 |
|
| Tuesday, July 18, 2000, Chandigarh, India    |
BJP leaders walk
out of meeting Rain
brightens kharif prospects Malta
tragedy: plea to hasten inquiry Smuggler
reveals border gap Seminar
on realities of Constitution on July 20 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SAD ready for
poll, says Sukhbir Badal
Punjab phone numbers to
be on Internet Court
judgement upsets villagers Brar
clarifies about plot
BOI
takes over checkposts Construction
work on heritage complex to
be speeded up
Revenue
from stamp duty increases Mayor,
minister at loggerheads Autorickshaws to
collect garbage
Woman
found dead
Schools
of excellence ‘Waive
NET condition for doctorates’ Make
Hindi, Sanskrit compulsory subjects’ Quota for
Kashmiri migrants
|
|
BJP
leaders walk out of meeting AMRITSAR, July 17 — All four BJP leaders led by Mrs Laxmi Kanta Chawla, MLA, staged a walkout from the District Grievances Committee meeting, which was presided over by Mr Gurdev Singh Badal, Agriculture Minister, who is also a senior Akali leader. Mr Veer Singh Lopoke, Mr Om Parkash Sony, Mr Ranjit Singh Chhajalwadi, all MLAs, Mr Rajmohinder Singh, MP, the Deputy Commissioner, the SSP and district-level officers of various departments were present when the BJP members staged a walkout in protest against the alleged high-handedness of the police. Mrs Chawla alleged the grievances of the common man could not be redressed unless the SSP was transferred from here. Levelling an allegation against Mr Parampal Singh Sidhu, SSP, Mrs Chawla said he had encouraged one former municipal councillor to grab a private house. She alleged that the former municipal councillor had indulged in a number of illegal activities at the behest of the SSP. Mrs Chawla alleged that the District Grievances Committee was worse than a club as decisions taken here were not implemented. She said she would meet the Chief Minister and the DGP to air the grievances of the common people who were being harassed by the former municipal councillor. Those who boycotted the meeting included Mr Hans Raj Gulati, a former BJP district unit president, Mr Adarsh Bhatia, and Mr Yash Paul Mehra, a vice-president of the district unit of the BJP. Mrs Chawla alleged
the SSP had failed to end corruption in police stations. She claimed
that while staging a dharna in front of the Islamabad police station
yesterday an ASI had to return an amount of Rs 1000 which he had taken
as bribe from some rehriwala. |
|
Rain
brightens kharif prospects CHANDIGARH, July 17 — Widespread rain has brightened the kharif prospects besides bringing cheer not only to farmers but also to the PSEB authorities who have been facing a tough time because of the soaring power demand following the erratic start to the monsoon. According to reports reaching here, almost all parts of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh had moderate to heavy rain during the past 24 hours. The local meteorological experts told TNS that in some areas of Himachal Pradesh it had been raining continuously for the past 24 hours. All though the monsoon arrived in the region some days ago, it is the first widespread rain. In fact, certain parts of Punjab and Haryana have had rain for the first time. Heavy rainfall has been reported from Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur, Hisar and the Sirsa belt, ending a prolonged dry spell. Meteorology Department officials said the current spell of rain would continue for the next 24 hours in this region. The "strong system" of the monsoon had moved to this part of the country from the Bay of Bengal. Agricultural experts said that the rain was good for the paddy crop which was dependent on canal and tubewell irrigation in the absence of a good spell of rain. They said the rain would not hit the cotton crop which was at a pre-flowering stage in the cotton belt. "It is true that cloudy weather and excessive rainfall adversely affect the cotton crop, but at this stage, when the crop has not flowered, the current spell will not cause any harm", a cotton expert said. Mr Deep Singh Sahota, Director, Agriculture, Punjab, said that "the rain is good for all crops — paddy, cotton and even maize sown in the rain-fed areas". He said that farmers had been waiting for the rain for many days in certain areas. They were a bit disappointed as the monsoon in certain parts was delayed." It is good that rain has been reported from almost all parts of the state", he added. There could be an attack by the white fly on the cotton crop at this stage, but such an attack was always manageable, he added. However, he said that if the current spell of rain persisted for some days, it could prove harmful to the cotton crop. As many as 5.5 lakh hectares of land is under the cotton crop in the state this year against last year’s figure of 4.75 lakh hectares. The area under the cotton crop has increased this year as last year the yield was good and there was a decline in pest attack. Large areas in the Malout and Abohar belts have also been brought under the cotton crop following the removal of waterlogging. About 25 lakh hectares of land is under the paddy crop in Punjab against last year’s figure of 26 lakh hectares. Some area under the paddy crop was diverted to the cotton crop by farmers this year. Meanwhile, the PSEB authorities said
the demand for power had dropped due to the rain. Yesterday, the
consumption of power was around 948 lakh units while today it had come
down to 900 lakh units. Before the beginning of the current spell of
rain, it had gone beyond 1,000 lakh units and the authorities
concerned were resorting to power cuts at various places. |
|
Malta
tragedy: plea to hasten inquiry HOSHIARPUR, July 17 — A deputation of the Malta Boat Tragedy Probe Mission led by Mr Balwant Singh Khera, chairman of the mission, met Mr J.C. Sharma, Additional Secretary in the Foreign Ministry and Mr S.K. Upadia, Joint Director, CBI, at New Delhi on Friday. The deputation members urged these officials to speed up the inquiry into the Malta boat tragedy case. Giving details here today, Mr Harbhajan Singh, a spokesperson for the mission said that a delegation of the mission would visit Pakistan in September for two weeks to collect documents and witnesses for this case. He said, former Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral had also written a letter to Mr Jahangir Kaji, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India in this regard. Mr J.C. Sharma told the delegates that instructions had been issued to the Indian Embassy at Greece to get the documents relating to this case. translated. He further said that Embassies of Italy and Malta had also been requested to speed up the proceedings of this case and regularly send reports to India in this regard. Deputation members demanded that the Indian Government should engage a lawyer to plead the case, proceedings of which were being held in Italy and also file cases against the ship-company responsible for the tragedy. Mr Sharma, however, did not give any assurance in this regard. Joint Director of CBI, who is dealing the case, said that he was satisfied with the proceedings of the case being held in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi. He assured that statements of 22
youths who were saved in this tragedy, including eye-witnesses,
affidavits of 125 parents of the victims, copies of charge sheet and
FIR would be supplied to the Mission so that these could be sent to Italy
for supporting the evidences of this case. |
|
Smuggler
reveals border gap FEROZEPORE, July 17 — Disclosure by a smuggler arrested last month by the Kapurthala police for having brought heroin worth Rs 60 crore through a riverine gap in the Mohamdiwala Indo-Pak border stretch here has sparked a controversy. The disclosure was made by Gurlal Singh, who was earlier arrested by the Kapurthala police, on being brought here on production warrant for verification of his confessional statement recently. Although both the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Punjab Police authorities are tightlipped over the development, sources revealed Gurlal Singh had shown on 8-foot-wide riverine gap in an otherwise fenced border stretch near Palla Megha village from where he reportedly smuggled 80 odd packets of heroin in May last. The gap is near the Mohamdiwala border post and was reportedly used with the help of Warris "Khooni", a seasoned smuggler from Nagar village in Pakistan. If Gurlal’s statement is to be believed Warris had given him directions about this route over the phone. The call was reportedly made from a public call office in Amritsar. Initially, the Ferozepore police was not willing to buy the version of Gurlal and decided to bring him here for verification. On being taken to the reported route of smuggling Gurlal claimed that Warris and his men successfully pushed packets of heroin weighing a kilo each by tampering with the fencing. He also claimed that a BSF guard at a nearby observation post was also missing at that point of time. It is learnt that the BSF officials accompanying the police team were not convinced about Gurlal’s disclosure, saying that this was next to impossible considering the tight security arrangements along the international border. "In view of fencing even along the small riverine gaps a rabbit cannot cross over from Pakistan, leave aside Gurlal", a BSF officer said. Claiming that all riverine gaps had been adequately plugged, senior BSF officials smell a rat in Gurlal’s story. They claim that Gurlal being a seasoned smuggler is aware of the topography of Ferozepore border stretch and is trying to mislead the police to conceal the actual route of smuggling. The recent seizures, the BSF apprehends, must have been routed through the porous India-Nepal border or Jammu and Kashmir. However, a section of police officers
feel that the BSF is ridiculing Gurlal’s statement because it
reflects poorly on their security arrangements. Sources in the Police
Department pointed out that Warris, who had provided narcotics to
Gurlal, was a resident of Nagar village, which is near the Mohamdiwala
border post, and was probably aware of its vulnerability. |
|
Seminar
on realities of Constitution on July 20 PATIALA, July 17 — Punjabi University here is holding a two-day seminar which will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on July 20 on the campus on "Indian Constitution and changing social, political, economic and cultural realities". The seminar being held under the auspices of the university Departments of Political Science, Public Administration, Economics and Law, has been scheduled in the context of the National Commission for Review of Indian Constitution set up by the Union Government and, thereafter, state-level panel constituted by the Punjab Government to prepare its case for presentation before the national commission. An official release today said over 200 experts, scholars and ideologists from the northern region would be participating in this conclave which will make in-depth study of the following aspects of the subject: strengthening of the institution of parliamentary democracy, electoral reforms, standards in political life, pace of socio-economic change and development under the Constitution, promoting literacy, generating employment, ensuring social security, alleviation of poverty, Union-state relations, decentralisation and devolution, empowerment and strengthening of Panchyati Raj institution, enlargement of the Fundamental Rights, effectuation of the Fundamental Duties, effectuation of the Directive Principles and achievement of the preambular objectives of the Constitution and legal control of fiscal and monetary policies, public audit, mechanisms, standards in public life. The above 10 themes on which experts would take their presentations during the sessions of the seminar correspond to the 10 panels set up by the national commission so as to cover the entire canvas for an overview of the working of the Constitution during the last 50 years to make it respond to the changing needs of the Indian society on social, political, economic and cultural levels. The thrust of the seminar would be towards federalising Indian polity which has become historically necessary and inevitable in view of globalisation on the one hand and self-assertion of regional forces which at the same time are strengthening the national outlook. This provides a new perspective for restructuring the Centre-state relationship for reinforcing the unity of Indian on the one hand and the real empowerment of the people at the grassroots level on the other hand. The inaugural session
is being attended, among others, by Mr Surjit Singh Barnala; Capt
Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister; Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, Minister for
Foods and Supplies and Parliamentary Affairs; Mr B.S.Bhunder, M. P.
and Mr H.S. Mattewal, Advocate-General, Punjab. |
SAD
ready for poll, says Sukhbir Badal LUDHIANA, July 17 — Former Union Minister of State for Industry, Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, said today that the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) was always ready for elections. However, he sought to clarify that he had no information whether the SAD was inclined towards snap poll in the state or not. In an informal conversation with mediapersons here before attending a seminar on the problems being faced by the trade and industry, organised by the Ludhiana Traders and Manufacturers Association, Mr Badal claimed, "we are not afraid of elections...but I am not behind any such move". He pointed out the SAD government was probably the only government, which had faced so many elections and byelections during its past three-year tenure. He asserted that the SAD would also successfully contest the Sunam byelection, necessitated by the death of sitting Congress legislator Bhagwan Dass Arora. Reacting to the reports that he had suggested the idea of midterm polls, Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal said, "I learnt it only from the newspapers", and claimed that the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, never talked to him on the issue. However, he was non-committal about the desirability of midterm elections in the state but he did not rule out the possibility of the elections. The former Minister also evaded questions on the reported moves of a patch up between Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra. He said, it was up to the Political Affairs Committee and the president of the party to take any decision on the issue. At the same time he said, everyone was welcome in the party. However, he did not specify whether he meant same thing for Mr Tohra or not. Mr Badal sought to downplay the feud
within the Youth Akali Dal. When asked about the issue he claimed, he
had no role in it. He also denied that he was patronising any
particular faction. The issue, he felt, should be left to the party
high command and the PAC. About any possible change in the leadership
of the Youth Akali Dal, he said, "I am not aware of any such
thing". He also clarified that he was not inclined to take over
the reins of the Youth Akali Dal. |
Punjab
phone numbers to be on Internet CHANDIGARH, July 17 — People elsewhere in the country or abroad will now have no problem in finding, the phone numbers of their friends, acquaintances, relatives and business contacts living in Punjab. The entire list of 13 lakh telephone subscribers spread all across Punjab is to be put on the Internet within the next two months. At present work on this project is in full swing. The listing of numbers will be like a routine telephone directory and the procedure to locate the numbers will also be the same — in alphabetical order. In all there are 13 Secondary Switching Areas (SSAs) in the state. Invariably, each SSA covers one or two revenue districts and several contiguous areas of the adjoining revenue districts also. The Chief General Manager Telecom, Punjab Circle, Mr R.N. Sharma, says: ‘‘We are working on a software programme to put all numbers on the Net. This will meet the demand of people living outside the state and also of those within it.’’ The process of locating a number on the Net will be according to the SSA and the cities and towns connected to it. Or it will be through the revenue district that will allow search on the basis of towns located within that revenue district. Another search technique is that the list of numbers of a particular city, town or village can be searched by the name of the place. The department is also toying with the idea of listing business addresses separately and according to the type of industry or business the subscriber is associated with. If that is done, the cotton market, the hosiery industry, manufacturers of woollens, rice shellers, exporters and the software industry stand to gain . The numbers will be on the departmental website (www.punjab.dotindia.com) For the website the department is using its own server. Thus, updating of the site will be as per the requirements. With the business dealings of subscribers expanding fast and becoming highly dependent on telephone lines, it was the need of the hour to have such a directory, official sources said. In several SSAs, directories serve no purpose as they are outdated. In the past one year the calling codes for places within a 50 km radius have changed. Besides, the upgradation of exchanges and changes in technologies have resulted in changed phone numbers. And even when the change in numbers is notified in newspapers the information often does not reach person living outside the state. This makes it almost impossible to keep track of the numbers of persons one wants to contact in Punjab. For example, within this year alone another 2.50 lakh telephone connections are to be added to the existing capacity of 13 lakh telephones. As many as 75 exchanges are proposed to be commissioned in the state. On the other hand, 18 Internet nodes
are coming up at all district headquarters in Punjab and the deadline
for commissioning them has been fixed for August 15. |
|
Court
judgement upsets villagers AMRITSAR, July 17 — Residents of Ghanupur village are up in arms following a court judgement, which has awarded the village playground to a private owner. The land of the playground is worth more than Rs 1 crore around 50 years ago a Muslim owner of the land, which is presently the playground at the village, reportedly migrated to Pakistan during the Partition. His land was taken possession of by the village panchayat which then decided to leave the land vacant as a village playground. In 1970 Ghanupur village along with 21 or so more villages and the industrial township of Chheherta were merged and brought under Municipal Committee, Amritsar and later Amritsar Municipal Corporation. Consequently the corporation spent a large sum to develop the land into a really good park. In 1994 a tubewell was also installed in the park. In the same year, however, an advocate with a group of labourers and some anti-social elements came to the park and started demolishing the wall allegedly to take possession of the park. The villagers, led by councillor of area late Jagdish, and panches stopped them. Some documents were then shown to the villagers according to which the land was legally purchased from its owner. Villagers, however, refused to believe the documents and so the alleged land grabbers were forced to retreat. Later, a deputation of villagers approached the then Mayor, Mr Om Parkash Soni, to register an FIR with the police but were refused. In the meantime, someone got hold of the alleged documents which read that the reported owner of the playground land was said to be a resident of a village in Patti tehsil. On checking it was found that no Muslim by that name ever existed there after the partition. Evidently, an impersonator had executed a registration deed reportedly in connivance with officers of the Revenue Department. Representations demanding inquiry were handed over to the then Chief Minister and the then Local Bodies Minister by Mr Satya Pal Dang and Mrs Bimla Dang. But all complaints went in vain instead the new owners filed a civil suit with the corporation as a respondent. Villagers, feeling left out, applied to be made a party, but were rejected by the court. Recently in June the case was decided against the corporation, which has angered the entire village. According to Mr Dang a cursory reading of the judgement shows that the case was not defended properly. Two instances illustrate the point, the plea of the corporation was that the owner of the land, who reportedly sold the land was murdered in 1969 (more than 20 years before the date of sale). But no documentary evidence was produced in support of this contention. An application by the corporation for making an amendment in the written statement, too, was rejected in the court. A revision petition should have been filed against this order but that was not done. It was further suggested that to ensure that a properly drafted appeal should be filed along with an application for stay of the judgement. Meanwhile, villagers were ready to
defend the park for the use of their children. |
|
Brar
clarifies about plot CHANDIGARH, July 17 — A former Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Harcharan Singh Brar, has clarified that his son, Mr Adesh Kanwaljit Singh Brar, had never been allotted any plot out of the Haryana Chief Minister’s discretionary quota. He was referring to a news item, "NRI free to go to SC on plot allotments" published in these columns on July 15, which was based on the proceedings of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The petitioner, Mr Deepak Raj Gupta, had alleged in his petition that a review committee set up by HUDA under the orders of the high court had regularised the allotment of plots to, among others, one Harinder, son of Mr Brar. Mr Brar said in a statement that the
"news needs to be rectified to the extent that the so-called
Harinder is not my son nor was any plot allotted to my real son, Adesh
Kanwaljit Singh Brar. I am issuing this statement with a view to
removing all possible doubts in the mind of the public." |
|
New
look for chowk of accidents ABOHAR: A road crossing popularly known as "killer chowk" on a stretch connecting Abohar to the Hanumangarh, Malout and Sriganganagar roads has been named Sri Sukhmani Sahib Seva Society Chowk after a facelift. There had been an average of 10 to 12 deaths every month in accidents at this crossing over the past 10 years. Many clubs had offered to develop the crossing as per the traffic rules, but the PWD authorities granted neither permission for the work nor undertook the task themselves. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Kulbir Singh Sidhu, cleared the hurdles and the work was assigned to the Sri Sukhmani Sahib Seva Society after proper demarcation of the site by the department. The chief sevadar of the society, Mr Jagtar Singh Bathla, said so far over Rs 1 lakh had been spent on the new chowk. The deputy sevadar, Dr S.S. Gagneja, said grass would be grown after a water connection was sanctioned. Before the inauguration of the chowk recently, Mr Sidhu said a Goniana-based young industrialist settled here, Mr Ram Dyal Garg, would take up the work of erecting welcome gates on all four main roads linking Abohar to other towns. Mr Tejinder Singh Aulakh of Kallarkhera village had agreed to build such a gate on the Rajasthan-Punjab border road. Some organisations had also joined the venture. He favoured proper development of road crossings so that accidents could be checked. Mr Virendra Kataria, a former MP, said people usually had no respect for traffic rules. The project for developing road crossings would improve traffic discipline. Every life, he said, was precious, irrespective of the economic status of the victim of an accident. Giani Kewal Singh, Jathedar of Takht Shri Damdama Sahib, lauded the society for developing the important crossing beautifully. The Lions Club, Abohar Greater, has renovated a chowk dedicated to 32 persons who fell to the bullets of militants, near Canal Colony. New Wearwell Tailors took the responsibility of giving Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk on the old Tehsil Road a new look. The chowk on the Abohar-Seeto road is being developed by Amrit Enterprises. Some more organisations have
volunteered to beautify the town, where roads and parks are in bad
shape and encroachments are on the rise. |
|
BOI
takes over checkposts ATTARI, July 17 — On the directive of the Union Home Ministry, the Bureau of Immigration (BOI) has taken over the immigration work from the Punjab Police at Rajasansi International Airport, Wagah joint checkposts and Attari railway station wherefrom about one lakh passengers travel between India and Pakistan every year through the Samjhauta Express. The BOI had to take over from the Punjab Police in a bid to curb rampant corruption, especially at Attari railway station. A few months ago some police officials at the immigration checkpost were arrested on the charge of facilitating the immigration of two Pakistan military intelligence workers. A number of cases of fake Indian currency brought in the Samjhauta Express were also reported. Today, a team of BOI officials led by Mr G.S. Sahota, Foreigners’ Region Registration Officer (FRRO) okayed the immigration of more than 600 passengers for Lahore through the Samjhauta Express. Mr Sahota, a Punjab cadre IPS officer has joined as an FRRO on deputation. Earlier, Mr Sahota was a commandant of the Indian Reserve Battalion. Since the BOI is specially trained, it carries out immigration work at the airports. Though the notification had directed the BOI to take over immigration work from June 15, yet it took more than a month as the Punjab Police took time to relieve Mr Sahota. Earlier, on the direction of the
Union Home Ministry, licences of the coolies working at Attari railway
station were cancelled. Intelligence agencies had reported to the
ministry that the coolies were being used by anti-social elements to
smuggle contraband through the Samjhauta Express. After the detection
of fake currency, explosives and firearms from passengers coming in
the Samjhauta Express the Customs Department resorted through
checking. |
|
Construction
work on heritage complex to CHANDIGARH, July 17 — One level of the prestigious Khalsa Heritage Complex is to be opened to the public by December 1, 2001. This was stated by Punjab Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, while presiding over an Executive Committee meeting of the Anandpur Sahib Foundation here today. Mr Sarup Singh, Chief Engineer of the project, was asked to ensure adherence to the target date. Reviewing the progress of construction, the Executive Committee noted with satisfaction that during the first quarter, which ended on June 30, Rs 9,43,37,503 had been spent on the project. Mrs Vini Mahajan, Chief Executive Officer, informed the meeting that the Pedestrian bridge connecting the eastern and western wings of the complex was ready. To speed up the construction work, it was decided to engage the more supervisory engineering personnel on a contract basis. The foundation finalised its contract with the National Institute of Design, Ahmedbad, for concept exhibit designing and display in the heritage complex. For day-to-day interaction on the concept and content of "Ajooba", the institute would have a five-member consultative panel of scholars. The foundation also decided to launch
a fund-raising campaign for this museum on Sikh history. |
|
Punjabi
musical programme PATIALA, July
17 — The National Theatre Society, Patiala, organised a Punjabi
musical — Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh, — at Central State Library
Hall. Inaugurating the programme, the chief guest, Mr S.K. Ahluwalia,
Additional Commissioner, lauded the effort for keeping theatre
movement alive without much support from the government. Presiding
over the function, Mr Manjit Singh Narang, SDM, Patiala, appreciated
the good work. He gave away certificates and prizes to the 40
participants of the programme. |
|
Pay
social security cess: govt CHANDIGARH, July 17 — The Punjab Government has instructed all sales tax payers to pay the social security cess as additional sales tax amount. A spokesman for the government said that all cess due up to June 30 should be deposited with the authorities concerned and the payment made in this connection should be shown separately in the sales tax returns submitted by the tax payers to the authorities concerned. The cess amount would be utilised by
the Social Security Department for paying old age pension and
financial assistance to needy persons, according to Mr S.R. Ladher,
Special Secretary, Freedom Fighters and Social Security Department. |
Revenue
from stamp duty increases PATIALA, July 17 — A sum of Rs 13.55 crore was collected as revenue in the form of stamp duty between April 1 and June 30 this year, which is almost double the stamp duty revenue collected during the corresponding period last year. This was disclosed by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Jasbir Singh Bir, while addressing a meeting of revenue officers of the district at the Red Cross hall here on Friday. This two fold increase was due to the computerisation of the revenue records and simplification of the procedure for collecting stamp duty. Mr Bir also said that from July 1, 1999 till June 30 this year, 115 km of new village roads were constructed in the district at a cost of Rs 4.26 crore and 221 km of link roads were re-laid at a cost of Rs 10.69 crore during the same period. He exhorted officials of various departments to expedite pending works. Mr Bir
instructed officers of all departments to be present in their
respective offices on all weekdays between 12 noon and 1.30 pm to
listen the grievances of the people and to remove the same
expeditiously. He also said that they should not take their official
work to their residences. He said he would be inspecting various
departments to ensure that officers and their subordinates were not
absent from duty and warned that any complacency in this regard would
be strictly dealt with. |
|
Mayor,
minister at loggerheads JALANDHAR, July 17 — The tussle between city Mayor Suresh Sehgal and the Medical Education Minister Manoranjan Kalia over the alleged use of civic land by the minister in front of his house for his security staff has intensified with the civic body authorities deciding to go ahead with a proposal to construct shops at the said land. The land in question is an area measuring 350 feet in the backyard of the Municipal Corporation office, which had been vacant for sometime. The civic body has decided to construct 36 shops on the land to enhance its revenue after razing public toilets on the said land which were being used by the security staff of the minister. The minister allegedly opposed the civic body move on the plea that shops should not be constructed as the road dividing his house and the plot was not wide enough and any new construction would lead to traffic bottlenecks. The civic body authorities were of the view that the public toilets have seized to serve their purpose since these were being used only by the minister’s security staff. The issue got blown out of proportion as some people raised it at the party fora. Both Mr Sehgal and Mr Kalia were reportedly asked by the BJP leaders to attend the party’s executive meeting at Dhanaula on July 15 and resolve their differences so as to save the party from any embarrassing situation. But both of them did not attend the meeting with Mr Sehgal saying that though he was invited to the meeting, he was not aware whether the issue was to be discussed there or not. The newly appointed Deputy Commissioner, Mr Keswa Prasad, visited Mr Kalia’s residence today, and reportedly discussed the matter with him, raising many eyebrows. The tiff between the two could also be observed during the month-long strife between Mr Sehgal and Mr Gurcharan Singh Narula, former senior deputy mayor. Mr Kalia, it was learnt, did not attend the civic body general house meeting on July 7. Mr Chuni Lal Bhagat, who had the voting right for being a city MLA, attended the meeting and voted in favour of resolution to remove Mr Narula from the post of Senior Deputy Mayor. While Mr Kalia and Mr Keshwa Prasad
were not available for comments, Mr Sehgal seemed to be adamant to
remove the toilets and to go ahead with his proposed project of
constructing the shops at the place. Though he said alternative
arrangements for toilets would be made but at the same time said that
if the minister had to retain his security staff, he should provide
the toilet facility to them at his residence, and a public place
should not be used for the purpose. He went a step further saying his
next step would be to remove tents, pitched up by security staff of
different important people at public places like parks. |
|
Autorickshaws
to collect garbage PATIALA, July 17 — The Municipal Corporation, in its efforts to improve the garbage collection after having privatised the system partly, has decided to go in for three-wheelers with hydraulic lifts to collect garbage from the inner city areas. The corporation is resorting to this move due to the difficulty faced in lifting garbage from congested streets in the inner city. Tractor-trailers cannot negotiate the streets in the inner city due to which the staff have a great problem in lifting small dumps in the streets. Residents in the inner city also have to throw garbage in open areas which can be approached by a tractor if they are serious about wanting the corporation employees to lift it . Corporation Commissioner K. S. Kang told TNS that the corporation had decided to buy three such auto-rickshaws from an Ahmedabad-based company. He said the machines would be made to order according to the needs of the corporation . Mr Kang said the corporation was also continuing with its night scavenging operations under which 35 employees and three tractor-trailers were used to collect garbage at night. Besides this, the corporation has been successful in registering 60 Mohalla Sudhar Committees which had hired sweepers and were being paid Rs 1,200 for the service of each sweeper. Residents, however, feel that though the sweepers hired by them collect garbage from each house in the colony, there is no fixed place for throwing the garbage. Vacant plots in various localities and government land or side of roads in fully developed colonies are the favourite spots for dumping garbage by the sweepers. This, they say, results in tension as residents living close to such dumping spots quarreled with committee members over the throwing of garbage there. Mr Narender Manchanda, who lives in Street Number 17 in Tripuri, said the lane residents had hired a sweeper for collecting and throwing their garbage. He said as no fixed dumping site had been fixed by the municipality, the garbage of their areas was thrown behind the nearby government dispensary. Another resident of Tripuri — Mr Ashok Chawla — in whose area no welfare society has been constituted, says that garbage is either thrown on the roads or is dumped along Hindu Public School. As the dump is situated in a erstwhile well and is a low lying area, the entire area stinks due to the stink emanating from it . Charan Bagh Welfare Society President Avtar Singh Brar said the problem lay in inefficient working being done by municipal sweepers as well as lack of sufficient number of bins in the city due to which garbage was dumped along roads, vacant plots and government land. He said various colonies had been forced to recruit private sweepers and workers of the corporation were not performing their duties properly. He said where bins did exist, garbage was not lifted from them properly as the hydraulic system of corporation trucks remained out of order on many occasions. The corporation Commissioner said
eight new bins were being installed and an equal number were already
placed at strategic points in the city. He said the corporation was
facing a shortage of manpower but was still providing adequate service
to the people. The scheme under which colonies were encouraged to
register themselves with the corporation and hire a sweeper to their
satisfaction had also paid dividends with such committees being
registered with the corporation. |
Woman
found dead AMRITSAR, July 17 — Anika (20) was found dead here today. According to Sunil Kumar her husband, the couple was staying at Sunil’s paternal uncle’s house who was away to Palampur. Sunil says he went to collect some of his clothes from his parental house, 200 yards away from the uncle’s house. At that time Anika had gone to take her bath. When he returned to his uncle’s house an hour later he knocked the door, but did not get any response. He used a ladder to enter the house. He found Anika on the veranda with a head injury. He rushed her to the Guru Ram Das Hospital where she was declared dead. According to the SP, Mr Kewal Kumar, an old servant of the uncle’s family Vijay is missing. Two kg of gold is also missing, he added. A complaint has been registered at B division police station. Meanwhile, a case of embezzlement has been registered against Mr J.S. Bedi, Chief Engineer, Aviation, Amritsar Flying Club at Sadar Police Station. Bedi had reportedly taken Rs 50,000 from a new entry and deposited only Rs 22,800. A case under Sections 420, 406 and 506 of the IPC has been registered against Bedi. Bedi is absconding. |
Schools
of excellence PATIALA, July 17 — Developing leadership qualities in the students with emphasis on character-building marks the local Budha Dal Public School’s approach to education. Although the school was established only in 1984, it has made its presence felt in Patiala during this short period.
Budha Dal Public School is the only private school in Patiala which is affiliated to the CBSE. The Principal of the school, Ms H. K. Sandhu, says she prefers to restrict the number of students in each class to 40 so as to ensure personal interaction between the students and the teachers. According to Ms Kavita Nagpal who teaches physics to the plus two class, the teachers in the school are ready to help their students in all ways, including personal counselling. Commenting upon a distinctive attribute of the overall education imparted at the school, Mr Prakash Prabhakar and Ms Rekha Kiran, the proud parents of this year’s plus two topper, Almitra, say discipline is the keyword at the school. Besides, the school has a lot to offer in terms of inculcating the Punjabi culture among its students, says Mr Prabhakar.
A student said regular class tests at the school helped in developing a competitive spirit among the students and prepared them to face the examinations with confidence because the syllabus, thus, was constantly revised. According to Mr S.
P. Singh, an academician whose son studies at the school, the teachers’
emphasis on hard work yields rich dividends to the students. Besides,
the school provides various incentives to the students to participate in
debates, quiz competitions, and other extra-curricular activities, says
Ms Narenderjit Kaur. The view is seconded by Dr Inderjeet Singh Sidhu
and Dr Harbhajan Kaur whose daughter passed her matriculation
examination from the school. According to them students of the school
are well-behaved and disciplined. Besides providing good education the
school also makes a contribution towards developing the overall
personality of the students, they add. |
|
‘Waive
NET condition for doctorates’ PATIALA, July 17 — The All-India Universities Research Scholars Association has requested various universities and state governments to waive off the NET condition for Ph.D. degree holders, which was imposed on April 4, 2000. The recommendation
was made on the basis of the Rastogi Committee report, which regarded
Ph.D. as the highest qualification in the university system and hence
would be unfair to ask a Ph.D. degree holder to appear for a
postgraduate level test to prove his eligibility, said a press release
issued by the association. |
|
Make
Hindi, Sanskrit compulsory subjects’ PATIALA, July 17 — The Shri Sanatan Dharam Sabha, today alleged that the Punjab Government was taking an indifferent view of teaching of Hindi and Sanskrit in government schools, with both subjects being eliminated at both the primary and graduate levels. A sabha release here said a
meeting of the organisation, under its President, Mr Lal Chand, felt
that students were losing interest in both subjects due to the
indifference being shown by the government. The sabha demanded that
students should be given option to take Hindi along with Punjabi and
English as medium of instruction. It said members also resolved that
Hindi and Sanskrit should be made compulsory subjects up to the
graduate level. It said vacant posts of Sanskrit teachers in
government-aided schools should be filled without delay and posts of
Sanskrit teachers should be created in newly upgraded schools. |
|
Quota
for Kashmiri migrants PATIALA, July 17 — Punjabi University has created five additional seats in various teaching departments of the university, for the academic year 2000-2001, for Kashmiri migrants. Giving this information, Dr Kuldip Singh Dhir, Dean, Academic Affairs, admission against these seats would be given subject to fulfilment of eligibility criteria and entrance test requirements as given in the hand book of information of the university. The candidates will
be required to produce a certificate of being a Kashmiri migrant from
an authorised officer. This was stated in a press note released by the
university on Friday. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Mr
K. S. Babra and Ms Gurdeep, parents of Harpreet who passed her plus two
(commerce) from the school this year, feel the cooperation of the teachers makes
the students an extra bit more receptive to their studies.