BRAVEHEART
This 19-year-old preferred to grapple with burglars
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 25
When two burglars were looting her house in Laxmibai Nagar in South-West district, 19-year-old Renu Gosain, a second year student at Dayal Singh College, did not raise the alarm and run out of her house for help. Instead, first she decided to tackle the duo armed with iron rods even as they slapped her and struck her with fists.

In the ensuing scuffle, she caught hold one of them and pulled him down the stairs and called out for help. Finally, when the neighbours came to her rescue, the accused was nabbed and handed over to the police. However, the other person managed to escape.

The Delhi Police Commissioner, Mr R. S. Gupta, has announced a cash reward of Rs 5,000 and a commendation certificate for the braveheart.

Renu said that since her parents had gone to her native place in Uttaranchal she and her elder brother, Vikas, who is studying at G B Pant College, were alone at home. On September 24, after her brother left for college, she also proceeded to her college, after locking the doors.

As she had forgotten her library pass, she returned and found the house open. “I thought my brother had returned and went inside. To my shock, I found two persons, one holding a timepiece and another trying to open the almirah with an iron rod. By then, I understood that something was fishy, but I decided to handle them rather than summon for help,’’ said Renu.

She adds: “When I saw them my first reaction was to stop them from doing any further damage. I somehow mustered the courage to handle them single-handedly, even though I am a shy girl by nature.

I caught hold of one of the robbers and dragged him down the stairs, all the while shouting ‘chor chor’. He was later identified as Mohammad Shakil, resident of Farid Nagar, and was caught by my neighbours Kamla Devi (45) and M P Singh.”

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West) Tejender Luthra said the girl would be awarded at a public function by the Delhi Police Commissioner. He said the arrested man was a notorious burglar and had been involved in thefts in the Safdarjung area, Sarojini Nagar and Srinivas Puri.

Engg college students on fast unto death

Greater Noida
Students of Galgotia Engineering College in Greater Noida have gone on a fast unto death in protest against the college management’s refusal to withdraw the fee hike.

The students have sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, and the Gautam Budh Nagar DM, Mr L. Venketeshwar Lu. The latter is taking a serious view of the development. He has summoned the college management Chairman Sunil Galgotia.

The students have alleged exploitation and harassment at the hands of the college principal. The management has been collecting thousands of rupees from students in the name of cultural programmes, Internet facility etc, though the college lacks even the basic infrastructure for such activities. No cultural programme has ever been organised by the college, the students alleged.

There are no arrangements for water and electricity, though the college charges a fat fee for such utilities. Students who have qualified in the entrance tests are required to pay between Rs 75,000 and Rs 1 lakh as fee while a receipt of only Rs 22,420 is issued, it is alleged.

Students and the college management had signed an agreement recently that till a committee set up by the administration gave its verdict on college fee, only Rs 19,000 would be charged. The management is now violating this agreement, students allege. The college management contends that it is not possible to give good education for less fee.

The management has allegedly warned the students that those who do not deposit Rs 60,000 as fee will not be allowed to submit their examination forms and that their names will be struck off the rolls. OC

SINISTER DESIGNS
ISI agent’s accomplice held
Our Correspondent

Ghaziabad, September 25
The Ghaziabad police have arrested an accomplice of an ISI agent, who was nabbed by the Gujarat police recently. The ISI agent had been trying to get a map of the Hindon Air Force Base made here, the police said.

The Loni police nabbed the accomplice with the help of the Gujarat police for giving refuge and making available other facilities to the secret service agent.

The police have seized from the accomplice the passport and other belongings of the agent arrested by the Gujarat police. The accomplice, the police say, had been given the assignment of developing a strategic map of Hindon Air Force Base.

The Gujarat police had recently arrested Hari Narayan Shah, an ISI agent, who is a Nepalese citizen and was a student of Sind Medical College, Karachi. He had been given the task of developing maps of places of strategic importance in India by a Brigadier-level Pakistani officer.

The intelligence agencies came to know that Hari Narayan had sought help from a friend in the Loni area of Ghaziabad. According to the SP (City), Mr Umesh Srivastava, on a tip-off yesterday a joint team of the Gujarat police and the local police raided Geri Patti area of Loni and arrested Ijaz, a Nepalese youth, who was working in Bone Mill of Fareed in Loni.

Ijaz’s Nepalese passport, identity card and books of medical course had been seized, the SP (City) added.

Meerut babus busy networking
Our Correspondent

Meerut, September 25
The work in the government offices here has come to a grinding halt after the change in guard at Lucknow as most of the senior officials are suffering from transfer fever. Offices present a deserted look. Most officials are in a fix and are in a perpetual state of worry as an order on their new assignment may be passed any day.

At this critical juncture most of the officials are unofficially on a pen-down strike as they have no time to look into people’s grievances. Besides, they are engaged in networking with their godfathers and other political big bosses with an eye on the new posting. It is the common people who are hit hard by this ‘unofficial preoccupation’. The status of all files and complaints is pending as most of the officials are spending their time at Lucknow. Three senior officials at the Police Department of Meerut have already been changed. These include the Inspector-General of Police, the SP (City) and the SSP. According to reliable sources at the district Police Department, SSP Mukul Goel, was in a dilemma for over a week and had not been attending office regularly. He tried to get his posting stalled, but failed. The SP (city), Mr D. K. Chaudhary, has also got orders to move. Now, DIG Gurdarshan Singh and the SP (RA) are trying their best to stay put at Meerut with the help of a local SP legislator. The DIG may manage this but the stint of SP (RA) has been very controversial at Meerut.

In the administrative circle the Divisional Commissioner has been changed. The new District Magistrate, at least 3 ADMs and a city magistrate and 4 ACMs have got confirmation about their transfer and are just waiting for orders. In the Commissioner’s office several additional commissioners are in line for transfer. A similar situation prevails at the Regional Transport Authority office, offices of the UPSRTC, the UP Power Corporation, Education and Agriculture Departments and the Awas and Vikas Parishad.

Yet another milestone on IT highway
Ravi S. Singh
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, September 25
Gurgaon has attained yet another milestone in its march on the IT highway with the Semi-Conductor Complex Limited (SCL) launching ‘Vedant’, a specialised training diploma course in VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) design technology.

Significantly, Gurgaon is the fourth venue in the country where SCL has chosen to launch this much sought after advanced course and the first to have it in the National Capital Region (NCR). Consequently, Gurgaon will become one of the few centres in the country to boast of VLSI manufacturing, designing as well as specialised training.

SCL, with its headquarters in Mohali, is patronised by the Government of India. The six-month course, which will commence sometime in November, will admit 20 students in the first batch. The novelty in the course is that all fabrication facilities are available. Here, a designer can actually see the concrete version of the idea or the thought he generates on computer, according to an SCL official. Only those who have done B.E or B.Tech in Electronics, Telecommunications or Computer Science are eligible to take up the course.

The SCL official further pointed out that the scope for employment of VLSI designers had increased manifold with multinational companies like Wipro, Motorola etc entering the domestic market and willing to have a stake in it. Even those who are operating elsewhere are now outsourcing designers from India.

Referred to as integrated circuits, semiconductors contain myriad pathways, which connect millions of transistors and other electronic components. These transistors store information on the semiconductors and it is the job of VLSI engineers to design these chips, with computer aided design (CAD) tools, to be later sent for manufacturing on a large scale. VLSI not only reduces the size and weight of the circuit, thereby cutting costs, but also increases reliability and allows the designer to package more features. A VLSI design engineer’s job has become very specialised and high-profile, considering it is more to do with thought and creativity. The revolution in miniaturisation of electronics has been a result of the efforts of VLSI design engineers making it one of the most sought after profession these days.

According to experts, opportunities for IC design engineers are especially strong in the areas of digital signal processing (DSP) and design automation. Managing VLSI projects is one of the most complex engineering jobs to handle and commands higher remuneration.

Rally time in Haryana: Work goes for a toss
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, September 25
The routine work in a majority of the state government offices in the district and elsewhere in the state has suffered on account of two major rallies this week. Work is likely to resume by Monday after a gap of at least four days.

The Sanmaan Diwas rally, organised at Karnal today on the occasion of the 90th birth anniversary of late Devi Lal, had the district authorities in a tizzy for the past one week.

It is learnt that 275 private vehicles, including school and college buses, had been requisitioned and confiscated by the transport authorities to make these available for ferrying people to the rally venue.

The Congress party spokesperson, Mr Krishan Murti Hooda, has alleged that the authorities had coaxed the school managements into sending students for the rally.

The second rally of the week comes tomorrow at Hisar. It has been organised by the Sarva Karamchari Sangh, Haryana (SKS), the largest organisation of the state government staff.

The members of the SKS admitted work in a majority of the government offices might suffer tomorrow in view of the rally.

Indian women need to check the bulging midriff 

New Delhi
If the members of the fair sex find their midriff bulging, other than when they are in the family way, they should worry more about their heart than looks.

This warning has come in all seriousness from leading cardiologists in the country as they prepare to observe World Heart Day on September 28, which would focus on heart diseases among women.

According to Dr K. K. Aggarwal, Executive Vice-Chairman of the Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI), potbelly obesity is among the major risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD) in women, especially in India. TNS

POLITICS

JD(U) leader attacks Advani for remarks
on ASI report
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, September 25
The Haryana Pradesh Janata Dal (U) President, Mr Ved Parkash Vidrohi, has criticised the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L. K. Advani, for declaring the ASI report on Ayodhya excavation as a concrete evidence regarding the existence of a temple at the disputed site.

He said that Mr Advani was nobody to pass a judgement on the issue, which was being considered by the court. In a signed press statement issued here today, he said that only the civil court was competent to hold whether the ASI report was a substantial piece of evidence or not in the matter. He, however, cautioned Mr Advani not to create confusion among communities, as it would have serious consequences.

Referring to the short session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Mr Vidrohi criticised the Speaker, Mr Satbir Singh Kadian, for not allowing adequate time to the Opposition parties to expose the misrule and misdeeds of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) government, headed by Mr Om Parkash Chautala. He also alleged that Mr Chautala was misusing the majority of his party in the Vidhan Sabha and said that such tactics were dangerous for the survival of democracy in the country.

He said that every MLA including the legislators of the Opposition parties had a right to put their point of view and highlight the problems being faced by the people of their constituencies. However, it was unfortunate that the ruling party had tried to stifle their voice and ridicule them, he said.

COMMUNITY

SPECIAL FOCUS ON ROHTAK
Debate rages over varsity appointments among academicians
Our Correspondent

A team is presently in Korea for the signing of a MOU for collaboration in Doctoral and Post-Doctoral research between the Korean Energy Institute and Maharshi Dayanand University’s Department of Chemistry. The team members include the Vice-Chancellor, Maj-Gen (Retd) B. S. Suhag and Commissioner, Higher Education.

Teachers decry ‘unjustified’ recruitment policy
Our Correspondent

Rohtak, September 25
Reacting sharply to the specifications made in the recent government notification regarding the recruitment of junior basic teachers (JBT), the ‘Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh’ (HKMS), alleged that the government had inserted several ‘unjustified’ provisions to exploit the teachers. Mr M. L. Sehgal and Mr Kul Bhushan Sharma, general-secretaries of HKMS and ‘Haryana Rajkiya Adhyapak Sangh’, clarified that the selected JBTs would practically be debarred from the existing pay-scale of Rs 4,500-7,000 along with various other allowances.

They said the JBTs would now get a salary of Rs 5,000 per month during the first year and Rs 6,000 per month during the second year, while a JBT had been receiving a salary of Rs 7,470 per month at present.

In effect, they claimed that a teacher would be deprived of nearly Rs 30,000 per year. According to their calculation, the government would “grab” nearly Rs 10.70 crore from the teachers every year. Besides, the teachers would not be provided the facility of pension, they claimed. They alleged such ‘anti-employee’ provisions were unprecedented.

The union leaders alleged that the state government had dishonoured the agreements reached with the HKMS in June 2000 and with the ‘Haryana Karamchari Sanyukta Sangharsh Samiti’ in October 2002 and June this year. Barring a few minor demands, the government had not conceded their ‘just’ demands and had forced them to adopt confrontational methods. They said they had been demanding the removal of pay anomalies, payment of bonus pending for the last four years, regularisation of services of employees on ad hoc, daily wages or part time basis, revision of pay scale to the employees of Harijan Kalyan Nigam with effect from January 1996, adjustment of retrenched employees to other government departments, a check on the policies of privatisation and retrenchment, payment of salaries to municipal employees before seventh of every month and revision in the medical, travelling and other allowances. They said the fifth biannual conference of the mahasangh would be held at Hisar on October 18-19 where action plan for a state-wide agitation would be finalised.

Girl engineered own abduction, all for a friend
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 25
The reported abduction of a 14-year-old girl from the busy West Vinod Nagar in East district was a hoax. The girl, who was a student of class X in a government school, engineered her abduction to facilitate her friend’s marriage.

According to the police, the grandfather of the girl had lodged a complaint that his granddaughter had been abducted. He claimed that he received a call from a woman who told him that his granddaughter had been abducted. However, the abduction case was registered on the basis of his statement. He reported to the police that the victim was abducted by four youths in a Maruti van.

The complainant said the youths were in a Maruti van near the Jal Board office in Patparganj. While the victim was going along with her friend one of the youths talked to her and took her inside the van forcibly, driving away the car towards Ghaziabad.

However, the truth came to light about the abduction being engineered when she was questioned by a constable. The constable saw a girl who was asleep in an auto which was being driven. While the constable was questioning the auto driver the girl got up. The constable questioned her too during which she confessed to have engineered the abduction to facilitate the marriage of her friend, the police said.

NCC camp at Panipat from October 16
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, September 25
A 12-day NCC camp for the 12th Haryana NCC battalion will be held from October 16 to October 27 at Panipat. According to a report, about 600 cadets from four colleges and 16 schools of Sonepat and Panipat district will take part in this camp. The NCC cadets of CRA College, Hindu College, ITI and the Government polytechnic, Sonepat, will present cultural programmes in this camp.

According to another report, at least 60 girl students of various colleges are taking part in the 10-day NSS camp organised at Kharkhauda town in this district.

Demolition drive

The officials of the anti-demolishing squad of the district administration demolished unauthorised structures of at least 50 shops in the main bazar at Kharkhauda town, 19 km from here yesterday. According to a report, this step has been taken to widen the main road for the smooth flow of traffic. The officials used JCB machines to demolish the unauthorised structures in front of the shops.

Gold chain snatched

Two motorcycle-borne youths are reported to have snatched a gold chain from a woman in Sector 14 here last evening. According to a report, the woman was identified as Ms Krishna and she belonged to the Housing Board colony.

Suicide attempt

Pappu, a youth, was admitted to the civil hospital here last evening after he took sulphas tablets in his house at Garhi Jhinjhara village in this district.