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| Saturday,
June 7, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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Five of family die in accident Lalru, June 6 Residents of Janakpuri in Delhi, they were crushed to death in their Hyundai Accent at about 11.15 am. A businessman by profession Krishan Lal Ajmani (58), his wife Chandarkanta(52) their son Parath, (7) her mother Shakuntla Devi (78), and the maid, Seema (15), were travelling in the car, which collided head on with the bus (HR-56-1925) belonging to the Jind depot. The bus driver, Mr Suba Singh, fled after the accident. The family had started their journey to Shimla at 7 a.m.The car was completely damaged and was dragged for about five yards. Eyewitnesses revealed that the couple and the elderly woman died on the spot while Parath and Seema struggled for life for over half an hour but could not be saved as the police control room vehicle
arrived late. Passersby and shopkeepers joined the police in the rescue operation. They had to extricate the bodies after breaking the car windows with iron rods. After the police informed a relative of the family in Delhi about the
accident, Mr Vipin Verma, an Ambala-based doctor and a relative of the family, reached the spot.“I got a phone call from my brother-in-law in Delhi,” Dr Verma said. The bodies were later sent to the Civil Hospital in Rajpura, Patiala district, for a post-mortem examination. Meanwhile, a case under various sections of the IPC has been registered against the bus driver. |
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‘Dance show’ by inmates wasn’t vulgar: report Chandigarh, June 6 It has been recommended by the Chandigarh Administration to issue a warning to the Jail Superintendent, Mr D.S. Rana, as his 19-year-old son was also present when the women inmates were asked to sing. The final decision on the punishment will be made tomorrow by the Adviser to the UT Administrator, Mr Virendra Singh, while considering that the Superintendent allowed his son to be present in the female ward of the jail. The inquiry officer, Ms Madhvi Kataria, SDM (South), in her report, has ruled out the aspect of vulgarity as the wife and daughter of the Jail Superintendent were also present, the sources said. The dances performed were not vulgar, says the report. The women who were allegedly asked to sing and dance were nabbed for immoral trafficking by the Chandigarh police. The issue snowballed as reports emerged about the performance that took place inside the jail on May 25. The then Deputy Commissioner, Mr M. Ramsekhar, had ordered an inquiry into the incident. Ms Kataria was the inquiry officer and she submitted her report yesterday to the new Deputy Commissioner, Mr Arun Kumar. However, some questions have still not been answered. For instance, who allowed jail officials to be present during this entertainment programme along with their families? The inquiry report says the jail staff present on the spot was the one on duty in the female ward. And who allowed a music system to be brought in? |
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Over 1,000 jhuggis razed Chandigarh, June 6 In a major operation a team of the Administration, led by the SDM (south), Ms Madhvi Kataria, demolished the jhuggis which had come up after December 1996, the cut-off date for slums to be legalised. Meanwhile, Mr Yash Pal Mahajan, President of the BJP’s Chandigarh unit and Mr Satya Pal Jain, a former MP, today met the Adviser to the Administrator and lodged a protest against the demolition of jhuggis in the slum colony. These leaders emphasised the Advisor and demanded that the poor residents of the colony whose jhuggis had been razed should immediately be provided with alternative sites. |
Sweepers’ stir throws waste
management out of gear Chandigarh, June 6 As almost all 200 safai karamcharis have been on strike for the past one week, the hospital waste management is being handled by untrained staff. “Despite repeated instructions to the new staff to segregate hospital waste, before it is dumped, the situation is dismal,” admitted a senior staff nurse. The open space outside the incinerator and shredder room, is stinking with heaps of hospital waste all around. Be it syringes with needles intact, blood soaked cotton and gauze or kitchen waste, the entire hospital waste is dumped out in the open. “Eversince the strike by the safai
karamcharis, we are burdened with the additional responsibility of telling the new staff time and again to segregate the waste and do the work scientifically, as one has to be very careful as some of the material can be highly infectious material,” remarked Mrs Parkash Devi, Nursing Superintendent. She admitted that the body waste, blood and cotton gauze meant to be carried in the yellow wheelbarrows was not being segregated. As per the guidelines for the disposal of hospital waste management all such waste must go into the incinerator. Even the plastic bottles, urinary and blood bags are not going through the shredder as the entire waste is being mixed up. Heaps of kitchen waste, including bags of rotten potatoes and other eatables, are also lying strewn all over the place. “What pains us the most is the fact that it was the GMCH which was the first hospital in the city to have the best bio-medical waste management project and the whole system has been thrown out of gear due to this strike,” rues s senior official. Mrs Ashoo, wife of the Managing Director of Praheri Security Detective Services, said though there was some problem due to the staff being new but with proper training from the supervisor and the nursing staff the entire process of disposal of hospital waste could be handled as per the laid down norms. On the other hand the GMCH staff say that the task cannot be entrusted to untrained raw hands, as it can create a lot of problems. They feel that the private agency should have either brought in trained staff or continued with the old staff. The Praheri agency, which is responsible for the cleanliness of the hospital, has been facing a problem due to the strike by its employees. It is in protest against the retrenchment of over 40 of their colleagues that the safai karamcharis have been on strike. |
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Admn suspends MC resolution Chandigarh, June 6 The corporation has to get its resolutions passed by the Department of Local bodies of the Chandigarh Administration before implementation. This means that the controversy over having sweepers on contract will persist. The issues of employing sweepers on contract had been in focus for the past two months. A section of councillors had been favouring the contract system. |
PM Rozgar Yojna comes a cropper in city Chandigarh, June 6 Status of PMRY
in Chandigarh
According to senior officials in the Department of Industry, the Central Government has allocated a quota of 300 youths under the scheme, under which educated unemployed youth with limited family income would get subsidised loans up to Rs 2 lakh and free training in production, marketing and accounting by the department. However, the department has itself been surrendering its quota of 200 youth each year for the past three years, claiming that due to better job opportunities in the city, the youth were not interested in the scheme. Under the scheme, educated unemployed youth with minimum qualification of eighth standard and in the age group of 18 to 35 years are eligible to get loan up to Rs 2 lakh with a subsidy component of up to Rs 7,500 provided their annual family income is less than Rs 40,000. It is surprising that the department has been unable to find just 300 youth annually from the city, when thousands of youth from slum colonies and other sectors have been unable to find jobs. According to data available from the Employment Exchange, there are about one lakh educated unemployed youth registered with the exchange. Interestingly, during the past three years, a task force comprising Director Industries, Project Manager and representatives of banks has been selecting around 125-140 youth through interviews and verification of their particulars for the disbursement of loans. But banks have disbursed loans to only 35-45 youth, rejecting the applications of the rest. Some of them have indeed set up their units and are repaying the loans on time. A senior official of Punjab National Bank associated with the scheme claimed that due to lack of eligible candidates they were not disbursing the loans. Further, due to lack of any collateral security for loans up to Rs 1 lakh limit, the borrowers were not repaying the loan in time. He claimed that recovery rate under the scheme was just 32 per cent. Mr Surinder Singh, a youth from the Burail village, claimed that the scheme was good but neither the Industry Department nor banks were interested in its implementation. He claimed: “I had to make a number of rounds to the department officials and banks for months before the loan was sanctioned. Further, the training level needs to be improved.” He said had the department and banks made serious efforts to implement the scheme, hundreds of youth would have benefited from the scheme. |
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Estate Office team pelted with stones, 2 hurt Panchkula, June 6 In the process fruit vendors attacked the enforcement staff of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), led by Kanungo Rajinder Singh, injuring Dharam Singh and Satpal. The HUDA truck was also damaged. The enforcement wing of HUDA, comprising 10 staff members, had reportedly gone on an anti-encroachment drive and removed rehris parked along roads in Industrial Area Phase-I and the Sector 11/15 roundabout. It was then that they decided to remove the fruit vendors from the Sector 7/8/17/18 roundabout also. However, as soon as they reached the spot and removed two rehris, the fruit vendors, about 20 in number, attacked them. The enforcement wing staff alleged that the fruit vendors on seeing them went to the liquor vend in Sector 18 and called certain persons for help. The fruit vendors then pelted the HUDA staff with stones and bricks. The HUDA officials alleged that although a few policemen were deployed at a police barricade in Sector 18, they refused to come to their help. They said that though the Deputy Commissioner had directed the police to remove encroachments from this roundabout a few days ago but the police had failed to take any action. However, senior police officials have denied these allegations and instead accused HUDA officials of not informing them before launching the offensive. |
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Nephew identifies man’s body Chandigarh, June 6 The body was identified by Vinod, nephew of the deceased. He had seen Pawan’s photograph which appeared in various newspapers today. Vinod, who had been staying with Pawan at the colony, told the police that Pawan had left the residence at around 5 p.m. on Wednesday and since then there was no news about him. Pawan was a native of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, and was unmarried. Meanwhile, in another incident, eighteen-year-old youth, Bhavnesh, was hit with a rod by his friend-turned foe, Amit Dogra, at the General Hospital, Sector 16, today. Bhavnesh, currently on job training for laboratory technician at the General Hospital, was having snacks with his friends when he was attacked by Amit with a rod. The police has registered a case. |
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Conversions were done fraudulently: panel Chandigarh, June 6 Addressing a press conference here along with the member of the committee, Mr Dogra said: “The 10 children who were converted told the committee that they were promised free education and that they did not know that their religion had changed.” Mr Dogra said the committee found out that the organisers who held the function in a Valmiki temple in the city had not informed the president of the temple management, Dr K.S. Raju, who got a case registered against the organisers for the alleged fraud. He said the committee visited Kaithal from where the converts were allegedly brought but found out that none had come from this place for the conversion. Mr Dogra said an imam and Baba Prithpal Singh of the Gur Sagar Sahib Gurdwara also told committee that they were not informed about the intentions of organisers. Mr Dogra urged the Chandigarh Administration to speedily act on the FIR and asked the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to build up a movement against the alleged conversions. The former DGP, however, answered in the negative whether some independent witnesses had accompanied the committee, did they have any video recording of the interviews with those converted and also whether it had the version of the organisers of the conversion function. Mr Dogra said the action of conversions in Chandigarh was violation of the interpretation Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution by the Supreme Court which had found allurements illegal. The committee comprised Mr Dogra, VHP Chandigarh Chief Col Dharamvir (retd), journalists Ashok Mallik, Radhey Shyam Sharma and an advocate Prem Nath Gupta. |
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Chicken lovers feel the heat as prices soar Panchkula, June 6 From Rs 50 to Rs 60 per kg only last month, the chicken prices have shot up to almost Rs 90 to Rs 100 per kg. Similarly, the egg prices have also soared by 35 per cent during the past one month — from Rs 1.15 per egg to Rs 1.55 per egg. With the heat wave and aftermath of spread of viral infection among chickens adversely affecting their production, the prices are expected to soar further. Sources in the industry say that the price of chicken generally increases during the summer, when the mortality rate of chicken goes up by almost 20 per cent because of the intense heat. But the present unprecedented hike is being mainly attributed to a 40 per cent hike in chicken feed, say sources. It is learnt that prices of almost all ingredients of chicken feed, mainly soyabean, maize and GNE DOC, have soared during the past two months. The hike in the price of feed ensured that the poultry farmers were not given the feed on credit by the traders, causing the prices to soar. Also, the spread of a mutation of Ranikhet disease (RD — a viral disease) in both chicken and egg-laying hens (layers) is responsible for the increase in prices. It may be noted that over one lakh layers have died during the past two months because of the viral infection in the biggest poultry belt of North India, Barwala. Though the disease has been contained, strains of the virus have now been found in farms in Amritsar. This disease has spread to chicken breeding farms and poultry farms in areas as far as Amritsar in Punjab and Gurgaon in Haryana. It may be noted that other than Barwala, the poultry farms are scattered in parts of Haryana and Punjab. The main chicken breeding belt in the region is located in Jind, besides scattered farms at Safedon, Panipat and Gurgaon in Haryana. In Punjab, the chicken farms are scattered in Amritsar, Sangrur, Zirakpur and Manpur. Sources say the spread of RD has brought down the broiler production by almost 20 to 30 per cent. “The disease, which adversely affects egg production, also led to decrease in supply of chicken. The egg production fell by almost 60 per cent during April and May, when the disease affected the layers,” said Dr B.S. Maur, Managing Director of Venky’s (India) Limited, a sister concern of Venkateshwara Hatcheries. He, however, clarified that the diseased chicken were not being supplied to the market. The egg production in any given poultry farm having 1 lakh egg-laying hens would normally have 85 per cent egg production. This went down to 25 per cent because of RD outbreak. However, once the incubation period of the disease (which last for 10-12 days) is over, the egg production improves to 70 per cent, which is again 15 per cent lower than the original egg production,” said Mr Rajinder Mittal, a poultry farmer. |
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Focus on environment protection Chandigarh, June 6 As many as 50 teachers from Kendriya Vidyalayas in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi participated in the seminar. The ESI president, Mr S.K. Sharma, explained the various aspects of the integrated Nature Discovery Project — vermi-composting, lilies, lotus and organic farming, sparrow conservation, rain, roof water harvesting, recycling of waste water, sacred and medicinal plantation on the five-acre CYP campus. The Principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya-47, Mr M.P. Mahajan, said the lessons learnt from the project would be applied to schools. Teachers were administered the pledge that they would carry out environment protection, nature conservation awareness and action oriented activities under the project for a clean and green India. The ESI also brought out an identification guide chart of birds of ponds and lakes. The purpose of the chart is to provide a handy guide to increase interest and appreciation of the natural world. The chart has been prepared especially for members and teachers of eco clubs under the NGC of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, and guides are being distributed among 1,900 eco clubs in Haryana, 1,200 in Himachal Pradesh, 1,700 in Punjab, 100 in Chandigarh through the state departments of environment. |
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SAD flays Sikhs for
helping Cong Chandigarh, June 6 Capt Kanwaljit Singh, however, rued the fact that it seemed the Sikhs had forgotten the operation otherwise how did the Congress government came to power in Punjab. Even the Central Government had been doing injustice with regards to handling of injustices meted out to the Sikhs. People who played major roles in the 1984 riots following the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi, had been let off. He warned that the SAD would launch a protest if riot victims settled in Mohali and Ludhiana were evicted. Late in the evening a torchlight procession was also taken out as mark of protest against the operation. Various gurdwaras in the city also organised akhand paths. |
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BJP decries property tax imposition Chandigarh, June 6 In a joint press statement issued yesterday, Mr Yash Pal Mahajan, Mr Satya Pal Jain, Mr Bal Krishan Kapoor, and Ms Kamla Sharma said the local unit of the BJP had raised objections against the imposition of property tax within the stipulated period, which were not considered by the Congress. |
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Immolation threat flayed SAS Nagar, June 6 In a press note issued by Mr Manohar Singh, general secretary of the society, it alleged that the women took the step in violation of the orders passed by the Jathedar of Akal Takht. The press note was also stated that the Sikhs who were victims of the riots in 1984 had not got justice as the culprits had not been
punished. TNS |
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Small measures WITH water tables receding and the population burgeoning, water conservation seems an uphill task. We can contribute towards conservation of water in our own small way. Small measures such as those being promoted in newspapers can be effective. The water used for cleaning houses can, in turn, be used to water plants. While brushing teeth, shaving, bathing and washing dishes, taps should not be kept running. Instead, a mug or bucket of water can be kept ready. New methods of irrigation can contribute in a big way towards water conservation. The rain water that flows into the sea should be tapped more effectively. Rainwater and roof-water harvesting can be carried out in cities. A more efficient system of distribution of water in urban areas is required. Halting ground water depletion, better resource management, increasing the green cover and reviving the traditional system of saving water can all contribute to water conservation.
Jayanti Jha, Class IV,
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Irate residents block traffic Panchkula, June 6 It is learnt that about 200 residents of this village gathered at the National
Highway and disrupted the smooth flow of traffic in order to register their protest against the erratic power supply. The villagers alleged that they had not received power supply for the past several hours. The villagers said on the one hand water
remained unavailable for their crops, and on the other hand, the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam failed to provide adequate power for operating tubewells. The DSP Headquarters, Mr Desh Bandhu, Station House Officers of Chandimandir and Raipur Rani police stations and SDO, UHBVN, Mr J.C. Sharma , rushed to the spot and tried to appease the villagers. It was only after the villagers were assured that the power supply would improve, that the blockade was lifted. TNS |
Couple being ‘pressurised’ to vacate house Chandigarh, June 6 The couple had named Mahavir Sharma, a tenant at the ground floor of the house, his two sons and three other persons in an FIR. When contacted, Mahavir Sharma refuted the allegations levelled against him and his sons and also claimed that he had no previous acquaintance with the SP's son. The police had later arrested Pavneet Pannu, son of Mr G.S Pannu, Superintendent of Police (Barnala), along with Mahavir Sharma, his two sons and two others in this connection. “Mahavir Sharma has designs to grab the entire house and wants us to vacate the first floor where we have been staying for the past several years,” said Ms Ekta, who had sustained injuries on the left leg during the attack. The couple alleged that it was Mahavir Sharma who had engineered the attack on them. Ms Ekta lives on the first floor of the house along with her husband, Mr Ajay Kumar, mother and two minor sons. The owner of the house lives in the USA. Mr Ajay Kumar, who runs a small business of artificial jewellery, had received injuries on the head and arm in the afternoon of May 23. “Since the day of the attack, we have been living in a continuous state of fear and I am concerned about the life of Ajay Kumar”, said Ms
Kamlesh, mother of Ms Ekta. On the other hand, Mahavir Sharma, a property dealer, claimed that he and his sons had been framed up. He also claimed that he had no previous acquaintance with Pavneet. It may be mentioned here that after the FIR was registered, the investigations led the police to an abandoned Fiat Uno car in Ludhiana. The car was found to be registered in the name of Mr
G.S. Pannu and on June 3 the police arrested Pavneet Pannu from Patiala. |
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2 hurt in attack by 4 brothers Chandigarh, June 6 A woman, Ms Sumita, who was accompanying Raj Singh, has alleged that the brothers also tried to kidnap her. At the time of the attack, her two sons were also accompanying her but they escaped unhurt. The brothers reportedly fled in a Tata Sumo. The Sector 3 police has registered a case of attempt to murder and attempt to kidnap under various Sections of the IPC against the four brothers — Harmesh Singh, Surjan Singh, Balbir Singh and Nirmal Singh. Ms Sumita is the sister-in-law of the four men. Earlier also she had alleged that Harmesh had tried to kidnap and poison her and a case was registered. ‘‘Today again they tried to drag me in the Tata Sumo but they had to flee as crowd started to gather”, said Ms
Sumita. Raj Singh, who works with the Public Health Division of the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh, also alleged that the brothers snatched a sum of Rs 20,700 from Raj Singh before fleeing. When contacted at the PGI, Raj Singh, who sustained fractures on the left leg, alleged that the brothers had entered into an altercation with him at the village last evening and he had made a complaint to the police. ‘‘We were on two scooters, when around 1.15 pm the four cornered us and attacked us with baseball bats’’, informed Raj Singh. In the attack, Sohan Singh received injuries on the head. He added that the brothers owed him Rs 20,000 and were agitated as he used to ask for the money. ‘‘Harmesh had fought an election to village sarpanch five years ago and for the purpose my elder brother had paid him the money’’, claimed Raj Singh. |
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