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Naib Tehsildar commits suicide PANCHKULA, Sept 7 — A 40-year-old Naib Tehsildar, Sukhpal Singh, committed suicide by jumping from the terrace of the three-storey building of the mini-secretariat this afternoon around 3 pm. He was stated to be mentally disturbed. Officials he met at the office today said he seemed disturbed and distracted today, though there was nothing unusual about his mood. Moreover, his conversation also did not give any indication of such a move or any such plans. “I asked him why he had not come to see me for so long and his instant reply was ‘ab to aise hi dekha karoge’. I was on my way to a meeting and did not ask much, though he seemed distracted,’’ an official said. On returning from his lunch break, at 3 pm today, the deceased, whose office is on the second floor, went to the terrace, took off his slippers, placed his keys on the wall, struggled to get on, jumped and fell down with a thud. Hearing the sound, the employees rushed to the window. He was rushed to the General Hospital in Sector 6, but he succumbed to his injuries on the way. Later, the police cleared his belongings in the office room. Sources added that more details would be available and reasons which led to the suicide would become clear once the three-page matter in his diary was studied. Meanwhile, two notes have also been recovered from him. While one is addressed to the Commissioner, Gurgaon, the other is addressed to his paternal aunt. In his letter to the Commissioner, he has written that he wants to be relieved from his job immediately, since he cannot carry out his job owing to domestic problems. In his letter to his aunt, he has stated that if she does not receive an answer within 24 hours, he should be considered dead. His letter mentions of some dissent between the two, his family circumstances, some property and his state of mind at the time of writing his letter. At the General Hospital, his father Durga Ram said Sukhpal was on cordial terms with his wife Santro, who was staying at their native village in Mohamadpur in Sirsa with their 10-year-old son. She had been in town for the past few days. He informed that the deceased was admitted to Government Hospital in Sector 32, Chandigarh, for deaddiction. He was addicted to phensedryl, a cough syrup, and used to gulp down eight bottles in a day. Sources added that he suffered a fit in office some one month back and had to be taken to hospital. With absolutely no work at his seat, it is learnt that Sukhpal was transferred from Narnaul about six months back to the district and was unhappy being here. He preferred to stay all by himself and hardly talked to anybody. He shared his office with another employee, who was on leave today and not available for comment. The police has registered a case and investigations are on. |
Man held for raping teenager CHANDIGARH According to police sources, Sarabjit Singh alias Happy, met the 16-year-old girl in the sector’s market while she was going with her younger brother to attend a birthday party at her aunt’s house at Attawa village. Since both knew each other from the time their families were neighbours in Attawa, she accepted his offer of a lift. They attended the party and returned at about 11 p.m. but found the main door locked. She tried to awake her parents, but could not do so. The accused then offered to take her to his house. Having no other option, she agreed to the proposal. When her brother had gone to sleep, the accused came to her room and threatened to kill her brother if she resisted him. He then raped her. The following day he took her to Ludhiana and where she was raped again. She was brought back and allowed to go home. The victim was so terrified that she did not tell about it to anybody. The accused again met her and tried to rape her but this time she resisted and narrated the whole incident to her mother who in turn informed the police. Following this, the accused was arrested and the girl was medically examined. The accused has been booked under Sections 363, 366, 376, 506 of the IPC. |
TTTIs should focus on future CHANDIGARH Professor Chandra stressed that for this all training programmes in the institutions should be revised from time to time, taking into account the past achievements and problems faced. Expressing happiness on the contribution made by the TTTIs in the area of curriculum development, educational technology and community development during the past several years he lauded the role played by the institution in implementation of World Bank assisted project. He added that the expertise available at TTTI Chandigarh should not only be confined within the country but make a mark internationally. Professor Chandra, gave away academic awards to the outstanding students. Mr Sunil Kumar Singla from the instrumentation and control branch received Dr S.P. Luthra Memorial Gold Medal. Others who received awards include Mr Shah Sanjay Kumar Manubhai in computer sciences and engineering, Mr Danoji Obelashwar in construction technology and management, Mr Shah Mehulkumar Kantilal in instrumentation and control, Mr Manoj Wasudeorao Thakare in manufacturing technology. Professor Chandra also presented the best polytechnic shields and citations to the principals of four institutions of the region which were earlier identified as the best polytechnics. These include Government Polytechnic, Jodhpur, Thapar Polytechnic, Patiala, Government Polytechnic, Nilokheri and Government Polytechnic for Women, Lucknow. Mr Yash Mahajan, Chairman, Board of Governors TTTI, while appreciating the role of the institutions urged for bringing improvements in technical educations in the region. He gave away merit certificates to employees on this occasion. Dr S. Knrishnamurthy, Principal, Chandigarh TTTI, presented the annual report of the institution. He also gave a brief account of the achievements and activities of the institute during the previous year. Earlier, the three-day National Seminar on Promoting Community Development Activities concluded at the TTTI. More than 150 delegates from across the country had participated in this seminar in which about 50 papers on various themes were presented. During the valedictory session of the seminar , Professor Chandra emphasised the need from major emphasis on the informal sector of the economy which contributes to 48 per cent of the GDP and provides employment opportunities to 93 per cent of the manpower working in the formal and the informal sector. However, he added that there was a vast difference in productivity of manpower in formal and informal sector. He said presently the ratio of productivity of formal versus informal was 1:13. This ratio needs to be brought down to give boost to the GDP growth rate of the country, stressed Professor Chandra. Professor Chandra was of the opinion that for solving problems of widespread poverty, unemployment and underemployment there was a need to make the community polytechnic services a mass movement in all technical polytechnic institutions, engineering colleges, ITIs and institutes of higher learning and universities Prof S.K. Chopra, Head, Rural Development Department TTTI, made presentation of major recommendations of the seminar. These included the involvement of women and NGOs in community development activities and collaboration of industry with technical institutions for the enhancement of community development activities. Other recommendations include promoting community development through science and technology in the areas like agriculture, rural water supply and sanitation. renewable energy, housing, food processing and preservation and packaging and resource sharing and networking for human resource development for community development. |
| PGI panel to clear
projects on animals CHANDIGARH The committee under the chairmanship of Prof V.K. Bhargava will now scrutinise each project to ascertain the justification of use of animals in a project. This committee will look into whether the project can be carried out without actively involving the animals. Moreover, the committee will also ensure that the animals are looked after and are handled properly. Other members of the committee include Dr G.C. Varshney from IMTECH, Prof R.M. Joshi from GMCH, Prof J.D. Wig, Dr Meera Sharma, Dr S.Verma and Prof S.Majumdar, who will be the convener member. The animals from the central animal house in the PGI will be issued to the various project works in the departments only after being cleared by all members of the ethics committee. The committee also includes a nominee of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ms Payal Sodhi, from the People for Animals. The first meeting of the committee will take place on September 18 which will scrutinise 11 proposals from the various basic research departments of the PGI. The permission will be granted after confirming aims, objectives and benefits of the projects. The central animal house in the PGI is breeds animals like rats, mice and rabbits which are issued to different basic research departments. However, the animals are mostly out-bred or in-bred. For any major breakthrough in modern biology and research work to be undertaken in genetic toxicology, special infrastructure is required. The infrastructure available is not fit for breeding genetically controlled animals. According to the experts, for example, if a scientist wants to develop a breed animals with hypertension since birth, specifically designed modern infrastructure is required. The sources said for developing infrastructure for genetically controlled or knockout animals, the department needs funds, nearly Rs 35 lakh, which it is trying to get from the PGI budget. However, help is also being sought from the outside agencies like the ICMR, CSIR and the Department of Biotechnology. |
Miss
Punjab 2000 promises good entertainment CHANDIGARH The event scheduled at Funcity near Panchkula
is being organised by the Global Entertainers, Mrs Neeru
Motiani, president of the group said. The event is open
to unmarried Punjabi girls between 18-27 age group. The
star-studded night also promises song and dance
performances by Bollywood stars, including Akshay Kumar
and Raveena Tandon. The show will be compered by Ruby
Bhatia and Zeenat Aman features prominently among the
names of judges. When questioned specifically about the
visit of Bollywood guests, it was said that the visitors
had confirmed their visits. Mrs Motiani said: “We
are also looking at the inner beauty of the participants.
There will be no swimsuit round”. Besides a cash
prize of Rs 3 lakh to the winners, the event promises Rs
50,000 each to three participants selected for
‘pursuing and professional vocational
courses’. The last day of filling the entry is
September 15. The show register promises more than 2000
participants already and the number is likely to go
up. A fashion show director at the conference venue on a
note of anonymity said grabbing nearly 2500 participants
for the fashion show was a notable achievement. Also
present were Mr Muneesh Kocchar, event director, Mr
Sandeep Marwah, owner of a studio in Noida and Mr Kishore
Motiani. “We are not doing the show for money
alone. We want to clap for girls who deserve
attention”, the compere said. Out of the total ,
only 100 participants will be shortlisted for detailed
workshops from October 17 onwards. The earlier selection
will be done on the basis of photographs and forms
received for the contest. Only 27 walk the ramp for the
crown on October 21. Punjabi girls will have the option
to answer the questions in the language they prefer. |
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Rajendra Rishi to get millennium
award CHANDIGARH Rishi, who is credited with having authored the
first ever Russian-Hindi dictionary, with a foreword by
late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, will be honoured
for his contribution to the field of Hindi language at
the Millennium World Hindi Conference to be held in New
Delhi on September 14. Rishi’s primary interest has
always been the Russian language and literature and he
has served in the Indian Embassy in Moscow from 1950 to
1952, when Dr S. Radhakrishnan was the Indian Ambassador
to Russia. Besides an immense contribution in the above
mentioned fields, Rishi has also authored many books on
Russia, including India and Russia — Linguistic and
Cultural Affinity and a Hindi translation of
Pushkin’s legendary poem “Gypsy”. Rishi
has also been the first interpreter of Russian and he has
also worked with Russian dignitaries. Apart from a
distinguished career devoted to the promotion of
linguistics, Weer Rajinder Rishi has lately been
promoting Romani studies, in his capacity as the
president of the Indian Institute of Romani Studies. He
is also the honorary president of the International
Romani Union and has produced significant works on the
Roma, their language and culture. He has lately
established the Nehru Roma House and Museum in the
Shivalik Public School Complex, in the city. The Roma
House has become a pilgrimage centre for the Roma, apart
from a research centre for Romanologues. |
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Official cars being misused, claims PGI
Employees’ Union CHANDIGARH While
the Union now has gone to the extent of writing a letter
to the Secretary, Health, Mr Javed Chaudhary seeking a
CBI probe into the matter, the authorities insist that
the said use “is well within their right.” The
issue is likely to gain momentum during the forthcoming
meeting of the standing finance committee. In the
letter, the union has alleged that certain senior
officials of PGI are misusing staff cars for their
personal use in violation of rules. Interestingly, among
the alleged violators are those officials who, as per
rules, are not authorised to use cars even for officials purposes. Of the seven staff cars, the union alleges,
only the Director is entitled to use a staff car on
regular basis. However, five other officers — the
Dean, the Deputy Director Administration, the Medical
Superintendent, the Superintendent Hospital Engineer
(SHE) and the Chief Accountant-cum-Financial Adviser have
also been allotted staff cars on permanent basis, it
claims. Denying the allegation, the PGI Director, Dr
S.K Sharma, said the staff cars were being used by these
officials for the past 25 years. No one till date has
raised any objections. “Besides myself, The Dean,
the Deputy Director Administration, and the Medical
Superintendent are also authorised to use these cars.
While in case of the SHE, his nature of job requires him
to move about in the field, the Financial Adviser was
granted special permission by a former Director. The
order is continuing,” he asserted. The Director
said the conveyance allowance was not being drawn by us
unlike other faculty members using personal cars. The
vehicles, otherwise, were not being used for personal
work, he said. Meanwhile, the union members have
alleged that these officials are misusing these cars
beyond duty hours till late night and on Sundays and
gazetted holidays at the expense of the Institute. They
say the cars are being used to drop and pick up children
from schools, shopping, picnics, purchasing vegetables.
The drivers of these officials getting overtime allowance
for such jobs directly or indirectly. Rules stipulate
that the staff cars are “meant only for official
use”. It allows officials to be picked up from their
residence in the staff car but only when they are
required to attend “official meetings” which
are either convened at places outside their normal places
of work or outside normal working hours. The letter
further says: “Even though the post of the Dean has
been lying vacant for more than two years, the same is
also being misused. Besides, the staff cars, the SHE
office has been allotted one Gypsy, a jeep and a van for
XENs. Hence, this leaves only one staff car in the
general pool to be used by other officials of the
institute and for emergency work of Nehru Hospital. As a
result of this, the work of the hospital and patient care
does suffer.” The union has also written that on
many occasions the ambulance and the staff car posted in
the emergency from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. on all working days
and for full days on Sundays and gazetted holidays are
also being misused. In the absence of these, the
attendants of even serious patients are forced to hire
private vehicles in case some CT scan or MRI test is
required to be done from outside due to the failure of
these machines at the PGI. They have further alleged
that even “the staff car outside the emergency is
also being used for carrying X-rays and other files to
the residences of the consultants and senior faculty
members for advise, many of whom on paper show emergency
visits to claim conveyance allowance, which is absolutely
illegal and a fraud”. They maintain that the car is
being used to take X-rays, CT scan, MRI and patient files
to the doctors residences in Sector 24, Mani Majra,
private houses and even within the campus during night
hours. It is also alleged that “though some senior
faculty members do visit the hospital at odd hours but 90
per cent of them are claiming conveyance allowance with
bogus entries and affidavits, besides the transport
allowance.” In most cases, the staff car is being
used to drop or carry doctors and other officers from
their residences in case of an emergency. The car on
emergency duty is also used to take doctors and other
officials to railway stations during night hours and on
holidays. Hence, they allege that “there is no
justification for placing a staff car at the emergency
once the conveyance allowance is being claimed and paid
by the authorities to the doctors.” They have urged
the Secretary, Health, to formulate a policy and issue
directions for strict compliance in the forthcoming
standing finance committee or the governing body meeting
later to stop such misuse and reduce the unnecessary
burden on the government exchequer. |
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Lambian residents stage
dharna SAS NAGAR Mr Sajjan
Singh, a member of the village panchayat, said PUDA was
trying to evict them from the area where they were
settled in 1980 when the village land was acquired.
Instead of making some arrangements for the
rehabilitation of the villagers, PUDA was merely planning
for their eviction. Mr Jagmal Singh Todarmajra, former
propaganda secretary of the Ropar district of the SAD,
said he would not let PUDA authorities demolish houses in
the village. Mr Ishar Singh Langh, a municipal
councillor, said the village fell under the municipal
limits and its residents exercised their voting rights in
the recent civic elections. As such PUDA authorities
should not demolish houses and shops which fell within
the Lal Dora of the village. Yesterday, too, residents of
the village had blocked traffic and raised slogans
against the government in protest against the demolition
drive carried out by PUDA. |
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Nirmala Singh to hold
exhibition CHANDIGARH The artist is already off to Allahabad
for arranging the show which, she will later take to
Calcutta in October, Bangalore in November and Mumbai in
January. This exhibition which opens at Allahabad day
after will have an exotic theme, as it will be based on
the works of yet another artist who has contributed
immensely to the field of literature. Nirmala has created
an assortment of works based on Nivedita Joshi’s
collection of poems titled Nange Paon. Apart from the
inauguration of the exhibition on September 9, Nivedita
Joshi will also recite her poems to the gathering. |
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‘Lifeless’ nights of city
clubs CHANDIGARH Some
of the clubs in the city are as old as the city itself.
The Chandigarh Club is more than 40-year-old and so is
the Central Club. These clubs became a major part of the
lives of the early settlers of the city. As social
interaction platforms, these clubs contributed in easing
out the artificiality of settlement the city’s
earliest inhabitants went through. The most-happening
club in the city is doubtlessly the Chandigarh Club. The
club caters to the elite of the city which include
lawyers, IAS officers, businessmen, doctors who throng on
weekends with their families to enjoy the large number
and variety of activities this club offers. Other than
the bar which is the most well visited part of any club,
the Chandigarh Club has a family lounge and a TV room.
The family lounge is a non-smoking area and caters to
people who want some relaxation and entertainment with
their families. The membership fee is rather steep at Rs
35,000 for the club’s life membership but if you
don’t want any voting rights you can dole out Rs
15000 and get a life membership. But then it offers
facilities like a swimming pool, 18 tennis courts (the
maximum in India), a restaurant (another is coming up),
two billiards rooms, a squash court and a bridge room.
Other than the regular activities like tombola twice a
week which is a very popular game among the clubs, the
club organises music shows like qawalis, pop shows etc.
“We also had a fashion show some months ago but
though it was well attended it is not very good for the
club’s culture and we have decided for the time
being not to hold more of such shows.” says Mr
Chaman Sharma, president, Chandigarh Club. What about
cards and gambling? “We have cards here but it is
not popular and gambling is absolutely not
allowed.” Cards is the main game and biggest
attraction of Central Club Sector 9.” Here people
have been coming to play rummy and bridge for years and
the stakes involved are never more than one paisa a
point.” says Mr A S Saluja, secretary of the club.
The gentry patronising the club includes a large number
of retired military officers, IAS officers and
businessmen. This club is also known for its Tuesday and
Thursday ladies club. Also popular is the twice a week
tombola game of the club. The Punjab Cricket
Association Club, Mohali, is a rather new club as
compared to the ones in the city.The membership fee
started at Rs 20000 but is now an exorbitant Rs 50,000.
There are, other than a restaurant and the bar, billiard
and pool tables, tennis courts, swimming pools, tombola
twice a week and even accommodation facility offered to
the guest of members. This club is rather elitist and not
many people in Mohali can afford the club. The residents
feel that Mohali could do with a more affordable
club. The Gymkhana Club at Panchkula has almost the same
facilities as the clubs in Chandigarh and Mohali complete
with the restaurant, tombola, bar, tennis, swimming pool
at much affordable rates but like other places here too
on weekdays there is not much crowd to talk about. On the
weekends, things are slightly better. Residents say that
they prefer to go to clubs in Chandigarh and enjoy their
weekends. |
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Dharna by PWD employees PANCHKULA In a
memorandum submitted to the authorities, the union has
listed out demands relating to the immediate repair of
offices of the water works, providing seating arrangement
at these offices and the payment of medical costs to the
employees. The other demands include the allocation of
bonus, updating of pay books and service books, providing
essentials related to their work to the sewer staff, the
reinstatement of dismissed staff among many more. While
the employees of the district are present everyday at the
dharna, employees from branches of Public Health
Department and Bridges and Roads Departments of other
places are taking turns in supporting the cause. The
other employees have come from Yamunanagar, Ambala,
Naraingarh, Chhachhrauli, Sadhaura and Jagadhari.The
state president, Mr Shiv Kumar Prashar said, that they
would be forced to intensify their stir if the officials
concerned did not pay heed to their demands. “This
is just the beginning and we are hoping the protest will
result in positive developments. However, we are prepared
for any action if this does not bear fruit,’’
he added. |
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Voters get last chance for I-cards SAS NAGAR Municipal Council employees have begun a house a
house-to-house exercise in this connection and have been
giving slips to those persons actually residing in the
town and whose names figure in the voter’s list but
have not got their I-cards prepared. The slips are to be
presented at the council office where these voters will
be photographed for making the I-cards. The SDM, Mr
Jaipal Singh, said if the persons given the slips do not
get themselves photographed by September 20, their names
will be deleted from the voter’s list. |
Man
arrested with fake driving licence CHANDIGARH According to police
sources, Sarabjit Singh was arrested when a forged
licence was recovered from him. The licence was in the
name of his brother, Balwant Singh, but the accused had
affixed his photo over the document. A case under
Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 of the IPC has been
registered. Money stolen from car Car stolen |
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2-year RI for bus conductor CHANDIGARH The complainants a
traffic manager, alleged that the accused, a bus
conductor with Punjab Roadways Transport Corporation, was
responsible for the discrepancy in the ticket sales. The
case had been registered against the accused under
Sections 405, 467, 468 and 471 of Indian Penal Code on
November 15, 1993, in the Economic Offence Wing. The
counsel for the accused argued that the accused had committed the mistake for the first time. He was the only
source of income for his family and deserved lenient
view. The judge observed that accused had committed
serious crime and could not deserve leniency. Remanded
for cheating Petition dismissed The association had alleged that the Director
did not deserve the award and the award given to him was
null and void. It requested a CBI inquiry in this case.
The judge observed that the petition had not been filed
on the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court. |
Traditional itr losing charm THE fragrance of fresh roses fills the
air as rose water is sprinkled on the guests at a
reception. On a summer evening, a swab of jasmine or khus
lifts your spirits despite the oppressive heat. Time was
when perfume drawn from flowers known as itr was in
fashion with the aristocracy, and was in great demand.
itr-makers, known as “attar”, took pride in
their skill and had special processes of distilling Itr
from different flowers for use in different seasons.
“kastoori” was for winter and “khus”
for summer. But in the present environment, when a
variety of synthetic perfumes and deodorants have hit the
market, itr, distilled from flowers, has practically
vanished from the market. Today you can find only one itr
merchant in Chandigarh and he too complains of dwindling
sales. Gurbachan Singh, who runs his establishment in
Sector 27, says his business in itr has fallen almost 90
per cent in the past few years and the decline continues.
Branded perfumes have pushed the traditional itr out of
the reckoning. Price is also a factor. Traditionally
distilled itr costs a good deal. The price varies from Rs
150 per 10 grams to Rs 4000-6000. The demand is confined
to ceremonial occasions for which rose itr is mostly in
demand. Synthetic deodorants, on the other hand, are sold
for Rs 40 to Rs 200 per vial. Perfumes, no doubt, cost
more. Another disadvantage of the itr is that being oily,
it leaves a stain on the clothes. It has to be applied on
the skin. According to Mr Gurbachan Singh, the commonest
varieties of itr are rose, jasmine, sandal, musk, heena,
nargis and mogra. Distilling itr is a specialised job,
the secrets of which are held by traditional
“attar” families. Some medicinal qualities
are also attributed to itr. “Itr-e-khaki”,
drawn from mud, is believed to be useful for
nose-bleeding. Jasmine is used mostly as a cosmetic, but
is said to be useful in treating certain skin ailments.
Heena itr is used as a body coolant. Mr Gurbachan Singh
also complains of the presence of spurious itr in the
market. They spoil the reputation of the real stuff. In
their pure form, he maintains, the itr have a soothing
effect on the mind and keep the nerves relaxed. —
Poonam Katial |
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