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| Thursday,
February 20, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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Cops given clean chit Chandigarh, February 19 The SSP (Headquarters), Mr Virinder Singh Chahal, had conducted the inquiry following a direction by the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had acted on two petitions filed by an advocate. Highly-placed sources in the department revealed that the report of the inquiry, which was conducted by the SSP, had already been submitted to the IGP, Chandigarh. Without going in to the contents of the findings, the SSP said he had submitted the report to the IGP. The high court had directed the UT police to complete the inquiry till February 15. Mr Chahal had completed the inquiry which was being conducted by a former SSP (Operations), Mr Asad Farooqui. After Mr Farooqui completed his tenure in the city, the then IGP, Mr B.S. Bassi, had marked the inquiry to the previous SSP, Mr Parag Jain. When the police was unable to complete the inquiry in the stipulated time, an extension of five months had been sought by the police. An extension was sought again and the February 15 deadline was set by the court. After Mr Parag Jain was repatriated to Punjab, the inquiry was transferred to the SSP, Mr Gaurav Yadav. The inquiry went to Mr Chahal after Mr Yadav made a request to the IGP, Mr Rajesh Kumar, in this regard. During the course of the inquiry conducted by Mr Farooqui, serious doubts had been raised about the incident. The prime witness Balkar Singh, an SI deputed on secret duty in Burail jail by the CBO cell, had said the date of occurrence of the event, recorded in police files as on June 11, 1998, was actually June 8. Balkar’s statement was corroborated by statements of two senior jail officials, who confirmed that the incident took place on June 8. Mr Farooqui had recorded the statement of 14 persons. As per the statement of Balkar Singh, on June 8, 1998, Charanjit Singh (not his real name) came to meet one of the accused in the Beant Singh assassination case, Jagtar Singh Hawara. Later he was arrested by a team of police personnel from outside the jail. After that he did not know what had happened to Satnam. He also added that under pressure from his seniors, he did not challenge the police story. Later, however, he found out that his name was also mentioned in the police party that picked up the accused. |
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Hailstorm
lashes city Chandigarh, February 19 In several sectors power supply snapped or had to be switched off to prevent damage. In Sectors 44, 45, 42, 46, 35, 38 and 39 supply was restored this morning. In Sectors 18, 19, 29 and 30 the situation was the same. In Sector 27 a tree fell on a power cable plunging the area in darkness. The rain has affected the communication system as severe winds snapped off telephone cables from poles. Power engineers said they were helpless in such situation. Even a branch of a tree could trip an 11 KV high-tension feeder if it touched it and it took more than two hours to correct it. In Chandigarh almost all high-tension feeders were running close to trees. During the afternoon the city was lashed by a brief hailstorm. The rain continued for the third consecutive day. Till 5: 30 p.m the Met office had recorded 1.6 cm of rain. The day time temperature dropped further and was recorded at 17.6° C, which is 6 degrees below the normal average for this time of the year. The daytime temperature has dropped from 28°C recorded four days ago. Interestingly, the minimum temperature was a couple of degrees above normal. This was recorded at 11°C. |
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Winds sweep off Kalagram stalls Chandigarh, February 19 Already facing a tough time on account of Patiala Heritage Festival, running parallel, the Utsav lost most of its lustre today, on account of the speeding winds. Right since the morning today, the situation inside the Kalagram complex was extremely vague, with most of the erected stalls having been swept off by the storm. With not a soul around the artisans were seen re- erecting their stalls, which had been badly damaged on account of rain and winds. Many artisans were seen collecting their valuables which had been blown far off by the winds. While they were collecting their belongings, the structure of the stalls began collapsing. After a lot of effort, some labour was engaged to install the stalls. However, much work could not be done due to the bad weather which persisted throughout the day. In the remaining days, it appears doubtful that the utsav will be able to pick up the required tempo, especially in view of the continuing bad weather. |
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Major power
breakdown SAS Nagar, February 19 A number of complaints of power fluctuation from Phase VII and Sector 70 have also been received. |
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Scholarships
for PU toppers Chandigarh, February 19 A decision to this regard was taken by a committee which met under the chairmanship of Prof S.K.Sharma, Dean University Instructions, here today. Others who attended the meeting included Prof M.L.Sharma, Dean Alumni Relations, Prof Charanjit Chawla, Mr K.C.Shenmar, Prof S.S.Kumar and Dr Navdeep Goyal. The scholarship will include 20 stipends for classes in the affiliated colleges of the university. There will be 10 awards to be paid to students of courses on the campus. The awards on the campus will be paid to students of honours school at the bachelors level as well. The awards in arts, science and language faculties will be paid on a rotation basis. In case of undergraduate classes, students will be paid Rs 3,000 per annum, besides a certificate. Students in the postgraduate classes will be paid Rs 3,500 annually and given a commendation certificate. Each student on the campus and the affiliated colleges will contribute Rs 10 as a contribution to the corpus of the alumni fund. Out of the total collection, Rs 1 lakh is intended to be spent on the scholarships. The remaining amount will be utilised for the construction of an alumni house. Mr I.K. Gujral, a former Prime Minister, had laid the foundation stone of the alumni house. Due to the paucity of funds, no progress could be made. |
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UT ignores its disabled Chandigarh, February 19 Tribune investigations reveal that out of the 619 jobless disabled registered with the Regional Employment Exchange, UT, between 1999 and 2003, only 53 have got jobs, less than 10 per cent of total jobless disabled. Officials at the exchange say they can’t do much because candidates from anywhere can apply for jobs reserved for the disabled in UT. The Director said: “All UT departments have to notify vacancies to us. They must make recruitment in consultation with us.” While officials maintain that the job scenario for the disabled is improving, investigations reveal otherwise. Against 139 reserved vacancies notified to the exchange in the past four years, only 40 were filled. Ironically, where UT has opened its 3 per cent reservation for the disabled to all states, other states have kept these posts for their own disabled. However, in Chandigarh reserved jobs under SC/ST/OBC quota go only to those who belong to UT. But in case of the disabled, the is compromising on their rights. The music section of the UT Education Department is notorious in this regard. Over 20 posts of music teacher reserved for the disabled are lying vacant.
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A disabled candidate from Punjab appointed lecturer in instrumental music at GCG-11 after ignoring the claims of the disabled from UT. *
Jitender Grewal, a disabled from Haryana appointed maths master in 2002. Rajesh Kumar, a qualified disabled from UT, ignored notwithstanding that Punjab had refused to even consider him for the same post because he is not a Punjab resident. Punjab did not relent even when there were just 15 candidates against 22 posts. Grewal is posted at Government High School,
Maloya. * Harjeet Singh from Punjab appointed part-time music lecturer at Govt Sr Sec School, Sector 8, by the UT Education Department against a vacancy reserved for the disabled advertised on August 9, 2002. A highly qualified blind girl from UT, Sarika, ignored, even though she is registered with the Employment Exchange. Sarika applied for the post of music mistress against vacancies (2 for the disabled) advertised by UT in September 2001; test held in January 2002. While candidates in other categories were appointed in April 2002, music results are awaited. *
Sarika again applied for the post of music mistress against vacancies (2 for the disabled) advertised by the Education Department on June 16, 2002; nothing heard so far. While the Social Welfare Department follows the policy by inviting everyone for its 3 per cent reserved jobs, Director, Social Welfare, himself knows little about the policy. One of his communications reads: “Presently in the department under the control of UT Administration, reserved posts for the disabled are being filled by candidates irrespective of the fact that they are permanent residents of Chandigarh or not. On the other hand for the reserved posts in the other categories of SC/ST/OBC, the applicants must be residents of Chandigarh. The instructions received from the Government of India on the subject available in this office are silent on this point. It is therefore requested that the instructions, if any, issued by the Chandigarh Administration, may be supplied. In case there are no such instructions the decision of the Chandigarh Administration in this regard may be intimated.” |
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Institute
in disuse: MLA for probe SAS Nagar, February 19 The complex, complete with its own auditorium and residential units, is sprawled over four acres of prime land in the township. It has already cost the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) a whopping Rs 5.50 crore. But despite the buildings being handed over to the DHS, none of them is either functional or ready for use. The World Bank had granted Rs 6 crore to the Punjab Government along with some other states as part of the India Population Project-VII (IPP-VII) in the mid-nineties. The Punjab project was delayed and started only in 1999. After special permission, the project was revived and the construction of the building given to a contractor by the DHS. The project was recently been taken away from the DHS and handed over to the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) after the DHS got into trouble with the builders over missing hardware worth Rs 5.5 lakh. The contractors, having ended their contract, claim to have handed over the completed building to the DHS but officials of the DHS has discovered that the building is still incomplete with many doors, windows and a large amount of toilet and electrical hardware missing. The missing doors and windows are said to be a result of a series of thefts that took place in November last year. These were duly reported to the police which could not register a case because the ownership of the building was still not clear. White the physical possession of the building is with the PHSC, the builders too have not given up their claim on it. They have not been paid their full and final payment of over Rs 8 lakh by the DHS. Till the responsibility of the missing hardware is established, no solution to the ownership problem seems viable. Meanwhile, the PSHC has decided to start the functioning of the building and called for another tender worth Rs 1.4 crore last fortnight. Despite the WB grant of Rs 6.5 crore and this additional of Rs 1.5 crore being spent by the PHSC, when the project will be completed is anybody’s guess. Once the project is completed and the complex functional, the institute of Health and Family Welfare in Kharar will be shifted here and the complex will be used as a centre for training of Punjab Government health employees. Mr Bir Devinder Singh visited the site today along with officials of the PHSC and the institute in Kharar. Stating that he was extremely distressed with the way the project has been handled by the Health Department, he pointed out that a high level probe is called for. |
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CHOPRA MURDER CASE SAS Nagar, February 19 Meanwhile for Bhupa’s family it is a harrowing experience even though they have gone through it before. Saying that the last time they met him was four days ago, his family members said they had not been in touch with him since the incident. According to Bhupa’s father, Mr Kailash Nath Sharma, Bhupa, the second of his four sons, is the black sheep of the family. “He got spoiled because of his company. A man becomes what he is according to society he moves in. It’s unfortunate that he is involved with people who commit crimes but he is out of our control and we are helpless,” he said. He had tried to reform Bhupa and had got him three decent jobs but he stuck to none. He got into the Navy but left that and came back .Then he worked shortly for the Poultry Corporation before he joined the police as constable but left that too. By that time he was already in bad company. All we could do was watch him get into one vice to another. He was involved in small crimes and there were occasions when we have ourselves informed the police about his deeds. He was in jail for some days and was later released on bail. He would usually idle away with his friends or live in house number 3469, Sector 23,” his father said. Visibly distressed, the younger brother of Bhupa, Bhart Bhushan, had been taken by the police yesterday to know about Bhupa’s whereabouts. “We have no idea where he is. He used to rarely visit this house. He drinks a lot and could do anything for his friends,” he said. Mr Kailash Nath Sharma, a heart patient, retired from the Red Cross and has there other sons, all of whom are well settled. “Bhupa is 45 years old and he has wasted his life. I did not allow him to get married so that he does not spoil someone else’s life. We tried to help him but now we have given up on him,” he added. |
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Contract
killings on the rise Chandigarh, February 19 Sources in the Chandigarh Police said the gangs of contract killers are being managed by certain persons who wielded power. They could be operating under the guise of a politician, a businessman or a trader. Concerned about the trend, the police had decided to coordinate with its counterparts in Punjab and Haryana. The issue had also been discussed at a recent inter-state coordination committee meeting of police officials of Chandigarh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. It had been found that in the cases cracked by the police, most of the killers were either history-sheeters or had bad
character in police records. The sources said “supari” being paid for a contract killing could go up to lakhs depending upon the target and the stakes involved. In the sensational case of contract killing of the manager of Kiran and Jagat cinemas, Harjinder Singh, recently cracked by the police, the deal had been struck for Rs 5 lakh. A gang of professional criminals were hired by an assistant manager of Jagat cinema to eliminate his boss. The king pin of the gang Om Parkash Saini, has nine cases registered against him in Chandigarh. Though the police denies that the murder of the Sector 26 agent of grain market, Ramesh Chawla, and the XEN in Chandigarh Administration, V.K. Chopra, were contract killings sources in the police said both could be cases of contract killings. The reasons could be different in both cases, a police official said. Some cases of contract killings of NRIs in Punjab have already been reported. In last Tuesday’s murder of
V.K. Chopra, the SAS Nagar police had stated that the victim had been shot due to professional rivalry and personal enmity. However, the criminal records of the main suspect,
Bhupa, and Anil point towards the possibility of the murder being a case of contract killing. According to information, Bhupa has a history of being involved in criminal activities in the city. The sources in the Chandigarh police said several cases of attempt to murder and assault had been registered against him in different police stations. He along with some other persons was also allegedly involved in getting disputed properties vacated. Anil has several cases of robbery, snatching and assaults registered against him. His brother Sunil alias Sonu, was involved in the murder of a youth at Kumbhra village in SAS Nagar in Sector 40 on December 31. |
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Today’s victory revives cup hopes Chandigarh, February 19 Till the afternoon, they were not so sure of the team’s ability to win the World Cup and the reason was not hard to see. The batsmen, bowlers and fielders, everyone had let the fans down from their first match against “a weak side” like Holland. Against Holland, the team had struggled to pile up just over 200 runs. Though they won against Holland, the team lost face. Disillusioned, but not crushed, fans had switched on the television sets again, hoping to see the Indian batsmen hitting the Aussies out of the park. They hoped the team would be able to make up for their poor performance. The initial few overs against Australia, had, kind of, reposed their trust in the young team’s capabilities, but, like always, the team collapsed at less that 125 runs. Their faith was shattered, as the Aussies reached the target for the loss of just one wicket. Little wonder that fans positioned themselves before the television sets today with hearts thumping wildly against their chests. Sachin had assured countrymen that the team would fight back against Zimbabwe, but he didn’t sound as confidence as before. It was now or never, they were sure. As Sachin walked into the field, fans prayed. With folded hands, they appealed to the Almighty for coming to the rescue of the team. Words were not required, as they stood attention with their eyes shut tightly. Soon after he started hitting the ball in all directions, the fans pushed back the chairs to applaud loudly. In Sector 17, wild shrieks of excitement filled the air, as the fans, standing in front of picture windows, celebrated the stirring knock by Sachin. Hope however, gave away to uncertainty, as India lost some quick wickets and scored less than 275 — a score considered safe by some experts. However, the bowlers did the trick and sent the opposition back to the pavilion with over 80 runs to score. Soon afterwards, the din of crackers echoed against the walls, as the fans took to streets for celebrating India’s victory.
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Jacob favours sharing
of technology Chandigarh, February 19 Inaugurating the seminar on “Environment conservation and sustainable development” organised by the Canadian High Commission and the Punjab State Science Council, he emphasised the need for sharing knowledge and database between developed and developing countries, particularly scientific technological and environment knowledge. Mr S.K. Bijlani, CII Chairman (Northern Region) said an organisation’s performance was based on six “Es” — economics, environment, empowerment, ethics, equity and education. He said as technology matured, environment management and social responsibility provided a new impetus. Rather than perceiving sustainability principles as a barrier, it ought to be regarded as an opportunity with both short-term and long-term competitive advantages. Mr N.S. Tiwana, Chairman of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, said in the post WTO era, companies needed to gear up and start conforming to international standards. He also spoke on developing low cost technologies for environment conservation which could be implemented in the rural areas also. The other speakers were Mr John Pries, Senior Technology Leader of CH2M Hill, Mr Anil Chiber, International Business Development Manager, Wasteland Incinerators, Mr Sanjay Devanani, Senior Associate, RV Andersen, Mr Harish C.Uppal, Vice-President of Environmental Services, Altech Group, and Mr V. Venkatraman, Executive Director (Marketing), Paramount Limited — Trojan Technologies. |
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Tributes
paid to Beant Singh Chandigarh, February 19 Among the family members who paid floral tributes included elder son Tej Prakash Singh, Minister of Transport, Mrs Jaswant Kaur and Mrs Gurkanwal Kaur. The Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Mr Kewal Krishan, Sports Minister Jagmohan Singh Kang and few other leaders of the Congress were among those who paid tributes.
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PSEB fails to clear bills Chandigarh, February 19 The senior officials of the board at Patiala, privately admitted that they were unable to clear bills worth about Rs 20 crore to the small scale units of Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali and other towns, due to financial constrains. These small time firms, which are dependent on timely payment by the PSEB, supply hardware items such as towers, sub-station structures, transformers, cables and conductors. In fact, even earlier the payment schedule has been so erratic that several units have been forced to cut down their production or close down their shutters. The insiders admit that the officials of the PSEB, which are never tired of making allegations that the small sector regarding power theft, are solely responsible for the problem of so many units. One of the officials, responsible for clearing payments is on leave for the past many days. Mr Vinod Mittal, President, Chamber of Chandigarh Industries, says,
‘‘The PSEB has not paid the bills of SSI units since August, 2002, resulting in hampering of our production schedule. Although the board's payment terms specify that the payments shall be made within seven days of the receipt of goods at their stores, yet the payment is not made even after 5-6 months.’’ Another entrepreneur, who did not wish to be quoted, said‘‘ The Delayed Payment Act No. 23 of 1998 and Interest of Delayed Payment to Small Scale and Ancillary Industrial Undertakings Act No 32 of 1993 have a provision of payment of interest on delayed payments beyond the period as agreed upon in the agreement entered into between the buyers and
suppliers. The PSEB also charges interest from consumers if the payments are delayed. But no one is ready to listen to our problem due to low bargaining power and lack of political lobbying.’’ He added that under the act, PSEB was liable to pay interest on delayed payment but it was turning a deaf ear to such requests made by them from time to time. Mr Aggarwal pointed out that delay in payments had resulted in accumulated interest on their credit, denial of further credit by banks. |
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Foundation
stone laid Chandigarh, February 19 As per the design, the community centre would consist of one hall, one room, provision of kitchen space and toilet in a plinth area of 1190 sq. ft. However, a total of 16,628 sq. ft. land had been reserved for the community centre. The
Mayor said that the community centre would facilitate the residents
for holding marriage functions and other social functions.
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41st Sood Mela on
February 23 Chandigarh, February 19 A charitable diagnostic laboratory would also be inaugurated at Sood Bhavan on the occasion. Major-Gen V.K. Sood, Associate Principal, National Dental College and Hospital, Patiala, would be the chief guest while Dr Sanadan Sood, Head of the Eye Department, Government Medical College Hospital, Sector 32, and Mr Kulbhushan Sood, a businessman of Bangalore, would be the guests of honour. |
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Swami’s lecture Chandigarh, February 19 |
Mohali man drugged, robbed SAS Nagar, February 19 Narrating the sequence of events, Major Gurbaksh Singh (retd), father of the victim, today said that Rajinder Pal Singh had gone to Kotkapura on Sunday. From there he went to Ludhiana to make some purchases. After finishing his work he was waiting for a bus at Samrala Chowk around 7 pm when a Maruti car stopped next to him and the driver offered him a lift. There was one more person in the car. After travelling some distance, the driver stopped to have tea. They were offered tea and some biscuits which were lying in the car. Soon after having tea, Mr Rajinder Pal Singh started feeling drowsy and lost consciousness. As he did not reach SAS Nagar, his family got worried and informed the police. On Monday, Major Gurbaksh Singh went to Ludhiana in search of his son. A complaint had already been lodged with the police at Ludhiana by his relatives who lived there. Major Gurbaksh Singh was told by the police that a man was lying in an unconscious state near Dhilwan village. On reaching there, he took his son to hospital. He even had some injury marks on his body. Mr Rajinder Pal Singh regained
consciousness today.
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Group attacks four
with swords Kharar, February 19 According to an FIR lodged by Mr Kiranjit Singh of Cholta Khurd village, he along with three others — Avtar Singh, Manoj Kumar ‘Goldi’ and Pawan Kumar — were going towards Cholta Khurd village yesterday when stopped near Madanheri village by the youths who had been blocking the road with their vehicles . They recognised Ladi and Aman, students of the college in Phase VI of SAS Nagar, who attacked them with swords and batons. Goldi became
unconscious on the spot. According to the FIR, the reason of this attack was an earlier clash between them outside the college in SAS Nagar. The injured were taken to Civil Hospital of Kharar, from where Manoj Kumar was sent to the PGI in Chandigarh. |
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Case of cheating registered Chandigarh, February 19 According to the information available, the contractor submitted a
surety of Rs 8.80 lakh in forms of an investment in the Sector 17 branch of Punjab and Sind Bank. However, it was found that amount shown in the
surety was not actually lying in the bank account of the contractor. The police is investigating the matter. Theft: Anu Mehta, a resident of Sector 35, who lodged a complaint with the police, said one gold chain, a bangle, and some gold jewellery, four wall clocks, two wrist watches and some clothes had been stolen from his house. |
MARKET PULSE Chandigarh, February 19 The company was hopeful, he said, that, in the next few months, it would contribute about 10 per cent to the total soft drink business. Since lemon was dominating the regional market, the company was hopeful that it would be preferred by the youth here. Mr Singhal said: “Mountain Dew would be, subsequently introduced in all major cities of Punjab this week and Haryana next week.” Security equipment:
He said the product range included security door, private-eye video doorphone, burglar and fire alarm systems, electronic safe, fire-resistant safe and Rhino burglar-resistant safes. He also said the company had over 75 per cent of the share in the national market, making it the largest supplier to the banking sector and the
MNCs. |
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