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| Friday,
July 25, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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Robbers club father, son to death Banur, July 24 Prem Pal Singh, who had earlier served with the Border Roads Organisation died on the spot, while his son, Sat Pal Singh succumbed to his injuries at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector-32 Chandigarh. Other family members — Prem Pal’s wife, Joginder Kaur, his son, Hardayal Singh and daughter-in-law, Jasleen Kaur — are undergoing treatment at the GMCH, where their condition is said to be serious, but stable. The deceased were cremated this evening. The police believe that robbers are members of the kale kachchewale gang, which has struck in this region a number of times. The amount looted is yet to be ascertained as none of the family members were in a condition to give any statement. The police came to know about the incident at about 4 am, when Jasleen gained consciousness and called up another relative who informed the police. The police said that robbers’ intention was to make the family members unconscious before ransacking the house so that they could not provide any clues for their identification of the assailants. The statements of the injured are yet to be recorded. Recounting the event, 10-year-old Puneet Kaur, who sustained injuries on her right temple which required several stitches, said around 1 am, at least five persons descended from the terrace of their house into the courtyard, where her father, Sat Pal and her mother, Lakhwinder Kaur were sleeping. A sixth person, with his face covered, remained on the terrace. All of them spoke Hindi and had cropped hair, she recalled. According to a family member, the robbers had first scaled the rear wall of a school building adjoining the house, where they locked two caretakers in a room, threatening them with dire consequences if they raised the alarm. They then crossed over to the house. They reportedly made no attempt to disturb a chowkidar who was sleeping outside the house. Puneet, who witnessed the entire sequence said she was sleeping with her grandmother in a room adjoining the courtyard when she wokeup after hearing a commotion. She went outside where she saw her father and mother bleeding. The robbers took her inside and asked her where money and valuables were kept. While three persons ransacked the house, others went into different rooms and hit sleeping family members on the head with rods. She recalled that she told her parents and grandmother that they were bleeding, but they told her simply to go inside. She said her grandmother was throwing up. Later, she said she locked herself in a room along with her eight year old brother Harkaran Singh and four-year-old cousin Jashan Preet. She said that Harkaran, who was sleeping outside with their parents, had got up to drink water just a few minutes before the robbers struck. He had seen the robbers on the roof, but scared, he lay down quietly. Later he hid under the cots on which his parents were sleeping. Meanwhile, the police has launched search operation in the area. Three platoons of commandos have been called in from Patiala and the police plans to set up nakas besides doing intensive patrolling tonight. Senior police officers also visited the crime scene. |
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Police caught napping as
robberies increase Panchkula, July 24 Five members of a family were injured and cash and jewellery looted , when a gang of robbers, armed with lathis and iron rods, struck at two houses in Dharampur village of Kalka on Wednesday morning, cash worth Rs 2 lakh was looted in the highway robberies near Raipur Rani this morning. In both incidents, the armed attack had continued for almost an hour, but there was no sign of police team patrolling the area. The local police had last week changed its pattern of patrolling by employees Police Control Room (PCR) motorcycles for patrolling, leaving the PCR Jeeps for the traffic and accident management. Senior police officials had maintained that employing PCR motorcycles for patrolling was more effective as the motorcycles could access even the remoted places easily. It was also said each motorcycle would be required to cover an area of 2 km only. However, in both incidents at Kalka and Raipur Rani- the victims maintained that they had not seen any police team patrolling the area. Mr Ranbir S. Sharma, SP, while maintaining that they had achieved a major breakthrough in both cases, said the police patrol at both spots had passed minutes before the attack. Mr Sharma said those involved in the robberies at the house of a Housing Board official, Devi Dutt, and his neighbour, ASI Jarnail Singh of the Punjab police had been identified. “We got sketches of the accused made and have identified them as a criminal gang of Dhehs from Shahabad. One of the accused has been identified as Soma, the kingpin of the gang. We have now launched a manhunt and he will soon be arrested” Mr Sharma assured. Mr Sharma said they had also zeroed in on the accused involved in the highway robberies near Raipur Rani. He said so far police investigations, based on the account given by the bus passengers, had shown that the accused were locals. “We have made teams and about 60 cops are trying to trace the accused, “ he added. |
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Varsity Fellow’s move against eligibility norm Chandigarh, July 24 A student needs to have scored at least 20 per cent in a paper to be placed in the category of candidates who have to reappear at the PU. Those scoring below 20 per cent marks are declared “fail” and are not eligible to join the higher class. Such a condition of minimum qualifying marks does not exist either in the neighbouring universities i.e. Punjabi University and Guru Nanak Dev University or in school boards. Principal Jaswant Singh Gill, a Fellow of the university Senate, has moved a resolution saying that “the university should delete the condition of having scored at least 20 per cent marks in the subject in which he has been asked to reappear.” It has been pointed out that “various school education boards holding Class XII examination awarded a chance to reappear even to candidates who did not score 20 per cent marks in the paper he could not clear”. Such candidates were not eligible to seek admission to the first year of arts, science or commerce steams in the Panjab University’s affiliated colleges. A large number of students lost one academic year on this account. Principal Gill said: “The other two universities”, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Punjabi University, Patiala, “did not insist on the condition of 20 per cent marks in the paper, which the student had failed to clear”. Principal Gill said the university could levy the condition of compulsorily clearing the reappear examination before he was awarded the result for his first year of the undergraduate class. |
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Mohali hospital limps as staff on deputation go SAS Nagar, July 24 Staff members on deputation including doctors, staff nurses, pharmacists and class IV employees were relieved by the hospital authorities on July 14. Sources say two doctors, eight staff nurses, two pharmacists, a nursing sister, five class IV employees and one safai sewak have been sent back to places from where they had been drawing their salaries. Not only has the present staff become overburdened by this move of the government, services in the medicine and pathology wings have been badly hit. There were two medical specialists in the hospital about a month ago but today the position was such that there was not a single medical specialist. Dr Ajay Pal Singh, a medical specialist, was relieved by the hospital authorities today while Dr Trilochan Singh was transferred about a month ago from the hospital. Sources say that patients, requiring the services of medical specialists, would now have to be handled by a general doctor. The work of the diagnostic laboratory has also been hit. Though routine tests are being carried out in the hospital laboratory, patients will not be able to get the facility of special tests as the patholgist, Dr Goldy Chhabra, has also been sent back. Some special tests like fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and papsmear will not be conducted now. Moreover, the laboratory technician will also not be able to clear his doubts in the absence of a pathologist. The hospital, which had 16 staff nurses, was now left with eight. Sources say that due to staff shortage patients admitted in the male ward, which was on the first floor of the new hospital block, had now been shifted to the emergency wing of the hospital so that they could be properly looked after. Sources further say that the emergency surgeries would also be affected due to staff shortage. Earlier, two staff nurses were handling cases in three operating theatres of the hospital. Now the work is being looked after by one. The night duties of staff nurses had also been now doubled. As the hospital is left with only one safai sewak, the post mortem work will be adversely affected because he has to look after the work in the operating theatres also. Sources say that after the privatisation of sanitation work in the hospital, four class IV employees were sent back to their original place of posting. In the absence of emergency medical officers (EMOs), the OPD work in the hospital was adversely affected as doctors, providing specialised services, were made to do emergency duties. On an average a doctor had to do seven to eight emergency duties. Apart from this they had to go for court duties as well. Four specialists were members of the State Medical Board and as such had to attend a meeting once a month. Some doctors were members of a state-level technical committee and had to go in this connection. Dr Manjit Singh Bains, SMO in charge of the hospital, said he had received orders from the Finance Department, Punjab, to relieve all staff members working in the hospital on deputation by July 15. He said he had met the Civil Surgeon, Ropar, and given a written request for additional staff. |
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UT may not roll back fee hike Chandigarh, July 24 The steep hike in Punjab and its rather tame withdrawal by the state government has created a piquant situation for the UT Administration. Although two distinct political and administrative entities, Punjab and the Union Territory of Chandigarh are intertwined on a number of issues. As a matter of fact, the Governor of Punjab, Justice O.P. Verma (retd) is also the Administrator of Chandigarh. The Union Territory generally follows Punjab in the matter of pay scales for its employees and takes the cue from that state on many financial issues. Therefore, when the Punjab Government decided to increase the college fees, the UT Administration followed suit and notified a fee hike. But while the hike in Punjab was steep, the UT Administration effected a rather modest increase. Little wonder, there were no protests against the fee hike in the UT either from student bodies or from any party. But in Punjab, the hefty hike led to widespread protests from student bodies. Always ready to fish in troubled waters, parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, the BJP and Left parties, too jumped into the fray and voiced their opposition to the increase, besides serving a notice on the government of their intention to launch an agitation. Even the ruling Congress leadership minced no words in opposing the hike. It was, therefore, only a matter of time before the Amarinder Singh Government developed cold feet on the emotive issue and ordered a rollback. Informed sources here say that instead of losing its nerve in the face of a determined political opposition, the Congress Government in Punjab could have saved face to some extent by ordering a partial rollback in the fee hike. As things stands today, the UT Administration now has three options on the issue: a) total rollback of the fee hike; b) partial rollback of the fee hike; c) no rollback of the fee hike. The dominant view in the Administration is that it should examine the possibility of a partial rollback even though there has not been any definite demand for it in the UT. |
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Housing board’s flats to cost less in city Chandigarh, July 24 A change in policy was ordered today by the Administrator, Justice O.P. Verma (retd). He asked the Adviser, Mr Virendra Singh, to have a policy under which the board should be allotted land on the basis of plotted area of a flat. There should be some kind of cross-subsidy for the cost of land for dwelling units by selling the commercial plots, the Administrator said at a meeting with senior officers . At present the board is allotted land after calculating the cost of land at the rate it is acquired. The board then adds development charges. The people who are allotted the flats have to pay for the land which is used for open spaces, parks , roads and other services. This increases the cost of flats. Another important issue discussed in the meeting was the industrial policy for the small scale units. Justice Verma asked the Adviser to give final touches to the policy and submit a draft policy within 15 days. He reiterated the need for improving the civic amenities in the southern sectors. Roads, drainage, sewerage and greenery of the area should get priority. The Administrator asked the Municipal Commissioner to evolve a plan for the segregation of the degradable and non-degradable solid waste and its disposal. A pilot project for it has to be started at the earliest, he added. The Adviser informed in the meeting that he had received a report on tertiary water network in the city. Eight sectors of the city were linked with tertiary water network but certain sectors were de-linked in 1998 due to a major failure in sewerage treatment plant. The tertiary water network was linked to fresh water network at that time and it was still continuing with fresh water network. Justice Verma asked the Adviser to take effective steps to ensure that tertiary water network gets linked up to its original network at the earliest because only 3.5 million gallons a day of water of tertiary water network was being used whereas the total capacity was of 10 mgd. To check mushroom growth in villages, Justice Verma asked the Deputy Commissioner to fix accountability of the revenue and enforcement staff. The Municipal Commissioner was asked to notify byelaws for the village area to check the un-planned construction in that area at the earliest. And lastly the meeting debated the issue of roping in some private partners for constructing a convention centre in Sector 42. The Adviser informed the Administrator that service rules of the board would be notified within few days. |
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Corrigendum Some parts of the story entitled "UT curtails security for judges" published in these columns in the issue of July 19, 2003, are incorrect. According to information available with the Chandigarh police, there has been no change in the security cover provided to judges, including the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The error is regretted.
— Editor
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Pangolin strays into
Sector 21 house Panchkula, July 24 While the owner of the house, Mr R.K. Saini, is posted in Ropar, his caretaker, Deepak is staying in the house with his family. Talking to the TNS, Deepak said he noticed the creature on the verandah of the house at 10.30 pm last night. “I thought the animal was a pup, but on closer inspection realised that it was a pangolin. With help from my wife Geeta, we managed to trap the animal by putting an iron bucket over it. We called the Wildlife Department today morning,” informed Deepak. A team of officials led by Wildlife Inspector Sada Ram reached the house around 11 am. However, the couple refused to let the officials take away the animal on the plea that they be given a cash reward for catching the animal. Ugly scenes were witnessed when Geeta had a scuffle with one of the officials as he attempted to take the animal away. After much persuasion and upon receiving a “receipt” from the Wildlife Inspector, the couple finally relented. The animal was later released in the forest near Barwala in
Morni. |
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He needs 3.50 lakh to save his mother Chandigarh, July 24 Tejpratap Singh, lost his father, a bank official, within a few days after his mother underwent a kidney transplant in September, 1999. “Even as my mother was still recovering in the PGI after the surgery, father died of rabies after a dog bit him in our hometown in Patiala,” says Tejpratap. As if the family had not been through enough trouble that misfortune struck again, when about a year ago, Tejpratap’s mother developed complications in her kidney.” For the past few months my mother has been on dialysis which is the only life saving treatment for her,” says Tejpratap. His mother, Narinder Kaur (50), is already feeling weak and feeble and doing household chores is also becoming difficult for her. Though Tejpratap has been given a temporary bank job; in place of his father, but that does not give him the medical reimbursement facility to get his mother treated. He says that the family spent all savings and his father’s provident fund on the surgery. It was Narinder Kaur’s brother who donated a kidney to save her life, but with the complications she has developed, she cannot undergo the surgery again. “The doctors have told us that even if she is given a kidney, it will not function for too long as she is bound to develop medical problems,” says her son. He explained that the only option left for her is to undergo dialysis throughout her life. Under a package being offered by Backster company, Narinder Kaur will be provided with life long dialysis facility, if they deposit Rs 3.25 lakh.” If we can raise this money, I will somehow manage to pay for the medicines she will need to take daily, all her life,” pleads Tejpratap, not willing to give up. With such a big responsibility on his shoulders, Tejpratap has tried to arrange the money from every possible quarter. He also got in touch with the higher ups in his office to plead his case for granting him money for his mother’s treatment, but with little success. Doctors at the PGI’s Nephrology department treating his mother have said that the only hope now left for her is life long dialysis. “The monthly cost for dialysis will work out to be Rs 22,000, but under the offer from the company a payment of Rs 3.25 lakh will entitle my mother to life long dialysis,” says Tejpratap Singh. Those wanting to help Tejpratap can make donations directly to the family at House No. 92, Vikas Vihar, Ambala City, or make enquiries on telephone No. 0171- 2550910 or from the PGI, Public Relation Officer, on 747585 - 6003. |
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Mayors’
conference to discuss term extension Chandigarh, July 24 The discussion on the agenda has been accepted on the request of the Mayor of Chandigarh, Mr Subhash Chawla whose other suggestions of exemptions under Section 80 G of the Income Tax Act for a Mayor’s relief fund and giving him or her the right to write confidential reports of commissioners and heads of department have also been included in the agenda. Mr Chawla told TNS before leaving for the conference today that he would make efforts that if any elections were held, the Mayor of Chandigarh or somebody from Punjab, Haryana or Himachal should get a place amongst the office-bearers of the All India Council of Mayors. Mr Chawla said he would prepare a joint strategy with the Mayors of Shimla, Faridabad, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar. Apart from 81 Mayors from all over the country, those from the Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia has confirmed that they would attend the conference. Mr Chawla said he would share with the participants the experiences of sanitation in the city considered to the best in the country. The conference is being organised by the All-India Council of Mayors. The conference will discuss the issues of giving Mayors sanctioning authority up to Rs 5 lakh in emergency cases, conferring upon them the powers to punish erring officers and the implementation of recommendations of the state finance commissions. |
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MC to seek powers for its architect Chandigarh, July 24 This view is gaining ground in the corporation after its experience of getting some one on deputation from Punjab and Haryana failed to evoke any response recently, sources in the municipal corporation told the Chandigarh Tribune here today. The municipal corporation had recently taken up the issue of appointing an architect with the Administration to make the process of clearance of its projects faster and the Administration had agreed to the proposal. The corporation has been wasting lot of efforts to get its projects cleared from the Chief Architect’s Department, the sources said. One of the recent projects awaiting clearance from the Chief Architect’s Department is the change in the design of the parking lots in Sector 17. There have been complaints from both the parking contractors and visitors about the parking lots. While visitors have been accusing contractors of violating the terms and conditions of the parking contract by charging the parking fee at the entrance, the contractors have been saying that it is difficult for them to charge the parking fee at the exit as there will be long queues and lot of people will go away without paying them the fee. The Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, (Extended to Chandigarh) has powers to keep an architect with it to clear its projects and the 12th Schedule of the 74th Amendment of the Constitution also allows them clearance of projects. The corporation is now considering a two-pronged strategy to appoint a private architect through an advertisement in the newspapers and push the case of giving its architects certain powers to clear its projects. Senior officers in the municipal corporation feel that a circular for appointing architects from Punjab and Haryana on a deputation did not evoke any response as the architect with the Corporation at present did not have any authority to sanction building plan. In the absence of clearing authority, the architect appointed by the corporation is also being considered a financial burden as the municipal body would have to pay his or her salary and perks without any gain in real terms. |
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CTCC adopts Shimla Sankalp Chandigarh, July 24 The AICC Secretary, Major Ved Prakash (retd), came as an observer of the party to the special meeting called to adopt the sankalp. He said the speech of Ms Gandhi had to be reach each worker of the party at district and block levels. Later, while addressing a press conference Maj Ved Prakash said the party would have “pre-poll alliances on the basis of ideology” unlike the BJP which did not care to take ideology into consideration while striking alliances to get power. The CTCC president, Mr B.B. Bahl, said each party worker would be provided a copy of the “Shimla Sankalp” and would be asked to ponder over the resolution adopted at Shimla. Maj Ved Prakash said the party was prepared to face the Lok Sabha elections along with or even before the elections to four state assemblies. He said the Vajpayee government had failed on all fronts, especially on security as a number of attacks had been carried out by militants on security establishments. He said the foreign policy of India had also failed as New Delhi had not been able to put pressure on Pakistan for stopping terrorism. He underlined the need for a mass contact programme to win the next Lok Sabha elections. The Congress leaders, however, chose to ignore a question on what was being done about the Mayor Subhash Chawla’s alleged brawl in the Chandigarh Club. Party president said the meeting had only adoption of sankalp as agenda and the issue of the Mayor was not to be discussed in it. However, in the press conference Mr Bahl said the Mayor’s issue was an internal matter of the party and would be sorted out with the high command. The special meeting was the first one held after the controversy over the Mayor Subhash Chawla’s alleged brawl came to light and 10 party office-bearers sought a meeting to discuss the matter. |
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Mohali circle to get at least 8-hour power supply
SAS Nagar, July 24 This measure has been taken to ensure continuous supply of water to farmers for irrigating paddy fields. Announcing this at a press conference held here today, the Superintending Engineer (operations), PSEB, Mohali Circle, Mr.S.C. Aggarwal, said a centralised control room has been set up to attend to complaints of village consumers round-the-clock. ‘‘A special task force headed by a Junior Engineer of the area has been posted on night shift to attend to these complaints. All that the consumer has to do is call at the telephone number 225963 and his problem will be attended to immediately,’’ said Mr Aggarwal. At the same time the board has launched a special drive to check unauthorised extensions and theft of electricity in villages during the paddy season. ‘‘All officers of the board starting from the rank of the SDO and above are conducting meetings in villages in order to assess the factual position of demand and supply of electricity,’’ he said. The PSEB has also decided to ensure that damaged transformers are repaired within 48 hours. ‘‘We have provision to repair damaged transformers but augmentation of transformers to deal with increased power demand following voluntary declaration of loads is yet to be undertaken,’’ he said. Stating that the PSEB has undertaken special drives to deal with power thefts in the township in various residential, commercial and industrial areas, Mr Aggarwal said the extent of the problem could be ascertained from the fact that their office had earned Rs 15 lakh in the last one month as penalty on such thefts. ‘‘We caught a Brigadier rank ex-serviceman in Sector 70 who was stealing power. He had put a switch in his bedroom almirah and for a long time we were receiving complaints against him. We raided his house early this month and found the switch. We have written to the police to lodge an FIR against him.’’ When asked about the installation of electronic meters, Mr Aggarwal said many houses in Phase VII have been installed with electronic meters and the next set of installation will be done when electronic meters are received.  |
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Uppal heads Lions Club Chandigarh, July 24 Giving details of the charity work being undertaken by the club, Mr Uppal said that a permanent dispensary, a sewing school at Karsan and a computer centre at VTC in Sector 30, is being run for the handicapped children. He said during the coming days, the club would be organising blood donation, free eye operation and tree plantation camps. Apart from this, the club would be giving training in candle making and beautician course under the Swaran Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojna for those living below the poverty line. These people would be given a stipend of Rs 100 per month. |
ADGP told to probe robbery Chandigarh, July 24 Taking cognizance on the complaint filed by the Lawyers for Human Rights International
(LHRI), the PSHRC stated that the content of the complaint showed that there was a prima facie case of violation of human rights and also ordered that the report on the incident be submitted to the PSHRC by September 30. |
Brothers lose Rs 11,000 Chandigarh, July 24 The brothers had parked their car in a Sector 7 market and found the currency notes lying nearby. According to police sources, while the brothers, Mr Rikhi and Mr Vivek, were picking up the currency notes on the road, a bag containing Rs 11,000 and some documents kept on the rear seat of the car, was stolen by some unidentified persons. A case has been registered. |
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14-yr-old dies in freak incident Chandigarh, July 24 As per information available, the accident took place yesterday afternoon when Raj Kumar was changing his school uniform. He was rushed to the PGI but he could not survive. His father, Jai Singh, is a labourer. Killed Dowry case Scooter stolen Ambala Goldsmith robbed According to information, Som Prakash runs a goldsmith shop in Chappar. On Wednesday night when he was returning home in Dheer village after closing his shop, two youths stopped him near Kansapur village. They snatched his bag containing jewellery and cash. The police has registered a case on the complaint of Som Prakash. Two dead According to information, Sardara Singh, a resident of Barnala village, died when he allegedly consumed some poisonous substance. He was rushed to Civil Hospital where he died after some time. The body was handed over to his relatives after post mortem. In another incident a Bihari labourer was found dead in a colony in Baldev Nagar this morning. He was working in a dairy. The cause of his death could not be ascertained. After post mortem, the police handed over the body to his relatives. Poppy husk seized According to information, the police seized 10 kg of poppy husk from Rajpal and 6 kg from Ramehwar, residents of Bihar. In other incident, the police seized 1600 gm of poppy husk form Deep Chand, a resident of Ambala city. |
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Car hits labourers, 9 hurt Dera Bassi, July 24 The injured were labourers engaged in laying telephone cables of a private telecom company and their dependents. They were reportedly resting on a road berm when the accident took place at around 12.30 pm. The condition of the three injured — Ram Karan, Ishwar, Singh Ram — was stated to be serious. They have been shifted to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh. The other injured Kailash, Sanjay, Dilip, Kalo, all minor children and Ms Vimla, were discharged from a hospital after treatment. The car driver ran away from the spot after abandoning the car and its lone woman passenger. The car (DL 6C 6692) was going to Shimla from Delhi. The police has registered a case. |
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