Knowledge is power, say brave women
By Sonoo Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 9 — Ms Chandra J.Kanjilal, battered wife and employee of a hotel, which she took to court for falsely implicating her, is today running a women's organisation in 26 villages of Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh to empower women. And ironically, after 16 years of work, she is today being threatened by extremist groups of these villages, which have not only destroyed her property but also driven her staff out of the area.

A fighter of social injustices meted out to a divorced woman in our society, she has been given the Neerja Bhanot Award for 1999.

A sub-inspectors' wife, who studied till Class X, Ms V. Gowramma fought a 10-year battle against her husband who married twice again, and was able to get him dismissed from service. Today, after having educated herself on the laws concerning women's rights, she is busy helping other battered women through a social organisation in Bangalore, called Vimochana.

This gutsy woman who has handled more than 1,000 cases of such women, has been awarded the Neerja Bhanot Award for 1998.

In an exclusive interview with TNS today, these two women, who did not want to dwell too much on their tumultuous past, talked passionately about their work in the area of empowerment of women.

Though Ms Chandra, a city-bred who went to the grass-root level to help fight the case of the "poorest of the poor women", seemed more dispassionate about the past "because after many phases of fighting in my life, I have entered another phase where I am fighting extremists in order to carry on my work", Ms Gowramma was almost in tears while recounting her past. "Even today, thinking of all those years, when I was all by myself with a two-year-old daughter and a husband who hurt me so much, fills me with anger. It was terrible because society was on my husband's side, since he was in the police, and against me because I had the guts to stand against a man who abused me both physically and mentally"", she said.

But both women agreed that only knowledge can empower women and that the tragedy was that strong women have always frightened men. Strangely enough, while asserting their full belief in the system and even their fates, both also expressed their firm conviction in justice, and fighting against wrong-doing.

Ms Kanjilal talked about her work with the Stree Sanghshema Trust (STA) that was established in 1987 for the poor and backward rural women and which is now working in more than 20 villages of the district.

Running programmes like the Health Development Programme, the Economic Development Training, and the Environment Programme, for the women of the region for 16 years, Ms Kanjilal's work has not always been without trouble and pitfalls. Herself hailing from Kerala, she chose Andhra Pradesh as her base of work because "it happens to be the second poorest state of the nation". She had to face caste barriers, gender bias and even the stigma of the divorced "city-woman".

"Sometimes the number of struggles I have had to fight amazes me, and my life in fact appears to be a sort of a collage", said a blurry-eyed Ms Chandra. Her three children, all of them beaming today at their mother's glory after years of hard work said, "We always expected recognition for Mom, with the kind of things she has braved."

Ms Gowramma, with her matronly figure, lets out the 'woman of substance' in her, when in her smattering of Kanadda and English she passionately talks about the counselling work that she does for distressed victims of domestic violence.

The woman who has today "squashed" all attempts of her husband to get divorce from her "since that would make him a free man and he may even be re-instated in the police force", is also busy rearing her 18-year-old daughter, Rekha, who desires to be a police officer. "I am delighted that my mother has been recognised for this award. And I want to become a police officer because I would like to undo all the wrong things that my father did while he was in the services", said Rekha.

Today evening, at the award ceremony of the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust Awards, held at the Tagore Theatre, Ms Gowramma said that this recognition had given her the strength to carry on. "The award has given me the encouragement to carry on with my work for women in distress", she added.

Ms Chandra, who broke down after she was presented the award said, "The award is like a divine intervention for me, which is telling me to go on. Today my projects have been suspended, my staff driven out and my property destroyed by the extremist groups of Andhra, but this award is egging me forward once again". With tears in her eyes, she appealed to the audience to approach the authorities of Andhra Pradesh, so that no extremist groups could get into the work of women empowerment.

The award carries a citation and Rs 1,50,000 for each awardee.

Present on the occasion today were Mr Harish Bhanot, Neerja Bhanot's father and member of the trust, Justice Kuldip Singh (retd), chairman of the jury committee this year, and Prof M. M. Puri, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University and member of the jury this year, among many others.

SI suspended in torture case
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, Sept 9 — The UT IGP, Mr S. K.Singh, today suspended a sub-inspector for torturing a resident of Mauli Jagran complex who was allegedly involved in a theft case

According to the victim, Mr Rampal, a resident of Mauli Jagran Complex, he was picked up by a police party headed by SI Sanjeev Kumar on September 5 and illegally detained at the Sector 26 police station. He was stripped and beaten up mercilessly that night by the SI along with others and asked to confess stealing money from his employers.

It was only the next day that some leaders of the complex came and got him released. He was threatened that if he told anybody or approached senior officers about this episode, he would be treated in the same way.

" I was too terrified to report the matter to the higher authorities." he showed bruise marks on his back and hips and inability to walk as his legs were pulled apart."I was persuaded by many people to seek justice, " he said while talking to mediapersons at the district courts. He was later carried by his friends to a court room to file his complaint.

The whole episode began when he was sent by his employer, Mr Venod Sethi, proprietor of Sethi Ply palace, Sector 26, to deliver plywood to a party in Ferozepore. On his return , he was asked to submit the payment of Rs 1 lakh, which he claimed was robbed by two scooter-borne youth near Ferozepore.

"My employer did not believe this story and lodged a compliant with the police and I was subsequently picked up and tortured by the police", he added.

Taking help of a lawyer, he filed a complaint in the court of Mr H.S.Madan,Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, who reportedly ordered the Senior Medical Officer, Sector 16 General Hospital, to conduct a medical examination of the complainant.

The report has been submitted to the court in a sealed cover by the SMO. Sources said the examination reportedly showed that his body bore internal and external injuries.

Earlier, Rampal,accompanied by some lawyers and his friends, met the IGP and apprised him of the entire incident. Taking a serious note of the matter, Mr Singh suspended the sub-inspector and ordered an inquiry to be conducted by Mr Alok Kumar, ASP. He has been asked to submit his report in a week.

On the other hand, police sources said Rampal had reportedly admitted having kept the payment of Rs 1 lakh with him and had agreed to pay back the sum to his employers. It was following this that a compromise was reached between both parties and the complainant was let off.

They also questioned the delay in initiating the present action.

MC notices to encroachers
From Kulwinder Sangha

SAS NAGAR, Sept 9 —As encroachments by shopkeepers in the town build up, creating nuisance for the public, the Municipal Council has commenced issuing notices to the defaulters. One lot of 22 notices was delivered by hand to shopkeepers in the Phase V market on September 7.

The notices, issued under Section 173 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, warned the offenders to remove their goods kept illegally in shop verandahs and on roads within two days of getting the notice, failing which action would be taken. However, till this evening not many had complied with the notice.

Shopkeepers alleged that the notices had been given in a “pick-and-choose” manner leaving out a few in Phase V who had “contacts” in the council. This had led to resentment. They said on Wednesday that it was surprising that despite encroachments in the Phase VII scooter market, which was a stone’s throw away from the civic body office, no notice had been issued yet. In one case a dhaba owner in that market was doing cooking in the verandah and had turned the booth into the eating joint.

There are widespread encroachments on market verandahs in almost every phase, particularly by sweet shops, kiryana merchants and tent-house and hardware store owners. Scooter dealers in phases I and IIIB2 have brazenly put their vehicles on display in the verandahs in front of their showrooms. Similar is case with bicycle dealers in phases V and VII. To make matters worse, bank employees, particularly in Phase I, have conveniently turned verandahs into scooter parking lots. Shopkeepers dealing in readymade garments and shoes in phases I, V and IIIB2 have also displayed their items in verandahs.

Some shopkeepers have become habitual offenders, treating the area adjoining their premises as their private property. To a large extent the council is to blame for the situation because it has not taken tough action on a regular basis over the years and is, therefore, not taken seriously by offenders.

A shopkeeper in Phase V said: “If one person keeps his goods or sale counter 2 ft outside his shop, his neighbour may be compelled to move another 1 ft to attract potential customers. If this is not done, business may suffer heavily”.

Council officials said on Thursday that notices were issued first in Phase V as complained had been received from the area. The council Executive Officer, Mr Yash Goel, said that no pick-and-choose approach had been adopted while issuing notices. Notices were given only to those shopkeepers whose goods were lying in verandahs.

Nagar panchayat sets up octroi posts
From Our Correspondent

ZIRAKPUR, Sept 9 — The newly formed Zirakpur Nagar Panchayat has started charging octroi on goods brought within its limits. Eight octroi posts have been set up on the outskirts of the nagar panchayat for the purpose.

One octroi post is at the local bus stand and the seven other posts have been set up on the roads to Ambala, Chandigarh, Patiala, Bhabhat, Panchkula, at the Bartana-Panchkula Sector 19 intersection and the Bartana-Panchkula road (adjacent to the Industrial Area).

According to sources, the panchayat started charging octroi on Wednesday and in the first two days it had collected Rs 30,000. Besides octroi, the nagar panchayat is also charging Rs 10 per truck as "rahdari".

As many as seven godowns of multinational companies (MNCs), six petrol stations, seven big and small hotels and 15 stone crushers fall within the panchayat area and are the main sources of octroi, sources say.

Mr Amrit Pal Bansal, Executive Officer of the panchayat, said the civic body hoped to earn Rs 10,000 every day from the petrol stations, Rs 5,000 from stone crushers and Rs 10,000 as "rahdari" and from other shopkeepers doing business.

"It is hoped that the panchayat will collect approximately Rs 1.75 crore every year from the godowns, provided they do not shift to other places. This amount will be a major source of revenue to the panchayat," Mr Bansal said.

As many as 15 building, fulfilling the conditions in the Punjab Municipal Corporations or Councils or Nagar Panchayats Building Bylaws, 1996, have also been sanctioned by the panchayat since its formation.

Meanwhile, the MNCs and the owners of the godowns falling within the panchayat limits have started thinking for other alternatives for the storage of their goods.

However, a majority of the shopkeepers have welcomed the move.

Confusion over PEC vacant seats
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 9 — Confusion prevails between the administration of Punjab Engineering College and candidates on the waiting list regarding the exact number of vacant seats in various courses in the college.There is a demand from certain quarters to constitute a committee to ascertain the exact position.

The college authorities say that officially the institution had nine vacant seats in various courses.There is also a possibility of a third counselling in case the vacant seats exceed 10.

Parents and even a section of faculty members , however , say that there are over 24 students who are not regularly attending their classes.The probability of their having joined some other college or stream of their choice could not be ruled out.Affected parents of students on the waiting list have surveyed classrooms and even hostels and prepared a list of possible vacancies.The suggestion for a third counselling has gained momentum.

Enquires point out that the biggest reason for the possible vacancy of seats was that a number of students had got admission in more than one institution on the basis of written tests.This meant that duplicate certificates were submitted in different institutions to confirm the seat.This amounted to illegal action under current rules.

Parents of many students felt that a student could be given the right of admission in as many possible institutes where he made it.However, if a candidate made it to the merit list and preferred a stream and a college of his choice, he had every right to do so.There was,however, need for honesty on his part to leave the seat well within time to allow admissions of those behind him on the merit.

A member of the college faculty said he had definite information about a girl who had secured admission in four different institutions.There were several cases of double admissions which could be found easily, he added.

Mr Rohtash Kumar, parent of a student , said present rules and regulations for admissions in one institute only were not clearly being followed.The anomaly needed discussion at a higher level.While students of Punjab and Haryana had nearly 5000 students seats each, there were only about 265 seats for local students .The current system made it difficult for local students to have seat.

Students have possibility of admission at Kurukshetra University (KU) , Punjab Technical University, PEC, Chandigarh College of Architecture, PU Department of Chemical Engineering,Punjabi University, Guru Nanak Dev University and Delhi college of Engineering in their respective states , besides others in their respective states.

Admissions had become nearly impossible for students of Punjab and Haryana in other territories except on special grounds.engineering institutes in Punjab except few like Thapar institute admit 85 per cent students who studied in Punjab and 15 per cent who were Punjabis living outside. Haryana had 80 per cent for locals and remaining 20 per cent for Haryanvis living outside.This only made it difficult for the local students.

There is a possibility of vacant seats in departments of aeronautical, civil,electrical ,metallurgy in PEC besides others, sources point out.

Officials agree that there was a possibility of vacancies.However, it was impossible to officially confirm the facts.

The present system needed attention because by the time the number of vacant seats could be confirmed , there was no provision of a counselling for admissions.One way was a centralised admission system for all institutions in the region, a teacher pointed out.

Gandhiji's grandson PU Visiting Professor
By Poonam Batth
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 9 — Panjab University has appointed Prof Ramchandra Gandhi, a distinguished professor of philosophy and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, as a Visiting Professor for the "Aurobindo Golden Jubilee Chair'' in the Department of Philosophy, during the current academic session.

According to official orders, the terms and conditions of his appointment will be the same as in the case of other distinguished professors , who have been invited for the Golden Jubilee Chairs. He has been appointed for the academic session from September 1999-2000.

It may be recalled that Golden Jubilee Chairs were established by the university during the golden jubilee year of India's Independence in 1998. Five chairs had been earmarked for the purposes of inviting distinguished scholar/scholars to deliver lectures in departments.

Professor Ramchandra Gandhi has very high credentials in the philosophical community of India. He holds two Ph.Ds — one from Delhi and another from Oxford — and has also taught in both these universities in addition to many other colleges and universities in India, Britain and the USA since 1960.

During 1977-1996, he was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hyderabad; Professor of Comparative Religion at Vishvabharti, Shantiniketan; and Professor of South Asian Comparative Philosophy at the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco.He was a lecturer at the University of Southampton, England, in 1968-69 and has been a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1978 and at Oxford University in 1986.

He will deliver lectures on the teachings of Aurobindo and other related thinkers like Vivekananda a Ramana Maharishi and others who contributed to India's struggle for independence.

According to reliable sources, the name of Prof Gandhi had earlier been proposed and considered for appointment as a Professor in the Department of Philosophy under UGC-SAP in 1989. Later, the authorities decided to appoint him as a Visiting Professor which he agreed to accept after finishing his other pre-occupations.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof M.M. Puri, said the idea in inviting best brains to these Chairs is to excite intellectual curiosity by providing opportunities to students and faculty members to interact with them.

The other distinguished scholars who have been appointed in PU are former UGC Chairman, Prof Yashpal as Professor in Technology under Jawaharlal Nehru Chair; and Prof Randhir Singh as Visiting Professor in Political Science under B.R. Ambedkar Chair. The other persons who have been made such offers are Prof Raj K. Kaul as Professor of English literature under the Sarojini Naidu Chair; Prof Ashis Nandy and Qurratulain Haider, a famous Pakistani author.

Professor Gandhi's publications among others include "Presuppositions of Human Communication'' (Oxford, 1974); "The Availability of Religious Ideas''. He is how engaged in writing on philosophical and historical perspectives of India's independence since 1857. The main focus of his philosophical and general communicative interest is Advaita Vedanta and modern Indian spirituality.

Dr Geeta Manaktala Chairperson, Department of Philosophy, had in a letter written to the Dean, University Instruction (DUI), pointed out that his visits to the department would contribute immensely to interdisciplinary studies in all the social sciences, humanities and languages departments.

Being Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, he has voluminous insights into Gandhian thought and ideology by virtue of his intimate personal encounter with Gandhiji's experiments with truth during the early years.

CTYCC executive panel dissolved
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 9 — Mr Chandermukhi Sharma, President of the Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress Committee (CTYCC), today dissolved the state executive. Earlier, the executive, which met to take stock of the situation arising out of the Lok Sabha elections, authorised Mr Sharma to dissolve and revamp the executive.

It may be recalled that Mr Brahm Mohindra, AICC Observer for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, had ordered the suspension of Mr Sharma from the primary membership of the Congress on charges of working against the party nominee, Mr Pawan Bansal.

Subsequently, the orders were reviewed after Mr Brahm Mohindra had a meeting with CTYCC activists and it was decided that all would work unitedly for the success of Mr Bansal.

Mr Sharma, who had earlier dissolved the district unit headed by Mr Rajwant Raju, and suspended the Vice-President, Mr Naveen Gupta, and sought an explanation from Mr Manjit Sahdev, has not revoked any of his earlier orders, though some representations have gone to the party President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, against him and his working.

‘Eunuchs can be cured’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 9 —The 'no-man, no-woman' syndrome, commonly known as the physiological disorder in eunuchs, can be treated, especially when detected at an early age. An antenatal diagnosis in eight to 10 weeks of pregnancy can check such an anomaly, according to Dr R.j. Dash, Head of the Department of Endocrinology, PGI.

With most of the Indian population fed on Indian movies in which the presence of a 'hijra' mocks and degrades those whose external sex organs are non-distinct, a social stigma is attached to such babies. There are stories of families either throwing away such babies or being exploited by eunuchs, who claim such babies as their own progeny.

Timely diagnosis in high-risk pregnancies can arrest birth defects and others can be treated at a later stage. Dr Dash adds that the ability to reproduce by treated patients may not always be possible.

The deformity or the 'no-man, no-woman' syndrome occurs when adrenal glands, located above the kidneys, produce weak male hormones in excess in a female foetus, leading to a prominent-looking clitoris to a fully-developed phallus and the fusion of the birth passage of the new-born female, giving appearance of external male sex organs. Most of these boy-looking girls tend to grow faster and become muscular and hairy.

Similarly, in the event of any deformity in testosterone, a male hormone, in a male foetus, the child can become an eunuch. Such 'no-man' eunuchs have varying grades of abnormal positions of urinary openings and a mutilated phallus in early childhood. As their body lacks response to male hormones, called androgens, they have high-pitched voices and psychologically behave as females.

A case was reported when a 'no-woman', brought to the hospital at the age of 12 or 13, and was muscular and hairy, was found to be a female by doctors. As 'she' had been brought up as a boy, the parents wanted the child to be "treated as a boy".

Dr Dash says the important thing is to counsel parents because of the social stigma attached to such children. A team of psychiatrists is also sometimes involved while dealing with such cases.

Society is still not aware that this syndrome can be treated. "How many children are born in hospitals, where this could be detected at birth and then treated," queries Dr Dash.

The treatment of eunuchs requires surgical removal of underdeveloped organs. Those who have female tendencies are injected with female hormones to increase this character and male hormones are injected into those eunuchs who may have female organs but male tendencies. The PGI comes across one case like this every month.

NCC conference held at PEC
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, Sept 9 — Annual conference of Group Commanders and state representatives of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh Directorate of National Cadet Corps (NCC) was held at the conference hall of Punjab Engineering College, here today.

The conference is held to take stock of various training, adventure and other activities arranged in previous year and ensure execution of all planned events in current year. Principals of various schools and colleges also participated in the conference.

Brig R.K. Mishra, Deputy Director General of the NCC, commended efforts put in by the group commanders for training cadets. He said this was the only directorate in the country which had started the SSB coaching for cadets in Sainik Schools at Kapurthala (Punjab) and Kunjpura (Haryana) and Sujanpur Tira (Himachal Pradesh) so that maximum number of 'C' certificate holders could get commission in armed forces since they would not have to appear in written tests.

He also said 3,019 senior division NCC cadets were deployed along with the police in the first phase of polling for the Lok Sabha in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh and their performance had been accepted by all.

He lauded achievement of the directorate at the Independence Day NCC Games where it won the overall championship and bagged 33 gold and 21 silver medals, besides having the best male and female athlete cadets.

Shimla Group not only bagged the Inter-NCC Group Competition Banner for the year 1998-99 but also seven awards for drill, national integration awareness, line and flag area, cultural activities, best naval squadron wing and best air squadron wing.

The best cadet trophy went to the Ludhiana Group. The aim of the NCC is to develop qualities of character, courage, comradeship, leadership, secular outlook, spirit of adventure and sportsmanship and ideals of selfless sacrifice among the youth of the country.

Women welcome autumn
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 9 — With husbands and children out at work or to schools and colleges, members of the Thursday Ladies Club had a morning out for themselves. Dressed in their party apparel, the women had a ball of a time dancing and singing. And what was the occasion? What better reason to rejoice than the onset of autumn? So, Come September was indeed the name given to the little adventure by the spirited group.

Mrs Anju Vohra set the ball rolling with the rendition of a ghazal Tere shahr ka mausam suhana lage. As the compere, Mrs Banga, said, the soulful lyrics changed the somber mood of the gathering to joyous (suhana).

The credit of bringing life to the party went to Mrs Monica Gupta who choreographed a group dance set to the vibrant Main dardi rab rab kardi. Next she did a take-off on Aishwarya Rai by presenting a solo dance while the deck blasted the Kahin aag lage lag jaave number.

After that, there was a riot. Saris clashed with salwar kameezes, pallus with dupattas and silk with chiffon as the women took to the dance floor with gutso.

The DJ of Sunny Musical Group soon realised that feet tapped more to Punjabi numbers. Daler Mehndi's Tunak, tunak... was the favourite as the young, old and middle-aged women let go of their inhibitions and had a good time.

SNIPPETS

Workshop concludes
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Sept 9 — Four-day workshop on 'Access to Social Sciences Information' organised jointly by the ICSSR (NASSDOC), New Delhi, and the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), concluded here today.

Speaking at the valedictory function, the Adviser to the UT Administrator, Mrs Vineeta Rai, stressed the need for organising similar workshops as a follow-up to broaden the application of information technology. She also said such workshops were important to provide an input to policy making and strengthening public administration.

Mr Rashpal Malhotra, Director of the CRRID, while talking about the feed back provided by participants, said they had demanded greater orientation to practical training.

More than 20 participants, comprising university teachers, librarians, social scientists and heads of government institutions participated in the workshop from this region, including Kanpur.

Dr Usha Mujoo Munshi, Head of the Information Centre at the Indian National Science Academy in Delhi, yesterday introduced participants to 'Internet Resources in Social Sciences'. She gave a talk on ways to access relevant information on different aspects of information revolution. Later, participants were given hands-on experience to access desirable information.

Dhiman confident of winning poll
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Sept 9 — The executive committee of the local unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party, which met here today under the chairmanship of Mr Mata Ram Dhiman, expressed its confidence of winning the lone Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat following an overwhelming response from various social organisations, religious sects and individuals.

The executive also appreciated the support and help extended by the local units of the Marxist Communist Party of India and Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal in the elections.

Meanwhile, Mr Dhiman, accompanied by other senior functionaries of the party, visited the Sector 25 Kumhar Colony and expressed their sympathies with the family members of Pappu, who was electrocuted yesterday. Mr Dhiman said he would take up the matter with the authorities concerned as the Electricity Department of the Administration was responsible for the death of young Pappu due to faulty conductors.

Even the live power conductors were not properly fitted on poles. Mr Dhiman said that after he talked to the Deputy Commissioner, he was promised that suitable compensation would be paid to the bereaved family and the guilty punished.

One remanded in judicial custody
From Our Correspondent
KHARAR, Sept 9 — Mr Sanjay Agnihotri, Judicial Magistrate, yesterday remanded Sarabjit Mander into judicial custody till September 22. he was arrested by the SAS Nagar police on the charge of forcibly throwing away household articles of one of his tenants.

Mr K.S. Brar, Assistant Public Prosecutor, and Mr H.S. Bal, ASI, informed the court that Ms Robina Chaudhary had complained to the police that she, along with her mother and sisters was staying in House No. 136, Phase VII, SAS Nagar, since 1995 as tenants and that the accused had forcibly thrown away her goods lying on the stairs on September 6, 1999.

The police has registered a case under Sections 452, 342, 427, IPC.

She has obtained a stay order from the court of Mrs Neelam Arora, Additional Civil Judge, Kharar.

366 HVPN employees face transfer
From Our Correspondent
Panchkula, Sept 9 — As many as 366 employees of Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPN) face mass transfer under the Haryana Electricity Reform Scheme Rule, 1999.

The transfer orders were issued in July last to these employees but were kept in abeyance because of the Lok Sabha elections. These orders will now be implemented with immediate effect .

Most of the employees have been here for more than 25 years and are disturbed by the decision. They argue that this displacement will affect the education of their children and in some cases jeopardise their spouse's jobs.

The transfers have been ordered as part of the reorganisation, reform and privatisation programme of the former Haryana State Electricity Board (HSEB), financed by a World Bank loan of Rs 2,500 crore. The first instalment of Rs 240 crore has been given and the second instalment of Rs 1,000 crore is due to be released soon.

The main objective of the reorganisation and reform programme is to improve transmission, enhance distribution and change the existing power lines.

The employees have sent representations to the Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Om Prakesh Chautala, who has assured them of appropriate and speedy disposal of their petitions. A committee has been constituted by the Chief Minister to review the decision.