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| Wednesday,
February 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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BLACK MONEY CASE Chandigarh/Hoshiarpur, February 4 The Hoshiarpur police has claimed to have found that the FCI official accumulated wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. It says that the disclosure was made by Balbir, a former servant of Lt Col G.S. Cheema, from whom, Rs 18 lakh of assets — Rs 5 lakh, papers of two plots, a truck and some gold ornaments — had been seized. The remaining Rs 82 lakh is yet to be traced. Mr P.P. Singh, who had already obtained an interim bail from a local court of Hoshiarpur, reported to the investigating officer, Mr Upinderjit Singh Ghumman, Superintendent of Police (detective) at Hoshiarpur. The SP interrogated the FCI official and his wife for more than four hours and told them to report again on February 10, as he was not satisfied with their reply. Ms Gurpreet Deo, Senior Superintendent of Police at Hoshiarpur, when contacted, said preliminary investigations had shown that Ms Sudha Gill, who ran a boutique in Sector 16 of Chandigarh, had no involvement in the case; only the disputed trunk, in which, Rs 1 crore had allegedly been kept for many months, had been found in her boutique. When found, the trunk was empty. The SSP said Mr P.P. Singh and Lt Col Gurjeet Singh Cheema had exploited Sudha Gill by keeping the disputed trunk in her boutique. She was a tenant in Cheema’s house, now in hospital and under arrest. She met with an accident when a police team was bringing her to Hoshiarpur in the last week of January after her arrest in Chandigarh. The Hoshiarpur police says that this money is likely to be in the possession of Lt Col Gurjeet Singh Cheema, owner of the house, who is in Secundrabad, on training. The Punjab police has sought a permission from the defence authorities to interrogate him. Meanwhile, Mr P.P. Singh and his wife, Madhu Singh, have alleged that Lt Col Gurinder Singh Cheema, brother of Lt Col Gurjeet Singh Cheema, was part of an oil scam in the Army involving many crore rupees. Allegedly, the embezzlement was committed when he was posted at Leh. Consequently, he was dismissed from service. |
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Sarabjit
was eccentric: Mohali cops Chandigarh, February 4 “I went twice to the Phase 8 police station along with Sarabjeet’s father when he had roughed up his tenants”, a neighbour who is close to the assailant’s father said. The residents say the January 31 incident was waiting to happen. Sarabjeet would often enter into a quarrel with his tenants. Policemen at the Phase 8 police station of SAS Nagar are familiar with Sarabjeet, whom they describe as eccentric. Investigations reveal that a case under Sections 342, 437 and 452 of the IPC was registered against Sarabjeet on September 6, 1999. Some girls who were known to a senior Punjab police official had taken the “jinxed” annexe on rent. Sarabjeet had misbehaved with them and threatened them. He had objected to the police official visiting the girls. He was taken to the Phase 8 police station and was released only at the intervention of some persons of the locality. On the condition of anonymity, persons close to the family say that Sarabjeet, a computer engineer, often quarrelled with his father but his mother used to defend him. “We often told Mandher ji to get his son examined to know the cause of his strange behaviour”, a resident of the locality said. Sarabjeet used to object to the activities of their most recent tenants, Davinder and his brother Bhupinder. Investigations by the Chandigarh police reveal that after stabbing Davinder, Sarabjeet woke up his father and asked him to hand over the key of the car. The Chandigarh police, however, says it has not come across anything to prove that the assailant was eccentric. |
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TRIBUNE
SPECIAL Chandigarh, February 4 “The department is at least 40 firemen short and it also needs four leading firemen and 13 officers, if sanctioned posts are taken into account,” sources in the Municipal Corporation said. The posts were sanctioned 20 years ago, while many more firemen are required today. The sanctioned posts were for four stations, while the number of fire stations has increased to seven. An estimate suggests that seven stations will require more than 100 firemen. The Municipal Corporation had begun filling the posts last year, recruiting 44 personnel, including 26 leading firemen, but the recruitment had turned controversial amid allegations of corruption. The MC set up a committee to probe the allegations, but nothing came out of the inquiry. The controversy has demoralised officials, who, now, shudder to take up the responsibility of recruiting firemen. This virtual ban on recruitment has exposed the city to fire hazards. The corporation has not even been able to fill the 13 posts of officer sanctioned last year for the Ram Darbar and Mani Majra fire stations. The vacancies have been created due to the retirement of 15 personnel. The department, now, has two senior officers in place of four who were recruited as per the requirement in 1965. Even the men-to-vehicles ratio has turned adverse, resulting in a situation where, at times, leaves of firemen are cancelled to pick them for major operations. Due to a lack of supervision, firefighting operations and maintenance of machinery have been affected, creating fatigue among the staff. Fortunately, the corporation has been able to make some old vehicles fit again to be used, but minus the required manpower. The procurement of a hydraulic ladder to fight fires in multi-storey buildings has been hanging fire for a long time now. |
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Nursing
Council office raided SAS
Nagar, February 4 Though the officials termed the visit as a routine check aimed at bringing about improvement in the working of the council. It is said the raid was conducted on the basis of a complaint in which it had been stated that certain students had been marked absent in the result sheets even though they had appeared in the examinations. However, the office of the Nursing Council denied that the raid had been conducted to check certain alleged irregularities found in the preparation of examination results. |
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Fog plays spoilsport again Chandigarh, February 4 Chandigarh, Panchkula and SAS Nagar and most of the north-west region shivered as fog enveloped the entire north-west region right from Pathankot to Sirsa, Saharanpur and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, besides the National Capital Territory. The day temperature in and around Chandigarh dipped by two degrees below normal to 20.2°C, so also in the Ambala cantonment and the city. The latter reported the high of 20.7°C while minimum was recorded at 7.6°C. The vehicular traffic was forced to move at snails pace with headlights on till shortly before noon as visibility was reduced to almost nil. Many trains in the region ran behind schedule, by one to two hours. Srinagar was again reeling this morning with mercury dipping to minus 2.9°C, one degree less than the normal. Jammu was colder by two degrees at 7.4°C. Shimla was hotter at 3.9°C, by two degrees.
UNI |
Police rounds up
‘innocent’ Chandigarh, February 4 Though the efforts of the police in checking the presence of anti-social elements outside schools need to be lauded, the drive loses its objective when innocent persons are rounded up. Today was the second day of the special drive. The Station House Officers (SHOs) were asked to depute police parties outside schools to keep a tab on anti-social elements. During one such drive, a Tribune photographer came across a rickshaw-puller, Badri Mandal, who was basking in the sun near the Sector 20 masjid. Badri claimed that he was basking in the sun after getting himself examined General Hospital Sector 16. He showed the prescription slip of a doctor and medicines. Still he was rounded up. Similarly, Rajinder, a domestic servant employed in Sector 27, was rounded up while he was watching the police action. However, police officials said at least nine persons were rounded up near a government school in Sector 20. Similar drives were launched in different parts of the city. A senior citizen said instead of posting uniformed persons outside schools cops in civil be deputed there. |
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HUDA to recover Rs 20 cr from defaulters Panchkula, February 4 A decision to evict occupants from the resumed properties and dispose of the properties was taken by the Chief Minister at a review meeting last month. Following this, HUDA had told all Estate Offices in the state to furnish details of the resumed plots or properties in the possession of the allottees. The date of resumption and the reason why the defaulters had not been evicted, so far, were also to be given. |
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The passing of a legend Only some days back, he was in Chandigarh, little aware that death was keeping a watch over him from some close quarters. Now that he is gone, it would serve to recall his life and achievements lest the social memory fails to give space to the legendary figure. Born at Sirajganj, now in Bangladesh in 1923, Amaresh Chandra Chowdhury, had to make a rather uncertain beginning for his career in music. The cause behind was indifferent parents who wanted to see their son wedded to a down to earth vocation. For Amaresh it was difficult to allow his parent’s desire to smother his passion for music. As the home ambience was not happy and congenial for the growth of his ambition, he used to walk upto the banks of the Padma and rehearse music, his food for thought. His career took a decisive turn after his meeting with the legendary singer Ustad Faiz Khan, who spotted his talent and advised him to go to Calcutta and hone his talent. Taking this advice, Amaresh started his preparation for classical music with Pandit Harihar Shukla and later with Ustad Dagar Khan. The moment he felt he had imbibed enough art, he made his appearance in the concert circuits where listeners showered him with affection and praises. Among his admirers were such connoisseurs as Kumar Kishore Roychowdhury, son of the Maharaja of Gouripur and Maharaja Khemendra Mohon Thakur of Bagura. When the academy of Music and Dance came into being in Calcutta, Amaresh joined it and learnt a great deal from renowned singers like Ustad Tansen Pandey of Dagar gharana and Romesh Chandra Bandopadhyay of Bishnupur gharana. he came out with a first to his credit and was immediately put in service at the Narendrapur unit of Ramakrishna Mission by Swami Lokeswarananda. For a long span of two years he served the mission, coming out occasionally to participate in concerts. The greatest credit of Amaresh Chandra was that he was more than a singer. His knowledge of the grammar of classical music relate to Kirana gharana added to his list of achievements. Only recently Pracheen Kala Kendra had honoured him with a special award. |
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Panchayat’s plea not to acquire land Chandigarh, February 4 They said four houses and 28 families, which were rehabilitated in 1952 when Chandigarh was planned, would again be displaced by the
acquisition. They said these villagers were removed from Kalibar village to make Sectors 8 and 9. Some of them were shifted from Roorki village to make Sectors17, 18, 21 and 22. They claimed that the acquisition of land just along the lal dora in other villages had been left out. The two leaders said the Chandigarh administration had also not acquired 2 acres of land of cremation ground, community centre, a pond and public conveniences in the village. The leaders met the Administrator, Finance Secretary, Deputy Commissioner and Land Acquisition Officer in this regard. |
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Kalpana’s death condoled Chandigarh, February 4 The chairman of the society, Air Commodore, S.B. Prashar, in his condolence message, said all
members of the society had expressed a deep sense of loss at the tragic death of Kalpana Chawla. In her death, the country had lost an experienced and daring astronaut. She will be an inspiration for the younger generation. Meanwhile, the staff and students of Balwant Rai DAV College for Women, Kurali, paid homage to Kalpana Chawla. |
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Workshop
in British Library Chandigarh, February 4 According to Mr Sushant Banerjee, library manager, the workshop was part of a self-development programme. He said: “The self-development section of the library was inaugurated on January 28 last year by the Director of the British Council in India, Mr Edmund Marsden.” Prof Mohan, he said, had written 225 research papers, worked on 14 sponsored research projects and received many awards from bodies like UNESCO, the Commonwealth, the APA and the British Council. He had received a lifetime-contribution award from the Indian Association of Sports Medicine in New Delhi. |
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Erratic
power, water supply Chandigarh, February 4 For the past 15 days electricity voltage had been very low between 6 pm and 10 pm, making it difficult for the students to concentrate on their studies who had to prepare for their examinations that were scheduled to begin in March, said a resident. |
Scooterist killed in mishap Panchkula, February 4 He was take to the Sector 6 General Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.
Poppy husk seized The police arrested Jai Ram from near Mandana village and Raghubir Singh from Khetparali village and seized 550 gram of poppy husk from them. In another case, Gurbachan Singh was arrested on the charge of speculation from Sector 20 and Rs 260 were recovered from him.
Cops ‘bash up’ 3 students
Chandigarh However, the police has denied the allegations. In a written statement given to The Tribune, three students — Charanpreet, Gajendra and an NRI, Sukhpreet, have alleged that they had gone to meet a friend in Sector 36 in the afternoon. But, while coming back they were stopped by three cops of Sector 36 police station, near MCM DAV College. They alleged that the cops snatched away the keys of their car and asked them to come out. They behaved rudely and even bashed them up. They were taken to the police station of Sector 36 and their guardians called up. They were later released. However, the students further alleged that the cops “just felt sorry” of the incident. No action was taken against those who had bashed them up. When contacted, SHO, Vijay Kumar Bhardwaj, denied the allegations and said no one misbehaved with them. They were simply asked to accompany the cops to the police station. He said, “the youths boys were loitering in front of the women’s college. In such cases, the police take the loiters to the police station and call up their parents. Normally, they are released, except in cases of eve-teasing”. |
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Chandigarh, February 4