The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

Robbers injure 5, take goods worth 2 lakh
From Shashi Pal Jain

KHARAR, June 10 — A gang of seven or eight robbers struck a unit in Ballo Majra village, about 3 km from here on the Kharar-SAS Nagar road, in the early hours today, injuring five persons and looting goods worth about Rs 2 lakh.

Three of the injured — Mr Paramjit Sharma, his brother Mr Rajiv Sharma and their friend Mr Manjeet Singh — were admitted to Civil Hospital Kharar. In the afternoon, Mr Paramjit Sharma was sent to the PGI in Chandigarh. Mr Zia Lal, a chowkidar, and another employee were also beaten up.

Mr Zia Lal, working at Janta Body Builders in the village, where bodies of truck chassis are built, told mediamen in the unit today that there was an atmosphere of grief as the wife of the owner had expired yesterday and she was cremated last evening. He said he had taken tea at about 1 a.m. today and there was no light. He was sitting on a bench, guarding the goods lying there.

He said Mr Paramjit, Mr Rajiv and Mr Manjeet Singh were sleeping there. At about 1.30 a.m. he saw some persons loading some goods in a truck. He started shouting and the sleeping persons woke up. They saw a gang of about seven or eight persons, all clean-shaven, who were speaking in Pahari.

When they all started shouting, the persons ran away with goods, including six new tyres and all lower spare parts of the truck, gear box of another truck, one cycle, fan and other goods. He said the looters were 25 to 26 years old. As there was darkness all around, he could not see the number of the truck in which they fled. Before leaving, they beat up all with rods and other things they located from there.

Meanwhile, Mr Rajiv Sharma and Mr Manjeet Singh, who were admitted to the Civil Hospital, told mediamen that they were sleeping when the looters struck. They said they were very badly beaten up. The looters remained there for a long time. The police was informed about this at about 4 a.m. today.

Meanwhile, the Kharar police has registered a case under Sections 379 and 323 of the IPC and has started investigations. The fingerprints were taken.

A gang of looters had struck in Ranjit Nagar Colony in Kharar on May 30. They had killed one person and injured four others and had looted cash and jewellery.

Parents force doctor daughter into second marriage
By Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 10 — A doctor, has allegedly been forced into a second marriage by her parents soon after tying the knot with her college mate doctor.

A junior resident with Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital here, her ordeal started soon after her wedding to a doctor doing MD at the PGI.

Opposed to the marriage, her parents allegedly forced her to walk the altar again with the "suitable boy" of their choice after calling her back home on the pretext of blessing the couple. The "boy" in turn allegedly tortured her by burning her shoulders and legs with cigarette butts.

In a statement before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the victim alleged that she severely beaten by her brother and uncle after she reached Sagar in Madhya Pradesh on the false assurance of blessings by the parents.

The first marriage, she added, was solemnised as per the Hindu rites in presence of doctor friends and colleagues on March 25. The parents were informed later as they were against it.

Claiming to have been scolded initially for "marrying in a low caste", she alleged that the parents did not allow her to attend phone calls even from her husband after keeping her in captivity inside the house. She also alleged that her brother even threatened to eliminate her and her husband after pointing a rifle.

A "sham kind of marriage ceremony," she added, was performed after a "boy" was brought by the relations. The doctor also added that she was forced at gunpoint to put on the bridal make-up.

Accusing the "boy" of torturing her mentally and physically, she also stated that he threatened to kill her whenever she talked about her first marriage.

The doctor added that on May 30, she managed to escape and faxed the complete story to husband. On June 7, she further added, her doctor-husband and an officer from the court reached Beas, where she was hiding, and brought her back to the city.

The doctor-husband, it may be recalled, had earlier filed a habeas corpus petition. Appearing before Mr Justice N.C. Khichi along with counsel Rajan Gupta, he had asked for the appointment of a warrant officer. Taking up the petition, Mr Justice Khichi had accepted the plea.

Jacob’s priorities are cancer
hospice, southern sectors
By Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 10 — It is now time to concentrate on infrastructure development, including establishment of a hospice for cancer and terminally sick patients, construction of a new school in Sector 52, concentration on southern sectors to develop basic amenities there at par with northern sectors, development of a new golf course and allotment of land to cooperative house building societies.

This is how the Administrator of Chandigarh, Lieut-Gen JFR Jacob (retd), lists his immediate priorities now. In an informal chat with Chandigarh Tribune here this afternoon, General Jacob says that besides infrastructure development, the Administration was also keen to amend its archaic, rigid and inflexible byelaws to create more employment opportunities in the Union Territory.

Setting up of gas-based power generation unit, privatisation of water distribution and conservation of both water and power are the other areas which are also getting immediate and top attention of the Administration.

“We are hopeful of getting a gas pipeline. Now when the work on the Bathinda refinery has started, we have become very hopeful. Once we receive the sanction, we will start work on our gas-based captive power generation here.

“Since the city is growing rapidly, Phase III sectors are to be developed soon. Besides, the basic facilities, including water and power connections have to be given to cooperative housing that has come up in some of the southern sectors. We may face shortage of power and water. This is why we are now concentrating on both water and power conservation.

“To meet our growing power demands, we are looking for joint ventures with Himachal Pradesh to set up a joint hydel power generation unit. Otherwise, we are also contemplating to enter into long-term agreement for the purchase of power from the National Grid and Himachal Pradesh,” says General Jacob.

“I have no answer to the problem of slums. We already have three lakh people in slums. Every year, this population is going to grow by a lakh. Though the Union Urban Development Minister, Mr Jagmohan, was here, but the problem of Chandigarh slums is enormous and much more different than that of the Union capital.

“The only way we can handle this problem is to improve living conditions in the slums by providing them better civic amenities, including schools for the education of children and better health care facilities.

“Realising the need of residents of Phase III sectors, the Administration has decided to open a new school in Sector 52. Besides, 11 schools in the Union Territory do not have latrines. The Administration wants that each school must have latrines and drinking water facilities,” he said.

Talking about health care, General Jacob said that the city needs a hospice for cancer and terminally sick patients. “They must die in peace. We are looking for place and funds to construct this hospital,” he added.

Referring to byelaws, he said that all these were “archaic, rigid and inflexible” and need to be amended drastically. “We want to amend all these byelaws, including those pertaining to commercial, industrial and residential areas. The procedures here are very cumbersome. This is why we have decided that all future land allotments would be by auction and on a freehold basis. The same rule will be followed when the land is allotted in Phase III sectors.”

The Administrator said that the Administration was keen to preserve greenery and environment in its periphery. “We plan to develop a new golf course with a triple objective — to promote tourism, to conserve greenery and environment and prevent encroachments or squatters from appearing there.

“We have not been able to finalise the site for the new golf course. But it will be strictly run on green fee basis and will be open for both residents and tourists. We are looking at tourist traffic from Japan.

“To make Chandigarh tourist attractive, we have to infuse some life into the city. We have already decided to allow restaurants and discos to remain open till midnight. We are seriously looking at the law to allow shops in Sectors 17 and 22 to remain open on Sundays.

“We are trying to improve lake and Lake Club and make it more attractive. We are keen that Lake Club should have a squash court and some dining facilities for its members besides putting the gym in proper working condition,” General Jacob said disclosing that the Administration was keen to lay a new astroturf at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium to give a fillip to the sport. The Administration, he said, would consider a proposal to privatise or allow private operators to run bus services on subsidy routes.

“BHEL has already conducted a study here and found that electric-trolleys should be introduced here. This mode of public transport would be both viable and pollution free. Other choice is natural gas buses. It will take some time before electric-trolleys or natural gas buses actually come to the city,” he added.

The land for the proposed Chandigarh-Ludhiana Rail Link has been acquired and given to Railways who have promised to take up the work on the project expeditiously.

“We seek public cooperation and support in maintaining Chandigarh neat and clean. We are starting a special cleanliness drive in Sector 42 from June 17 and would cover the entire city,” he said.

COMMUNITY

‘A project with the government? Never!’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 10 — Mangal Dhillon looked angry today while addressing the press conference here. “I am not angry but extremely hypersensitive”, he said, while denying it, vehemently. “Somehow I cannot get over the fact that humanity and human relations have fallen to such a low these days that even positive deeds are viewed with suspicion”, he said.

The TV actor-turned-producer has recently completed a documentary film titled A day at the Golden Temple. It was during the making of this film that I came across a cross-section of people, some good and some not so. My book is about all of them,” he said.

Dhillon said hoping to get across the reception area in the Punjab and Haryana Secretariat was like crossing bhavsagar. “After going through the rigmarole of trying to meet bureaucrats and ministers, all I can say is that in future, I will never do a project which is even remotely concerned with the government. I do not mind working with any other organisation, including the SGPC,” he said.

According to him, in government projects there are many channels where your leg can be pulled. “They talk of documentary films being made for 10,000 per minute. What they do not and can never hope to understand is that documentaries, at times, can be much more expensive than feature films.”

Dhillon said while producing documentaries, a lost moment could not be recreated. “Channels specialising in these, like National Geographic and Discovery, spend exorbitant amounts on expensive footage to catch the right moment”.

With his book, “which will be sad and agonising as well as hilarious, I will go through my experiences of making this documentary,” he said. The bilingual book in Punjabi and English titled Kuch sadar te chand hoke translated into English, it means wishes and a few sighs.” With this book, I want to highlight experiences, both sweet and sour. There are some people who need to be lauded and others exposed”.

Dhillon said it required a lot of guts to make a film on Khalsa panth and history. “A slight mistake can cause controversy. For my documentary, I had to continuously convince the authorities that I would keep the maryada of Harmandir Sahib intact”.

“All said and done, A day in Golden Temple was a truly fascinating and spiritual experience which cannot be described. Every time I pray, I bow before Harmandir Sahib in my imagination. The shakti of shabad and bani is an experience I can never forget,” he said. Dhillon said his documentary was a true documentation of facts.

The video will be shown on TV and video channels. “For the English video CDs, I will go in for a foreign commentator. I have spent more than Rs 12 lakh and will have to put in another six to seven on editing and other associated expenses, said the actor.

“I am a religious person”, said Dhillon. But it was a book titled Punjab problems — causes and cures which shook me up. Hopefully my film and book will have the same effect on others”.

Centre to make Army men computer literate
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 10 — A state-of-the-art computer training centre of the Western Command became operational in the Chandi Mandir cantonment near here today.

Inaugurating the centre, the GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lieut-Gen Vijay Oberoi called for optimum utilisation of the centre so that all Army personnel posted at the Command Headquarters as well as other units based in Chandi Mandir can become computer-proficient.

He added that since it required a lot of effort and resources to establish the centre, all officers and other ranks should avail themselves of this facility to not only acquire computer literacy, but also undergo advance courses.

The computer centre will conduct six basic and advance level software courses of three and six weeks duration, respectively, for Army personnel grouped in three categories — officers, clerks and other ranks.

Besides, a three-week Internet course for officers will also be run. The intake for each course will be 20 trainees. Advance hardware courses are also planned

This centre is part of a major IT training programme planned to educate, free of charge, the men in uniform to become computer savvy and exploit its benefits optimally. This is the second computer training facility in the station, the first being the Defence Institute of Information Technology, which is also open to civilians. More centres are planned in lower formations in the command.

Residents, HUDA discuss polythene bags’ problem
From A Correspondent

PANCHKULA, June 10 — Representatives of the Residents Welfare Associations of various sectors yesterday met the local Estate Officer, Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), to discuss the problem of handling used polythene bags in the city.

Concern about the problem of roadside vendors, especially about the cluster of rehris and pharis at the crossing of Sectors 7, 8, 17 and 18 was also discussed. The participants said the encroachments posed a major traffic hazard as the spot was proving to be a bottleneck for the flow of traffic from Chandigarh.

Mr R.P. Malhotra, President of the Welfare Association, Sector-8, who also attended the meeting, said a suggestion by one of their members to depute police personnel at the spot drew little favour from the estate officer. “ We were asked to see the SP in this regard”, added Mr Malhotra.

Expressing unhappiness over the outcome of the meeting, Mr Malhotra said : “No purpose is served by holding such meaningless meetings. Coordination of all the departments involved is a must to solve any problem”, He suggested that responsibility should be fixed on already deputed police personnel at that particular spot and they should be authorised to challan the vehicle owners who stop there to buy the stuff. The once impounded material should not be returned back, he said.

Another demand to tackle the problems of jhuggis on vacant plots in various sectors was met with little favour by the authorities, stated Mr Malhotra.

Gaiety marks mandala puja
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, June 10 — The mandala puja, marking the 40th day of the installation of the idols of Lord Venkateshwara, was performed with traditional fervour and gaiety at the temple in Sector 12 A, here today, where devotees began pouring in since morning.

The day began with Vishwassena puja and deeksha aradhana followed by a series of prayers and havans performed by a priest from the main temple at Tirupati. The other ceremonies which marked the mandala puja include kumbhabisekham and the shanti yagnam before the marriage ceremony of Lord Venkateshwara was held.

Later in the day, the idols of Balaji and his two wives, Sri Sri Padmavathi and Sri Sri Andal were bathed in a special enclosure in the temple premises. A former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice T.H.B. Chalapathi, and the Chairman of the Sri Venkateshwara Swamy Temple Trust, Mr G. Vajralingam, were among those present at the function.After the ceremonies prasadam was distributed among the devotees.

Stuff success is made of
By Harpreet Kaur

CHANDIGARH, June 10 — Nothing succeeds like success. All of us dream of it. But how many of us reach the top? And what brings home victory? What stuff are the triumphant ones made up of ?

Let us move around the city and check out what our localities have to say in this regard.

Meet Sukhbeer, General Manager of the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development. He believes that one has to pour out one's heart into anything one does. Besides hard work, sincerity and honesty count. All this coupled with luck ensures success.

Let us ask Harbhajan, a CA in sector 22, about his views.

''Aim high and hit the mark,'' he begins. There is no substitute for labour and steadfastness, he asserts.

He tells the achievement follows these three stages-fixing the focus, planning the route and finally working towards the goal. He gives the example of Arjuna from the Mahabharta to emphasise the need for single-minded devotion.

We continue our journey and now come across Ms Kulvinder.

She is a lecturer in music at GCM, Sector-11. She argues that the attitude makes all the difference. Think positive, be confident and neverhesitate to learn from anyone, even the younger ones.

Her views carry a spiritual tinge as she adds that blessings and prayers do help. "I was never confident when I joined here first. I prayed the Lord to give me strength. I had faith in Him. With His blessings, I came up with flying colours in youth festival," she explains.

God helps those who help themselves, believes Flying Officer (retd.) Kuldeep Singh, a Sector-44 resident. He conteds that one should put in untiring efforts towards the target fixed.

Obstacles are the things we see when we take our eyes off the goal. We must persevere. After all, satisfaction is over the labour and not the attainment. Don't they say success is a journey and not the destination ?

But some people deny the above contention. Kamal, an instructor at NIFD, Mohali, asks us what is the importance of means in the face of stiff competition and "culture of corruption" which is deep-rooted in this country. Another guy is expressing his regret at the apathy of people towards honesty.

Next one speaking her mind out is our young friend Amneet of the local St.Anne's school. She has done her parents and school proud by scoring 92% in Class X. An optimistic note underlines her thoughts.

Like others , she considers hard work as the basic formula of conquest. Three D's — dedication, devotion, discipline — coupled with right guidance and diligence pays, she adds.

"One should remain level-headed, whatsoever one succeeds at. Materialistic gains cannot give you contentment. A successful man is one who is under God, happy and content at the end of the day," she thinks.

What do you say ? Where there is will, there is way. Fulfil your dream. Remember, keep away from people who try to belittle your ambition. Small people always do that and the great ones make you feel you too can become great. And once you've made your mark in the world, watch against the guys with erasers!

CRIME

Punwire manager arrested
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, June 10 — In connection with the case of financial irregularities in Punwire registered by the local police yesterday, one of the suspects, R.K. Gupta, Manager Accounts, has been arrested. He along with Gurpal Singh, Vice-Chairman, Ved Parkash, Executive Director (in charge), A.P. Singh, DGM (Accounts), Ashok Jerath , AGM ( Accounts) and Harjit Singh, Sales Coordinator, had been booked under Sections 406, 408, 409, 466, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC.

Sources in the police said that suspecting that the other named in the FIR could flee from the country, the airport authorities had been approached to prevent the suspects from leaving the country. Sources in the Punwire apprehend that certain senior officials of the company who had not been named in the FIRs could also flee of the country, fearing a similar action against them.

Meanwhile, members of the Punwire Employees Coordination Committee will observe a 24-hour fast on June 13. A rally will be held by the employees in which members of various state boards and corporations would participate. They have also demanded a CBI enquiry into affairs of the company.

BUSINESS

CAs gear up to be computer savvy
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 10 — The electronic-filing of income tax returns, maintenance of electronic ledgers and account books, electronic transfer of funds, business-to-business electronic-commerce and business-to-customer electronic-commerce have been accorded legal sanctity by the Information technology Act, 2000.

Speaking at a seminar on e-commerce organised by the Chandigarh branch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Mr Vinod Jain, Member, Central Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, said that in next two to three years, chartered accountants will have no choice but to go electronic.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants, he said, was planning to introduce computer courses for the benefit of its members. A time may come when those not well versed in information technology may not get licenses to practice.

Predicting a total changed scenario in two to five years from now, he said that the banks, industrial houses, business houses and others may only present their personal computers for auditing of their accounts as no print-outs or ledgers or account books would be used any more. Everything would be on computers. The IT Act, 200, provides for protection of data, data bases, privacy and other safeguards.

He said that to facilitate e-filing of IT returns or other documents with government agencies, the provision of digital signatures has been made. For facilitating digital signatures and their secrecy and security, the Act has provided for Certification Authoritiesm, who after being satisfied with the bona fides or credentials of an applicant, would provide him a public key.

Matching of public key with private or individual key would generate digital signatures of an individual which when applied would accord sanctity to any e-filing or e-transaction.

He also talked about amendments to various other laws and Acts to facilitate introduction of the IT Act, 2000. The Act provides recognition to e-documents, e-commerce and e-business.

Mr Jain also talked about prospects of e-commerce in next three to five years.

The seminar was attended by members of the local chapter of the ICAI. The participants were told that e-commerce technology would bring in a Rs 2,500-crore business in the current year and Rs 10,000 crore during the next calendar year. The chartered accountants are preparing themselves for audit using computer-aided audit techniques. The ICAI has started information systems audit foundation and orientation courses for its members.

One of the chartered accountants' firm in Pune had employed more than 200 software engineers in its endeavour to upgrade its abilities to undertake e-filing.

Enquiries of the audience about maintenance of electronic records, check on frauds, lockers, audit trail and computer drives were answered by the experts who conducted the proceedings.

Mr S.K. Bhasin, Chairman, Chandigarh branch of the ICAI, talked about the initiatives of the local chapter to set up a hi-tech training and research centre here for the benefit of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.

CITCO to get IT towers job
By Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 10 — The Chandigarh Administration will sell space in advance in its proposed information technology (IT) towers in Sector 47.

Software companies desirous of setting up a place in Chandigarh will be asked to pay and book space in the IT towers that are scheduled to be completed by end of next year. Rates of allotment are yet to be decided but with all facilities provided at the doorstep, the Administration is hopefully of getting the best of companies.

The job of co-ordinating the construction, selling space and inviting companies and other related activities in the proposed IT towers, is all set to be assigned to the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO), which will work with the newly created Department of Information Technology.

A proposal in this regard is likely to be ratified at a meeting of the Advisory Committee for IT applications scheduled for Monday, a highly placed source told The Tribune. The choice has fallen on CITCO as it is also an industrial development company.

The first meeting of the council will be significant as it will lay down the immediate course of action with regard to the UT’s proposals of setting up an Information Technology College, a wide area network (WAN) to bring about the concept of e—governance in government offices and future use of 10,000 square feet of space allotted to the Software Technology Park (STP) in Punjab Engineering College (PEC).

The aim is to develop an atmosphere to ring in the dotcom culture in the city that is ideal for development of software. No manufacturing unit will be allowed in the IT towers. A direct link between the IT towers and the SAS. Nagar based STP through a high frequency Radio Frequency (RF) link to speed up connectivity is envisaged.

For WAN, Director, Information Technology, Mr Vivek Atray, says. “We have asked the government departments to compile information on what has been the application of computers in the government sector.’’ WAN will cover every single road in the city and will be put up for use by business houses and residents alike, adds Mr Atray.

Under the proposals, the next stage is to screen the 40 companies that have sent letters “expressing interest’’ in wiring up the city through optical fibre cable (OFC) links. Each company will be asked to make presentations and something is expected to be finalised by August. The Administration is also yet to fix royalty that the chosen company will pay. A sum between Rs 9,500 and Rs 10,500 per kilometers of cable will be the likely charge.

The company laying the OFC, will be free to carry out further tie-ups with cable TV operators, private internet service providers, government departments, residents or other parties leasing lines.