Tuesday, September 14, 1999
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N E W S Tuesday, September 14, 1999 |
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weather spotlighttoday's calendar |
Torrent of
misery, chaos reigns CHANDIGARH, Sept 13 — Torrential rain lashed the city and its surrounding areas this afternoon, resulting in flooding of roads. Several two-wheelers and cars were left stranded in the gushing waters, leading to traffic snarls, besides some minor accidents. The rain that started around 3.30 p.m. reduced visibility on the roads. It also hit the business of roadside vendors and mechanics. The rain had stopped by 5.30 p.m. but by that time the roads were knee-deep in water. The situation around the roundabouts was worse. Several hundred people returning from office were left stranded. As the rain water rushed towards SAS Nagar, the city's natural gradient, the roads in the central part of the city and the southern sectors were flooded. Late in the evening, the temperature had come down and the sky cleared up. Two-wheelers stopped as rain water entered engines. Some old model cars stopped while newer ones spluttered as water entered from the exhaust pipe. Mechanics made a fast buck for bringing the scooters and cars back to life. The rate for starting a car was between Rs 100 and Rs 200 while for scooters it was Rs 50. The gushing waters almost washed away bi-cycles while the local bus service schedules went haywire. Office-goers, who are daily passengers, had to trek to the buses that are parked at designated points. Women employees had a tougher time in reaching the buses as a few of them even reportedly slipped in the muddy waters on the road berms. Passengers alighting at the Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) preferred to stay inside till the rain stopped. Those wanting to catch the Himalayan Queen departing from here around 5.30 p.m. had a tough time reaching the railway station due to the rain as well as exorbitant rates charged by auto-rickshaw drivers. The storm water drainage system of the city virtually collapsed following the heavy downpour. There was traffic chaos at many roundabouts and the traffic moved at a snail's pace due to the accumulation of water. Traffic was held up for over one hour at the roundabout of Sectors 35, 22, 21 and 34 as a vehicle developed fault in the middle of the road. The vehicle owners were a harassed lot. A number of vehicle owners, including two-wheeler owners, could seen pulling their scooters and motor cycles as they developed faults. The road near the All-India Radio Chowk in Sector 35 was submerged in over 3 feet of water. Motorists could be seen taking alternative routes to reach their destinations. The stretch from the Sector 20-21 traffic lights to the Sectors 20-30 traffic lights was flooded. Similarly, the roundabout near the Inter-State Bus Terminus was flooded, putting to inconvenience hundreds of persons. The rain water brought misery to the low-lying areas of the labour colonies and the city. It entered a low-lying row of houses from nos. 2305 to 2318 in Sector 27 and the residents could be seen draining out water hours after the rain had stopped. The problem of flooding
is since these houses are about 1.5 feet below the V-5
road near in the area, said Mr Ram Swaroop Puri, a
resident. Repeated reminders to the Mayor, the Chief
Engineer and XEN (Roads) of the MCC had fallen on deaf
ears, he alleged. |
Punished
for writing directly to President CHANDIGARH, Sept 13 — UT Education Secretary N.K.Jain has punished Mr Dilbagh Singh, a Punjabi lecturer in Government College, Sector 46, by stopping two of his increments without cumulative effect. As per the orders, Mr Dilbagh Singh had been chargesheeted under rule 10 of the Punjab Civil Services ( Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970, for writing directly to the President of India about the college principal without getting the other means exhausted. He had been chargesheeted for not making representations before the DPI ( Colleges), Education Secretary and the Adviser to the UT Administrator before sending the same to the President of India.He had allegedly sought that a criminal case be registered against the Principal for various acts of ommission and commission. Mr Dilbagh Singh had represented against the charge sheet through his application dated June 18,1999, but the Home Secretary who was not satisfied with his representation observed that the charge against him stands proved. Meanwhile, DPI( Colleges), Mr KAP Sinha had only two weeks ago proposed to hold another inquiry against Mr Dilbagh Singh for gross misconduct and outrageous behaviour on his part. Sources reveal that this time he is being tried for a major penalty for his insubordination and grave dereliction in discharging his duties. The college principal, Major (retd) D.P.Singh, had in a letter written to the DPI (Colleges) pointed out that Mr Dilbagh Singh had been assigned the task of making BA I sections in the subject of Punjabi.he not only refused to comply with the orders, but also shouted in his office, without any provocation, in the presence of few other faculty members. He had also sought disciplinary action against him since he went to one of his classes 10 minutes late on August 12. In the charge sheet dated August 26, 1999, he has been charged for his misconduct in refusing to comply with the orders passed by the Head of the Punjabi department and approved by the principal. He has also been chargesheeted for challenging the authority of the Principal, when he questioned him for coming late to the class. Mr Dilbagh Singh has
been given a period of 10 days to submit a reply in
defence of his behaviour or appear in person before the
authorities concerned, following which the inquiry will
be proceeded against ex-parte. He is yet to submit a
reply for want of some relevant documents, it is learnt. |
HUDA staff
stir continues; assault to be probed PANCHKULA, Sept 13 — The pen-down strike by over 300 Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) employees against members of the HUDA joint action committee for allegedly assaulting two of their colleagues entered the third day today. A departmental inquiry into Friday's incident of assault has been ordered. The inquiry, to be conducted by Mr Jogi Ram, Executive engineer, Horticulture, and Mr Navinder Singh, executive engineer, division No 3, would go into the charges against Mr Pawan Kumar and Mr Krishan Kumar, members of action committee, who allegedly assaulted Mr Raj Kumar and misbehaved with Ms Santosh Mehta, Deputy Superintendent, electrical division of HUDA in their offices. A case under section 377, IPC, was registered on Friday, but no action has so far been initiated. Many employees up to the SDO level, including staff from the head office in Sector 6, today met the City Magistrate in this regard in the absence of the Superintendent of Police and the Deputy Commi-ssioner. The workers threatened
to intensify the stir.
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Board
cancels exams DERA BASSI, Sept 13 — The Punjab School Education Board has cancelled the supplementary examinations in English for Classes X and XII conducted at the Government High School centre here on September 11. According to Mr Jarnail Singh, Controller of Examination of the board, the papers have been cancelled due to interference on large scale by outsiders during the examination hours in violation of the sanctity of the examination. The board authorities have appointed a permanent observer for the fair conduct of the rest of the examinations to be held at this centre. The date for the re-examination at this centre would be declared later on, said the Controller of Examination of the board. This issue was
highlighted by Chandigarh Tribune on Monday.
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CM for
govt men on selection panel CHANDIGARH, Sept 13 — Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal at a high-level meeting with the Vice-Chancellors of the three universities in Punjab/their representatives today recommended that two nominees of the government should be appointed on the panel of selection committees, constituted for selecting lecturers in private colleges. The meeting was attended by Prof H.S.Soch,Vice-Chancellor,GNDU; Prof Deepak Manmohan Singh, Dean College Development Council, who represented Panjab University Vice- Chancellor; Mr Amarjit Singh, Special Secretary( Education); Mr Ramesh Inder Singh, Principal Secretary to Punjab Chief Minister and DPI ( Colleges), Punjab, Mr H.S.Deol. However, no one represented the Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala. The University Grants Commission through its notification of December 24,1998, on the subject — main qualification for the appointment of teachers in university and colleges and measures for the maintenance of standards has laid down the following selection committees for the selection of lecturers in private colleges. These include the chairman of the governing body of the college or his/her nominee to be the chairman of the selection committee; Principal of the college concerned; one senior teacher/head of the department of the subject concerned, preferably having a minimum of 10 years teaching experience; two nominees of the Vice-Chancellor of the affiliating University, one of whom should be a subject expert; two subject experts not connected with the college, who are to be nominated by the chairman of the governing body. According to reliable sources,Mr Badal categorically specified that two nominees of the government should be put on the panel of selection committees, besides those mentioned in the UGC guidelines, since the government regulates the functioning of these colleges Meanwhile, it is also
learnt that when one of the Vice-Chancellors sought
release of grant-in-aid for meeting various additional
expenditures and payment of salaries, the Chief Minister
is said to have suggested that a portion of the land
allotted to the university be sold to meet the deficit. |
Administration gears up for court team
visit PANCHKULA, Sept 13—The district administration is gearing up for the visit of a team from the Punjab and Haryana High Court which will go through the sectors here to check the implementation of the directions issued by the High Court with regard to hoardings, traffic and encroachments. Most officials, as also the field staff, are on their toes to ensure the place presents a good picture and the team returns satisfied after its visit on September15. The Chief Administrator, HUDA, Mrs Sumita Singh, in compliance to the directions of the High Court has launched a comprehensive campaign in all sectors of the town. With regard to the removal of 'rehri' and 'dhaba' encroachments, it has been decided to appoint a sector-wise team of of three or four field staff officials while a supervisor and a chowkidar will be entrusted with the responsibility to check mushrooming of encroachments in their respective areas and remove the same on their occurrence. Efforts for the removal of congress grass in the town are also in full swing with the XENs concerned working overtime. According to the policy formulated by HUDA, the area falling on the berms will be maintained by the civil divisions and the area earmarked for parks in the urban estate has fallen to the lot of the XEN (Horticulture). A massive drive to pull down hoardings, signboards and neon signboards was also initiated by the department. While the field workers concentrated on the main roads and dividing roads in sectors today, they would target those located in sectors in their drive tomorrow. Meanwhile, painting and installations of traffic signals got underway at bus stops, in front of schools and for speed breakers. There are 29 bus stops, 34 school sign boards, 122 zebra crossings, 54 cautionary boards and 23 sector dividing boards in the town. Also, Mrs Singh has appealed to the residents of the urban estate to extend their cooperation for making the programmes initiated by the department a success, especially that of the removal of congress grass in the current season. The Estate Officer, Mr NK Singla, informed that over 30 field workers have been put on the job of removing hoardings while one canter was doing the rounds in the sectors to wrap up the anti-encroachment drive. During most of these, the staff on duty is taking away only `rehris' while leaving their goods behind even though most of them tried to escape the eye of the duty staff and pretended to be on the move. The police, on its part, has already launched an extensive drive whereby all SHOs along with their staff are challaning vehicles for violation of the directions of the court. Besides, details on the directions school buses and drivers are required to follow, the police is strictly enforcing directions with regard to all types of motor vehicles. Also, the Superintendent of Police, Mr Alok Mittal, organised a meeting of local cable operators and urged them to display the directions during the programmes to ensure that these reach the maximum people. While the total challans during the drive for July, August till September 12 is touching the 3000 mark and most of the challans have been made for driving without a helmet. While there were 1131 challans in July, August saw a total of 1294 challans and in September there have already been 560 challans out of which 409 have been for driving two-wheelers without helmets. Challaned school bus
drivers without uniforms are 13, three heavy vehicles
have been impounded, 25 challaned for plying without
pollution certificates while still others have been fined
for musical horns, driving without the registration card,
the driving licence or both, for sunfilms, overspeeding,
wrong parking and not carrying first-aid boxes. |
Husband,
in-laws booked PANCHKULA, Sept 13 — The police has registered a case under Sections 406, 498-A, 323 and 34, IPC, against the in-laws of a local girl, Uma Gupta, for harassing and torturing her for not bringing enough dowry. Uma in an FIR lodged with the Ambala cantonment police said that her husband Dinesh Gupta, father-in-law Ram Prakash, mother-in-law Sarla, brother-in-law Rajesh, sisters-in-law Sarita and Baby (all residents of 4272-073 Hill Road, Ambala cantonment) and brother-in-law Yogesh Gupta had been torturing her for bringing inadequate dowry since her marriage with Dinesh on December 8, 1994. She said her parents spent Rs 5 lakh at the time of her marriage on the demand of the in-laws, but they continued to demand more and more money. They used to beat her up. To save Uma from further harassment, her parents gave them Rs 60,000 and deposited Rs 1 lakh in her name in the shape of an FDR. Soon after the in-laws started pressing her to encash the FDR on the plea that they needed money for the construction of a house. When she refused to do so she was bashed up. She alleged that attempts were made on her life by dousing her with kerosene and pouring acid on her. Uma complained that on the night of September 9, Dinesh, his parents and other relatives named in the FIR started beating her up to force her to sign the FDR so that they could encash it. Her husband tried to strangulate her, she alleged. She was even kept hungry for days together. Meanwhile, a medical
report issued by the Civil Hospital showed that she
suffered 18 injuries of different nature due to torture. |
Stone laid
by Bansi cemented PANCHKULA, Sept 13 — The cementing of the foundation stone laid by former Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Bansi Lal, for the construction of an auditorium in Sector 5 has raised doubts regarding the intentions of the administration. The foundation stone laid last year has been covered by cementing by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). The Administrator of HUDA, Ms Sumita Singh, informed that the cementing was done to avoid its breakdown and damage. She said it was not possible to guard these structures and the best way to preserve them was by cementing them. "All foundation stones laid in the area, where construction has not yet commenced would be cemented," she added. Mr Maninder Singh, a
resident, however, said it amounts to undoing the work of
the previous government. "If the intention was to
prevent it from damage, it could have been done by
covering it with a protective railing," he said. |
Offer to
help war widows CHANDIGARH, Sept 13 — Mr Partap Singh Gill, former Lt-Governor of Goa, has offered to help those war widows who have not received benefits after the death of their husbands in action. In a press note issued here on Saturday, Mr Gill said any such widow could meet him at his farm in Mani Majra. He said he had taken up certain cases of widows with the Adjutant-General, Army Headquarters, Delhi, who had clarified that troops deployed in the counter-insurgency operation in Kashmir were not entitled to "Kargil shaheed" benefits. He further said the
money was being paid to the widow of a soldier and none
else, but widows were supposed to be considerate towards
the parents of the deceased. Mr Gill said, the
Adjutant-General had clarified that it took about two
months to process such cases. |
SNIPPETS Lovers commit suicide PANCHKULA, Sept 13 — A 14-year old girl, Sunita, and 22-year-old Ramesh, both residents of Hangoli village, committed suicide this morning after they were allegedly found to be having an affair by the villagers here. The duo was spotted at a dhaba here yesterday, after which they were allegedly locked up in a room and beaten by the villagers. The two then committed suicide. An inquiry has been registered under Section 174 of the CrPC. Employees begin dharna SAS NAGAR, Sept 13 — The Punjab School Education Board Employees Association started an indefinite dharna in support of its demands in front of the board complex in Phase 8. Protest rally by action panel CHANDIGARH, Sept 13 — The Joint Action Committee comprising the Sikh Nari Manch and various organisations and trade unions of employees held a demonstration in Sector 17 in protest against the failure of the police to nab the remaining two suspects in the Meenakshi dowry death case. Those who addressed the rally included former the Deputy Mayor, Mrs Harjinder Kaur, Councillor Satinder Dhawan, Mrs Sheila Didi, Mr Tarlochan Singh, Mr Gurcharan Singh Palia, Mr Sajan Singh, Oshma Reikhy and others. The speakers criticised the police and wanted that stern action should be taken against the growing incidence of crime against womanhood. Little was done to investigate such cases expeditiously, they alleged. They also wanted that the remaining suspects should be apprehended soon. Ganesh chaturthi celebrated CHANDIGARH, Sept 13 — Religious fervour and gaiety marked the Ganesh chaturthi celebrations which commenced here today. Special prayers were held at the temples in Sectors 31 and 47. An eight-foot-tall idol of Lord Ganesha has been installed permanently at Sri Radhakrishna Temple in Sector 47 by the Kannada Sangha. The local association of people of Maharashtra celebrated the festival with religious fervour at the Sector 31 temple. Puja and cultural programmes were the highlights of the function in the Sector 47 temple. The puja celebrations will continue for two more days. These will conclude on the evening of September 15 when the idol of Lord Ganesha will be immersed. Meditation camp inaugurated CHANDIGARH, Sept 13 — Mr Justice N.K. Sud, Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, inaugurated a yoga sadhana meditation camp at the premises of the Divine Life Society in Sector 29-A here last night. The camp, which commended today, will continue till September 16. Meditation and discourse on the Gita will be part of the camp organised by the society. Mr Rajan Kashyap, a senior IAS officer of Punjab, was the guest of honour. Discussion on poetry book CHANDIGARH, Sept 13 — A discussion on a poetry book, ‘Zindagi Aye Zindagi’, by Dr Naresh, an eminent Urdu poet and professor of modern literature at Panjab university, was organised here on Monday by a reader’s forum called ‘Kitab Qabeela’. A discussion followed on the book, in which a number of speakers appreciated the poetic sensibility of Dr Naresh and described him as an upholder of human values and a messenger of universal brotherhood. Two teachers honoured CHANDIGARH, Sept 13 — Two teachers of the city were recently awarded National Award for Teachers at New Delhi in recognition of their services in the field of education. The award was conferred upon them by the President of India, Mr K.R. Narayanan, on Teacher's Day at Vigyan Bhavan. The ward consists of a certificate, a medal and a cash award of RS 10,000. The two teachers who have won this award from Chandigarh for the year 1997-98 are Mr Brahmjit Kalia, the then Principal of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33, and Mrs Raksha Gupta, a JBT teacher of Government Primary School, Mani Majra-I. Mr Kalia, who is at
present holding the post of District Education Officer
(DEO) has put in 31 years of service in the field of
educational in various capacities. Mrs Raksha Gupta has
put in 35 years of service and has worked mostly in the
schools located in rural areas and colonies. She has also
been awarded the State award in 1990. Her role in
attracting students in schools of rural areas has been
highly appreciated. |
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