The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Eviction suit against Lakshmi Ladies Club
Municipal Corporation seeks Rs 52,46,168 as damages
From Kuldip Bhatia

LUDHIANA, Dec 20— The local municipal corporation (MC) has filed a suit for eviction and recovery of damages from the Lakshmi Ladies Club, claiming that the land measuring 2936.85 square yards, on which the building of the club is located, was owned by the MC and that the club had been in unauthorised occupation of the land for almost four decades now.

A petition filed under sections 4, 5 and 7 of the Punjab Public Premises (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act ,1973, in the court of Mr Kuldip Singh, Sub Divisional Magistrate-cum- Collector here, further claimed a sum of Rs 52,46,168 from the club as damages for the use and occupation of the said land.

The MC has claimed that the land in dispute actually belonged to the corporation. The disputed site, falling in Khasra No.117/1151-3 to 7 was earlier a part of Mahal Rakh village and is now situated in the Rakh Bagh area within the MC limit. That the respondent (club in this case) had encroached upon the land and was neither the lessee nor the licensee, or had ever been permitted by the MC to use this land, the petition said.

Mr Ashok Bajaj, Legal Advisor of the MC, told Ludhiana Tribune that the Commissioner of the MC had, vide his orders(dated October 10, 2000), had declared the Lakshmi Ladies Club an unauthorised occupant of the said municipal land, which was a public property.

The civic body has further pleaded that the club had no right, title and interest in the land under dispute and was liable to pay a sum of Rs52,86,168 at a rate of Rs1,46,838 per month for a minimum period of last three years as damages for the unauthorised use of land.

The petition claimed that the MC was entitled to receive and recover a sum of Rs1,46,838 per month for the future unauthorised use of the property as damages, which have been determined and assessed as per the rules.

The MC has pleaded for the issuance of an order of eviction against the club, securing vacant possession of the premises, an order for the recovery of Rs 52,86,168 as damages, in addition to the payment of Rs 1,46,838 per month for future damages, from the date of filing of the petition to the date of delivery of the vacant possession of the land to the MC.

the mc Commissioner, Dr S.S.Sandhu, told Ludhiana Tribune that the unauthorised occupation of the MC land by the ladies club was not a solitary case and there were many other such properties in the city, which were owned by the civic body but were occupied by various private individuals and institutions.

Senior rail staff to patrol at night
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Dec 20 — Following the recent train accident and a derailment, the Railways are trying to streamline its safety network in the region.

A high-level meeting of the railway officials of the region was held at Ferozepore, a divisional headquarters of the Railways, to take measures to ensure safe journey, an official source said.

Some significant decisions to streamline the safety network were taken. Sources said surprise checks would be made by senior officers. They would also perform night patrol duty in rotation.

The officials who were found wanting in the performance of their duty would be taken to task on the spot. Even they could be suspended, the source added.

It may be mentioned here that because of the recent train accident which claimed over 50 lives, railway authorities concerned had drawn a lot of flak from public. Mrs Mamta Banerjee, the Railway Minister, had taken a serious note of the lapse on the part of railway authorities. She had placed a number of senior officers under suspension and some were asked to proceed on leave. A few days after the accident, cracks in rail tracks at a number of places in this region were also detected.

At Ferozepore it was decided to run trains on the prescribed speed. However, because of foggy at night, the speed of all night trains had been slowed with an upper limit of 80 kms per hour.

The official said the patrolling on all the tracks had been enhanced because of repeated detection of cracks. He said nothing was being left to chance and railway officials had been asked to put their best foot forward to restore the confidence of rail commuters who were feeling bit shaky following the tragedy.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune here today, one of the officials said these measures had been taken to ensure safety of passengers and freight.

He said, “the activities of engineering staff will also be watched out and anyone found guilty would be punished severely.

Dept of Posts greeting card scheme fails to take off
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Dec 20 — The strike of the employees of the Department of Posts may prove to be a spoilsport for the greeting card scheme launched by the department. The scheme which was launched before Divali had failed to take off as the cards had reached late in the local post offices during the festival time.

While the department had found a novel method to promote its services by offering colourful greeting cards with pre-paid postage scheme, the scheme has failed to achieve the desired results for Divali festival due to late delivery. Now due to postal strike, the sale of cards for Christmas and has yet to pick up. The department is now banking all hopes on the new year card sale.

While the announcements and the cards came to the post offices of the state about 15-20 days ago, these were not sold due to the strike. The head post office of the city had not displayed the cards till today. There were no signs or the banners indicating the advertisements of the cards. Almost all the people who were present in the post office while this correspondent had visited were not aware of the scheme of the department.

This correspondent spoke to many of the visitors who had gathered there to get the telephone bills deposited as today was the last date for submitting the bills. While most of the people had no knowledge about the facility, rest of them who had an idea about the scheme said that it was too late now as there were only 10 days left for the new year. Many of them said that they had already bought the cards for Christmas and New Year.

Although the department has printed 34 designs of cards, the city with the largest population in the state was having only 3 designs of the cards today. The Chief Post Master General, Mr A.S.I.S. Paul, who was in the city today while speaking exclusively to Ludhiana Tribune admitted that the scheme could not be a success during the Divali festival. He was also apprehensive about the sales as it had got delayed due to the strike.

He said that he was hopeful about the sales as 10 days were still there. He said that only 10,000 cards had been provided as the share of the state and this was not an impossible number to be sold. As the cards were only priced for Rs 12 and Rs 15 and had a scheme of pre-paid postage attached with these, they had a better chance of competing with the many other companies selling cards at very high rates.

Mr Paul admitted that the attitude of the government employees was such that they did not make efforts to help the department to succeed in its various plans. He also said that the employees did not realise that in the era of competition the salesman qualities were the need of the hour . He said that he was making sure that the cards started selling from today. Posts dept greeting card scheme fails to take off.

No salary for strike period
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Hardening its stand against employees of the postal department who were on strike, the government has decided not to pay salaries to them for the period of strike .

This information was given by Mr A.S.I.S. Paul, Chief Post Master General, Punjab Circle, who was in the city today. "While the employees will not get a penny for a period of 14 day, the rest of the salary will go as the monthly provident fund deduction, income tax deduction and other installments if applicable. So many of them may not get the salaries at all." said Mr Paul. The "no work, no pay" principle being adopted by the postal department will yield Rs 1.25 crore at the rate of Rs 9 lakh per day for the state government.

7 acquitted on charge of selling fake tickets
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Dec 20 — An inquiry by the Detective Wing of the city police has acquitted seven persons from the charges of selling fake lottery tickets in the city. The acquittal has put a question mark on the role of a police party of the CIA staff that had arrested these persons on the charges of cheating and forgery in October this year.

In a related development aimed at stopping the harassment of the persons, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has also directed the police to give three days notice to the seven persons if they are required by the police in connection with an investigation /inquiry into the case.

Following their acquittal in all but one charge of gambling, the persons led by Mr Subash Chander, owner, have in a letter to the SSP demanded strict action against the alleged erring police personnel who caused undue harassment and loss of reputation to the accused persons. Incidentally, some of the accused police personnel have been facing similar charges earlier also. One of them has also been placed under suspension in a previous case.

The SSP, Mr Kuldip Singh, when contacted said that he had so far not received the representation of the ‘affected’ persons but assured that if some malafide intention of the accused police officers is proved, he will definitely take strict action against them.

He, however, added that the police takes action against people on some information and if the arrested persons are proved innocent and the police was indulging in bona fide discharging of duty, then no action is taken.

Mr Subash Chander alias Katty, who owns a lottery agency in the Sunder Nagar area, has in the representation send through registered post to the SSP also alleged that the CIA police was holding back a large number of lottery tickets worth over Rs 6 lakh and cash of Rs 40,000.

DSP(D) Manjit Singh, while confirming his inquiry, said he was not aware of any such lottery tickets or cash held back by the police. He, however, added that he will get this verified. He added that some items might be case property and would be given back if they were there with the police.

Meanwhile, the police has submitted challans under the Gambling Act against the seven accused persons which includes Mr Subash Chander and Mr Jagjit Singh, another shopkeeper. In the challans, the police has said that the inquiry by the detective wing has exonerated the accused from the cheating and forgery charges and has found them guilty under the Gambling Act only. The challans also mention that the police has already initiated proceedings for the formal discharging of the accusations.

According to the challan copy, a police party headed by SI Tehal Singh, ASI Hardev Singh, constables Roop Singh, Amrik Singh and Harbhajan Singh raided the shop of the lottery agency in October last and seized lottery tickets, a computer and some cash from the shop. The owner was charged with selling forged lottery tickets. The police had arrested 6 other persons, most of them shopkeepers of the area.

Mr Subash Chander talking to Ludhiana Tribune severely criticised the act of the police. He said even though he was selling real lottery tickets the police arrested him and his employees. He said he was subjected to immense harassment and his reputation was also tarnished. He demanded stringent action against the erring police personnel.

Customers throng banks on strike eve
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Dec 20 — As the countdown for tomorrow’s nationwide strike by bank employees started, most of the nationalised banks here reported heavy transactions today.

The withdrawals in many cases were prompted by the bank managements. Work in clearing house will also remain suspended tomorrow in view of the strike.

The strike call has been given by various unions representing different bank employees to protest against the proposed move of the Centre to privatise the nationalised banks in the country. The unions have warned that in case the government did not desist from its move, the employees will go for an indefinite strike.

There are about 400 branches of nationalised banks in the city handling transactions worth crores. Besides, Ludhiana being the industrial hub, the banks particularly in the Industrial Area and Focal Point do huge business as compared to other cities.

Several branches of various nationalised banks had a huge rush of customers. While the people expressed their displeasure over tomorrow’s strike the employees justified it. Employees cut on delays during transactions and also gave reasons for the strike.

175 star students get prizes
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Dec 20 — The students of Bhartiya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Udham Singh Nagar, and Deep Senior Secondary School, New Janta Nagar, were given away prizes at the annual functions held in the schools, today.

At Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, nearly 175 students who had secured first, second and third positions, respectively, were given prizes. Besides, students were also given prizes for their performance in sports and extra-curricular activities.

Students of Class X and XII who had secured top positions in the PSEB examination in the last session were honoured with their parents. Pranav Kumar, who stood first in Maths, Sanskrit and English in Class X PSEB examination, also received the first prize in state-level athletics organsied by Vidya Bharati.

A cultural programme was also organised, which began with the Saraswati Vandana. Students sang group songs Tenu vi yaad watan di aundi hovegi and Naya itehaas manayenge.

The chief guest on the occasion was Mr Ved Raj Anand, organising secretary, All India Institute, Vidya Bharati, New Delhi. The Principal, Mrs Chandra Prabha, told the students to work hard to secure better results.

At Deep Senior Secondary School, students of Classes LKG to XII who had secured top three positions were given away prizes. A cultural programme was also organised in which the students presented dance, music and skits. Principal Mr Karamdeep Singh gave away prizes to the students.

COMMUNITY

Remembering the message of Christ
By Asha Ahuja

THE word ‘Christmas’ conjures up a picture of well decorated Christmas trees, chubby and genial looking Santa Clauses, mince pies, plum cakes, Christmas shoppers, beautifully decorated stores, holiday revellers. Christmas means big sales and ‘shop till you drop’ phenomena, as hefty discount sales are offered specially in the Western countries. All these trends are catching up in our country too. In all this crass commercialisation, the religious aspect of Christmas is being forgotten by many a people.

People, all over the world, are busy planning the gifts to be given, parties to be attended and, in general, how to make Christmas a memorable day. Of course, some of the people attend ‘mid-night mass’ and visit the churches for prayers. People do go for carol singing, but is that what Christmas stands for? What Jesus Christ stood for was much more. He sacrificed his life to save humanity. But unfortunately the values imparted by him are being forgotten by and large.

Jesus said in his sermon on the Mount ‘Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God desires. God will satisfy them fully.’ He also said ‘Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised. Happy are those who are merciful to others. God will be merciful to them.’ He also imparted the value of sharing, of forgiveness and of friendship. But everywhere one looks, one finds strife, hatred, jealousy and violence. The message of Christ is forgotten.

Sister Helima, the Principal of Sacred Heart Convent School, has sent the following message to the people of the city. “The call of Jesus constitutes a challenge to us all; a challenge to our deep rooted caste prejudices and anti-women attitudes, a challenge to our individualism and pleasure-seeking, a challenge to corruption and the craze for power, a challenge to hypocrisy and all forms of sycophancy. The greatest challenge is the death of Jesus on the Cross, the radical way in which he paid the price for what he believed and preached; his readiness to give up his life, praying for his executioners: ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’ (Lk.23:34)”.

This message gives food for thought. Do we have in our hearts forgiveness for the wrong doers? “We have to bring peace in the world. Peace is the result of genuine harmony in diversity. Peace will become a reality through the breadth and length of the nation and there will be no more fear, no more bondage, when all our countrymen and women will experience the sense of belonging to one another and the joy of living together. This is the freedom of the children of God. This is the message that we want to share with you on the occasion of the celebration of Yesu Krist Jayanti,” say the nuns of Sacred Heart Convent, Sarabha Nagar.

These days, the people are running after money. Mammon, the god of money is worshipped with great devotion. In this context the words of Jesus hold a very pertinent message — No one can be a slave of two masters; he will hate one and love the other; he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

“Human beings have to realise that for eternal happiness, they have to live by the values given to us by the religious leaders. Let us not criticise, or boast for one does not know what one’s life will be tomorrow. If we live by the values of friendship, love, peace, harmony, sacrifice, then we can definitely make the world a better place to live in and leave a better world for our children to live in,” says Mrs K. John, a deeply religious woman.

Cop bashing in films resented

THE recently released movie “Kurukshetra” has touched a raw nerve of the police force. Angry at the filthy language used against police officers, policemen here have urged the board of film censors to withdraw the certification given to this film.

A senior police officer said that police bashing had become a fashion with the film industry. As the police force had never objected to the abusive and derogatory language used against them, more and more film makers had started showing policemen in bad light.

Mrs Leica Singh, wife of the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Kuldeep Singh, said: “We the family members of police persons certainly feel concerned at the image of the police shown in the films. This should not be done.” She said that there were good and bad people everywhere. Why the film producers should single out police officers to be the most horrible villains?

She said that no force should be put on the block by the film makers. “Policemen at several places have made the supreme sacrifice fighting anti-national and anti-social elements. No film producer has made any attempt to highlight these sacrifices”.

Police officers say that “Kurukshetra” and “Ghaath”, seem to have crossed all limits. Even the most cynic among the critics of the police are shocked when the villain shouts at a police inspector in a most foul style uttering filthy remarks. In Ghaath, a police officer has been shown as a debauch, and is so ruthless that the audience is left gasping. “All this is being done to promote hatred against the police force for reasons best known to them,” said a police constable. “The filmi world tarnishes the entire police force with the same brush,” says a junior police officer.

Some time ago, ‘Mela’, a movie starring Amir Khan, had disgusting scenes showing policemen drinking urine from a liquor bottle. Mrs Leica Singh, wife of the SSP said: “I and the wives of other police officers walked out of the cinema hall as we could not bear the police being humiliated in such a condemnable manner. The widows of some police officers were so nauseated at the inhuman portrayal of police personnel that they knocked at the doors of a court to seek an injunction against the screening of this movie. Though they have taken the lead in filing a case in a court, but such instances are rare.”

The wife of another senior police officer said that the police was a disciplined force. It had its limitations as far as lodging protests against films etc is concerned. “We can only request our bosses that they should take appropriate action whenever film producers resort to character assassination without any rationality.

No one minds genuine criticism but to portray policemen as inhuman and crooked people in most of the movies should not be allowed by the censor board. Film producers should behave in a more responsible manner,” a police inspector said.
— AA

Motivating people for eye donation is her passion
By Minna Zutshi

“Once I saw a young girl with large almond-shaped eyes clutching a stick in her hand. After sometime, I realised that she was blind. I still cannot forget the expression of her eyes — there was a unique mixture of innocence and sadness in them. It was at that very moment that I decided to do something for eye donation”, says Ms Raj Mahajan, a woman who has made eye donation the professed aim of her life.

Raj was raised on the middle class value system. She was married at the right age and her husband provided for her.

Each passing year made her feel that she was missing out on something. Often, she used to think that she was just ‘existing’ and not ‘living’. The itch to do something that would give a meaning to her life kept nagging her. “When I took up the cause of eye donation got the aim of my life”, says Raj.

“Convincing people for eye donation is not an easy job. Many of us harbour many misconceptions about it”, says Raj.

“I am happy for motivating nearly 100 Ludhianvies. Just imagine, this means that at least 200 blinds would get sight. Of course, convincing the relatives of a donor to part with the dead person’s eyes is a tough job. But then, I am not the one to give up,” she said.

Recently, she was awarded by the Governor of Madhya Pradesh for her efforts in creating public awareness. However, these days she is not keeping good health. Yet her enthusiasm for social work continues unabated. In fact, she thinks that her sickness has brought her closer to the higher goals of life.

Sukhbir dislikes security cover
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Dec 20 — The General Secretary of the SAD (Badal), Mr Sukhbir Badal, had a chat with mediapersons at Circuit House here yesterday. “I dislike the security bandobust and being surrounded by gun-wielding commandoes. But in view of constant threats received by me, the Centre had decided a Z plus security cover for me”, he said.

Mr Badal declined to comment on the RSS controversy and the BJP claim for more seats in the next Assembly elections.