Thursday, October 7, 1999
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N E W S Thursday, October 7, 1999 |
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Pawan
Bansal wins by 5,449 votes CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 — Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal of the Congress party has made it to the Lok Sabha again. In a fierce straight contest, he defeated Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, a BJP stalwart, by 5,449 votes. With his win today, Mr Bansal joins a select band of those who have represented Chandigarh in the Lok Sabha twice. The others being Mr Jagan Nath Kaushal (1980, 1984) and Mr Satya Pal Jain (1996,1998). Mr Bansal was a member of the 10th Lok Sabha (1991-96). Mr Bansal polled 1,32,924 votes against 1,27,475 votes polled by Mr Sharma.All remaining 14 contestants lost their security deposits. Mr Bansal polled 48.7 per cent of the valid votes. Of the remaining 14 contestants, Mr Mata Ram Dhiman of the Bahujan Samaj Party, who was also supported by the Sarb Hind Siromani Akali Dal of Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra and the Marxist Communist Party of India, finished a poor third by aggregating 7781 votes. He was followed by a former Haryana Minister, Mr Manphool Singh, who contested as a Samajwadi Party nominee by polling 4853 votes. Colonel Harsharan Singh Sandhu, an Independent, who contested as a nominee of the Raksha Dal, a new political wing of ex-servicemen, polled 3451 votes while Mr Ram Pal Hans, an Independent and founder of the New Congress Party polled 2136 votes. None of the remaining 10 candidates entered the four-figure mark. The lowest votes were polled by Mrs Gurvinder Kaur Sodhi (173), who had, in fact, on the eve of the elections announced her retirement from the contest in favour of Mr Bansal. No untoward incident was reported from anywhere as the counting, which started at 8 a.m., remained peaceful. There was little or no enthusiasm among people anywhere. There was hardly any rush outside any counting centre. The counting of votes was completed at all centres shortly after mid-day. The Sector 42 counting centre was the last to finish the work at around 12.30 p.m., while the Sector 20 centre finished it even before mid-day. Before Mr Bansal went to the office of the Returning Officer to get his formal certificate of being the successful candidate, he went to the house of Mr Harmohan Dhawan, who had been his rival in the past three elections, but had joined the Congress on the eve of the current elections. Later, accompanied by Mr Dhawan, he went to the Returning Officer and collected his certificate. Though Mr Bansal decided against taking out a victory procession, a large number of his supporters and party workers assembled at his residence to celebrate the victory. A drummer had been engaged for "victory bhangra" as "ladoos" were offered to all present. Some garlanded, hugged and congratulated Mr Bansal, his wife, Madhu Bansal, and other family members, besides party functionaries. Mrs Madhu Bansal was the first one to congratulate her husband by offering him a "ladoo" after the victory was confirmed. On the other hand, it was all quiet in Sector 27-A where the BJP candidate, Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, had been staying. A couple of party workers and a few policemen were around in the afternoon as Mr Sharma retired for some rest. He, however, came down to meet newsmen. The result: Total number
of votes: 5,84,656; votes polled 2,82,721; invalid: 0;
Pawan Kumar Bansal (Cong) 1,32,924 (elected); Krishan Lal
Sharma (BJP) 1,27,475; Mata Ram Dhiman (BSP) 7,781;
Dilbagh Singh (Ajeya Bharat) 472; Bimla Sapna (BSP-A)
411; Manphool Singh (SP) 4,853; Inderjit Gupta (Ind) 177;
Kartar Singh Hothi (Ind) 246; Gurnam Singh Sidhu (Ind)
975; Gurvinder Kaur Sodhi (Ind) 173; Palac Shri (Ind)
430; S.M. Bhatti (Ind) 436; Ravi Parkash (Ind) 549;
Rajinder Shrivastav (Ind) 527; Ram Pal Hans (Ind) 2,136
and Harsharan Singh (Ind) 3,251. |
I accept
verdict, says Sharma CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 — "I accept the verdict of the people of Chandigarh in a true sportsman's spirit," said Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, Senior Vice-President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, after his defeat in the Chandigarh parliamentary constituency. In an interview with Chandigarh Tribune at his temporary residence in Sector 27 here this afternoon, Mr Sharma said one of the factors that sealed his fate here was low urban polling. "Chandigarh is not a totally urban constituency as is made to believe. it has a substantial chunk of rural and slum votes. The colonies and slums have been traditionally a Congress stronghold. Besides, low polling in urban areas turned the scales in favour of the Congress." "Maybe the status of Chandigarh issue was another factor. I also feel that anti-incumbency factor in neighbouring Punjab where our party is in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal also influenced the outcome here. To an extent, factionalism in the SAD, leading to formation of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal, may also have been a contributing factor here," said Mr Sharma. He also said his defeat will not hamper his enthusiasm to serve the people of Chandigarh. "I am committed to strengthening the party base here. I do not agree that any internal bickering in the local BJP unit may have influenced the outcome here. Still, we will sit together and analyse our performance and take appropriate steps. My frequency of visits to Chandigarh will be much more. I have a long association and strong connections with this city," Mr Sharma said. Mr Sharma said one of the contributing factors had been that this time, voting was polarised between the two main contestants, as none of the remaining 14 candidates could even reach the five-figure mark. For the past few elections, Chandigarh had been witnessing triangular contests, but this time, it was a straight contest. "As far as our performance is concerned, we have not done badly. We polled 1.27 lakh votes, 8,000 more than elections in 1998. However, this increase was not enough. To an extent, Mr Harmohan Dhawan's joining of the Congress was also a factor that favoured Mr Bansal," he added. Mr Sharma was hopeful that the National Democratic Alliance would get absolute majority and form the government at the Centre again. Though the final tally would be known tomorrow, but the indications, he said, were in favour of the NDA getting anything between 280 and 300 seats. He was also hopeful that the BJP would emerge as the single largest party. The President would as per conventions, should call the leader of the single largest party to put in its claim to form the government, he said. Mr Sharma added that he was a dedicated party worker and his political life had only brief spells of parliamentary politics because he had been devoted more to party affairs. He also said this time, the election period was too long to sustain any public interest in it. Some of the constituencies saw such long electioneering periods that candidates had difficulty in sustaining their campaigns. The government and the Election Commission should sit together to ensure that elections should ideally be over in one day or three days at the maximum. "If controlling violence was any reason for such a long election schedule, then it achieved a little. The violence in Bihar was no less than previous elections. The incidents of repolling in Bihar and some other areas were more than before," he added. Mr Sharma thanked the
administration, his party workers and voters of
Chandigarh for a smooth conduct of the election process. |
At Sector
42 Bansal led from start CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 — The Congress candidate for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, led from the very beginning at the counting centre of Government College for Girls, Sector 42, here. The BJP candidate, Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, trailed from the very outset. In the first round itself, Mr Bansal established a lead of 1,779 votes which went on increasing till the sixth round. A close look at the votes polled showed that votes from the labour colonies saw the Congress candidate through, as by the sixth round Mr Bansal led by over 10,250 votes. However, apparently Mr Sharma polled more votes in the urban areas as the margin went on decreasing after the sixth round when the urban votes were counted. Ultimately, Mr Bansal polled 1,552 more votes than his nearest BJP rival. After the 12 rounds of counting by the electronic voting machines (EVMs), which began at 8 a.m., Mr Bansal polled 33,433 votes as against 31,881 votes polled by Mr Sharma. Mr Mata Ram Dhiman (BSP) and Mr Manphool Singh (SP) secured 1933 and1333 votes, respectively, and were place third and fourth in this centre. A total of 71,307 votes were polled. The centre was a hub of activity right from the morning with leaders and counting agents of various political parties visiting the centre. Prominent among those who visited the centre were Mr Bansal and Mr Dharam Pal Gupta, BJP president. Elaborate security
arrangements were made for the counting and no untoward
incident was reported. The counting was much faster than
the last Lok Sabha elections in 1998 as EVMs were used
this time. Though officially the result was declared
around 2 p.m., yet a clear picture emerged by noon. |
Counting
amidst tight security PANCHKULA, Oct 6 — The auditorium at the BEL colony in Sector 14 here today had high security with rod-wielding policemen in groups of five dotting the entire area to check miscreants from creating trouble at the counting centre of the district for the Ambala Lok Sabha constituency. The mixing of ballot papers from 287 polling booths commenced at around 8 a.m. The 25 rounds of mixing of ballot papers, under the supervision of the observer, Mr AK Prasad, and the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Mr Rajbir Singh, finished late in the afternoon and counting of votes could commence only after 3:30 p.m. The BJP-INLD candidate, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, took a lead of over 2800 votes in the first round of counting during which 15000 votes were considered. By the second round, the margin had increased to over 6000 votes. The first-round counting took up two hours, the second round over an hour, while counting picked up in the third and fourth round during which Mr Kataria's lead had crossed the 11,000 mark in the district. While the representatives of the candidates of the BJP, Congress and the BSP, made appearances from time to time at the venue for counting, the remaining had almost none since they had nothing to write home about. The counting was carried out in seven rounds. After the sixth round,
Mr Kataria had established a lead of over 18,000 over his
Congress rival. In the sixth round , Mr Kataria polled
8616 votes as against 5398 polled by Mr Maulana. The BSP
candidate could manage only 570 votes. |
1,485-vote
lead for Congress in Kharar SAS NAGAR, Oct 6 — In line with the voting trends in Punjab, the Congress candidate, Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, led by 1,485 votes from his nearest rival, Ms Satwinder Kaur Dhaliwal of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) at the end of the counting of votes in the Kharar segment of the Ropar parliamentary seat here today. It took over nine hours for the counting process which was spread over six rounds. The process of mixing the votes, stored in 205 ballot boxes, started at 8 a.m and the last round ended at 6.30 p.m. At least 15 counting tables had been set up in the counting centre at Shiavlik Public School in Phase 6 here. The Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) for the Kharar assembly segment, Mr O.P. Popli, said in each round 15,000 votes were counted. In the first round the SAD candidate was ahead of her Congress rival by 3,747 votes. However, in the second round the Congress candidate took a lead of 132 votes. In the third round Mr Dullo polled 6,400 votes. The SAD candidate got 4,467 — a difference of 1,195 votes. In the fifth round the difference widened between the two candidates by 1,749 votes. In the last round the Congress candidate was ahead of his rival by 739 votes. Ms Satwinder Kaur Dhaliwal was trailing at the third position in all the six rounds. At the end of the sixth round, the Congress candidate polled 34,408 votes as compared to 32,923 votes polled by the SAD candidate. The AISAD candidate got 17,717 votes. Three independent candidates, Mr Shawinder Singh, Mr Sant Singh and Mr Gurjit Singh got 870, 925 and 218 votes, respectively. Of the total 87,892
votes polled in the Kharar assembly segment, 87,061 votes
were valid. |
Counting a
timid affair CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 — The counting of votes was a timid affair sans the hustle and bustle of previous elections where supporters of the various parties would anxiously wait near the barricades around the counting centres to know the votes polled after each round. The number of agents deputed inside the counting hall at Government Polytechnic in Sector 26 this time was less. Unlike the exchange of hot words between the counting staff and the agents or between the agents of opponents, this time the tally of each candidate was shown to the agents, who took down the number of votes polled at the 15 counting tables set up on the occasion. With areas under the Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) of six and seven segment, the lead in this section predominated by villages and labour colonies was in favour of the winning candidate. The counting started at about 8 a.m. and was over by noon. There were in all eight and a half rounds. Mr Pawan Bansal, though trailing by more than 1,000 votes in the first round, polled more than 3,000 votes in the second round and never looked back in the ensuing rounds and at the end led by 5,201 votes. The supporters of the winning candidates had jubilation writ large on their faces after the fifth round when the lead had crossed the 4,000 mark. They could be seen hugging one another as the last round was over. Many of the candidates
also visited the polling stations and observed the
counting process. There was not much scope this time for
complaints as the votes polled in this area, 53,000,
tallied with the total at the end of the day. |
Victory of
secularism: Bansal CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 — "More than victory, responsibility has been assigned to me by the outcome of this election," says Mr Pawan Bansal, the new MP from Chandigarh, adding that consistency of the Congress to work for the people even after defeats in last two elections has brought him victory this time. In an interview with the Chandigarh Tribune at his residence, Mr Bansal said the result had shown that the electorate of Chandigarh had accepted the Congress ideal of secularism. "After this election, the Congress has emerged stronger. Besides Mr Harmohan Dhawan, there have been others who have joined the Congress both before and during the elections. They felt attracted to our party as they found something in it," he said, admitting that Mr Dhawan was a factor in his electoral triumph. "I am happier as the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, of the Shiromani Akali Dal, an alliance partner of the BJP, had projected the BJP candidate, Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, as the probable Deputy Prime Minister of the country. The people of Chandigarh have given their verdict, entrusting me with a new responsibility which I promise to discharge conscientiously. Once elected, I am the MP for the entire Union Territory of Chandigarh," he stated. "Immediately after my election, I decided not to take out any victory procession. I do not want any road show or showmanship. I will definitely go around the city to thank the electorate in each and every part of the Union Territory," he added. Talking about his priorities, Mr Bansal said maintaining Chandigarh as a neat and clean city would be his top priority. "Another election will not be my consideration. I will do my best to maintain the special character of the city. I want it to be developed as second national capital after New Delhi," he said. "Though an MP has no executive authority in the administration, he has moral authority, which I will exercise and assert to get more funds for improving the infrastructure in the city. Quality education and health care will be major areas of my attention. Though other issues will also get my attention, these are key areas for initial focus. Anything which concerns the city will concern me. There are other issues, including simplification of leasehold system and amendments to building bylaws, which will be taken up with the administration," Mr Bansal further said. He also talked about
improvement in roads and traffic management to reduce
traffic snarls on city roads. Mr Bansal went to a temple,
Gurdwara Nanaksar in Sector 28 and the Congress Bhavan in
Sector 35 after the official declaration of the election
result. |
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CHANDIGARH: The counting process at the Sector 26 counting station was delayed by about half an hour as the keys of the strong room where the EVMs had been stored were misplaced. After unsuccessfully trying to unlock the room with some other keys, the lock was finally broken by the staff. **** While the Election Commission had directed that nobody could carry cellular phones and pagers inside the counting hall, it seemed that the order was taken lightly by some officers on poll duty. Not only were the phones taken inside the hall, a few could be seen making use of these. **** The wait before the election material was despatched to the treasury proved to be unbearable and some of the officers used this time to call up their friends and relatives to know what was the latest on the election bulletins. Then followed an analysis on the reasons behind the losses in certain areas and what was to be expected in the days to come. **** Reporters carrying authorised identity cards issued by the Election Commission of India were denied entry into the counting centre located in Government College, Sector 46. All reporters were sternly denied entry by officials at the gate saying, ‘’Saab ne mana kiya hai jee’’ (The boss has said no one should be allowed to enter). The authority card clearly states ‘’entry is allowed inside the centre,’’. However, officials had their own interpretation of the meaning. Later in the day, the officials relented after reporters insisted that they should be allowed entry. **** Mobile phones came in very handy for party workers of both the Congress and the BJP. Party workers were carrying the phones outside the counting centres. They were seen conveying the latest trends to their co-workers in other centres. An activist with a small diary in hand could be seen conveying and receiving the latest on counting. SAS NAGAR Some police officials and staff on election duty had to face the ire of the Election Observer for the Kharar segment of the Ropar parliamentary seat, Ms N. Chatterji, when the camera crew of a cable TV channel came in to the counting centre without the valid authority letter. **** At the end of the
counting, the agents of the Congress party were seen
expressing their gratitude to the workers of the
All-India Shiromani Akali Dal (AISAD) for the poor
performance of the SAD candidate. |
What
factors tilted the balance CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 — Low polling in urban areas, extension of Punjab's anti-incumbency factor, reduction of a triangular fight to direct contest and joining of the Congress by former Union Civil Aviation Minister Harmohan Dhawan appear to be the decisive factors that tilted the balance in favour of Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat. A look at the result reveals that both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party polled more votes than the last elections in 1998 while other contestants failed to garner the expected number of votes. For example, the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate, Mr Mata Ram Dhiman, who was supported by Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal and Marxist Communist this time, even failed to repeat his 1996 performance when he had polled more than 10,000 votes. This time, he could total only 7,781 votes. The clinching factor in the election this time has been the colony and rural vote. It is in these areas that the Congress got overwhelming support. If Mr Pawan Bansal built a substantial lead, it was mainly from all labour colonies, slums, Mani Majra and villages while in urban or city areas, with certain exceptions, the BJP polled nearly 60 per cent votes. For example, of the five counting centres, the overall tally of the Congress was substantially better than that of the Bharatiya Janata Party in three while the BJP led only at Sectors 11 and 19 counting centres. The lead for the Congress at the Sector 26 counting centre, which covered Mauli Jagran, Bapu Dham and Mani Majra and other areas, was more than 5,200 votes while at the Sector 46 counting centre where votes from Ram Darbar, Colony No 5 and Burail were counted, the Congress led BJP by nearly 3,000 votes. At the Sector 42 counting centre, the overall Congress lead was about 1500 votes. Compared to that the BJP led the Congress by a little more than 2,200 votes at the Sector 11 counting centre while at the Sector 20 centre, the BJP led by about 1,900 votes. Interestingly, the BJP polled 82 of the 95 postal ballots while the Congress got only 10 and three went in favour of Col Harsharan Singh (retd), an independent. This time, the polling had been the lowest ever, a little more than 48 per cent. Since a substantial number of Punjab Government employees are voters here, their unhappiness with the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party Government in the State may have influenced the result here. The anti-incumbency factor of Punjab, the BJP leaders feel, did play a role here as well. The BJP is also unhappy with low and hostile polling in some of the wards which are represented by the party Councillors in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The turnout was much lower than expected in Sectors 23, 41, 45, Burail and a few other areas. In one polling booth in Sector 9 also, the BJP polled much less than the Congress though the usual pattern was in its favour elsewhere in the first 11 Sectors. On the other hand, Mr Harmohan Dhawan was greatly successful in transferring his vote in the rural areas and colonies, especially Mani Majra, where his Councillors had won in the only election of the Municipal Corporation nearly three years ago. Many reasons have been ascribed for the low turnout. But the main reasons include frequent elections, failure of the governments to meet the aspiration of voters, "municipalisation of Lok Sabha elections", rain on the day of polling, live telecast of a cricket match during polling time and dissatisfaction with the present political system. Interestingly, this may
perhaps be the second time, when Chandigarh may return an
MP to the Opposition. The only previous occasion had been
the first election in the Union Territory when it
returned Mr Siri Chand Goyal of the Jana Sangh to the Lok
Sabha while the Congress was in power at the Centre.
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BJP led in
Sector 20 CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 — A major chunk of the urban votes was counted at the Sector 20 Government College for Education centre. At this centre the BJP candidate, Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, led the Congress candidate, Mr Pawan Bansal by 1,942 votes when the counting ended. It was one of the two counting centres in the city where the BJP (21,202 votes) ended up being ahead of the Congress (19,260 votes). It was also at this counting centre that the process ended the quickest in the morning. The counting staff was sitting idle after about 11 a.m., while the Assistant Returning Officer (ARO), Mr Arun Sekhri, and his staff sealed the electronic voting machines (EVMs) again after the counting. At this centre the BJP workers and Mr Sharma were in high spirits. On the other hand, the BJP trailed the Congress by 2,976 votes at the Sector 46 counting centre. Mr Sharma polled 30,120 votes, while Mr Bansal got 27,144 votes in this centre. It was at the Sector 46 centre that congress workers got the first whiff of victory. The counting ended here the last in the city. When the margin was conveyed on mobile phones from another centre in Sector 26, the charged up congress workers pulled out party flags from their cars and started an impromptu procession and raised slogans. The slogan raising
reached the peak when the grey-coloured Tata Safari, in
which Mr Bansal was travelling, pulled out of the centre.
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Villages
lack garbage disposal system RANI MAJRA (Kharar), Oct 6 — The absence of a garbage disposal system in villages on Chandigarh's periphery has become a cause of concern for the residents. The residents of Rani Majra, Salampatpur, Kasoli and Gaudan villages have made several representations to the authorities in this regard. Every year, the rainy season brings diseases such as viral fever and malaria. Pools of stagnant water and heaps of garbage are a common sight. Villagers say that complaints to the panchayats have gone in vain. The panchayats, on their part, plead helplessness for want of funds. The residents say that in the absence of a disposal system, the villagers dump household waste and cow dung in the streets and in open spaces. These garbage dumps have become breeding places for flies, insects and mosquitoes. The villagers look up to the authorities to make some permanent arrangement for the disposal of garbage. "Our village is about 9 km from the main road and it becomes difficult for us to reach the hospital," says Mr Tulsi Ram, a resident of Kasoli village. The residents accuse the panchayats of neglecting the sanitation in the villages. According to a panchayat member, the garbage is dumped by sweepers employed by the panchayats on a temporary basis. Moreover, the panchayats do not have the funds to employ an adequate number of sweepers. Panchayat members accuse
the authorities of ignoring sanitation in the villages.
The inflow of funds is very slow. Grants take months to
reach us," says another member of the panchayat.
With an increase in population, the allocation for the
rural areas should be increased, the villagers demand. |
Kalpana Chawla features in PEC
festival CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 — Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian woman to venture into space, features in the video conferencing session of the three-day festival 'Panaoplia '99' at Punjab Engineering College (PEC), to be held from October 8. For all Internet buffs, the festival will provide free access through a high-speed connection on the latest hardware. Ms Chawla is also an alumni of PEC, Dheeraj Khandelwal, a student of ME (Mechanical), said. The festival will feature technical education institutions from all over the country. There will be a series of lectures and workshops on topics ranging from frontier technology to day-to-day life by eminent personalities. The important events for the festival include paper presentation, software design, hardware design, teaching competition, web page and science quiz, among others. Literary events, including extempore, debate and panel discussions on contemporary topics, will be conducted. The event will also feature science fiction movies in the evenings. The contest takes over
from PECFEST, the annual programme. This programme faced
minor problems last year. The festival will be
inaugurated by Mr R.S. Nirjer, Member Secretary of the
All India Council of Technical Education, on October 7. |
NSS camp
concludes CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 — The 10-day special camp of the NSS unit of the MCM DAV College concluded here today. Mrs Jaishree Sharma, a former chairperson of the Social Welfare Advisory Board, presided over the function. Experience of interaction with the underprivileged of Palsora and Colony II during the camp were referred to. The interaction helped broaden rapport building with community members at large, Mrs Sharma said. Monica, Beenu and Amrita
were given prizes for group management. Dr Manisha
Priyamvada, convener, read out the camp report. Women
empowernment, drug de-addiction, literacy and personality
building were few among various issues discussed with
colony residents. |
Held for
smuggling whisky DERA BASSI, Oct 6 — The police has arrested Dalbir Singh of Phagwara in Fatehgarh Sahib district for smuggling 525 cases of whisky. On the information received about an Ambala-bound truck (CH-01-A-6352) loaded with whisky, the accused was arrested by the police on Monday night during a naka near Lalru. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr H.S. Bhullar, said the truck approached the naka at about 1.30 am. The driver tried to speed away the vehicle when the police signalled it to stop. The driver was arrested on the spot and 525 cases (6,300 bottles) of whisky were seized. "The accused has
confessed to the smuggling of liquor from a
Chandigarh-based store of a wine shop to Ambala and
Karnal," said Mr Bhullar. After impounding the
truck, the police registered a case under Section 61/1/14
of the Excise Act against its driver. |
TA
expedition flagged off CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 — A motorcycle expedition of the Territorial Army (TA) was flagged off to Delhi by Brigadier Khushwant Singh, Commander, TA Group Headquarters, Western Command, from Chandi Mandir here yesterday. Held to commemorate the golden jubilee of the TA, the expedition is led by Captain Vichara, a paratrooper from the parachute battalion of the TA. It was flagged from Pune on September 4 and will culminate at Delhi, after covering more than 5,000 km, including areas ranging from the deserts of Rajasthan to the inhospitable terrain of Ladakh. En route, the team
interacted with civilian populace in Mumbai, Ahmedabad,
Jaipur, Amritsar, Jammu, Srinagar, Kargil, Jalandhar and
Chandigarh. The members also paid homage to Kargil
martyrs and visited some of the places in Operation
Vijay. The expedition will participate in the Prime
Minister's TA Day parade in New Delhi on October 9. |
SNIPPETS ‘Stop misuse of
tractor-trailers’ KHARAR, Oct 6 — Mr Daljeet Singh Saini, President, Sarab Hind Shiromani Akali Dal, here has demanded that the Punjab Government should stop the “misuse” of tractor-trailers on a large scale for business purposes in Punjab. In a press note issued here yesterday, he said the government does not charge token tax and other taxes on tractor-trailers because these were being used by farmers for agricultural purposes but now thousands of tractor-trailers were being used for carrying sand, fodder, wood etc, causing financial loss to the government.He said this way business of truck owners was badly affected. He said the government should issue permit to these tractor-trailers and should charge taxes on such vehicles. Nursery rhyme contest held CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 — A nursery rhyme competition for students of primary classes was organised by the State Institute of Education, Sector 32, here today as part of the state-level competition for nursery and primary students.A total of 17 model schools, 14 rural schools and 12 urban schools participated in the contest, which had 301 students. The results are as follows:Urban schools: GSSS-47 (1), GHS-32 (2), GHS-24 (3).Model schools: GMSSS-35 (1), GMSSS-40 (2), GMHS-36 and GMMS-12 (3).Rural schools: GMS-Kaimbala and GHS-Dadu Majra (1), GSSS-38 West (2), GMS-Raipurkhurd (3). Blood donation camp held CHANDIGARH, Oct 6 —
Group Captain S.S. Nannar inaugurated a blood donation
camp at Air Force High Grounds by donating blood
yesterday.Doctors from the Red Cross Blood Bank,
Ludhiana, conducted the camp. It was organised jointly by
the Lions Club and the Lioness Club, Panchkula (Central)
and the Punjab unit of the Indian Red Cross Society.In
all, 140 persons, including members of staff of Kendriya
Vidyalaya and MES donated blood. The region chairman of
the Lions Club, Dr S.S. Bhamra, said more blood donation
camps would be organised to meet the growing demand for
blood in hospitals. |
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