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| Saturday,
March 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Bandh call evokes poor response Chandigarh, March 1 Top leaders of these three outfits were arrested by the police to ward off any untoward
incident. They had started forcing closure of shops in different markets, the police said. Normal life in the city was unaffected and only few shops were seen closed in sectors 22 and 21. Those who were booked by the police during the day under various sections of the Cr.PC were remanded in judicial custody and were sent to Burail Model Jail in the evening. The VHP leaders, Col Dharam Vir and Mr Vijay Singh Bhardwaj, and Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena chief, Mr Varinder Bajaj, were among those 150 persons booked by the police under Sections 107 and 151, Cr.PC. Meanwhile, Mr Sanjeev Pandit, spokesman of the VHP, said there was complete bandh in the markets of sectors 20, 22, 35, 40, 41 and 29. The Chandigarh Administration had made elaborate security arrangements at various religious places, including mosques where Muslims assembled to offer Friday prayers. The strength of the devotees was, however, thin. Lathi-wielding and armed cops could be seen marching on roads. A strong contingent of the police was deployed at the VHP office in Sector 22. Although the police said that nearly 150 activists of these organisations were arrested, a VHP press release claimed that about 300 of their cadre were apprehended. They raised slogans and reiterated their determination to construct Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. The police swooped down on the activists' places in the small hours of the morning with a view to foil their bandh plan. Meanwhile, Mr Vijay Singh Bhardwaj said their 2,000 activists would leave for Ayodhya on March 8. He added that an equal number of their workers would go on March 13. “Ours is not a political organisation but a religious outfit. We are not bothered about what the Union Government says” A former BJP Mayor, Mrs Kamla Sharma, who is also a sitting counsellor, visited the Sector 17 police station to meet those who were arrested by the police in connection with the bandh. Mr Satya Pal Jain, former local BJP MP, however, said that the VHP and the Bajrang Dal were separate organisations and had nothing to do with the BJP. The sponsors of the bandh call had, however, left out educational
institutions and essential services The National Muslim Welfare
The National Muslim Welfare Movement and the Muslim Welfare Society Movement also flayed the killings in Gujarat. These organisations said few fanatic people had incited the ignorant in the name of religion and caste to fight one another, In a signed statement, Mr Khalil Ahmed and Mohd Saqir, presidents of the organisations, demanded a thorough probe into the Godhra incident and subsequent violence in Gujarat. PANCHKULA:
The bandh call by the VHP, in the wake of the Godhra incident, evoked a mixed response in the area. The bandh was complete in the Kalka sub-division today. Shops in the market and other commercial establishments remained closed. In Pinjore, the bandh was partial, with a number of shops remaining closed throughout the day. In Panchkula, the Sector 16 market remained closed in response to the bandh call. The markets and commercial establishments in the remaining sectors, however, remained unaffected by the bandh. In Barwala and Raipur Rani blocks, there was , however, no response to the bandh call. KHARAR: Local traders observed a bandh here. Various leaders condemned the incident of attack on rail coaches in which dozens of innocent people were killed. AMBALA: A near complete bandh was observed in Ambala contonment and city on a call given by the VHP to protest against the killing of Ram sevaks at Godhra in Gujarat. All the main markets, including Sarafa Bajar and wholesale cloth market remained closed. The Bar Association abstained from work in courts to protest against the killing of innocents. Tight security arrangements were made. The Deputy Commissioner and the SP visited the main bazars to assess the law and order position. No untoward incident was reported from any part of the district. Earlier workers of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal held a procession. The Bhagwan Balmiki Committee also condemned the killing. PATIALA: A near-complete bandh was observed here today. No violent incident was reported except a minor trifle between a shopkeeper and BJP workers near Tank 'A' in the Adalat Bazar area. An accidental fire from the rifle of a Home Guard jawan was reported in the same area. An official spokesman dismissed the rumours pertaining to demolition of a religious place in the city. |
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Budget provisions decried Chandigarh, March 1 According to a press note issued by PSSF, the rally was addressed by Mr Ranbir Dhillon, General Secretary of the PSSF, Mr Hardial Singh, Mr Jai Chand Sharma, President, ,Mr K.S. Pal, Mr Gulzar Singh, Mr Saudagar Khan and Mr G.S. Sidhu. These leaders said that they had been seeking relief in income tax concessions and strengthening of public sector for generating employment. |
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Kidnappers of Arshdeep
nabbed Panchkula, March 1 It is learnt that Parminder Mohan, Nand Kishore, Manjit Singh and Sushil Kumar were hiding in Dhuri after executing the kidnapping. It was while they were there that they received news of the child being recovered by the police from Patiala and the arrest of Satnam Kaur and Lovepreet Kaur. They then escaped to Ludhiana and were staying in a hotel there till their finances exhausted. Then they came to Sirhind and there the police closed in on them. It is learnt that when the trio saw the police, two of them, Manjit Singh and Sushil Kumar managed to slip away, but were caught only after a chase of over two kilometre. Meanwhile, the police had laid a special naka in Sector 21 and it was here that they managed to stop Lohit Kumar, who was travelling in a car (CH-01- 4565) in his tracks. The accused revealed that they had planned to slip away to Mumbai, after collecting the ransom amount from the child’s family. |
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MC’s waste disposal plan: down in the
dumps SAS Nagar, March 1 The guidelines for the segregation of non-organic material like plastic, glass, metals and papers are being completely ignored. Setting up of a solid waste recycling plant seems to be a distant dream. Instead, the civic body has shifted more than four landfill sites in the past two years, mainly due to lack of environmental protection measures. Now again, the dumping site in Sector 66, selected jointly by officials of the PUDA and the municipal council, is becoming a bone of contention between the civic body and residents of the sector. Every time garbage is to be dumped at the site, a Duty Magistrate and the Station House Officer of the Phase 8 Police Station, led by his force, have to standby to avert any clash. Today was no exception. Several truckloads of garbage was dumped in a low lying pit, adjoining Mauli Baidwan village. When the TNS team visited the spot, an official of the civic body looked quite upset over the issue. He remarked that highlighting the issue by the media had already made their work difficult. A sanitary inspector at the site said that in order to cause lesser inconvenience to residents, garbage was being dumped on the other side of the pit and it was being covered with earth to prevent foul smell from spreading in the area. Unconfirmed reports said a 14-acre area in Balliali village which was being considered for a landfill site, was sure to invite protest from villagers. The proceedings to acquire the land could take some time due to the change in government. |
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DHS rules out plague
outbreak Chandigarh, March 1 Stating that the bacteria causing the disease is no more viable in the environment, the DHS informed that the contacts of the last person hospitalised have been given medicines and there is no cause for panic any more. He also made it clear that under the present circumstances, there was no need to either wear masks or take antibiotics. Only the attendants of the patients, doctors, paramedical staff and lab technicians, who are coming in contact with patients, need to take such precautions. Meanwhile, the Medical Superintendent of the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, has stated that the patients admitted to the isolation ward are being monitored, but have shown no signs of plague-like disease. |
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Incubation period ends Chandigarh, March 1 Jasbir, who was admitted to the PGI on February 23, is showing improvement. Three others from a Himachal family have already been discharged. The nurse from Silver Oaks Hospital, SAS Nagar, who had taken care of Krishan Singh, admitted to the PGI was virtually forced on the PGI to be taken care of. ‘‘No one wants a plague patient. The Silver Oaks doctors sent Krishan Singh to us. They had no idea that he was a plague patient. They referred him specifically to the PGI emergency, where he died within few hours. He was moribund and so he did not spread any bacteria while he was there,” says Dr Subhash Varma, Head of the Department of Internal Medicine, PGI. But Krishan Singh contracted the infection during the 30-hour period in which the family was in the PGI emergency. Was it wrong to have kept the family in that highly infectious state in a crowded place? ‘‘There was no way of knowing till some basic tests done at the PGI proved that these people had carried a highly infectious disease from their village hundreds of miles away from the city. Afterwards they were immediately isolated. Krishan Singh was not diagnosed for plague at the General Hospital, Sector 16, where an X-ray of his chest was done two days before he died. Appreciating PGI’s efforts, the Health Secretary, Chandigarh Administration, Mr Karan Avtar Singh, says the administration is thankful to the PGI for helping it contain the disease. |
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Tiger killed in fight for pride Chhat Bir, (Patiala) February 25 Sources in the zoo said, the tiger was the oldest among other cats in the enclosure and refused to live in dominance. The dominating tiger was attacked by other male big cats this morning and was killed within minutes. A chowkidar noticed the fight among the carnivores at about 6.30 am. He informed the zoo employees and subsequently the authorities were also intimated. Hardly had the zoo authorities reached the spot to disperse the animals, the animals breathed its last. The post mortem reports confirmed that the animal died due to sever injuries all over the body. This is the second death of a Royal Bengal tiger in the same enclosure in the last five days. A male tiger was killed in a similar incident, in the same enclosure, on February 25. When contacted Dr Vinod Sharma, Chief Warden, Zoos (Punjab), confirmed the animal died in a fight for pride. He said: ‘‘Taking the death of a tiger in the same enclosure for dominance on February 25, all the tigresses in the enclosure were segregated. But the second fight among the males confirmed it’’. To avoid further possibility of fight the most dominating tiger has also been segregated, added Dr Sharma. As per the Central Zoo Authorities
(CZA) directions, the carcass of the animal was burned after a post mortem examination, this afternoon. With this death, now the population of Royal Bengal tigers has reduced to 27. The zoo had a surplus population of lions, tigers and other animals leaving less space for their roaming. the zoo is having 27 tigers against the capacity of 15 animals in two enclosures. To bring the population of the lions and tigers under control the zoo authorities have written to the CZA for providing pairs of lions tigers to other zoos in the country free of cost. Under its animal exchange
programme two pairs of lions and two pairs of tigers will be given to zoos in Baroda, Port Blair and Rohtak soon, disclosed Dr Sharma. |
City-Landran highway
being realigned SAS Nagar, March 1 A 1.5 kilometre stretch of the realigned road between Sohana and Lakhnour villages is being freshly laid, said an official of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority. The realigned stretch of the road would run along the boundary of land allotted to the Radha Soami sect. Already the engineering wing has begun the work of raising the level of the proposed road. The existing stretch was part of the land allotted to the sect after chunks of land owned by it in Sohana and Mauli Baidwan village were clubbed at one place by the PUDA. “There was no option but to reallot the 200 acres of land adjoining Sector 70 as it could affect the planning of the sectors”, said an official of PUDA. Sources in the PUDA said volunteers of the sect began work of demarcating their land, attracting protest from residents of Sohana village, who said that their standing trees were damaged. The official said the volunteers of the sect , while constructing the boundary wall around the sect’s land, came very near to blocking the highway. Those in charge of the sect have been asked to leave a 100-feet wide road stretch till the alternative road was not constructed. However, an official at the sect’s Sector 76 office said they were not in a hurry for construction of the alternative road. |
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Badheri farmers move NHRC on land issue Chandigarh, March 1 The villagers have formally lodged a protest with the Land Acquisition Officer (LAO), Mr Gyanesh Bharti, alleging bias and called the action anti-Punjabi aimed at evicting them and settling slum-dwellers. Calling this a forcible eviction, the villagers handed over a protest letter to Mr Bharti when he visited the area on February 27 with his staff to take possession of the land. The villagers were led by Mr Angrez Singh Badheri. A total of 226 acres was acquired spread across Badheri, Kajheri and Palsora. Our fundamental concerns were ignored while payments of the award were made, violating all norms of our protests under the Act. Acquisition was made through payment calculated on an arbitrary basis. The average rate was fixed at Rs 12. 80 lakh. This was just 50 per cent of the true market price of Rs 25 lakh per acre. This was calculated on the basis of one year’s registry value of lands sold in the villages, alleged the villagers. The acquisition has been carried out under the garb of “public purpose”. “The purpose is to replace the original inhabitants to build an illegal vote bank”, said the villagers. Under this “public purpose” Punjabis are being robbed of their rights with benefits going to slums and migrants in the form of rehabilitation colonies and rehri markets for encroachers. Mr Badheri said such slum housing plans are making the city filthy, full of criminals, unsafe for city dwellers, a centre of illegal vote bank for the politicians who have bargained the future of the city and its planning just for their short-terms gains. The acquired land is falling in the green belt of the third phase in regard to which no approval for extension has even been obtained by the Administration. Pointing out another disparity and discrimination, the letter to the NHRC says that as a matter of fact while removing our plants planted on the green belt only compensation calculated at the rate of 127 of the consumer price index of 1985 is being paid, whereas the CPI has reached 480 point in the year 2002. |
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Agriculture technocrats
on dharna Chandigarh, March 1 According to Mr Satwant Singh Dhillon, President of the association, the farm technocrats have been protesting peacefully for the past 194 days against the indifferent attitude of the Punjab Government towards their justified demands. They have been seeking parity with other technocrats. Addressing members who sat in dharna, Dr Satnam Singh Dhillon, President of the Chandigarh unit of the AGTAC, Punjab and Chandigarh, said they have been demanding pay parity with other technocrats and withdrawal of false fertilizer cases against officers of the department. He urged the government to consider the justified demands in the wake of challenges of WTO. |
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APS Corps raising
day Chandigarh, March 1 The APS is an extension of the Department of Posts in the defence environment. Though the corps is the youngest, its history dates back to 1856, when the first field post office accompanied the Indian Expeditionary Force overseas. The Jammu and Kashmir operations in 1947-48 brought in the necessity to have it as a permanent part of the Army and it was affiliated to the Army Service Corps till it became a separate corps on March 1, 1972. The most important contribution of the APS is that it brings cheer to a jawan posted in far-flung areas by bringing his mail to him. The corps also provides postal cover to the Air Force, the Border Roads Organisation, Rashtriya Rifles as well as the BSF, the CRPF, the ITBP and Assam Rifles. |
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EATING OUT Chandigarh What attracts people to Nathu’s are the over 100 varieties of sweets, of some of the products lip-smacking snacks and meals prepared in a clean and hygienic kitchen. The prices suit a common man’s pocket (a Rs 100 per kg ‘mithai’ and a meal for less than Rs 40) while also catering to the rich and elite (Rs 780 per kg for ‘pista loj’, a sweetmeat made with dry fruits as the principal ingredient). The recipes and ‘masalas’ are all from the original Nathu’s, thus imparting a flavour that is unique to all its outlets and franchisees (there are 16 outlets in Delhi alone). Specialties among the ‘Mithai-Nathu-Ki’ are ‘luxmi bhog’, ‘dry fruit anjeer’, ‘sohan halva’, ‘malpua-rabri’, ‘imarti’, ‘peda kesar’, ‘khoya roll’ etc. Then there are delicacies from Bengal like ‘rasmadhuri’, ‘sandesh’, ‘raj bhog’, ‘rosogulla’ and
specialities, like ‘Mathura pede’. ‘Paan pasand’, at Rs 10 a piece, is a sweetmeat shaped like a
paan. Filled with ‘gulkand’ almonds, and other dry fruits, it is basically ‘kaju barfi’ made green with ‘pista’ rolled in the shape of a ‘paan’ and covered with silver foil to make the picture complete — something like the famous ‘gilori’ of
Benaras. Then there are the ‘khoye-wali’ ever-favourite ranges of ‘barfi’, ‘panjiri’ and ‘ladoos’. If you want them packed, the shop offers attractive baskets for a ‘shagun’ or a wedding wrapped in a colourful cloth and ribbon for Rs 90 to Rs 1,200. The calorie conscious with a sweet tooth can buy sugar-free sweets at around 10 per cent more of the cost. But for those who prefer the spicy stuff, there is range of ‘namkeens’ and snacks. Their specialities are dhokla panir (Rs 20), ‘pav bhaji’ (Rs 34), ‘mirchi vada’ (Rs 14) and ‘veg pataka’ (steak cooked with Chinese sauces for Rs 44). Then there are the ‘chatpata golgapas’ (Rs 16), ‘chaat’ (Rs 22), ‘dahi bhalla’ (Rs 20), ‘raj kachori’ etc. The exotic namkeens include ‘mirchivada’, ‘gobhi samosa’ and ‘Punjabi hulchul’. ‘Navrattan’ meal packages come in Punjabi-style ‘thali’ (Rs 62) comprising ‘panir’, ‘sukhi subzi’, ‘dal’, ‘raita’, ‘rice’, ‘parathas’, ‘salad’, ‘papad’ and ‘achar’ and the Chinese tray (Rs 68) that offers noodles, veg
manchurian, fried rice and Coke. But ‘chana bhaturas’ (Rs 29) remain the favourite of the office crowd that throngs the place during lunch time or for families which mostly come for dinner. South Indian fare like ‘dosas’, ‘uthapam’, ‘idli-sambar’ and North Indian treats of vegetables, ‘dal’, ‘panir’ and mushroom can be complemented with ‘rice’/’nan’/’roti’. Or, else go in for the Chinese dishes and soups, topped with a dessert of, naturally, a sweet of your choice. |
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Coldest day in
March Chandigarh, March 1 Not surprisingly, the local Meteorological Office said it had never been this cold in March in the past 20 years. The day-time temperature was 18.8 degrees Celsius, 6 degrees below average for this time of the year. The record for March is 13.2 degrees Celsius on March 5, 1982. The day temperatures have dropped below 20 degrees in March only three times. The other time was March 6, 1998, when it was recorded at 19.4 degrees Celsius. The Director of the local Met Office, Mr S.C. Bhan, said western disturbance over north Pakistan coupled with an upper air cyclonic circulation movement over Rajasthan was causing the rain. He said it was not unusual to rain in March. Conditions are expected to last tomorrow also. |
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Senior citizens urged to get
I-cards Chandigarh, March 1 The cards entitle them to certain benefits extended by the Administration. Recently, the Administration had relaxed the condition of age for issuance of senior citizen card to women from the earlier 65 years to 60 years. This had been done in view of the demand of senior citizens of Chandigarh and in keeping with the national policy on older persons. The same criterion is applicable for grant of old-age pension and in the Railways. The card-holders are entitled to 50 per cent concession in traveling in CTU buses, there are separate queues for senior citizens in all OPDs in the General Hospital, dispensaries, poly clinics and PHCs, Estate Office and other public places. Eligible persons are requested to submit their two latest passport size photographs, residence proof and proof of age/date of birth certificate in the office of the Director, Social Welfare, Chandigarh Administration, Additional Town Hall Building, Sector 17, Chandigarh, on any working day a spokesperon of the Administration said today. |
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ASE Gulati bereaved Chandigarh, March 1 |
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Servant assaulted, Rs 25,000
looted Chandigarh, March 1 The servant was able to identify at least one of the assailants. They belong to a village near Bilaspur in Madhya Pradesh. The police has registered a case under Sections 342, 452, 392 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. 2 INJURED: Two persons were injured after their Ceilo car was hit by a Himachal Roadways bus near the Badheri chowk this morning. The injured, identified as Amrik Singh, a resident of Sector 5, and Balwant Singh, a resident of Sangrur, were admitted to the PGI. The police has arrested the bus driver and registered a case against him. THEFT:
Sector 40 resident Karan Singh Walia has reported that two gold necklaces, a gold ring and Rs 12,000 have been stolen from his residence. A case has been registered. VEHICLES STOLEN: Sector 22 resident Gurdev Singh has reported that his Tata Sumo (HP-56-0091) was stolen from his residence while he was out of station. A case has been registered. Sector 33 resident Vidhya Sagar has reported that his Maruti car (CH-01-W-2893) has been stolen from his residence. The police has registered a case. |
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