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| Monday,
April 14, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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Gang of dacoits busted in city Chandigarh, April 13 Though the dacoity took place on Friday, the police registered a case on Saturday after investigating the complaint of a shopkeeper, Naresh Kumar. Mr S.S. Randhawa, DSP (South), said members of the gang had tried to throw chilli powder into the eyes of Naresh and escaped with the bag containing Rs 7,600. The police has recovered Rs 3,337 from the suspects. The arrested members of the gang are: Rajji, Kakka, Vikas, Phattu, Yoginder, Monu, Sonu and Gyani. Mr Randhawa said the dacoits, mostly working as safai workers in apni mandis, used to conduct a recce of the area. On Friday night, the members of the gang divided themselves in two groups. One of the group engaged the attention of Ravi Parshad and Shiv Kumar, brother and father of the victim, at one end of the market. The other group threw chilli powder in the eyes of Naresh. However, Naresh, was able to see some of the suspects. The leader of the gang, Rajji, had promised mobile phones and vehicles to members of the gang. The suspects were today remanded into police custody. |
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3 of family die in mishap Chandigarh, April 13 Five persons who were injured in the accident were rushed to the PGI. The family, which hailed from Berthali village (Kurukshetra), was on way to Jawalaji temple (Kangra) after attending a ‘jagran’ at Sanlehri village. The deceased have been identified as Jaswant
Kaur, Urmila and Jaspreet. The car (HR 08 B 0024) was coming at a high speed from the Panchkula side when it collided with a truck (HR-37 7812) coming from the transport area. The impact was so powerful that the car was badly crushed. The driver of the car, Nirmal (25) however, escaped with minor injuries. According to information, Nirmal Singh, his wife, Neelam, Nasib Singh (50) and his wife, Jaswant Kaur, Gurjant Singh, (son-in-law of Nasib Singh), his wife, Urmila, and their two children, Jaspreet and Simranjeet, were travelling in the car. The driver of the truck, Saudagar Khan, has been arrested and a case registered. |
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Expectant women share beds at hospitals Chandigarh, April 13 There have been many instances when women expecting their second or third child have been asked by government doctors to either go to a private clinic or get their delivery conducted at home as they were giving preference to first delivery cases, which involved a higher risk. Last week the situation at the GMCH-32 was the worst as many women were made to share a bed in ward Nos 15 and 11. “Having a caesarean saved me from the trouble of sharing a bed, but at least four women who had normal deliveries had to share their beds with others,” said a woman in A-1057 section in ward No. 15. “It is not possible for two women, who are expecting to share a bed, so you can imagine our plight when two women with their newborns go through the torture,” said a lady who was being discharged. At a time when we need more comfort, we go through hell sharing a bed. So, we lie down by turns, said another woman. The situation at the General Hospital is no better. The problem here has further compounded due to the closure of the labour room as a 24-bedded maternity ward is under construction.” Since we have converted our medically terminated pregnancy (MTP) theatre into a labour room, we are referring cases to the Sector 22 Polyclinic apart from requesting those with a second or a third pregnancy to go to private clinics,” admitted a doctor at the hospital. While admitting that they faced acute shortage of beds in the maternity and the post-natal wards, nurses said since they could not refuse admission to delivery cases, so at times they even asked three women to share a bed. Even though the General Hospital has three post-natal wards with a capacity of 110 beds and a 22-bedded labour room, the problem is acute. The Director, Health Services, Dr C.P. Bansal, while admitting that there was a problem of this nature, said after the completion of 24-bedded new maternity ward, the problem would hopefully ease. A doctor at General Hospital said the problem was more because of a large migrant population, 70 per cent of whom come for deliveries to government hospitals. Many women admitted to the GMCH-32 said when they came for their routine check-up a week ago, they were warned by the hospital staff that they should be prepared to share a bed with another patient or, even better, go to a private clinic. It is not just the inconvenience that concerns us, but the threat of infections to which we are exposed by sharing a bed, they
complainrd. |
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CHANDIGARH CALLING VISITORS to Sector 17 have to, invariably, face a difficult time. The other day a couple was caught in a war of words with the people on duty at the pass parking lot opposite Regional Computer Centre in Sector 17-B. The issue related to the responsibility of the vehicle while it is parked inside the lot. The parking lot man was busy claiming that he was not responsible for any theft of any sort (this is often also mentioned on the parking slips that are issued). The couple, on the other hand, argued why they should dole out parking fee when the man in charge of the parking lot was not ready to assume responsibility. After a long drawn verbal battle, the scooterist’s attention was caught by two telephone numbers mentioned on the board bearing parking rates. One was 714140. The other was 722562. At random, the man in question dialled the latter number, only to be greeted by a dry message: “ The dialled number has been temporarily withdrawn.” Uninvited guests! That Tagore Theatre is in dire need of a revamp is no more a news. The issue has been written about and deliberated upon for almost two years now, but to no avail. While the UT Administration seems genuinely busy with many other priority tasks, it needs to shift some of its attention towards the fractured false ceiling at Tagore Theatre, which happens to be the only decent (not so decent actually) auditorium available to organisers of cultural shows in the city. For long now, classic presentations at Tagore Theatre have been interrupted by pigeons, who frequent every show without fail. During the Bhaskar Rao Sammelan held in March, they were a source of disturbance during the delightful vocal recital by the doyen of Carnatic music, Dr M. Balamurali Krishna. A few days back, yet another cultural evening was frequently interrupted by sounds generated by the uninvited and excited guests of Tagore Theatre.
Summer colours The city residents seem to be beating the summer blues in a bright way. This is evident from the beautiful hues of pink, yellow, green and blue that are ruling the fashion scene. The otherwise staid surroundings of the city are now a sharp contrast to the summer colours currently witnessed in the city. A visit to any public place in the city — be it the Sector 17 market, the University or Lake — men- women, young and old are seen sporting the latest colours — baby pink, white, lime yellow and lime green and various shades of blue. However, it is white and acquamarine that remain the favourite for all age groups and both genders. Men’s shirts are shorter and boot cut trousers (that have slight flair at the ends) are the favourites. In women wear, the salwar kameez makes a comeback, with the shirt getting shorter and salwar having more flair or slim pants to go with shirts . But it is the short kurtas for men and kurtis for women that are ruling the fashion scene in both sexes.
Bye bye Simi Marwaha, a young talented journalist working for Chandigarh’s City Channel died in a road accident last month. A shocked family member gave us this poem Simi wrote just a day before she died: Today I bid you bye bye I bid you bye bye not only from my memories but also from my dreams and my life too... you were embedded in my memories and your face was imprinted in my dreams while bidding you bye bye I do feel I am left alone and deserted in life the resulting restlessness seems gone for the moment restlessness because you kept yourself away from me even though you were every cause of my dreams and memories always assuring me that you would keep me company throughout my life but when you left me in the lurch... in the midstream of my life I too say goodbye to you bye to you...
Power cuts are here With summers fast becoming unbearable can power cuts and watermelons be far behind. One can almost gauge the duration of the former by gauging the size of the piles of “dillas” as Arabs call them. Speaking of the Arabs this summer has been a bitter one for them. But this inward city has largely been unaffected by war. But try depriving us of this dilla even when it is cut and sold as cholera hazard and you will find us in full strength at the matka chowk, protesting and doing, what else, eating
dillas.
Remembering Kalpana The Panjab University library wall magazine had this short poem in Punjabi pasted on it. Written by Ripudaman Singh of the department of geography, the four liner is in the memory of Kalpana Chawla. Jitiyaan ton vi jiti na gayi kina vi koi zor lagaya tareaan noon vi shhni lagi honi vapis aandi noon jinan mor bulaya
Towards extinction At a panel discussion on “what library users want” organised by the British Council Library in the city, Deputy Commissioner M. Ramshekhar commented that librarians and libraries as they exist today will soon be extinct. This had the entire audience, comprising mainly of librarians, up in arms. However the DC had something more to add. “Let me tell you that much before the librarians go extinct, its the IAS officers who will vanish. In another 10 years don’t be surprised if many of us are opting for VRS”.
Thank-you note Received with thanks by Bal Niketan. Well, this is not a thank-you note for donation received for this home for destitute children, but a thank you to the parents who decide to abandon their little one in the cradle kept at the entrance of Bal Niketan in Sector 2, Panchkula. (See picture). While one baby girl, Shweta, was left in this cradle this year, two children were left in the cradle last year, informed Dr. Madhu Sharma, Honorary Secretary, Bal
Niketan.
Odd situation The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has often to face the ire of the landline and cellular subscribers, whenever, its Fetex exchange in Sector 17 develops a snag. In addition, the corporation has to suffer revenue losses. The insiders claim that the exchange is fitted with equipments of Fujitsu India Ltd, a SAS Nagar-based company. Since the company has been closed, the BSNL has to refer to the Japanese engineers whenever there is a technical problem in the exchange. No other telecom operators is using this obsolete technology, they say. The problem would persist till the equipments are replaced by the new ones, lamented a senior official of the BSNL.
Do not quote me! Parliament may have passed the Right to Information bill (not notified so far), but the journalists covering the Haryana region, still face a piquant situation. No senior official is ever ready, to speak officially to the press. At the most, they would provide information, requesting that it should be printed in the name of state chief minister or as “an official spokesperson of the government said.” They say they have ‘clear cut’ instructions from their higher ups not to “get their name in the print” otherwise they would be in trouble.
Pampered lot Can you guess what is the price of a lunch served in a thali with four puris, channas, salad, rice and kheer. It can be Rs 20 or Rs 25, you would say jumping from your seat. Sorry, You are wrong! It is just Rs 5 for an employee of the State Bank of India. The officials and the employees get their lunch at a highly subsidised rate in the canteen. An income tax officer asked his friend, a trade unionist, working with the bank, “Should not this subsidised lunch be taxed?” He quipped, “If you cannot tax politicians, how could you taxing the working class lunch.”
On Baisakhi, April 14, the Punjab Governor, Lieut Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), has invited distinguished citizens of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to at home. This is the first time that the Governor will host an at home on a social festival. Usually such functions are held on national festivals like Republic Day and Independence Day. Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans, will perform at Raj Bhavan. His Haryana counterpart has been hosting at homes on Teej. The first citizen of Punjab has followed suit. Hope he keeps it up.
Upset over challans The Chandigarh Traffic police is finally able to nail the well-connected persons who violated traffic rules, but were never challaned. The practice of pasting challan receipts on vehicles has upset them. Earlier, they used to call a senior official and the challan was dropped. But now the traffic rules offender has to give his driving licence number and pay a fine of Rs 100 at the Sector 29 Traffic Lines.
Team for repairs A recent visit of the UT Administrator, Lt Gen JFR Jacob (retd), to the Sector 39 police station, has set the ball rolling for the long-pending repair of the police station buildings in the city. Detailed plans are being worked out for the necessary repairs in each police station. A team led by the Senior Superintendent of Police and Superintendent of Police, City, is visiting the police stations.
— Sentinel |
Trailing the star who drove the city mad
Chandigarh, April 13 From the moment Coke kick started its red alert campaign at hotel Mountview this morning, the day rolled on the wings of excitement. Vivek, who was the star of the day, played his role with immense precision, giving away to fans as much of his time as he could. His heavily escorted luxury vehicle, which was part of a huge cavalcade, jumped a red light or two on the way; occasionally the cops directed the traffic to halt and make way for the star. Not just that, hooters gave a signal that a VIP was around town, even while the commissioned vehicle for the campaign played music from Vivek Oberoi’s films aloud. Vivek Oberoi’s first halt was at St Stephen’s School in Sector 45. The school rose up to the occasion, with nearly full attendance on a Sunday. The star talked to kids in his affable style and what followed was a frenzy — the kind we thought only someone like Sachin Tendulkar could generate. Vivek stayed at the school for about 30 minutes. He distributed chocolates and candies to the students. Even teachers of the school also raced for star attention. After a halt at the school, Vivek’s cavalcade moved towards Sector 33, halting in front of house number 535, which belongs to the Sabbharwals. This was the first private place Vivek visited during his campaign. From there he moved on to Rakesh Sahi’s house in Sector 19 and then to the residence of Pawars in Sector 36. On the last leg, the campaign invited 40 contest winners to hotel Mountview where Vivek stopped by for a photoshoot with the lucky ones.  |
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MC may lease out slaughter house Chandigarh, April 13 However, the matter is still pending before the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) for the past many months as the MC is yet to set up a chilling room apart from a carcass utilisation centre. The MC has recently received two offers from Blue Cross Consultants, Gurgaon, and the Centre for Integrated Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development, New Delhi, for leasing out of the slaughter house to them. After receiving these offers, MC officials realised that the slaughter house can be run for four shifts of four hours each. However, only one shift is sufficient to cater to the demand of local meat sellers. According to the agenda put before the last meeting of the F&CC “this office has felt the need to lease out the slaughter house for its optimum use that will not only make it financially viable but can also earn more revenue for the MC”. But the agenda could not be discussed in detail following differences of opinion among members over whether the slaughter house should be leased out or not. A section of the members felt that the terms and conditions of the lease should be finalised by the F&CC itself rather than depending upon firms. Both firms had offered consultancy for preparing the terms and conditions for the purpose of leasing out of the slaughter house and preparing tender documents and an advertisement for receiving the bids from the interested parties and also the material for advertisement for the purpose of bidding. Besides Blue Cross Consultants have also offered to provide consultancy regarding a techno-feasibility report for the carcass utilisation centre meant for the treatment of waste from the slaughter house and also waste from the Chandigarh meat and poultry traders. The F&CC proposed to reject the second component of the consultancy regarding the carcass utilisation centre with a view that “this is not required by the MC at this stage”. But this matter was also deferred to the next meeting as members failed to draw up a common view on this issue. Further, the Municipal Health Officer (MHO) proposed in the agenda that the consultancy in leasing out of the slaughter house be provided to the Centre for Integrated Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development, New Delhi. He made a point that Dr P.N. Bhatt, chairman of the firm, was a former Animal Husbandry Commissioner of India; therefore, he may be more useful in this work. But the F&CC members did not agree with this view at the first stage of discussions and deferred the matter for further discussions at the next meeting. The meat sellers of Chandigarh, by and large, meet their daily needs from private slaughter houses that operate in Chandigarh and the surrounding areas illegally. This came to light recently when the MHO wing of the MC raided meat shops on different occasions and seized unstamped meat from many shops. But, no stern action was taken against the meat sellers except for issuing challans with minor fines. The apparent reason behind the purchase of meat from illegal slaughter houses was that the meat purchased from these outlets was cost-efficient for the meat sellers. |
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Baisakhi function Chandigarh In a fun-filled atmosphere, the chartered accountants and their families took part in a host of competitions and cultural activities. While the adults took part in games of tambola, the kids participated in dance and tatoo-making competition. The major attraction of today's function was a magic show. The participants were addressed by Mr Manoj Kohli, chairman of the Chandigarh branch. From a star studded musical evening to a cultural march from SAS Nagar to Bal Bhavan, Chandigarh, the Malwa Women Welfare and Cultural Society, Mohali and the Rising Star Disable Youth Club, Chandigarh, left no stone unturned on Sunday to make their Baisakhi celebrations "Chal Chaliye Baisakhi" a success. The function at Bal Bhavan featured a host of Punjabi singers like Hardeep, Surjit Khan, Gurkirpal Surapuri, Amarjit, Balbir Sufi, Kulbir Chahal and Usha Kiran. A special function was organised by the Mohali Club on Saturday to celebrate the Baisakhi eve. A grand tambola was also organised. A number of games for the women and children were also organised. PANCHKULA: It was all fun and frolic on
the opening day of the two-day 'Baisakhi Dhoom Dhamaka 2003' at Fun
City amusement park, near here, today. the organisers had included
Bhangra, Gidha, Bhand and Punjabi music in the programe. According to
Ms Bhupinder Kaur, manager (events), a sing and dance on the rhythm of
Punjabi music would be the main attraction tomorrow. |
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New phone exchanges
at Kharar, Baltana Chandigarh, April 13 Speaking on the occasion, he said, a new technology — OCB-283 — had been installed in this 5000-line exchange. It would have all modern facilities, including ISDN, centrex, video-conference and data transfer. All existing numbers of the old exchange would be gradually transferred on the new exchange. Mr K.K. Sarangal, GM, Mohali and Panchkula, BSNL, said, with the commissioning of the exchange, total capacity of Chandigarh SSA would reach 2,51,072 lines. The total cost of the project was around Rs 3.5 crore. It would enable customers to enjoy value added services, including video on demand, Internet connections on the same phone connection. Mr S.C. Chaudhary, GM, Punjab Region, BSNL, said the corporation had issued 1.75 lakh connections in Punjab. By the end of this month, he said, it would cross two lakh connections. Mr R.C. Vaish, Principal General Manager, Chandigarh, BSNL, also spoke. Later, Mr Pritpal Singh also inaugurated a telephone exchange at Baltana, near Zirakpur. |
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BSNL CMD justifies new tariff Kharar, April 13 He was here to inaugurate a telephone exchange building. Talking to TNS, he disclosed that the BSNL, in its new tariff announced yesterday, had tried to ensure the cheapest rates to the landline subscribers. He said, “The landline subscribers would continue to enjoy lower tariff rates for local calls made on BSNL network, same monthly rental and lower rates for making STD calls to landline subscribers. But they would have to pay higher charges even for making calls to our own cellular subscribers due to inclusion of Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC).” According to the new tariff order, land to mobile call would cost Rs 1.20 per 30 seconds as against same charges for three minutes at present. A local call from landline to WiLL network would cost Rs 1.20 per 90 seconds against a pulse of 180 seconds. Free calls have also been reduced from 75 to 50 in rural areas and to 30 in urban areas per month. Against TRAI's recommedations to introduce a pulse of 12 seconds during peak hours for 200-500 km, the BSNL has introduced a pulse of 30 seconds within circle for landline to landline calls. Moreover, now onwards customers would get monthly bills like cellular subscribers. Mr Pritpal Singh said the new tariff would ensure that the customers would have an incentive to make calls from landline to landline without any additional charges. He felt that in case, the BSNL had increased monthly rental from Rs 250 to Rs 280 and local call rates from Rs 1.20 per three minute to Rs 1.80 per three minutes as asked by TRAI, it would have hit more than four crore landline subscribers. He claimed that despite cut in tariff rates, the revenue collections of the BSNL had registered over 10 per cent growth during 2002-03 against 5 per cent increase registered during the previous year. The net profit was also likely to increase proportionately, he said. |
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Follow Mahavira’s teachings: Jacob Chandigarh, April 13 Asserting this at a function organised in Jain Temple, Sector 27, here on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Lord Mahavira, the Governor, Lieut-Gen J. F. R. Jacob (retd) said Lord Mahavira earned this name as he showed the way how the world could be won with non-violence. General Jacob said his message was not restricted to human beings, but all animate and inanimate objects, which earned him the name of Vardhman — one who is omni-potent and omniscient and could be approached by anybody anywhere. Earlier Justice J. V. Gupta welcomed the Governor and Mr Vinay Kumar Alok spoke about the relevance of the message of Lord Mahavira. The three-day session of the Terapanth concluded today. People from Ludhiana, Gobindgarh, Patiala, Rajpura, Doraha, Samana, Sunam, Badni Kalan, Lopo, Nihal Singh Val, Jalandhar, Pinjore and Parwanoo participated in it. General Jacob also extended heartiest greetings to the people on the eve of Baisakhi and the birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar. He said on this day Guru Gobind Singh laid the foundation of the Khalsa Panth to protect the oppressed in 1699 and people of Punjab sacrificed their lives in Jallianwala Bagh in the freedom struggle. |
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6 jhuggis gutted SAS Nagar, April 13 According to fire officials, the fire broke out at midnight. It was caused by a candle in one of the jhuggis spreading swiftly from one jhuggi to another. The residents tried to control the fire on their own in the beginning. A fire engine was called which brought the fire under control within an hour. The fire officers also stated that in a colony which was over 150 jhuggis with over 600 persons, a fire like this could have led to a lot of damage of life and property. |
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Truckers’ differences come to the fore SAS Nagar, April 13 According to sources, while one group said that the prayer ceremony had been organised to honour the Deputy Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha and MLA, Kharar, Mr Bir Devinder Singh, the other group claimed that these prayers were an annual affair and were organised on every Baisakhi. The president of the union, Mr Ranbir Singh Dhillon, and the general secretary, Mr Jagtar Singh, as a result, decided to boycott the function and along with his supporters did not show up when the Deputy Speaker arrived at the ceremony and addressed the union members. Members of the other group, led by Mr Baldev Singh, however, continued with the ceremony, and when his supporters were forced to boycott the function, the police was called in. No untoward incident was reported. |
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21 industrial units identified for power theft Chandigarh, April 13 At least 21 such industrial units have been identified during the interrogation of Satbir Chand Garg, an industrialist, and Jaswant Singh, a motor mechanic. The mass theft, involving a well-organised racket, came to light after a case of theft was transferred to the crime branch from the Industrial Area police station on April 9. The Electricity Department has complained that Satbir Chand Garg had allegedly tampered with his electricity meter by installing an additional circulatory device on the meter. A case was registered on March 25. However, when the case was transferred to the crime branch, the arrest of the suspects revealed the entire racket and persons behind the theft. Raids were being conducted to arrest a Delhi-based engineer, Arjan Malhotra, who was ‘manufacturing’ the device. The other suspects are Ashok, Ranbir and Raju Kabadia, who were arrested by the Samana police on March 18. A case under Sections 262, 379,472, 473, 427 and 120-B of the IPC and the Electricity Act had been registered. |
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Chemicals may have caused fire Dera Bassi, April 13 Goods worth several lakhs were destroyed and six persons were injured when a fire broke out in the unit early morning yesterday. |
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Couple
hurt Panchkula, April 13 |
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ISKCON function Chandigarh, April 13 |
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SAVE SUKHNA EFFORTS of volunteers and various organisations to save the Sukhna Lake cannot yield the desired results until the government involves itself in the task vigorously. Remedial steps such as checking deforestation in the catchment area, sedimentation and erosion of soil should have been undertaken long back. Certain scientific and mechanical devices need to be evolved for desilting the lake effectively. Rivulets or choes feed the lake during the monsoon. The inflow of water is generally accompanied by silt and waste. The process has been going on for the past many years. Ecological imbalances, deforestation, sedimentation and soil erosion etc. are some other factors that are responsible for the accumulation of silt in the lake and thus reducing its depth. Nirmal Kumar DEBATE City Beautiful's most prominent water feature, Sukhna Lake, is in danger. Readers of Chandigarh Tribune are invited to send in their views not exceeding 150 words on the subject along with a passport size colour photo for publication in the newspaper to: Save Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh Tribune, Sector 29-C, Chandigarh. |
Sec 38 murder case: four arrested Chandigarh, April 13 The arrested persons are Ajay Kumar, Rajesh Kumar, Parveen Kumar and Monu. The suspects in their statement said on April 8 Parveen was sitting in an STD booth in the Sector 38 market, when Harish along with his brother, Randeep, came there to make a call. At the booth, Babita, wife of Sanjay, was also waiting to make a call. While coming out of the shop, Harish’s leg touched Babita. Parveen objected to it and called other suspects. Armed with rods and daggers, the assailants chased Harish, Randeep and Harjinder. While Harish and Harjinder escaped with minor injuries, Ramandep was allegedly stabbed with a dagger. |
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No breakthrough in assault case SAS Nagar, April 13 Meanwhile, the case has been handed over to the DSP, SAS Nagar, for further investigations. |
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Youth kidnapped Chandigarh, April 13 |
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