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| Sunday,
May 5, 2002,
Chandigarh, India
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Councillors seek meeting with Jacob Chandigarh, May 4 In less than five months since the new house was elected, the elected members are on a collision course with the MC officials. Councillors are ambitious and want developmental works speeded up, while officials of the MC cite shortage of funds as the problems. The Mayor has been asked by the councillors to seek a meeting with General Jacob in which all councillors would air their grievances regarding developmental works. More funds will be sought and the exact position on allocation clarified. During the meeting held in a closed-down guest house in Sector 22, a review of all developmental works was carried out and it was found that the pace was slow. It was decided that a regular review would be carried out. In private, councillors have been levelling allegations that officers of the MC have been acting at the behest of the BJP. The councillors have asked the Mayor to reign in the officers and get work done. The local MP, Mr Pawan Bansal, will also be apprised of the situation and a report sent to him about the attitude of the MC officers. The Congressmen will be meeting again on Tuesday. In the past, elected members have expressed dissatisfaction with the officials as well as for funds allocation. The MC-elected members have been asking for a fixed share of the revenue on a percentage basis. |
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SPECIAL STORY Panchkula, May 4 The police authorities, in a proposal sent to Haryana Police headquarters today, have demanded that at least 200 cops be added to the district force, in order to meet the growing demands of policing. These cops will be put in the Traffic branch and for general patrolling. It may be noted that though the population of the township has increased manifold ever since it came into existence more than 25 years ago, the strength of the police has remained static. It is perhaps because of this reason that the crime graph in the township has been increasing rapidly. Though the police has tried different and innovative ideas for patrolling in order to bring down the crime graph, it has failed to achieve much success. The fact that the township has highly porous entry and exit points goes to the advantage of the miscreants, who can reach Chandigarh from one side and Punjab from the other, within 10 minutes of committing any crime in the township. Other than this, the road to Uttaranchal via Kala Amb or to Himachal Pradesh is also an hour’s drive away from the township. At present, the total sanctioned strength of the district police is around 750 cops . But the department is reportedly short of around 150 constables of its sanctioned strength. Of the remaining 600 cops, only about 450 are available for routine duty, after those employed as munshis, readers, office staff in police stations and police posts, as well as district police headquarters, are excluded. While around a 100 of these 450 cops available for actual policing, are posted in Kalka, Pinjore, Morni, Barwala and Raipur Rani, a meagre 350 cops are available in the township having a population of around 1.80 lakh. It may be noted that Chapter II of Punjab Police Rules, also applicable to Haryana, clearly states that the police to population ratio should ordinarily be one constable for 450 persons in towns where the total population is above 30,000. However, the police to population ratio in Panchkula is one cop for a population of 514, while the ratio for the district is one cop for 550 people. Local authorities have also sought permission to split the area under the jurisdiction of Police Station Sector 5. Presently, Sectors 1 to 12, 14 to 18 and Mansa Devi Complex fall under the jurisdiction of this police station and as a result, policing becomes difficult for such a large area.
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Jewellery worth Rs 1.7 lakh stolen Panchkula, May 4 Gold jewellery worth Rs 1.7 lakh and Rs 5,000 cash were stolen from the residence of a senior manager of the HSIDC in Sector 18 between yesterday evening and today afternoon. It is learnt that the manager, Mr M.G. Dusa, was away in Ludhiana with his family, when the incident took place. When the family returned home this afternoon, it found that the lock of the main entrance to the house was broken. Two rooms in the house had been completely ransacked and the almirahs broken. The locks of the remaining two rooms were intact. The police was later called in. A case has been registered. Cash and gold jewellery worth Rs 35,000 were stolen from the house of Mr H.L. Goyal in Swastik Vihar yesterday. The family was away at the time of the burglary. A case under Sections 454 and 380 of the IPC has been registered. Arrested: The Kalka police has claimed to have achieved a major success with the arrest of Mohammad Ishahak, who is alleged to have stolen gear boxes of three buses here a few days back. He was arrested from Meerut and the police claims that his arrest will also unfold several cases of theft in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. |
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Hot winds blow across the city Chandigarh, May 4 The mercury had hit the 40° C mark after a gap of almost two weeks yesterday. And today it reached a maximum of 40.6° C. Yesterday it had hit the 40.2° C mark. Heat wave also hit Ambala and Patiala, where the maximum temperature were 40.8° C and 41.5° C, respectively. In the past two weeks rain had cooled down the region and even led people to believe that summers had been delayed. The Director of the local met office, Mr S.C. Bhan, said the conditions would continue for the next 48 hours and there was no possibility of rain till then. Such temperatures were not unprecedented during summers. |
Committed to serving humanity Chandigarh, May 4 It all started when Swami Brahmeshananda, after doing his course in medicine from Indore Medical College and specialisation in gastroenterology from the All India Institute of Medical Education and Research, laid his hands on the book. “I had heard about Swami Vivekanand,” says the new secretary, “but had no idea that the book had the power to inspire me so much. After going through it, I was clear about my future plans. I knew that I had to join the mission”. But wasn’t there any resistance from the family? “Oh, yes, there was. In fact there was a tremendous resistance and the reason for this was not very hard to see. I was the only child of my parents, no brothers, no sisters,” he said. “They knew what I was doing was good, were sure that I was following the noble path that lead towards the welfare of the humanity, but then they had apprehensions about my welfare”. The doctor, after leaving behind the materialistic world, however, did not look back ever since he joined the mission in 1971. In fact, he used his knowledge of medicine for curing the poor who had no ways and means of affording expensive medical treatment. “During my stay at Raipur till 1973 I used my knowledge of medicine for running a polyclinic in the Ashram itself for the needy,” he said. “My efforts to help the unfortunate ones did not end even after I shifted out from there. From 1973 till 1997, I worked with utmost dedication at the Ramakrishana Mission hospital at Varanasi”. What about his plans as the secretary of the mission here? Does he plan to start a polyclinic in Chandigarh also? “I have been out of active practice since 1997, but I am thinking of treating out-door patients here also. I am not very clear about my plans yet as I joined here just about 10 days back. In any case, we have a homeopathic dispensary, besides a mobile van, which goes to places as far as Morni and certain city slums for distributing medicines”. Regarding his impression about Chandigarh, the Swami says, “I have been to South Africa and other places. I have seen extreme poverty as well as wealthy families. Chandigarh, I believe, is between the two extremes. I have been here thrice earlier, but on short visits, not to stay”. “Denunciation is possible,” says the out-going secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission Swami Pitambarananda, “but I do get affected by the feelings of people who are attached to me”. Even before the Swami completes his sentence, the ringing telephone shatters the afternoon calm. The call is from his devotee in New Delhi. He wants to meet the Swami before he leaves the City. “He is away from me, yet he is so close that he wants to meet me before I depart. His feelings, along with the feelings of so many other people I have known in the city, pain me. In Chandigarh since 1992, the Swami, a postgraduate in mathematics says, “I was sure that I am not attached to this place, but the love and respect the residents have for me, moves me”. Regarding his stay at Chandigarh, the Swami says, “We did a couple of things which I think were essential for the welfare of the society at large. Mobile dispensary service was started for the benefit of slum- dwellers and the villagers putting up in hilly areas”. This is not all. The library was in existence with about 200 books but was closed. “We worked towards reopening the library and added a large number of books. Today we have over 12000 books with a large number of regular readers”. “Another thing which we started was sermons in Hindi. Before I joined the centre as secretary, the sermons were being delivered in English, but keeping in view the interest of the masses, the medium was changed to Hindi,” the Swami said.  |
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Gandhian who is a bundle of energy Chandigarh, May 4 A well-known homoeopath of the region, Dr Des Raj left his studentship at the coveted Balak Ram Medical College, Lahore, to start a full-time practice of homoeopathy after his father who, too, was a homoeopath. Dr Des Raj has been practicing this system of medicine since the last 60 years now but still feels that its impossible to perfect it. “The more you practice the better it is but then this is true for any knowledge-based skill. The most important thing that I have been able to understand after many years of hand on experience is that in many ways this system of medicine is much better than allopathy and chances are there are cures and treatments of everything the human body suffers from.” Stating that the secret of homeopathy lies in identifying the key symptom of the problem a person comes with. Once the homeopathy has been able to identify a symptom for which a medicine is recommended one has sure shot results. “I have been able to cure people of any age suffering from serious problems like jaundice and asthma to viral fevers to chronic headaches.” Every person comes with dissimilar symptoms of even the same type of disease and one has to pinpoint that symptom and medicate accordingly. Dr Des Raj also claims that he has inherited from his father a sure cure for victims with burns. “There is a solution in which if one were to keep the burnt part of the body dipped for some time there is no scar no wound of any sort”, he says. “For bruises, too, homoeopathy has a simple solution.” Advising that natural foods like carrots are very health for the heart, he also believes that a person ought to keep himself or herself clean in order to keep most of the diseases at bay. |
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‘Cooling’ zoo animals with ice slabs Chhat Bir (Patiala), May 4 To provide a natural habitat to two male brown bears in the sweltering heat of summer in plains, the zoo authorities have been providing ice slabs in the enclosures and ponds for the past over 24 years. Apart from Himalayan black bears, Royal Bengal tigers, sambhars and some other animals were also seen taking dips in ponds in their respective enclosures. The zoo authorities have also placed coolers in the enclosures of lions, panthers and some other carnivores. Dr. Vinod Sharma, Chief Warden (Zoos), Punjab, said all possible arrangements had been made to protect the zoo inhabitants from soaring heat. As many as 20 desert water coolers have been installed in different enclosures and cages. Mud ponds have been freshly dug and filled with water in some enclosures as mud also provides the much-needed respite from heat. In addition to this, cages of birds have also been covered with jute bags and water is being sprinkled over them continuously to keep the temperature down, added Dr. Sharma. In order to avoid any chance of a heatstroke among the animals, glucose mixed water is being supplied to the zoo inmates, claimed Mr Sharma. |
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'Dead' man turns up for his funeral Panchkula, May 4 Mr Tilak Raj and his two sons- had been arrested from village Saketri by Jagadhari police three days ago. Ashwani's estranged wife had complained of mental and physical harassment for dowry against them. At around 3. 30 pm today, one of their neighbours, Jarnail Singh, received a call saying that Tilak Raj had died in police custody. The neighbour informed his family. A pall of gloom descended on the neighbourhood and the familybegan making arrangements for his funeral. It was around 6. 30 pm that Tilak Raj and his sons arrived from Jagadhari after securing bail from a court there. They were surprised to find that funeral arrangements were being made for Tilak Raj. |
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Voigt talks about media trends in Europe Chandigarh, May 4 Talking about the increasing popularity of Internet, Mr Voigt said though the print media still enjoyed credibility, it was loosing fast in terms of advertisement and other revenue to the the electronic media there. “Due to the stiff competition from electronic media, the cost factor has considerably gone up which has led to the merger of many newspapers in Germany,” he said. Mr Voigt who started his career as a freelance reporter for leading newspapers in Germany is currently managing a broadcasting company called ORB in Berlin. After working in the area of international relationships for print media, Mr Voigt finds working for the Internet much more exciting then the print media. |
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Plea for probe made: ex-MP Chandigarh, May 4 He said he was surprised that the present Member of Parliament, Mr Pawan Bansal, was criticising the BJP, and not doing any constructive work. Both Mr Bansal and the Mayor, Mrs Lalit Joshi, were giving contrary statements in connection with the demolition of jhuggis in Colony Number 5, he added. |
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Sunil
Shetty to visit city on May 6 Chandigarh, May 4 |
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READERS WRITE THE show-cause notice and the recent advertisement extending the date to apply for school sites seem to be divinely related. The government’s sole aim of exerting pressure on schools functioning from residential areas is to elicit good response for new sites. As the government is supposed to provide education and medical facilities to all its citizens, it has to plan well in advance how to meet people’s increasing need for education, medical and housing facilities. Since this is not possible, the government has no right to evict or issue show-cause notices to schools in residential areas. As the government has not provided any facilities, it should instead reward schools which are functioning from residential areas. The government should also take suitable measures to solve other major problems such as streamlining the admission process, school fees, school transport, restrictions on buying books and uniform from a particular store and so on as laid down by certain schools. Getting admission for a child in a good school in Chandigarh has become very difficult for common people. Why cannot the government make the admission process open and transparent? The school managements charge huge sums from parents but pay very little to teachers. The teachers’ salaries are low and they don’t get any monetary benefits whatsoever. Today, private schools, especially English-teaching convent schools, have become just money-spinning machines. The government needs to appoint retired educationists and experts to resolve this problem and introduce reforms in school administration. The schools and clinics should be allowed to run from private houses as long as they do not cause nuisance to neighbours. There should be a check on how much they are charging towards the admission and monthly tuition fees etc and more important on what services they are providing to people.
R.S. VIRK Appoint artists This has reference to the news item that Dr D.C. Bhattacharya has been appointed as an honorary consultant of the Chandigarh Museum of Art. Perhaps because all working city artists have shifted to the Middle East, there could not be a better choice than Dr Bhattacharya for such an appointment. More so because he has to his “credit” a recorded censure by Panjab University for acting as the Chairman of the Board of Studies in Fine Arts and appointing examiners of his choice for examinations in which his son appeared, and consequently earned the distinction of being a gold medallist. Again, if Mr V.N. Singh, a non-artist, could be allowed, in the recent past, to act as the Principal of the professional Art College for five long years, city artists perhaps should never dream of being appointed on such art advisory bodies, which in fact should be headed only by ‘un-censured’ working artists. BALVINDER Need for counsellors Close on the heels of the case of alleged suicide by a student following his failure in the examination, the Head of Psychiatry Department, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, has suggested that schools should have counsellors to guide students. But why restrict it to schools alone? Counsellors as psychologists or psychiatrists have greater relevance for students in colleges and universities as well. This is because in the present cut-throat competition, students have become very sensitive and are prone to psychological problems. During my association with universities for well over four decades, I know the problem well among the students and in the educated society. Counselling in strict medical sense has become all the more important today because with material progress, there is competition which, in its turn, leads to increased anxiety, stress and strain. All this increases the intensities of the nervous system. Hurry, worry, anger, anxiety, restlessness, leisure etc have replaced the calm and quiet environment and contentment of our parents, grandparents and so on. Nowadays, even medical professionals feel that most of the health-related problems are caused due to psychological reasons and the progress and course of a disease depends upon the psychological factors. Psychological and psychiatric counsellors are a must not only for schools, colleges and universities but also for government offices, public sector undertakings and private sector establishments. We had one good counselling centre in Panjab University’s Chandigarh Health Centre in collaboration with PGI. It had a full-time counsellor and was doing a good job, but had to be closed down due to different reasons. Before and after, I have been handling cases at Kurukshetra and Panjab universities. Anybody can be a counsellor — one with some patience to listen, good at heart, an old person at home who commands respect and love or even a good sensible friend. However, it would be better if qualified and experienced counsellors are appointed in educational institutions and elsewhere. Dr
HARISH KHANNA
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FILM REVIEW Pyar Deewana Hota Hai (Batra) falls flat because of a staggering storyline, further crippled by lopsided handling of direction. The film is definitely worth a skip by all standards. Utter confusion while toying with ideas of whether to it make a comedy or a sentimental love story has had a disastrous effect on the overall presentation. Govinda and the glamorous Rani Mukherjee have tried their best, but best efforts in a wrong direction have only predictable results. The promise of the director that “it is a fun film with lots of songs and dances” is a mockery of a statement. Average lyrics penned by the late Anand Bakshi have been lent below average tunes by Uttam Singh. The good cast, including Om Puri and Johny Lever, has pitiable roles, unable to carve any niche for them. Apoorva Agnihotri, Deepak Tijori, Smita Jaykar and Navin Nischol have roles they will best like to forget. Kirti Kumar, Govinda’s brother and the producer-director, has made a poor show of a poorer script by S.M. Ahale. Govinda is a rustic who lands in Delhi at his friend’s place in search of a job. He is an uneducated painter. He is not welcome there as his friends make fun at his cost, telling him funny ways to court girls. He gets beaten up most times. Rani Mukherjee lands from the USA, wanting to pursue classes in classical dance. One day, she meets Govinda at a bus stop. She is asking for directions from a deaf and dumb girl. Govinda instead mistakes Rani to be deaf and dumb and walks up to her to show the directions on her card. He too does in the sign language. She mistakes him to be deaf and dumb. She is concerned about him and soon starts loving him. Govinda discovers that she is not dumb. He wants to tell her the truth, but does not dare. She can stand anything but lies. She decides to marry him, but then discovers that too has lied. There is not even a dim hope of the film surviving at the box office. Poor expectations from the film have caused a rather late release. It was originally slated for release in May 2001. |
Bid to outrage modesty Chandigarh, May 4 Rickshaw-puller
held A resident of Bhagalpur, Parmod Kumar was arrested for plying his rickshaw on the wrong side of the road near the Sector 17 ISBT. He has been booked for causing danger and obstructing public way.
Booked The police booked several persons, including the owner of a commercial establishment dealing in tyres, after a resident of Sector 22, Bhupinder Singh reported that the accused had demolished a wall constructed by him.
Cars stolen Sector 22 resident Om Parkash has reported that his Maruti car (CH-01-D-0505) has been stolen from his residence. A case has been registered. Sector 41 resident Sukhdev Singh has reported that his Maruti car (HR-29-D-0034) has been stolen from his residence. The police has registered a case. |
Resentment among wire-drawing units Chandigarh, May 4 According to Mr A.L. Aggarwal, general secretary of the Chamber, the acute scarcity of this essential raw material has badly hit the capacity utilisation of the small-scale industrial sector manufacturing drawn wires, industrial fasteners, bolts and units, machine screws, self-tapping screws and all other types of industrial fasteners. He said the Chamber had been requesting the authorities time and again for the procurement of the raw material but to no avail. The Chamber requested the Steel Authority of India to supply M.S. wire rod to the depot on priority failing which the small-scale industrial units would be rendered unviable. |
Wonder Herbs launches
products Chandigarh, May 4 The president of Wonder Herbs, Dr Romesh Rai, said the products were purely ayurvedic and non-toxic and did not contain steroids or alcohol. Dr Rai, a qualified gold medallist ayurvedic doctor, said all their products were originally researched and formulated by Wonder Herbs. Dr Rai said they were offering a range of shampoos for different hair texture apart from Wonder Heena enriched with 18 herbs. In total, Wonder Herbs had medicinal ayurvedic products to cure body pains, joint pains, arthritis, spondylitis, migraine and treat all types of hair problems, including baldness, thin hair, split ends and dandruff.
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