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| Tuesday,
October 8, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Shrine to be developed as centre of
learning Panchkula, October 7 The Chief Minister, who is the Chairman of the Sri Mata Mansa Devi Shrine Board, was talking to mediapersons shortly after launching the website of Sri Mata Mansa Devi shrine complex on the occasion of Navratra. He directed the secretary of the Board, Ms Jyoti Arora, to formulate plans to set up a training centre for pujaries (priests) at the shrine complex to educate people in performing religious rituals. He said an educational institute should be set up to promote sciences of palmistry and astrology in the shrine. The offices of the Haryana Sahit Akademi, the Haryana Sanskrit Akademi, Haryana Urdu Akademi and Haryana Punjabi Akademi should be set up at a common place here, he said. He said donations being offered by people in cash should be utilised to implement innovative schemes. He directed the secretary of the board to convene a meeting of the board to finalise the projects. Meanwhile, a large number of devotees paid their obeisance at the shrine today. They made offerings of gold and silver items, ghee, fans, utensils and wall clocks. The police, too, had made elaborate security arrangements, with at least 14 nakas being laid around the temple. |
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EFFECT OF NAVRATRAS Chandigarh, October 7 The effect of Navratras was evident from a visit to Sector 18 and 11 rehri markets, besides other joints frequented by so many city residents, for savouring the delicious chilly chicken, besides the fried one. “Until a few days ago, you had to wait for a good 20 minutes for placing your order and another 20 for getting the dishes on the table,” said Dheeraj
Kumaria, a business executive and a frequent visitor to a make-shift fast food joint. “Now the wait is over for the simple reason that there are no buyers”. Giving details, the Sector 19 resident muttered: “You can see the difference in their attitudes also. Earlier, they had no time to talk to you. Most of the times, they were rude, really rude. Today, they scream and shout, urging you to come and savour the vegetarian dishes if nothing else and that also after availing good 20 per cent discount”. The business was “just not smooth” for the liquor vend staff also. “We had residents purchasing bottles of liquor from our vend before parking their vehicles in front of the joints,” asserted
Rukman, working at a vend next to an eatery in Sector 35. “Now, they do not buy chicken and do not ask for the bottles either”. The things were not very different at the hotels, clubs and restaurants also. Bhangra beat, booming from the impressive overhead speakers, was still filling the bar rooms spread all over the city, but there are very few residents savouring it, along with a mug of beer. “The business has gone down,” asserted Danish Singh, working with a restaurant-cum-beer bar in Sector 17. “While every other shop keeper is going ga-ga over the sales of garments and other stuff, including jewellery, very few people are coming to us. Even our regular customers were staying away. That’s the saddest part of the whole thing”. But how do regular drinkers manage to stay away from the invigorating liquor? Kishore Kumar, a bank employee, has an explanation to offer. “During the
Navratras, I neither drink, nor do I consume non-vegetarian food products even though I gulp two pegs daily. How do I manage? Almost everyone is asking this question. Well, goddess Shakati gives me the power to carry on with my resolution of staying away from whisky,” he claimed. |
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Schools ‘give up’ NCERT books Chandigarh, October 7 The president of the association, Mr J.N. Andlay, said schools were putting an unnecessary burden on the students who run for tuitions. The schools earn in books, while the staff earn in tuition and, in some cases, the tuition income of teachers is much more than their actual salaries. If they use only the books prescribed by the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), there was no need for tuition. “Several industrialists and businessman have now made it a trade and are earning a big profit. They have not opened the schools for the social welfare but teaching shops with a view to earn maximum profit out of it. They got them affiliated with the CBSE or the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) by some way or the other and take the undue advantage ignoring all the terms and conditions,” Mr Andlay alleged. All over India, the school books are the same and are published by the NCERT which are based on the syllabus prescribed by the CBSE. The school boards of the states do translate the same as per their requirements but the copyrights remain with the NCERT. Those books are composed by a team of most experienced teachers and the method followed is very simple so that students can go through themselves. The real affiliation of the CBSE could be gauged from Sainik Schools and Central Schools which follow the CBSE rules. The parents were advised to demand for the schools to teach as per syllabus and books prescribed, Mr Andlay said. Mr Andlay have urged the Education Minister and the Chief Minister to look into it and take action against the guilty. The secretary, CBSE, have also been approached to intervene to provide simple and cheap books. These costly and difficult books have been introduced to make the education complicated, the association alleged. |
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Dengue panic in GH-16;
denied Chandigarh, October 7 In the afternoon, the patients, running high fever, were referred to General Hospital from Mani Majra, as adequate facilities for their treatment “were not available” there. As the news of their state of health spread from one department to another, the staff recalled the last outbreak of dengue and even the attendants of the patients were scared. “The symptoms are the same,” they said. By late evening, everyone was talking about four patients having been admitted to the hospital with suspected dengue. The hospital authorities, however, denied this. The Director Health Services, Dr C.P. Bansal, when contacted, said four patients had indeed been brought in with body temperature as high as 102° in some cases, but nothing could be said till the test reports came out. Dr Bansal said doctors were monitoring the condition of the patients. Regarding the tests, Dr Bansal said, in case of dengue, the platelet count fell to between 40,000 and 50,000, which normally was between 1.5 lakh and 2 lakh. |
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Salman-struck
in Burail jail Chandigarh, October 7 The two had different opinion about Salman Khan and they started abusing each other by making comment on each other’s personnel life. One of the inmate had hit the other inmate with wooden plank injuring him. Both the inmates had been facing trial under the NDPS Act, Mr Rana added. |
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‘Pind Bachao’ panel seeks
justice Chandigarh, October 7 Notable among the demands include one from the Pind Bachao Committee, a body of villagers who were uprooted to make way for the planned city of Chandigarh, which alleged racial discrimination at the hands of the Chandigarh Administration. The ‘Pind Bachao Committee’ said the Administration was keen on rehabilitating illegal slum dwellers but were not bothered about rehabilitation of 5000 families which were uprooted almost 30 years ago. The National Commission of Minorities (NCM) has asked the Administration to do the maximum for the uprooted families, the committee claimed. The Pind Bachao committee also requested the Advisory Council to raise the issue on a priority basis so as to set a balance so that a rural section of society was not exploited and left cheated of its interests. It was the moral and political responsibility of the council to provide justice to all sections of the society keeping in view the basic character of the city The Chandigarh Administration is ready to rehabilitate the 5000 families on 43 acres of land in Sector 63 but nothing concrete has happened so far. The committee said the the Central Government needs to give 100 per cent rural subsidy funds under the Gram Yojna. A similar appeal was also made to the teams of MPs which just visited the city as part of a Union Ministry of Home Affairs delegation. The present policy of the Administration is to house slum dwellers and this has been changing the demography of the villages. This is a political sabotage due to illegal inclusion of votes outnumbering the villagers. The illegal migrants know nothing about the villages, villagers and its environment and the developments, claimed the committee. Among others issues before the Advisory Council meeting, discussions are expected to revolve around modifications for Chandigarh Housing Board flats and also changes sought by shopkeepers in commercial areas. |
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Tibetans find jail ‘cold’ Chandigarh, October 7 The student leaders said the arrested students had been kept with undertrials facing serious charges and were being harassed by them. “One of the students, who has tuberculosis, has been ill-treated by jail authorities. He has not been receiving proper treatment there. These students should be considered political undertrials and treated accordingly,” said the leaders. Mr Sherab, president of the Regional Tibet Youth Congress, said the arrested girl students had been kept with women inmates in congested rooms and given dirty food. The girl students were also being harassed by the other inmates. He said the condition of the student with TB was deteriorating and the jail officials were not giving him proper medicine and diet. Mr Norsang, president of the Regional Tibet Freedom Movement (RTFM), said it was unfortunate that the
authorities were keeping college students in such harsh conditions. He said all student organisations had urged the Chandigarh Administration to withdraw the cases against the Tibetan students, as these would jeopardise their careers. Mr Baldev Pandey, Organising Secretary of the Bharat Tibet Sahyog Manch, said the jail
authorities were violating the human rights of the students, who deserved the status of political undertrials and better facilities. The UT police had not investigated the case properly and arrested students of various communities without reason. When contacted, the Jail Superintendent, Mr D.S. Rana, denied these allegations. He said the students had been lodged separately and given facilities as per the jail manual. He also said there were persons in the jail to look after the undertrials; and if anyone’s health deteriorated, he or she could immediately be taken to hospital. Mr Rana said, he and the other officials had met the students today and found them to be happy. He said the students could not be considered political undertrials because they had been arrested for other offences. The police had registered a case under Sections 147, 149, 341, 427 and 506 of the IPC against the students. Meanwhile, a local court will consider the bail plea of the students tomorrow. Chandigarh, October 7 These organisation said they would like to honour the 12 youths who were arrested in that connection. “Once they got bail, they will be declared national heroes (Tibetan) at a felicitation function,” the organisations announced. |
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Electricity wing seeks
damages Chandigarh, October 7 The damages include the cost of material and also projected loss of revenue as power supply was restored only around 3 a.m., 14 hours after the cable was damaged. The underground cable had been damaged at the same place a few days ago and as a preventive step the electricity wing had put the cable within a cemented duct and placed it deep in the ground. The machines had damaged the duct and the cable. Men of the electricity wing worked late into the night to repair the cable. A piece of cable had to be brought to replace the damaged portion. The work to widen the road has compounded the problems of Sector 48. Damage to underground cables of telephones have also been reported. On Sunday, a 200-pair cable was damaged and sources in the Telecom Department said financial damages would be claimed. |
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FAUJI BEAT MINDLESS destruction of forest cover and fast-disappearing wildlife are casting their devastating shadow on the ecological balance of the country. Taking notice of this ominous trend several years ago, the Army had launched afforestation drive in and around all cantonments in the country. The results prove beyond doubt that the “impossible” word does not exist in the military dictionary. Only one example is quoted here. The Kasubegu firing range area (about 500 acres) is located at a distance of 10 km from Ferozepore and about 20 km from the border. Until 1999, the area was infested with the thick sarkanda grass and was devoid of trees. The Golden Arrow Division launched a project called “Vatika” in 1999, to develop the area into gardens and parks. Today, the area has thousands of poplar, shady, fruit and ornamental trees. Not only that, it abounds with artistically laid out parks having fully developed ponds, which add to the environmental beauty of the area. In short, it would be right to say that it is here that an environmentalist’s dream has come true. From Sandhurst to IMA India did not have any institution for providing pre-commission training to its cadets until the early 30s. For this reason, those selected for commissioning into the British Indian Army, used to be sent for training to Sandhurst in the UK. On successful completion of their training, they were granted King’s Commission. These King’s Commissioned Officers (KCIOs), barring a very few, have almost faded out. After the establishment of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) at Dehra Dun, we started training our cadets in India. The first batch that passed out from the IMA in 1934, was granted the Indian Commission. The first officer to be granted the Indian Commission was the late Major Gen Bhagwati Singh, father of the Naval Chief, Admiral Madhvendra Singh. And the second officer in the order of merit was Brig Harbhajan Singh. These two Indian Commissioned Officers (ICOs) were, therefore, allotted IC-1 and IC-2 numbers, respectively. The first batch after Independence passed out from the IMA on December 21, 1947. When the ninth batch passed out from the IMA in June, 1950, it celebrated its jubilee at Dehra Dun, a few weeks ago, one felt that the IMA had really come of age. The celebrations were attended by 20 officers and their wives. Among them were, four Lieutenant General three and six Brigadiers. Incidentally Lieut Gen Gurbir Man Singh (retd), the Sword of Honour winner of this course, was also present at the reunion. Hospital and canteen services Those defence personnel who have a choice of selecting the place of their residence after retirement, always go in for a place where they are close to a military hospital and a CSD canteen. But very few are lucky enough to exercise this choice. Majority of the ex-servicemen and soldiers’ widows live in villages, which are far away from military hospitals and CSD canteens. They have no option but to miss these services. It is not possible to open more military hospitals for the veterans alone due to financial constraints. Some states in the country have allowed the ex-servicemen and their dependents to get free treatment from the nearest civil hospitals while others are still dallying with this idea. As for the canteen facilities, even fewer ex-servicemen can avail of these because of the absence of any alternative like the civil hospitals. In some stations, the Army authorities send canteen vehicles to places where the ex-servicemen are settled in sizable numbers. But then, these vehicles cannot be sent everywhere. The answer to this problem lies in opening a large number of CSD canteens so that the ex-servicemen in remote areas can benefit from this service. These canteens can easily be run by the re-employed ex-servicemen. The opening of a CSD canteen at Patti village in Amritsar district by Major-Gen O.P. Nandrajog, GOC, Golden Arrow Division gladdened the hearts of ex-servicemen of this area. IAF anniversary On the 70th anniversary of the Indian Air Force (IAF) today, one’s mind flashes back to two legendary pilots. One is Marshal of the Air, Arjan Singh, who can rightly be called the architect of the IAF. The second one was Air Commodore Mehar Singh, known as “Baba Mehar Singh” in the IAF. He was the first officer to land a Dakota at Leh. He left the IAF after the 1947 war and died in an air accident in 1952. At the time of his death, the British press commented thus: “What Mehar Singh did not know about the Air Force, was not worth knowing”. Incidentally, both these officers hailed from Lyallpur (now in Pakistan). Pritam Bhullar |
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SBI pensioners seek payment parity Chandigarh, October 7 This was disclosed by Mr N.S. Dhamoon, secretary, Federation of State Bank of India Pensioners’ Association, here yesterday. He was addressing a meeting of the association. He said since the working staff unions had accepted the commutation of pension with DA at 1616 points (CPI) instead of 1684 points CPI for salary scales, the pensioners would get lower pension varying between Rs 34 and Rs 335 per month. Other demands of the pensioners included, he said, revision of family pension, which had not been revised since January 1, 1986, establishment of dispensaries at district headquarters, 100 per cent neutralisation of DA, correction in commutation factor and revision of pension for pensioners who retired before January 1, 1986. Mr Dhamoon emphasised the need to accord recognition to the pensioners representative body, as recommended by the Fifth Pay Commission. The association also demanded the recalculation of pension based on 60 years of age instead of 58 years concept of the SBI. |
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Residents
demand shifting of school SAS Nagar, October 7 The president of the association, Mr P.S. Virdi, said the functioning of Paragon Senior Secondary School in a one-kanal house in the phase was creating problems for residents. He said the school was functioning in violation of the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court relating to the shifting of schools being run in residential areas. The association president said the management of the school, was also illegally using the park in the area for school activities. An unauthorised entry had also been made to the park. This amounted to encroachment by the school and flouting of the ban imposed by PUDA on the use of developed parks for private functions. Mr Virdi said residents had approached the PUDA authorities time and again for the redress of their grievances, but to no avail. |
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Ramlila begins all over city Chandigarh, October 7 As the residents thronged the venue, they saw the Shravan Kumar scene along with Rama and Sita janam. The role of Shravan was played by Rajesh Bagga, Maharaja Dashrath by Sunil Sharma, and Janak by Ashwani Sabharwal. The Director, Suresh Bakshi, said: ''I have been directing Ramlila for the past 35 years." |
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Protest by footpath
workers Chandigarh, October 7 Their demands include issue of identity cards and construction of pucca booths for which the scheme has since been approved by the UT Administrator and Rs 2.10 crore stands sanctioned, claimed the Footpath Workers Rozgar Bachao Samiti. The protesters include cycle repairers, cobblers, barbers, dhobis, tandoorwalas, among others. After gathering at Labour Chowk, they marched to Matka Chowk raising slogans against the Chandigarh Administration and the MC authorities, holding black banners in their hands. They blocked a number of roads. At Matka Chowk, the protesters were stopped from proceeding towards the UT Secretariat. Later a deputation of the samiti called on the authorities and submitted a memorandum. The delegation warned if the demands were not implemented immediately, they would intensify the struggle. |
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Elders’ Day celebrated with ‘kavi darbar’ Panchkula, October 7 Mr R.S. Verma, former Chief Secretary, Haryana, was the chief guest, while Mr O.P. Arora, Additional General Manager, The Tribune, and Dr K.S. Arya, former Principal of DAV College, Chandigarh were the guests of honours. A book of Urdu nazms and ghazals by Mr B.S. Sodhi was released by Mr Verma. The oldest member couple of the association, Mrs and Mr A.L. Puri, were also honoured. Later a kavi darbar was held. Mr Arora said old persons should live with grace and dignity and channelise their energy for social uplift The members of the association raised their demands of better postal facilities in the township. |
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Kuljeet Nagra is IYC Gen Secy Chandigarh, October 7
Nagra was President of the Panjab University Students Union ( PUSU) for eight years. He was a member of the Senate of Panjab University from 1996 to 2000. He was also President of the Panjab University Students Council, Chandigarh. |
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Painting contest in Rock
Garden Chandigarh, October 7 The best part of the show, which drew tremendous response, is that all the money procured in the form of sales proceeds after selling off the paintings, will be diverted towards the betterment of the less fortunate and destitute children. All profits from this grand show, which has already been organised in some other cities, will be given away to a charitable institution working for children, who need help on financial and social front. The money will be used to fulfil basic requirements of such children. The contest, which is part of a longer series meant to achieve philanthropist purposes, saw huge participation from children of various schools in the city today. The participation was also huge on account that the entry to the painting contest was not limited by any quarters. It was kept open for all. So even as the children lent form to their imagination, they were unaware of the larger cause they were serving. The latter part of the contest, which focused on environment topics, was devoted to the recognition of Nek Chand’s efforts in bringing India on the international tourist map. He was honoured for his incredible achievements in the field of scrap architecture. |
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Woman hurt, evicted
forcibly Zirakpur, October 7 According to sources, gang members came to the house of Mr Jasbir Singh while his wife, Ms Amarjit Kaur, was alone. They first hurt the woman and then threw the goods out of the house. Ms Kaur reportedly had to rush to a neighbour’s house to seek shelter. A resident of Bartana village said Jasbir Singh was detained by the police at the Lohgarh police post where he had gone to see one of his relatives. The gang members reached his house after he was detained by the police, he added. Villagers alleged that some of the gang members were drunk and had been hired by a politician for that purpose. Land dispute between the two parties is said to be the reason behind the incident. The villagers alleged though they had approached the police, no FIR was registered till evening. When contacted, the SHO, Dera Bassi, expressed his ignorance about the incident. He said, “I was at the Lohgarh police chowki till 7.45 pm, but by then no such case had been reported”. |
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50,000 stolen from Sec 47
house Chandigarh, October 7 Another burglary was reported from Sector 22. Dr Saudleagyagar Vardhan reported that cash and jewellery were stolen from his house on the night of October 5. Mr Chander Sharma, a resident of Hoshiarpur district, reported that his Maruti car (PAW-6975) was stolen from a parking lot in the PGI here yesterday. A TVS Scooty (CH-01-W-6407) of Mr Madan Mohan Bhardwaj, an SAS Nagar resident, was allegedly stolen from a Sector 17 parking lot yesterday. Mr Piara Singh of Balongi village, Ropar district, reported that his scooter (PB-65-A-5611) was stolen from the Sector 37 market on September 2. Beaten up: Mr Jagbir Singh, a resident of Ram Darbar, was allegedly beaten up by Suresh Kumar of Kaithal district (Haryana) and four others in Ram Darbar yesterday. Mr Singh was injured and admitted to the GMCH, Sector 32. Suresh Kumar was later arrested. Injured: A cyclist, Bittu, a resident of Sector 41, was injured after allegedly being hit by a Tata-407 truck near the roundabout of Sectors 36, 37, 41 and 42 yesterday. He was admitted to the General Hospital, Sector 16. A case has been registered against the truck driver. PANCHKULA Dowry harassment:
The police has booked Ajay Channa, Devki Nandan, Krishna Channa and Indu on the charge of harassing Ms Mizi for dowry. In another case, the police arrested three persons from Chandigarh, Gopal Krishan, Om Prakash and Ms Kakmani, in a case of harassment for dowry registered against them earlier. One arrested:
The police arrested Om Prakash, a jhuggi-dweller in Sector 7, on the charge of trespassing into the house of Mr Kulbhushan in Sector 9 yesterday and assaulting the latter. He has been booked under Sections 323, 452 and 506, IPC. |
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Sector 22 market golden jubilee
celebrations Chandigarh, October 7 A decked up market with a huge arcade at the entrance of the parking lot in front of the shops today wore a festive look as the pavement offered customers a red carpet welcome. Gifts to customers — car, refrigerator, music system, washing machine, atc — were displayed on the dais and a hungama box (to put coupons in it) was placed in front of it. An Army band from Sabatu formed part of the celebrations. Mr Bansal announced that he would approve the fixing of chequered tiles on the pavement of the market from the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Fund and would take up the issue for a housing scheme for those employees working with shopkeepers in the city. He said these matters would be taken up for discussion tomorrow in the Administrator’s Advisory Council. The market association said if they were allowed to make shops three-storeyed, they would give the city the country’s best air-conditioned market. Mr Bansal congratulated the market for completing 50 years along with the city and said he would take up their causes at any fora suitable for them. Customers had started shopping even before the festival was officially thrown open. Mr Bansal and elders of the market later lit lamps. The market association asked the Member of Parliament to fight for a housing scheme for those employees working on shops for years. |
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