, two of them also snatched a Kinetic Honda scooter from a school-going student and used it to for their escape.

While all the three occupants in the shop — two owners and a servant — escaped without injury as they did not offer any resistance to the six armed dacoits. This is the second incident in which in which a jewellery shop has been targeted by dacoits in the city. It has stirred a strong resentment among the shopkeepers.

The last time, four bandits had struck at a jewellery shop, Mittu Jewellers, in Haripur village of Sector 4 on April 21. The owner of shop, Mr Paramjit Mittu, was seriously injured when one of the assailants fired at him from a country-made pistol.

All six bandits, as described by eyewitnesses, spoke Hindi and Punjabi and appeared to be hailing from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. One of the them had shoulder-length hair. Rajinder (18), a servant initially attended to the dacoits, mistaking them to be customers. One of them entered the shop asking for a gold ring. Soon he was followed by two of his accomplices and later three others joined them.

When the owners of the shop, Harish and Rinku, and their servant, Ramesh, were busy showing the finger ring to the bandits, one of them took out a country-made pistol, concealed under his shirt. The servant said that while two dacoits were armed with two pistols each, the others had one pistol each. One of them was also brandishing a knife.

Mr Harish, an eye witness to the incident, said the dacoits asked for the keys of the safe and broke the display glass case in which the jewellery items were displayed. One of the dacoits, who was wearing a grey colour shirt, took off his shirt to collect the booty. The gold chains worn by the owners of the shop were also snatched by the fleeing bandits.

The glass pane in front of the shop is covered with a black film. To avoid being caught by the police, the dacoits left the shop one by one. The last one to leave threatened to shoot the jewellers if they raised the alarm.

A shopkeeper in the market, Mr Kapil Chadha, said he had seen four persons sitting on scooters, behind the market, as if they were waiting for somebody. Having no inkling of what was happening in his neighbourhood, he entered his shop.

While fleeing, two of the dacoits disconnected the phone of the shop. They snatched a scooter (CH-01-K-7220) from Satyam, a Class X student of Little Flower School, who had come to a printing shop on the road dividing Sectors 9 and 10. Satyam said that he was hit in the arm by the barrel of a gun, being carried by one of the assailant. He tried to raise the alarm but by the time they had escaped.

Later, the Kinetic Honda scooter was found abandoned at a place near the Housing Board roundabout in Mani Majra . The police suspects that the bandits escaped towards Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, the shopkeepers of the Sector 9 market downed their shutters in protest against the inability of the police to check such incidents in the city. The Vice-President of the Panchkula Beopar Mandal, Mr Mukesh Malhotra, along with other members of the mandal reached the site of the crime. Mr Malhotra said that even after the last dacoity, the police was yet to intensify patrolling in the sector markets.

Issuing of arms licences to the local jewellers was also reiterated by the shopkeepers. Stationing of a permanent dog squad with the local police was also sought. Later, representatives of the Beopar Mandal held a meeting with the Superintendent of Police, Mr Alok Mittal.

Police opposes music shows
From Our Correspondent

SAS NAGAR, June 5 — The local police today opposed the granting of permission for holding music and other shows if the organisers failed to make proper arrangements for the events, as this led to public harassment.

Mr B.S. Randhawa, SP, told newspersons here that the organisers of the Hans Raj Hans show on Thursday distributed around 8,000 passes but made seating arrangements for hardly 2,500 persons. Only VIP pass-holders could get entry to the venue, while general pass-holders remained outside.

He said there was only one gate, and as no barricades had been erected, it was difficult to control thousands of persons who wanted to hear the singer. The police had to resort to the use of batons.

The SHO, of the area, Mr Balwant Singh, commenting on the misbehaviour with Mr T.S. Bedi, a photographer of Ajit, said some “misunderstanding” had arisen, as the police was having a hard time controlling the unruly crowd.

SHO told to book person
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5 — The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr S.S. Lamba, has directed the SHO of the Central Police Station to book Kewal Krishan Bhandari on the charge of cheating.

Bhandari, who had been functioning as stock surety for those granted bail by different courts, landed himself in trouble when he appeared as surety in a case in which Tarlochan Singh was ordered to be released on bail.

Mr Lamba suspected his antecedents and questioned Bhandari about the department in which he was working. Bhandari told the court that he was an employee of Punjab Engineering College.

Mr Lamba was not convinced. He directed a Sub-Inspector who was present in his court to enquire from the college whether Bhandari was working there.

When the Sub-Inspector took Bhandari outside the courtroom, he confessed that he had been dismissed from service. He also presented before the court the original identity card which was issued to him when he was in service.

The judge ordered, “You (the SHO of the Central Police Station), are called upon to register an FIR and investigate the matter. Original identity card along with bail bonds submitted by him and photocopy of the identity card attached with the bail bond are also sent herewith. The accused is also sent through the Sub-Inspector, Mr Jai Parkash Singh.”

Witness turns hostile
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5 — Dr Jasmer Singh, one of the prosecution witnesses in the Burail Jail case, turned hostile today.

Appearing before the Additional Sessions Judge, Mr S.S. Lamba, who held court at the high security Burail Jail, Jasmir Singh denied any knowledge about the incident. He also denied that he had made any statement before the police.

He stuck to his stand when he was questioned by the Public Prosecutor. He repeated, “I deny that I disclosed anything to the police.

The court has examined 23 prosecution witnesses, with four more witnesses left for examination.

JET results out
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5 — The results of the Joint Entrance Examination conducted by the Punjab State Board of Technical Education on May 16 have been declared. Out of 27,501 candidates who took the test, nearly 80 per cent have qualified. The qualifying percentage of girl candidates is 77 while that of the boys is 79.

The results in the official gazette shall be available in all government and private polytechnics affiliated to the board in Punjab and Chandigarh. The individual result cards would be mailed to the candidates within a week, a spokesman of the board said.

The results can also be accessed through the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) for which the board would soon come out with details.

Jashanjeet Singh Gill (roll no. 2502237) from Moga has topped the list of successful candidates in this year's JET. The second and third positions have gone to Ravi Bansal (roll no 1902014) from Hoshiarpur and Sumeet Mittal (roll no 12201136) from Bathinda, respectively. Amandeep Kaur (roll no 2904194) from Patiala, who was placed overall fourth, topped the list of successful girl candidates.

PTV telecast banned
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5 — The Chandigarh Administration has imposed a ban on the transmission of Pakistan Television programmes by local cable operators.

An order to this effect was issued by the District Magistrate, Mr M. Ramsekhar, under Section 19 of the cable Television Networks (Regulations) Act, 1995. Under the order transmission or retransmission of programmes by Pakistan Television are prohibited with immediate effect within the bounds of the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Violation of the order shall invite action under Section 16 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulations) Act, 1995. The order shall remain effective until further orders.

Students told of self-development
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5—On the second day of the three-day workshop being held at New Public School, Sector 18, students were given a discourse on moral values besides a talk on self development, time management and communication skills, here today.

The camp began with tips on self development from Dr K.L. Anand, an educationist, who stressed that solving of problems was an easy job if the mind was kept open to ideas and positive thinking was developed. He informed the students that if their knowledge of how the problem cropped up initially was complete, they could easily develop an insight into the matter and work out solutions.

Another educationist, Dr Pankaj Malviya, speaking on time management, enlightened the students on how proper utilisation of time paid rich dividends. He said that the concept of ``all work and no play'' was unhealthy and that they should learn to manage time in a way that it was proportionally distributed between work and play.

The Joint Director of the Board of Technical Education, Haryana, Mr Kanti Mohan, lectured on the topic of ``Communication Skills''. He taught the students the art of communicating with fewer words, putting their message across effectively and then the kind of response they could expect to their queries.

Mr Sham Sunder, a lecturer in Hindi at a local college, spoke on the moral duty of the students towards society. He spoke on the necessity of inculcating values and virtues which would go a long way in the development of the individual and in creating a better society.

SAD stakes claim to city seat
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5 — Mr Gurpartap Singh Riar, President of the local unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal has staked claim of his party for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat.

In a statement issued here, Mr Riar said that for the last two consecutive Lok Sabha elections, the Dal had been supporting Mr Satya Pal Jain of the BJP, and helped him to win on both occasions. This was the high time the BJP-SAD alliance gave the ticket to a Dal nominee.

Mr Riar further said that Mr Satya Pal Jain had done a little for the general public of the city and rather tried to bifurcate the BJP and SAD alliance by engineering rift in his own party. In case the BJP leadership remained adamant on making Mr Satya Pal Jain candidate again for the third successive time, the local unit of the Dal would think twice before extending support to him, he added.

Occupancy rate of hotels
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5 — The Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) and the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Chandigarh (HRAC) have claimed that the occupancy rate of the three government-run hotels and 27 private hotels in the city was between 50 per cent and 60 per cent.

This was stated by Mr Satish Chandra, Managing Director of CITCO, and Mr Man Mohan Singh, President of the HRAC, in separate statements.

Mr Chandra added that in addition to the rooms available in the hotels, as many as 86 rooms have been constructed at Hotel Mountview, Sector 10, in anticipation of of the tourist season and to cope with the rush during mega events and conventions. The low occupancy was the result of depressed economic conditions and the availability of illegal and unauthorised accommodation in the city.

Politicians blamed for Kargil
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5 — The Kargil conflict was the outcome of failure of intelligence agencies and the dilly-dallying of our political bosses.

This was the opinion of ex-servicemen at a gathering attended by members of the North Zone Ex-Defence Personnel Sangathan, here today. The meeting was chaired by Air Marshal Randhir Singh (retd).

Talking to newspersons, Mr Singh said that the reports of a build up in the Skardu sector of Pakistan kept coming in for many months but we failed to analyse their intentions till about last month. We were not able to react fast enough in giving political clearance for deployment of our defence forces.

"It seems that there have been failures down the line from primary intelligence agencies. We also failed to make a correct assessment of the adversary's intentions before the balloon went up. Only an inquiry will bring out the truth," he said.

Stressing the importance of restructuring the entire system, he said that the National Security Council (NSC) should have more military men and less bureaucrats.

The sangathan also gave an ultimatum to the BJP government and its allies in wake of the alleged failure of the Centre to fulfill their demand of one rank one pension. He said during the previous election, the BJP had promised that this demand would be fulfilled but nothing had happened so far.

The sangathan has launched a signature campaign advocating that ex-servicemen will vote against the party. About 2,000 signatures have been collected so far from the city alone and more than 15,000 more are expected to be collected from the region.

A letter listing the demands, has been given to the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who, had also agreed to get the demands fulfilled, he added.

140 lawyers get licences
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5—Joy and pride was writ large over their faces as 140 fresh law degree holders hailing from different parts of Punjab and Haryana were awarded practice licences by the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana at the District Courts here today.

The licences were awarded by Mr H. S. Mattewal, Chairman of the council.

While addressing the gathering, Mr Mattewal said that after going to the field they should fight injustice and should dedicate themselves to get justice for everybody, particularly the poor and the downtrodden.

He said they should work hard to establish themselves in the profession, which was one of the most noble professions and had greater scope provided it was taken with full sincerity and integrity. He said the youngsters, who had the potential to change the world, should resolve to remove imbalances from society with a sense of utmost dedication and making money should not be their sole objective.

Meanwhile, the enthusiasm was all pervasive among the awardees, a large number of whom were old and retired persons. While talking to the TNS, Mr K.K.Kapur, a retired LIC official, said it was a matter of joy for him to get the licence as it would enable him to practise in the court and pass the s rest of his life gracefully.

Similarly, Mr Balbir Singh Balbir, a former IRS officer, said he would practise in the stream of custom laws and would do his duty towards society with sincerity.

On the other hand, Ms Narinder Kaur from Dabwali said she was thrilled to get the licence, but as yet she had not decided whether to adopt it as a profession or not.

Mr Sham Lal, a young awardee from Ludhiana, said he felt honoured and would serve people in every possible way after starting practise at Ludhiana.

'Indian doctrine needed'
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5 — Prof M.L Sondhi, eminent scholar and expert on world affairs, stressed the need to bring about a radical strategic diversification, both in security and economy in the changing global scenario.

He was delivering a lecture on "Global Perspective; Economic and Security", at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) here today.

He pointed out that India never manages to generate loyalty with the Third World countries and that is why it finds itself isolated at the international fora. India first and foremost needs to set its goals in a new manner, whereby, it should identify countries with common interests and opportunities.

"India needs an Indian doctrine, not a Gujral or Vajpayee doctrine, which should be best suited to the requirements of both India and Pakistan", said Mr Sondhi. He also emphasised the fact that we must learn conflict management by focussing more on cross-fertilisation of ideas best suited to the present situation. He further said that we need to realise that the alliance between China and Pakistan is unnatural and fatal for Indian interest. We should try and break the league between Pakistan and India by having a policy closer to China.

In fact, we should have effected changes in our strategy after the Chinese explosion of 1964. While we should continue to work on peace solution we need to lay emphasis on weaponisation, he added.

Talking about strategic diversification in economy, he said the time has come when we need to overcome fear of economic sanctions and embargoes. India has not only survived these sanctions but also shown a growth of 5 per cent economic growth.

He also emphasised the need for structural reforms in economic fundamentals to bring about an improvement in the economic structure. He observed that the unchecked rise in real estate prices has burdened the common man.

India should force public sector undertakings to enter the market with better quality of goods and not keep looking towards western technology.

He also focussed on the need to create a new work environment when the country is faced with political, social, cultural and economic crises.

Mr Rashpal Malhotra, Director of CRRID, brought out the relevance of Simla Agreement and impressed upon the audience the necessity of a thorough study of the historical perspective that governed any society at any point of time.

Later, Gen Himmat Singh Gill, eminent defence analyst and writer, highlighted the need for stepping up defence production in both the public and private sectors. He reinforced the point that a proper security grid, both within India and the South Asian region, could well be effected by more participation of seasoned retired defence officers in the security and diplomatic related environment.

Youth rush to career fete
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5 — The second day of 'Alternatives', a three-day exhibition on education and careers being held at CII, Sector 31, began with a seminar on 'Advertising as Career'. It was conducted by Mr Sanjeev Kotnala, Client Services Controller from Ammirati Puris Lintas.

Mr Kotnala projected a growth of 25 per cent to 30 per cent in the advertising agencies. During the interactive presentation session, he listed the educational qualification, attitude and aptitude required for getting into this industry as also work in an advertising agency.

Mr Kotnala told the young crowd that along with being highly lucrative, it was a high-pressure and competitive career. Emphasising on a management degree for the profession and a graduate degree for the creative side, he said that in most cases, universities did matter.

Both the students and their parents showed interest in the emolument attached at different entry levels in this industry and also the universities and the institutes which were considered to be in the "top bracket".

In the afternoon, Mr S. Venkatesh, Head, Career Education Group, NIIT, gave an introduction to the information technology which is the fastest growing industry in the world with an annual growth rate of 30 per cent across the board. Talking about Internet, he said that E-commerce is expected to generate huge revenues.

Mr Venkatesh said that there is tremendous scope for growth in software development, training, technical writing with the use of Internet and almost everybody going on-line, consulting, providing customer support on-line and data management.

Meanwhile, the almost 20 stalls at the exhibition saw hordes of students wanting to know about different courses available. The maximum rush was to be seen at the various counters offering courses abroad.

550 crore for road repair
From Our Correspondent

DERA BASSI, June 5 — The Punjab government will spend Rs 550 crore to get village link roads repaired in the next two years and Rs 20 crore will be spent on the construction of various bridges and laying of roads in Dera Bassi subdivision by the end of this financial year.

Capt. Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister, Punjab, disclosed this while addressing a public gathering in Rampur Sainian village, near Dera Bassi, after laying the foundation stone of Rampur Sainian-Samgoli road, here today. The 25 km long and 18 feet wide road would come up at a cost of Rs 2 crore and would connect Jarot and Jora Kalan villages with the main road.

the residents of the surrounding villages would benefit after completion of this road. The unemployed villagers would get employment in the new industrial units to come up in the area, said the Finance Minister.

The construction work of two bridges over the Tangri river and the Jawaharpur choe would be completed before the rainy season. On the completion of these bridges, the residents of more than seven villages, which remained cut off during rains, would stay in touch with other parts of the state.

Criticising the Congress, he said the party had created an atmosphere of political and economic instability in the country, which posed a threat to national security. Only the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal, along with other alliance partners, could give a stable government, he claimed.

He also criticised Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra for forming a new Akali Dal group. This was done to defeat Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister of Punjab, and was an indirect support to the Congress, he alleged.

The Finance Minister also laid the foundation stones of the widening and repair of the Bhankarpur-Mubarikpur road and Pandwala village ring road. He gave cheques to 37 village panchayats for their development.

He announced grants of Rs 2 lakh each for the streets and drains of Rampur Sainian and Pandwala villages, Rs 1 lakh for the construction of a school boundary wall in Pandwala village and Rs 50,000 for the Balmiki Dharamshala in Rampur Sainian village.

Mr S.S. Sidhu, SDM, Dera Bassi, Mr G.S. Sodhi, Chief Engineer, PWD (B and R), Mr H.S. Bhullar, DSP, Mr G.S. Dalli, President of the Municipal Committee, and sarpanches of different villages were also present.

SNIPPETS

Railway station shop closed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5—Following a ban on the sale of bidis and cigarettes at railway platforms by the Railway Ministry, the lone shop selling these items at the local Railway Station was closed down today by the railway authorities.

The Ministry which has banned the sale of these items on World Environment Day today, has taken the step in the interest of the general health and well being of the people, particularly passengers.

Club for JCOs opened
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5 — The Western Command added another feather in it’s cap toady when a club for Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and other ranks was inaugurated by Lt Gen HB Kala, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, in Chandimandir, today.

The club, a first of its kind in the western sector, is a gift to the JCOs and jawans during the ‘Year of Jawans’. This welfare measure will benefit the JCOs, jawans and their families living in Chandimandir Cantonment. It will promote social interaction amongst themselves through various activities such as entertainment programmes and indoor games.

The club has a TV room, a reading room, ladies and children rooms, besides a bar and facilities for indoor games like table tennis.

2.22 lakh for water supply
Tribune New Service

CHANDIGARH, June 5 — To strengthen the potable water supply in villages falling under Morni block, the district administration had sanctioned Rs 2.22 lakh to tap spring water in the area.

This was disclosed by the Deputy Commissioner, Ms Saroj Siwach, at a open darbar organised at Tikkar village in Morni here yesterday. Residents of Brat, Tikkar Tal and other surrounding villages aired their grievances at the darbar.