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| Friday,
September 14,
2001, Chandigarh, India
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Is Western Command safe from terrorist air strike? Chandigarh, September 13 Though a similar strike here is being considered as remote, almost a non-existent possibility, a surprise, well-planned attack by an unknown enemy here, nevertheless, would result in tremendous damage, both in terms of security as well as loss of men and material. Senior officers say that although contingency plans to move the Headquarters to secure war-time locations exist, which are continuously updated and revised, these would be of little use in case of a strike similar to that made on the Pentagon. Several engineer regiments as well as manpower drawn from a number of other locally based units, besides a large well-equipped hospital would be able to deal with any exigency. “Even if the physical damage done is not much, the ramifications would be enormous,” a senior officer here commented. “One of the aims of a terrorist hit is to strike at the psyche of their opponents, besides creating general chaos and panic amongst the public at large,” he added. Already military installations have been put on high alert following intelligence reports. Vigil has been stepped up and extra-precautionary measures are being taken. “Such measures, too, fit into the enemy’s gameplan as these add on to our costs in terms of manpower and resources,” an officer said. As far as the scenario of a rouge aircraft striking a military installation near Chandigarh is concerned, there is little anyone can do. Several vital installations lie in the vicinity of the “glide path” of an aircraft approaching the runway here. There may be no reason to suspect a low-flying aircraft which may appear to be coming in for landing. Over the years, the number of small or privately chartered aircraft touching down at Chandigarh have increased. Airport sources say that about 4 to 7 such aircraft land at Chandigarh every week. Even if an aircraft is hijacked, there are little ways to determine where it is heading if the communication between the pilot and the ground authorities is restricted or shut down. This is simply because air space monitoring in India is quite basic and only limited areas are covered by ground-based radar. This also raises another issue. The country’s air defence radar network, according to sources, is focused to monitor air traffic near the borders and a few other stipulated areas. Under normal circumstances air traffic within the country’s airspace goes largely unmonitored, except in the vicinity of major airports. It is deemed that an aircraft would proceed along a designated flight path. Though there are several air defence regiments based in this area, they are mobilised only in case of a perceived threat. Another aspect is that given the IAF’s operational deployment, there are no Operational Readiness Platforms (ORPs) in the vicinity, which would be able to “scramble” for intercepting a suspected aircraft if its intentions are known. While hijacking an aircraft and forcing it to crash is one aspect, sources believe that it is possible for an aircraft to enter the country along designated international air routes by posing to be a special business or charter flight and then change course to head for a pre-designated target. The exact map co-ordinates, air routing maps, navigation data and even satellite photographs are now easily available. In such circumstances, an Air Force officer projected another scenario, where an aircraft, possibly laden with explosives, apparently coming in for landing down can deliberately crash land into aircraft on the tarmac, the hangars, or other vital installations on the airport. That about a dozen hijackers, including trained pilots, died in the suicidal crashes into the World Trade Centers, Pentagon and near Pittsburg, the level of fanaticism and zeal of mercenaries can well be gauged. With mercenaries and fanatics willing to perform actions in the pursuit of their ideals, and the fact that fundamentalism and cross-border terrorism are a major problem facing the country, sources say that the possibility of such a strike, however remote, cannot be ruled out. |
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‘Life will not be same for
me again’ Chandigarh, September 13 An alumnus of Punjab Engineering College, Sachit was among those selected on the campus by the Tata Consultancy Limited earlier this year and sent on a six-month training in software engineering to New York. “He is working in a company located on the 38th floor of Park Avenue building which is opposite to the World Trade Center building complex”, says his father, Mr Naresh Kapoor, who is PA to Managing Director, Punjab Markfed. “When we heard about the terrorist strike at the WTC, we were worried. As ill luck would have it, our phone had been dead for the past two days and numerous complaints with the BSNL produced no results. “Someone in the BSNL took mercy on our plight, and the phone rang as soon as the connection was restored. It was my son. He narrated us in detail what had happened. “He said he had just entered his office when he heard a big bang. When he leaned out of the window, he could see smoke coming out of one of the World Trade Center towers. He and his colleagues were still staring at the building when they spotted a plane hit into the second tower. “It was then that they realised the gravity of the situation. Everybody started rushing out of the office. When they came to the ground floor, they found the streets littered with debris, people fleeing and roads rapidly emptying out of all vehicles. They themselves had to run for a few kilometres to reach the New York harbour, ” he said. |
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Security at sensitive installations tightened Chandigarh, September 13 According to information available, the police has begun an exercise to ensure proper security arrangements at sensitive installations in the city, especially near the Canadian Consulate and the British Library. Police officials are also keeping tab on foreign nationals. Surveillance on Palestinian and Iraqi nationals has been increased. Senior police officials said that only the important buildings in the area were being sanitised. These included the High Court, UT Secretariat, UT Police Headquarters, Kendriya Sadan, the RBI and the telephone exchanges. PANCHKULA Security has been tightened in the district and a general alert sounded in view of the recent blasts in America. The police has begun combing areas in settlements where Kashmiri migrant labour is concentrated, while nakas will also be put up tonight. SAS NAGAR The patrolling in the town has been intensified. According to information available, a close watch was being kept on foreign nationals. The police has posted permanent guards at the microwave tower in Phase 3 A here after the Telecom Department made a request in this regard. |
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Truckers block traffic for
45 minutes Zirakpur, September 13 The police had to intervene and get the road cleared around 8.30 p.m. But by that time there were long queues of vehicles on the Chandigarh -Ambala highway and also the Ambala-Kalka road. Being a heavy rush hour the queue on the road to Kalka was till the Haryana-Punjab border, near Panchkula. The level crossing on the stretch added to the chaos. It all started when the Transport Department challaned a trucker for allegedly ferrying passengers and also for wrong parking. Truckers said the department was acting in a highhanded manner as the trucks were parked for filling air in tyres. The situation was diffused when a police party from Dera Bassi and also the Subdivisional Magistrate, Mr Pritam Singh, reached the spot and got the truckers moving. Within the next 30 minutes the traffic was cleared. |
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Gang selling financed cars busted Chandigarh, September 13 According to information available, the gang was busted by the crime branch and a member of the gang has already been arrested. The police, it is learnt, has got sufficient leads from the accused, Brijsh Kumar Garg, regarding the other members of the gang and efforts are on to arrest them. The gang was busted when Garg, a resident of Sector 21, was arrested yesterday near the Sectors 2-3-10-11 roundabout. He was driving a Santro car with a fake registration number (HR-01H-7836). The police found that the car was a stolen one. Upon his interrogation, Garg reportedly spilled the beans. He confessed that they were involved in getting cars financed from different finance companies in the city, Punjab and Haryana. They would then show that the cars were stolen, make fake documents of the car and then sell these off. It is learnt that the accused, along with his two other accomplices, is involved in selling off nine such cars in the region. Meanwhile, sources inform that police parties have been dispatched to various places to nab the remaining two accused. While one party has gone to Ambala, another has been sent to Punjab. A case under Sections 379, 411, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC has been registered against him. |
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Father for fresh probe; wants son declared martyr SAS Nagar, September 13 An Indian Air Force helicopter crashed in the Rann of Kutch on November 12, 2000. Two IAF and five BSF personnel were killed. Mr H.P. Sharma, a resident of Phase I here, while addressing a press conference today demanded a fresh court of inquiry into the incident. He said if he did not get justice he would be compelled to go to court. Mr Sharma said that he was not satisfied with the probe as none of the survivors — two IAF and three BSF personnel — was called to give evidence at the court of inquiry. He alleged that the Air Force had failed to report to the Ministry of Defence the fact that the helicopter had been shot down. The court of inquiry had established that the mishap was caused due to human error. Mr Sharma alleged that the helicopter his son was piloting over the border area had been fired upon by Pakistani boats using shoulder-fired missiles and had not crashed due to human error. He said he was making such a statement on the basis of facts given out by one of the survivors — the Joint Assistant Director (G) of the BSF, Mr Swaran Singh. He alleged that the inquiry was conducted “according to their own point of view”. At their own level the “inquiry was wound up”. He further alleged that the trend in the IAF in such cases was to “blame the dead”. Mr Sharma said that he had asked for a copy of the inquiry report which the authorities denied saying “we are unable to give a copy of the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry, as it is a secret document”. He said he had asked for a photograph of the crashed helicopter which, too, had not been given to him. He said he was not allowed to meet the Air Force chief when he visited Chandigarh to plead his son’s case who had been killed while on duty. He said a team comprising IAF and BSF officials went to the
border by a helicopter on November 12 last year. Nobody was told about the mission. When they got to the border they saw boats in the water below and tried to ascertain their identity. Soon after the helicopter was shot down. Mr Sharma alleged that the search for the helicopter started late. Unwarranted delay was caused in persuading the pilots to go on a search operation. To account for this delay they thought of making it a case of loss of contact which enabled them to pretend that they were not aware of the blast, presence of Pakistani boats and location of the wreckage. He alleged that the wreckage was found only on November 13, after a delay of more than 27 hours and the rescue operations carried out much later for the survivors and the dead bodies which were retrieved on November 15. Though the Ministry of Defence was unable to give a copy of the proceedings of the court of inquiry the findings of the inquiry were sent to Mr Sharma. The findings state: (i) The court of inquiry has conclusively established that the mishap was caused due to human error. Further, forensic analysis at the Defence Metallurgical Research Lab also eliminated the possibility of a blast/explosion caused by a missile. (ii) The recorded conversation in the cockpit clearly indicated the identification of boats mentioned by you as fishing boats. (iii) The helicopter was on a BSF requisitioned mission and as soon as information was received, the Air Force initiated action to locate the missing helicopter. The apparent delay in declaring the helicopter missing was due to a communication gap between the BSF units in passing information received regarding the helicopter to the Air Force. (iv) The ATC tapes and other related radar documents can never be erased as these are sealed instantaneously on receipt of information regarding an accident. (v) The apparent delay in search of the wreckage was due to darkness and poor visibility in the surrounding areas and not due to negligence in launching search and rescue operations. There are standard and well set procedures regarding such operations and these are activated as soon as information is received. Moreover, high-ranking officers of the IAF themselves are aware that their action can be questioned if the situation warrants and as such no foul play has been detected. In view of the above, the Ministry of Defence did not find any justification to reconstitute a fresh court of inquiry. |
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Human trade racket unearthed Chandigarh, September 13 Four Manipuri girls, all below 15 years of age, were rescued by the police from the clutches of the accused from the airport. It is alleged that these girls had been illegally recruited as domestic helps and were to be brought to Punjab. Three of the arrested persons, Saran Pal, Surjit Singh and Harbhajan Singh, have been remanded to judicial custody for three days, while their fourth accomplice, Kuldip Kaur, was granted bail on health grounds. They have been booked on charges of kidnapping a minor for purposes of begging under Section 363-A of the IPC and under Section 14 of the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act. Senior police officials in the city say that this is for the first time that the involvement of any city resident in this kind of a racket has come to light. “ A large number of workforce from West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and several north-eastern states has been converging at the city for seeking employment. However, no racket involved in the human trade has been reported in or around the city,” confirmed a senior police official. However, he added that human trade was a roaring business in Punjab, especially in parts of Doaba and Majha. It is learnt that in most villages in Gurdaspur, Amritsar and parts of Malwa bordering the Doaba -region, a number of people were involved in the human trade racket. It is learnt that with the declining male- female ratio in these areas, a number of males were unable to find a suitable wife. Thus, a roaring business in human trade began and young women from the poverty-stricken states of West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar began to be brought here and sold off to prospective grooms. Last year itself, one of the biggest ever rackets of this kind of human trade was unearthed in Gurdaspur district by the local police involving a number of women from West Bengal. Stray incidents of Punjabi men, mainly farmers and truck drivers, thus procuring “wives” have also been reported in Moga, Khanna, parts of Tarn Taran, Faridkot and Fazilka, informed a senior police official. The incident in Imphal involving city residents too capitalised on the poverty in the state. These girls, Munu Begum(11), Thoibi Begum (11), Leina Begum (14) and Rahamani (12) were to board a flight to Calcutta, along with their “employers”, when the father of one of the girls complained to the airport security that his daughter was being forcibly taken to Punjab. It is learnt that poverty had forced the parents of girls to strike a deal with the accused. The parents of each girl had been paid Rs 1000 as advance and their salary had been fixed at Rs 300 a month. The families of the girls had been introduced to the accused by a local there, who was herself employed as a domestic help with a Punjabi family settled in Manipur. |
STATE OF
ROADS Chandigarh Driving on these roads is a motorist’s nightmare, especially during the night when the drivers fail to notice the depressions. This has resulted in a number of accidents. It is virtually impossible to avoid the potholes, because the entire stretch is full of them. Regular road users point out that being in the vicinity of the furniture market, the potholes often contain nails etc and most of the times one is stranded with a flat tyre by the time one reaches the end of the stretch. The road takes a heavy flow of buses and trucks going to various destinations in Punjab. The lack of regular maintenance over the years has so weakened the surface that the patchwork done from time to time does not hold. Shopkeepers in the furniture market, who are sore at the lack of proper upkeep and maintenance of this road point out that water also accumulated on the road because of inadequate stormwater drainage, and that has further weakened the road. The problem aggravates in the rainy season when rain water fills the potholes. Some regular users of the road point out that a journey along this road is never jolt free. The going is tougher for two-wheelers, who move at a snail’s pace. Still the wear and tear of the tyres is heavy. Mr Satwinder Singh, a shopkeeper in the furniture market, said the streetlights on this section were not functioning. Repeated requests to the authorities concerned have fallen on deaf years. At one point of time, the road was repaired, but the quality of the work was such that it took only one monsoon shower to wash away whatever was done. Sources point out that a road needs recarpeting after every five years. But this has not happened here. While the residents blame the MC authorities for turning a blind eye to the persistent problem, MC officials take shelter behind financial constraints.  |
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Bin Laden’s effigy burnt Chandigarh, September 13 Addressing the protesters, Mr Pardeep Chhabra, president of the local unit of the front, said India had time and again told the USA that Pakistan and Afghanistan were supporting terrorist activities, running training camps and promoting terrorism. He appealed to the USA to stop the supply of arms and ammunition and other aid to these two countries immediately. Mr Chhabra appealed to the world leaders to come forward and stand against terrorism, take strong action against the
terrorists and stop giving political asylum to the terrorists with a view to maintaining world peace. Those who were present during the protest were Mr Rajiv Awasthi, Mr Ajay Joshi, Mr Phool Singh, Mr Sunil Sharma, Mr Jatinder Dhami, Mr Vikram Chopra, Mr Sajid, Mr Chhanchal Chitranjan, Mr Madan Acharya, Mr Avinash Malik, Mr Harminder Phanta and Mr Parmod Khaneja. Earlier, at a meeting here today, the front expressed condolences to the bereaved families. |
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Goof in directory, readers’ delight Chandigarh, September 13 The university, according to the directory, also has two Registrars — Mr Varinder Kumar and Mr B.L. Gupta. While Mr Varinder Kumar is the Deputy Registrar in the university, Mr B.L. Gupta has retired. Pages 283-284 of the directory has listed telephone numbers of PU, 90 per cent of which contains wrong information. The names of all Head of Departments, other than one, are wrong. Many of the persons listed as the Head of Departments have retired long back and one of them died in 1999. Mr A.R. Bhandari, who is the Controller of Examinations, according to the BSNL, is holding three posts — Deputy Registrar Administration, Deputy Registrar Secrecy and Joint Controller of Examination. The Dean University Instruction listed is Mr I.S. Mitra, who too retired years back. The person listed as the Director of Adult Education, Mr N.N. Pangotra died in 1999. The hostel warden of the hostel No. 2 for boys is listed as Mr G.C. Chatterji. Infact, the truth of the matter is that the name of the hostel is G.C. Chatterji hall. |
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Indian cuisine his passion Chandigarh, September 13 Today, the man is all about expertise at food of all varieties and has to his credit several international shows. But even after courting success for a good eight years (that is the duration for which Khana Khazana has been on air) there is nothing quite airy about him. Flanked by Alyone Kapoor, his better half, in hotel Mount View today, the former chef of Bombay Centaur hotel talked about his two passions in life — the Indian cuisine being the first and his charming wife being the other. “There is no denying the fact that Khana Khazana has brought in a lot of success, but the best part of the whole affair is that my success has empowered me to promote Indian cuisine. I believe that Indian food is the best. So no matter how comfortable I am with other varieties, I always prefer to cook Indian and teach Indian.” As Sanjeev spoke of how he has grown with Khana Khazana, his wife Alyone chose to endorse, “Ask me, we got married just a year before he joined Zee. Today we are celebrating 400 episodes of the show. It sounds very encouraging. But the other part of the story is that Sanjeev has little time to spare. So I also join him. I am assisting him in his job.” Ask Sanjeev what made him click through the eight years of the show and he has a ready answer, “Any cookery show is as good as the chef himself. I think I have pursued the job with a lot of sincerity. And anything done with sincerity has to succeed. Also, we never kept a profile which we could not maintain. We have gone slow and steady.” Sanjeev’s sincerity as a chef was reflected sometime back when Indians in a far off place like Australia also recognised him. “We were holidaying in Australia after about eight years. I was surprised when I saw Indians and Pakistanis based there responsing to me,” he said. The famous Centaur chef, who has worked with a chain of hotels in Delhi, has now gained immense popularity as an author. With three books already to his credit, he is ready for the launch of the fourth one. Titled ‘Low Cal Vegetarian Food’, the latest book is based on a lot of sharing of views. Said Sanjeev, who is in town for the cookery contest being organised in Hotel Parkview tomorrow, “I thought of recipes and then put them before friends. I asked them if anything in the collection was lacking. That is how it worked. Writing books takes lots of pain. But thankfully, I have done justice to my concept of promoting Indian food.” Not that Sanjeev only promotes Indian food. He himself also savours it. “My favourite food is Gujarati food. But there is no match for kadi chawal. I will not compromise kadi chawal for anything else,” smiles the chef, who is in the process of evolving DVDs and internet sites on cookery. |
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35 dogs
sterilised Chandigarh, September 13 A proposal of sterilising stray dogs in the city, with a view to
control their increasing population, was approved by the Finance and
Contract Committee at its meeting two months back. As part of this,
stray dogs will be caught by the MoH wing and kept under proper
shelter before handing them over to the PFA and SPCA for
sterilisation. The MC had decided to give Rs 1 lakh each to both these
organisations as monetary aid for undertaking the process.
According to Assistant Commissioner-I, Mr Ashok Vashishtha the
target will be to sterilise as many as five dogs per day. After
sterilisation each dog will be properly tatooed and the MCC will keep
proper record of the dogs caught and operated upon. A sum of Rs 700
per bitch and Rs 300 per dog will be incurred on sterilisation
including medicines, diet and post-operative care.
He further said the delay in starting this programme is due to the
fact that we were waiting for the monsoons to finish as sterilisation
during that period may have resulted in some complications. |
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Councillor dead, cremation today SAS Nagar, September 13 His cremation would be held tomorrow. The deceased is the second councillor of the civic body to have died. Earlier, the councillor from Phase 7, Isher Singh Langh, had died in a road accident. |
15-year RI for 3 Chandigarh, September 13 It was alleged that on June 3, 1999, the police had got information that three persons were coming from Punjab in a Maruti car (CHO3-9064) and were carrying 9 kg of smack. The city police held a naka in Sector 39 and arrested them and seized the smack. Defence counsel argued that the accused were implicated in the case and one of the witnesses in the case was having criminal background.
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Servant sustains burns Chandigarh, September 13 Police sources inform that Naresh Kumar, a resident of Sector 24, was injured when he tried to burn the garbage collected from the house with kerosene. It is learnt that the can of kerosene kept near the burning garbage caught fire and after minor blast, the flames engulfed Naresh Kumar. He was rushed to hospital where he is stated to be out of danger. Cases of
theft Dharam Singh was arrested while trying to steal a bicycle from Burail. He has been booked under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC. Couple
assaulted One
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BIZ CLIP Scholarships The NIIT has announced the 11th bhavishya jyoti scholarships for students pursuing the Futurz and CATS programmes offered by it. The students can avail fee waiver between 15 per cent and 100 per cent based on their performance in an all-India competitive written test followed by personal interview. The application forms for the test, to be conducted on September 16, are available at the NIIT education centres in the non-metro cities across the country.
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