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| Friday,
March 7, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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Police action illegal, say residents Chandigarh, March 6 Blaming the cops for acting “purely out of frustration”, they claimed Chandigarh Police officials had no reason to “vent out their anger on the poor little boys” taking a break from daily grind, specially during the examination season. Today, they have rounded up teenyboppers from the pool joints, tomorrow they will pick up residents from Rose Garden, or Leisure Valley, they said. This was not all. They asserted that the cops had no business of detaining the youngsters for five hours, and calling their parents to the police station, specially when nothing incriminating was found. In fact, the police had no right to carry out the raids on the joints in the absence of any complaint. Till date, not even a single case of quarrel, even eve-teasing, had been reported. Apparently, the directions issued by courts from time to time regarding detention had been flouted. The action, they said, made the officials liable for legal action. The raids, they asserted, would lead to “criminalisation of law-abiding youngsters”, besides creating terror in their minds. Instead of building up a “people-friendly image”, they were once again giving the residents an impression that they were “ruthless-people in uniform”. This, they added, was exactly the kind of thing that forced the youngsters to leave the mainstream and indulge in “unlawful activities”. Cracking down on five pool joints, the police yesterday had rounded up 39 persons, including the owners and helpers, for “questioning”. “Anti-social elements were frequenting the joints” — was the justification offered by the officials soon after the action. “It was all in good faith,” they had asserted. Reacting sharply, advocate Rajvinder Singh Bains said the action was, “prima facie illegal”. The police, he said, could have at the most enquired about the antecedents of the visitors. “In case of wrong identification, the police could have proceeded against them, but detention for five hours in the station was absolutely unjustified”. This, he added, was in violation of the significant directions issued by the Supreme Court in
D. K. Basu’s case. “A petition for initiating contempt of court proceedings can be directly filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court”, he revealed. Agreeing with him, a retired police official, on condition of anonymity, said, “The police is duty-bound to register a first information report in case something incriminating is found. The very fact that a case has not been registered means nothing objectionable was found. The detention, in this light, becomes illegal”. Another advocate
S. K. Garg added, “the police action will simply create terror in young minds. Instead of acting against the kids in an arbitrary manner, the police should be taking steps for building up a friendly image”. Businessman Rajeev Sharma added, “What is the use of saying Jai Hind on the telephone every time you call up a police station, if you have to harass residents like
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PU scraps paid seat system in engg Chandigarh, March 6 The admissions under the NRI quota will, however, continue to be made separately by charging special fee. Students will follow a uniform fee structure and pay approximately Rs 55,000 annually. Earlier, the fee structure was approximately Rs 1,00,000 for the paid seats and Rs 30,000 for the normal admissions. The university is learnt to have quoted a Supreme Court decision as the reason for the uniformity in the fee structure. The court had pointed out that in government-supported institutions there cannot be two fee structures. The university has already taken a decision in this regard and surprisingly a number of members of the university governing body where the decision was made (Syndicate) showed ignorance on the issue. Mr Ashok Goyal said, “I am not aware of any such agenda item having been discussed at the meeting of the Syndicate. Neither any Supreme Court judgement nor any operative part of any such order was placed for deliberation before the Syndicate”. Mr Goyal added that if there was any such verdict of the apex court, PU was bound to follow it, but not without discussing the judgement and its implications. It is felt that there was a reason in people grumbling the fee hike because the university should not shift the entire financial burden of paid seats on the normal students. An academic institution should instead look for alternative avenues of revenue and even in case of an emergency like this students should be informed well in time about the hike, if any. The University Institute of Engineering and Technology had started courses in software, telecommunication, microelectronics and biotechnology. A fellow on condition of anonymity said the university as a consequence of the Supreme Court decision might have to do away with the existing system of paid seats. However, it was totally unjustified to shift the monetary burden on students who had come through merit. Also it appeared that there had been no proper discussion on the issue. Mr Gopal Krishan Chatrath said the issue had been brought in the Syndicate meeting and the university had no option but to make the fee structure uniform in the department because the order clearly specified the terms of equal fee in all government institutions. Prof Charanjit Chawla said he did not remember the issue being discussed in the Syndicate. The university does not have an option in case it was a court decision to do away with the paid seats. However, it would be unfair to shift the entire financial burden on students who came through merit. At least the issue needed an academic debate, Professor Chawla added. |
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3 nursing
homes raided Dera Bassi, March 6 The Civil Surgeon, Dr Inderjit Kaur Walia, who was assisted by Dr Ram Kumar, Senior Medical Officer, Dera Bassi, along with a team of doctors, raided three private nursing homes — Chandra Hospital, Kapilash Ultrasound Centre (both in Dera Bassi) and Ashirwad Clinic, Lalru — for allegedly violating the norms of the Punjab Health Systems Corporation. The raids were conducted for various discrepancies in maintaining records, registration of these centres for conducting ultrasound and regarding employing regular and skilled workers. Dr Ram Kumar, SMO, said the nursing homes were being run with minor discrepancies and were given notice to check these as soon as possible. “A report has been sent to the Director, Health Services, in this regard. As per his directions, necessary action would be taken against the defaulters,” the SMO said. As Punjab has the lowest sex ratio in the country, the Punjab Health Department authorities have constituted various committees to check female foeticide. These committees have formed on the directions of the apex court to ensure that all Ultrasound clinics get themselves registered. |
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Singapore
firm to set up IT plant in city Chandigarh, March 6 This will be the second major computer major after Infosys to set up base in the Park, putting the City Beautiful firmly on the IT map of the country. The company has been allotted three acres setting up the facility at a cost of Rs 1.30 crore. A sum of around Rs 80 lakh would be spent on setting up the manufacturing base, according to Mr G.S. Paul, CEO of eSys Distribution Ltd., India. The unit would start production within the next nine months. At present, the company has its assembling plant at Samalkha, near Delhi. An alumnus of Punjab Engineering College, Mr Goel is the son of a retired Magistrate, Mr D.P. Goel. He moved to Singapore a few years ago and through dint of hard work and innovative marketing strategies, his company is now producing some of the cheapest yet among the best computers in the world. The company today announced the launch of ePC, a full feature Internet ready multimedia personal computer retailing at just Rs 9,990. ePC comes loaded with user friendly Linux-based operation system and applications for office and home use. Customers will have the option of loading other operating systems and applications. eSys attributes the breakthrough of value proposition to the collaboration of leading global hardware vendors including
Asus, Aztech, Hynix, LG, Seagate and VIA, with whom eSys has distribution relationships. Extended warranty packs are also available to the customers. Mr Goel, Chairman and MD of eSys Distribution Group says, “this is our small contribution to help` achieve the nation’s vision of a Personal Computer for every home, classroom and business. ePC shall lead the creation of a value segment in Personal Computer market. It is natural that other brands shall also follow us in the same segment and in turn help expand Personal Computer penetration levels in the country.” Market research conducted by eSys indicates that a sum of Rs 10,000 Personal Computer shall be a major catalyst in expanding the available market of two million PC units a year by another 50 per cent in the next one year. IT industry has talked about higher technologies and the PC industry has lost its path of understanding the requirement of soho and sme segment. This trend has put undue pressure on the middle class and has made PC beyond the reach of the common man. The positioning of ePC will trigger growth by bringing the PC in affordable range without compromising on applications and quality, says Mr Paul. |
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MC notifies 13 committees Chandigarh, March 6 Eleven committees, which were formed last year, have ceased to function from January. BJP members and Chander Mukhi Sharma, Congress rival to Mayor Subhash Chawla, Finance and Contract
Committee members Kamlesh and Anu Chathrath, Vijay Rana, Brig Sant Singh and P.C. Sanghi are unlikely to get chairmanship of any of the committees. While six or seven of the Congress councillors, including Pardeep Chhabra, Balraj Singh, Shyama Negi, Sohan Lal, Pushpa Sharma and former Mayor Lalit Joshi, are likely to get chairmanship of different committees, nominated councillors Dildar Khan, B.R. Verma, K.S. Raju and C.K. Sawhney may get chairmanship. Chandigarh Vikas Manch councillors Jitender Bhatia and Harpreet Kaur Babla are also
likely to get chairpersonship of different committees. The Joint Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation is likely to notify the date of nomination for the chairmanship soon. The following are members of different committees. Water and sewerage disposal committee: Pardeep Chhabra, Surinder Singh, Pushpa Sharma, Geeta Rani, Brig (retd) Sant Singh, Dr K.S. Raju and Vijay Rana. Road committee: Sohan Lal, Ms Lalit Joshi, Balraj Singh, Kamlesh, C.K. Sawhney, P.C. Sanghi and Rajesh Gupta. Sanitation committee: Balraj Singh, Lalit Joshi, Pardeep Chhabra, Kuldeep Singh, Dr B.R. Verma, Ms Amar Kulwant Singh and Vijay Rana. Electricity committee: Shyama Negi, Pushpa Sharma, Pardeep Chhabra, Surinder Singh, Dildar Khan, Jitender Bhatia and Kamla Sharma. Environment and city beautification committee: Harpreet Kaur Babla, Balraj Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Lalit Joshi, Anu Chathrath, Ms K. Atmaram and Harjinder Kaur. Slum development committee: Dildar Khan, Kamlesh, Rajesh Gupta, Balraj Singh, Sohan Lal, Shyama Negi and Kamla Sharma. Fire committee: Pushpa Sharma, Pardeep Chhabra, Sohan Lal, Kuldeep Singh, Ms K. Atma Ram, Brig Sant Singh and Vijay Rana. Enforcement committee: Jitender Bhatia, Surinder Singh, Kamlesh, Shyama Negi, Anu Chathrath, P.C. Sanghi and Gian Chand Gupta. Legal affairs: Dr K.S. Raju, Surinder Singh, Chander Mukhi Sharma, Major-General (retd) A.S. Kahlon, C.K. Sawhney, Ms Harpreet Kaur and K. Atma Ram. Apni mandi: Shyama Negi, Chander Mukhi Sharma, Kamlesh, Kuldeep Singh, Pushpa Sharma, Brig (retd) Sant Singh and Dr K.S. Raju. Art,
culture and sports: Ms Amar Kulwant Singh, Anu Chathrath, Geeta Rani, Chander Mukhi Sharma, Dildar Khan, Harpreet Kaur and Harjinder Kaur. House Tax Committee: C.K. Sawhney, Chander Mukhi Sharma, Anu Chathrath, Major-General A.S. Kahlon, Dr B.R. Verma, Jitender Bhatia and Rajesh Gupta. Resource generation committee: Dr B.R. Verma, Geeta Rani, Lalit Joshi, Amar Kulwant Singh, P. C. Sanghi, Major-Gen A.S. Kahlon and Gian Chand Gupta. |
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Challaning
simplified
Chandigarh, March 6 In a withdrawal from the standard format of challan receipts, the reformatted challan receipts have brief information about the 94 major and minor offences listed under the Motor Vehicle Act. “ Understanding the
illegible writing of an investigating officer on a challan receipt is often a headache for motorists. In the new format the officer has just to mark against the already printed section of the Act”, said a traffic official. To gauge the reaction of the motorists, the reformatted receipts have been issued since the past two days. Sources in the police said though the size of the challan receipt had increased to put in brief information about the sections of the Act, the format would enable the violators to clearly read the offences committed by them and would save the avoidable reasoning between a challaning official and a violator. The system of daily entering the data on computer has been simplified. A new software to enable speedy feeding of data about daily challans is being developed. “The police is not interested in increasing the figure of challans, we are interested in creating awareness among the public”, commented an official of the traffic police. According to the information available, in the format offences impounding of vehicle, allowing unauthorised person to drive vehicle, disobeying police signal and other offences have been clearly specified. Various offences like contravening height restriction, misbehaviours by taxi driver, obstructions of control of driver by passenger sitting in front, unattended vehicle with engine running, towing cyclists, unauthorised post registration alteration of vehicle engine, which often do not find mention in challan receipts, have been clearly specified. |
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Work on slip roads begins SAS Nagar, March 6 The civic body had earlier identified seven points which proved to be traffic bottlenecks during peak hours. As many as 14 slip roads are being provided at different chowks. The work has already started at Ambwala Chowk and Kumbra Chowk. The other points identified by the council are the PCL, PTL, Amartex and Spice chowks and the III-V crossing. Officials of the engineering wing of the civic body say that it is not possible to provide slip roads on all four sides of different chowks as space is not available at certain points. At other places the original planning of PUDA is interfering in the execution of the work. At Ambwala Chowk, two slip roads had been constructed earlier and the remaining two are being provided now. At Kumbra Chowk, only three slip roads can be constructed as Kumbra village falls on one side of the chowk and it is not possible to remove the shops that have come up along the main road in the area. At PCL Chowk, the council will be able to provide only two slip roads as there is the illegal Jhotakutt Colony on one side and the PCL factory on the other, which will prove to be a hindrance. Moreover, green belt in the area will have to be a hindrance. Moreover, green belts in the area will have to be tampered with for providing two slip ways. All the III-V crossing, only one slip road will be provided at present due to the non-availability of space. There is the Bal Bhavan building on one side and HM houses fall on the other side. Officials say they will make efforts to provide another slip way from the market side, though a proper alignment may become a problem. Similarly, two slip roads on each of the remaining three chowks will be provided. |
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Token system for parking Chandigarh, March 6 The tokens now carry the number of the parking lot where the vehicle has to be parked in. The parking lots have been demarcated with the number mentioned on the tokens, according to Municipal Corporation sources. This is an exercise to make the parking people-friendly ahead of the auction of the lots next month. With the introduction of tokens, the visitors can be sure of a parking space subject to its availability. A visitor will now be able to know at the entry point itself if there was a parking space available or not. The corporation has already started an exercise to collect suggestions from the public to improve the parking system ahead of the auction next month. It has also sent a proposal to the Chief Architect Department for going into the design of the parking lots of the city to make it more comfortable for the visitors. However, the corporation is awaiting response from the Chief Architect Department. The experiment of issuing tokens and marking lots has been started after the corporation was informed that such a system had successfully functioned in these area earlier. |
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Mayor accused of ‘doublespeak’ Chandigarh, March 6 Ms Sharma said Mayor’s statement against the acquisition had exposed his “double standards” and demanded to place the matter before the House. Reacting to the allegation, Mr Chawla dared Ms Sharma to produce the letter. Mr Chawla said Ms Sharma was in fact trying to cover up anti-people policies of the BJP-led Central government under whose control the Chandigarh Administration worked. Referring to the letter, Ms Sharma said the letter had sought the acquisition of land in Darshani Bagh of Manimajra under Section 9 of the Land Acquisition Act. She said there were about 500 houses in around 10 acres and this land could be excluded from acquisition as these houses had been there for more than two decades and had electricity and water connections. The BJP leader said the Congress-ruled corporation had been laying emphasis on the acquisition of land in Darshani Bagh. She said the people of the area had understood the “double speak” of the Congress. |
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UT milkmen
meet Mayor Chandigarh, March 6 The Municipal Corporation had earlier served them a notice to wind up the business from the residential areas by tomorrow. A delegation of milkmen led by Senior Deputy Mayor Kuldeep Singh today urged Mayor Subhash Chawla to provide them with alternative sites. Mr Chawla assured to give them sufficient time for setting up their units at an alternative site and offered to join them in demanding a piece of land from the Chandigarh Administration. The Mayor, however, expressed helplessness in getting them a piece of land as it was the discretion of the Chandigarh Administration to do so. He asked the delegation to ensure that they immediately arrange for the disposal of cow dung after tomorrow and also that the cattle are not left to stray in the populated areas. The delegation on there part assured the Mayor that the arrangement for the disposal of cow dung would be made and that the cattle would not be left in the populated areas. Sources in the MC said the direction for the notification came from the Chandigarh Administration but the relaxation in launching a drive could be considered for a month till an alternative arrangement was made by the milkmen. |
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Regular
connections for slum dwellers Chandigarh, March 6 The administration is persuading other families through mass meetings to get regular connections instead of resorting to power theft through kundis. According to the Superintendent Engineer, Electricity, UT, a notification in this regard has been already issued. All the people residing in slums, unauthorised colonies and families residing outside lal dora can avail the scheme through contractors residing in the same area. He said bulk of the supply connections had been given to Mr Vinod Sharma in Madrasi Colony, to Mr Anoop Kumar for Colony No. 4, Mr Rakesh Mishra for Deep Complex Hallo Majra, M/s Laxmi Electricals for Colony No. 5 and M/s Adarsh Electrical and M/s Mishra Electrical for Rajiv Colony. He said the staff of the Electricity department today removed about 400 illegal kundi connections from different slum colonies in the city. A meeting in this regard was also held at Colony No. 5 yesterday, in which Mr Puranjit Singh, Chief Engineer, UT, Mr Param Hans Singh, SE, along with other officials met the residents and persuaded them to get regular connections. The SE, Electricity, has claimed that the residents can now get regular connections from the contractor concerned, after taking a No Dues Certificate from the department. |
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ULTA PULTA THE Opposition in Uttar Pradesh rocked the House, staged an indefinite fast, moved a no-confidence motion against Mayawati over the videotape controversy, but at the end
Maya Mili na Ram. They could not trap Maya in Maya Jall. This world according to our
rishi munis is a maya jaal. If nothing in this world moves without money, how can the Opposition in the UP Assembly call our dear leader Maya guilty? What has Mayawati uttered in these tapes? “An MLA gets Rs 75 lakh each and MP Rs 2 crore for the development of his constituency.
Bhai sara maal mat khao, give Rs 2 lakh to the party.” If these tapes are authentic, how turthful is Maya. In fact she is the most transparent leader of our country. Look at her transparency if she celebrates her birthday, she celebrates openly at the state level. And at her birthday any person, poor or rich, irrespective of his cast or creed and religion has the full right to present an expensive gift or cash to his beloved leader. Mulayam Singh Yadav has shown himself in a very poor light by pointing a finger at such a great soul. Even after this, Mayawati thanked Mulayam Singh and stated in his honour that Mulayamji had also siphoned crores of rupees from the development funds. Mayawati is no uneducated leader. She has a strong mathematical frame of mind. She has calculated that according to their level of corruption, each MLA or MP can pocket from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh from the local development funds. But some of the leaders might take insult at Maya’s calculations. She should not undermine their skill. They are capable of amassing much more than 5 lakh, 10 lakh or 20 lakh. |
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Software
of MP Police demonstrated Panchkula, March 6 This software not only helps in expediting the work for getting an arms licence but also has a new way of making entries of applicants in the computer. This would enable one to get information on any police records of applicants or the kinds of licences issued to him just with a click of a button. The Deputy Commissioner, Ms Satwanti Ahlawat, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.K. Goyal and other officers of the administration were also present. |
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Tribune
employee bereaved Chandigarh, March 6 |
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CIA to probe cases against Pinjore gang Panchkula, March 6 This comes three days after the police arrested Ramandeep, alias Shammi, a member of this gang, in a case of criminal intimidation and assault from near the district courts. Ramandeep along with five others — Sukhjinder, Satish, Pradeep, alias Deepu, Rajesh and Balram — had threatened a Pinjore businessman, Mr Ramesh Gupta and assaulted him when he had come to the district courts as a petitioner in one of the cases against them. Mr Gupta has now accused the gang of threatening him and sought police protection. The SP, Mr Ranbir Singh Sharma, while talking to Chandigarh Tribune, said with the arrest of Shammi the gang’s involvement in 61 cases of land grabbing in Pinjore, Kalka and Parwanoo had come to light. He said the CIA Staff had now been entrusted with conducting a thorough probe into the cases registered against the gang. A list of cases registered against the gang had been compiled. The police would now keep a 24-hour surveillance on the main members of this gang and would also give a security cover to those who had lodged police complaints against them, especially to those complainants whose cases were pending in courts. The police had also decided to approach the local courts in this regard, he added. Giving details of the gang, Mr Sharma said it had been active in Pinjore and Kalka for the past 25 years, while their clandestine operations in Parwanoo were reported since 1990 onwards. “The gang would buy disputed property at rates lower than ones prevailing in the market and would then use their henchmen to vacate such properties.” If cases were registered against gang members, they would approach the courts and get bail. They would then threaten the complainants and ensure a compromise between the two sides,” he said. It is learnt that 10 cases are registered against the gang in Pinjore (in five they have been acquitted and a compromise worked out in one), 24 cases in Kalka (20 are still under trial) and 27 cases are registered against this gang in Parwanoo. The police says the gang is run by three brothers and their sons and they have a team of about 40 henchmen working under them. Mr Amarjit Singh Bawa, President of Himachal Pradesh unit of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, who is alleged to be involved in the gang, said it was a political conspiracy to book him and his family members as he was a staunch Congressman. “My son has been framed in the case and is being tortured by the police. We have been granted bail in most of the cases registered against us and have also been acquitted in several cases,” he said. |
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Man booked for abducting girl Chandigarh, March 6 In another case, a resident of Amritsar lodged a complaint with the Sector 36 police station against Makhan Singh for allegedly abducting his 19 year-old daughter. Theft case: Mr D.K. Gupta, Senior Manager of UCO Bank, Sector 17, reported that Rs 5,000 cash was stolen from the bag of his dispatcher, who was carrying cash and documents on a cycle from the Sector 17 branch of the bank to Behlana . A case under Section 379 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 17 police station. |
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Connect opens showroom SAS Nagar, March 6 The showroom called ‘Connect World’ has been designed to cater to all customer care needs of Connect telephone subscribers. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Jayant Keswani, General Manager, stated that the showroom would provide a single window opportunity to address all customer queries, besides serving as an outlet for sale of Connect products. |
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