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Bansal woos voters with sops Chandigarh, May 4 Mr Bansal said the Congress Government would be increase income tax exemption slab to one lakh. He said the taxation policies of the BJP government had led to a big division in society. Mr Bansal addressed a gathering in Sector 32 where he promised the local residents that the repairs of low income group houses will be taken-up on priority basis. He also said the Congress government will make provisions to enable house owners to utilise more space in their houses. He also addressed a meeting of presidents and secretaries of resident welfare associations of southern sectors. Mr Bansal assured them that the unfinished task of development of southern sectors will be taken-up on priority basis. Mr Bansal addressed lawyers of the Punjab and Haryana High Court at a meeting organised by Mr Anmol Rattan Sidhu, President Bar Council. He said he has always stood by his colleagues even in adverse times and has taken up issues for the cause of lawyers fraternity in his capacity both as a Rajya Sabha member and as member of various Lok Sabha committees. Earlier, Mr Bansal undertook padyatra in Phaida and Jhumru villages along with local residents and also visited Sector 18 and 15-D. In Sectors 27 and 28 Ms Harpreet Kaur Babla, a councillor, and office- bearers of the Residents Welfare Associations carried out door-to-door canvassing for Mr Bansal.
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Dhawan ridicules
Bansal’s claim on development Chandigarh, May 4 Mr Dhawan said the Annual
Plan for the city was approximately Rs 220 crore whereas Mr Bansal in
his term got Rs 8 crore as MPLAD funds. Development of the city was
lacking on several accounts. “The claim of having spent Rs 8 crore
was a humorous claim, he said. Mr Dhawan said instead Mr Bansal should have used his office to get some major projects for the city which could result in a significant economic growth and more jobs for the unemployed in the city. Mr Dhawan said he had brought the projects of Government Medical College, Sector 32, the Mauli Jagran Housing Complex and the Kajauli Water Works to the city, besides certain others. Addressing
a rally he said “I will ensure a balanced Rent Act in the city in
case I am elected as a member of Parliament”. Interacting with
traders in Sector 15 he said ” the common man cannot digest the
explanation of Mr Bansal and Mr Jain that they were not aware of the
Rent Act notification. Mr Gurpratap Singh Riar, president of the local unit of the SAD, accompanied Mr Dhawan during his campaign trail in different parts of the city during the day. In a separate press note, Mr Riar said the SAD voters should cast their votes in favour of Mr Dhawan because he had been given the direction personally by Mr Prakash Singh Badal, SAD president. He alleged that certain people with vested interests were spreading misinformation that the SAD was with the BJP. Mr
Dhawan went from shop to shop in Sector 34, 35 and 41-D markets. He
was weighed in ‘ladoos’ in Sector 41-D. He also addressed the
Residents Welfare Association, Sector 61. |
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Poll media management goes hi-tech Chandigarh, May 4 Earlier mediapersons had to wait till late evenings during the campaign period to get the latest information on routine activities. Except for visits by big political leaders political media offices had to rush to newspaper offices in the late hours of the day for routine coverage. “Our offices did not even have fax facilities. We had to rush to STD booths to send our notes. There were only about four newspaper offices. The job has undergone a tremendous change with coming in of so many newspapers in the past few years. The coverage has increased and so has our task”, Mr Pradeep Chhabra, media in charge of the Congress said. The scenario now has been replaced by e-mails. By about 6 p.m. the daily notes about the campaign trail are on the computer screens of reporters. The party information offices are equipped with professionals working on computers. The cellphone has made the task easier for providing latest information to party
offices. Media-related activity begins early at Kamalam, BJP’s office in Sector 33. By 6 a.m. Mr Kehar Singh
Koundel, in charge of the media cell, is through with screening of the daily newspapers. Mr Koundel says, “The media cell gets to their task immediately. The facility of the cellphones has also helped us. Party workers call the media cell from their respective spots and keep updating it about the latest development.” Mr Chhabra said e-mails had solved a lot of problems. The number of messages to be sent each day had gone to about 100. “We e-mail the matter and also send it through fax. Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, Congress candidate, takes great care in briefing his media cell about the day’s plan. “ He chooses the most important issue for the day on which he is going to concentrate on his campaign trail. The updating of the on the spot developments is done continuously through latest information”. Mr Sandeep Singh, spokesperson of the Indian National Lok Dal, said, “We are making a conscious effort to choose a topic for the day on which Mr Harmohan Dhawan concentrates during his poll campaign. His major plank is highlighting the non-performance of the BJP and Congress candidate during the past 13 years compared to what he did during his tenure in parliament. More newspapers means more coverage.” Mr Mohammad Ibrahim Siddiqui, an Independent, said, “We do not have sufficient money to spend on the campaign and what can we talk of media management. Our functions are poorly covered.” |
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Associations’ wake-up call to middle-class voters Chandigarh, May 4 Fearing low turnout of the urban middle-class voters, members of these associations in Mohali are going from door to door, asking them to vote for an accountable, responsible and a dedicated candidate. Prof Bhupinder Brar, Department of Political Science, Panjab University, said, “It is a good idea to mobilise the middle-class segment of urban voters”. “We are hopeful that our efforts would result in at least 10 per cent more polling by the urban middle class voters”, said the secretary-general, Citizens Welfare Federation, Mr A.S. Shyan. The Citizens Welfare Federation is the apex body of the sector welfare associations of Mohali. The Senior Citizens (Pensioners) Council led by Mr A.S. Bhatti and the Consumer Protection Forum led by Mr P.S. Virdi have also joined hands with the Citizens Welfare Federation led by Mr B.S. Tej in this regard. Claiming to be apolitical, members of the association said they strictly avoid campaigning for any particular party or candidate. “Individually each of us may have some political affiliations but this is not reflected in our campaign,” added Mr Shyan. A political analyst said due to the polling pattern political parties were dancing to the tune of the poor living in clusters while the educated sections were getting marginalised. It could only be through greater participation of the ‘thinking class’ that the political system could be reformed, he added. “When we go to a Member of Parliament or
Legislative Assembly with our demands we are often told that the urban middle class segment is not interested in voting”, a senior member of a residents welfare association said. |
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Call to make MPs answerable Chandigarh, May 4 The issue was chosen in reference to a trend of poor or an average turnout at majority of general elections in the country, a spokesperson said. Mr Onkar Chand, Chairman of the society, said there should be continuous monitoring of an MP’s performance during his tenure. Prof P.P. Arya, convener, said the MPs should be regularly answerable to the voters for their performance during their entire period in the Parliament. Mr Satya Pal Jain, BJP candidate, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, Congress candidate, Mr Harmohan Dhawan, Indian National Lok Dal candidate, Mr Arvind Jain, Mr Surinder Chauhan and Mr Dharam Paul Sharma, all independents, attended the function. Mr Bansal reiterated the growing significance of secularism in our country. He said he was in favour of a system where a voter could exercise “none of the above”. Mr Jain highlighted the importance of voting in the context of Indian democracy. He highlighted the need for an inter-state council for further development of the city. Mr Dhawan said each candidate should be careful in drafting his manifesto in order to maintain the sanctity of the exercise rather than indulging in vague promises. He said “ the present political system breeds only corruption and deserved only rejection”. He was taking a dig at the “non-performance of the Congress and the BJP candidates during the past 13 years in Parliament. Mr Sharma highlighted the issues of Panjab University employees, especially the pension issue, which had been ignored by the previous MPs. |
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170 EVMs sealed Chandigarh, May 4 The work of sealing was carried out at Punjab Engineering College in the presence of representatives of political parties by teams formed under 11 assistant electoral returning officers. Polling in Chandigarh will be held on May 10. |
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Public holiday on May 10 Chandigarh, May 4 It will also be a closed day under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 thus banks and other financial institutions will also remain closed. It is also mentioned in the order that it will be a paid holiday in industrial shops and commercial establishments and for daily wage employees. |
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First Vote
I am eagerly waiting for May 10 when I will, for the first time,
contribute in the formation of government by casting vote. These days, politicians want to feather their nests. They can also stoop to any level or use any tactic for achieving their targets. In these circumstances, it is very difficult for the common man to choose To make the right choice we will have to be careful about the candidate and the party he belongs to. His antecedents, status and academic qualifications should also be kept in mind. It should also be seen whether the candidate has the capacity of raising the problems faced by common man in Parliament. In case the candidate belongs to the party in power, his past failures and achievements should be kept in mind. If we do not consider all these points then we are not only giving the reins in wrong hands but also putting the country’s future at stake for another five years. |
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Mafia don’s accomplice wants to quit crime Chandigarh, May 4 Satpal, who is facing 10 cases of murder, dacoity and kidnapping, has asked the Sector 34 police station to provide him security as he was getting threatening calls from Saini’s men as well as from Mumbai and Kolkata. Satpal, who contacted a few reporters on telephone, told The Tribune that he had made up his mind to leave the crime world because his girlfriend was persuading him to do so. He said the plight of his family members and friends who were getting isolated because of his crime record had also made him take this decision. Satpal, however, refused to inform about his whereabouts. He told The Tribune that Om Prakash Saini and the arrested Jail Superintendent of Burail Jail D.S. Rana were allegedly partners in the murky business. He claimed that Rana had identified him to be capable of carrying out the
dictates of Om Prakash Saini. Satpal said Saini was called “Bhai” and that he was the one who used to plan and execute crimes on behalf of O.P. Saini who was running ransom business from the Burail Jail. He said two of Saini’s hitmen had been killed in an encounter in Uttaranchal while trying to rob a bank. He said this encounter also made him take the decision to leave underworld. Satpal said Saini, the local representative of Chhota Rajan, had offered him whatever he demanded not to leave his gang which now has more than 70 members in the city. Satpal was allegedly involved in the contract killing of the Kiran Cinema manager. Satpal said they had planned the kidnapping of Golden Forest Chairman R.K. Sayal’s son for a ransom of 25 crore. He said kidnapping specialists Sanjiv Sahu from Kolkata, Illias, alias Chhota Dana, from Delhi and Satta king Bhola’s right hand man Ram Niwas were sent here to help him to execute the plan. He said the Operation Cell, however, got a wind of the plan by tracking Satpal’s mobile phone. Satpal said this is how the organised crime taking its root in the city came to light recently. He said during the interrogation by revealing
Satpal said O.P. Saini recently got his dearest friend attacked in Ambala as shots were fired at the wind screen and tyres of his vehicle in two separate incidents. He refused to reveal the name of his friend. He claimed that he had met all these gangsters, including Harpreet Happy who was behind the blast near the American Centre in Kolkata, in separate jails. He claimed Saini and Happy had met in the Burail Jail. Satpal said his efforts to return to a normal life had suffered a setback recently when he went to a jeweller to purchase something for his sister but the jeweller did not trust him. He claimed it was difficult for anybody in the city to refuse him protection money whenever demanded. Satpal said his niece and nephew did not want to talk to him because of his involvement in crime. Satpal is also facing a case for allegedly snatching a revolver from a Chandigarh Police personnel in Panchkula. |
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Inside Babudom Chandigarh, May 4 Mr Mukhwinder Singh Chhina, who was shifted from Jagraon to Moga a few months before the announcement of Lok Sabha elections, has become the third district police chief in Punjab to be transferred by the Election Commission on complaint
basis. District police chiefs of Ropar and Jalandhar had been transferred after the election process was set in motion on February 29. While in neighbouring Haryana, the state police chief, Dr M.S. Malik, was ordered to be shifted as his wife decided to contest the election as an Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate, transfers of police officers in Punjab have been ordered for their alleged partisan role favouring the ruling Congress party. Against change of the top man, no other officer has been shifted in Haryana while in Punjab the number of police officers transferred in the past two weeks has crossed the 20-mark. So far an Inspector-General, Mr Rajinder Singh; two Deputy Inspectors-General, Mr G.S. Grewal and Mr P.S. Sarao, and three Senior Superintendents — Mr G.S. Bhullar and Mr Surinderpal Singh — all IPS and Mr Mukhwinder Singh Chhina, a PPS officer, have been transferred. “Police officers are always the first target of Opposition parties. Though other civil servants are equally involved, but not many of them are unceremoniously shifted,” remarked a senior police officer holding that some of the police officers shifted at the instance of the Election Commission never got the field postings again. He cited some instances of those shifted during the 1999 elections. Of three SSPs shifted then, two never got back into field again. Only one who got back as district police chief was again shifted before the 2002 assembly elections as the home district rule was applied on him. * * * Who is Mr Pramod Kumar Tiwari ? Going by the website of the Election Commission, he is an IAS officer of the 1991 batch posted in Chandigarh and made Observer for the controversial Godhra parliamentary constituency in Gujarat. But none in the administration knows about this officer. Of the 31 IAS officers of Himachal Pradesh, 54 of Haryana and 51 of Punjab named as Observers for the elections, a few of them have got into key constituencies which have been in headlines. Mr Bhagwan Singh Nainta of Himachal who belongs to the 1990 batch is Observer for Rae Bareilly constituency from where Mr Rahul Gandhi is contesting. Mr Tarun Bajaj (1988 batch — Haryana) and Mr Gurinder Singh Grewal (1990 batch, Punjab) are observers for Mumbai South and Mumbai South Central constituencies, respectively. |
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World Asthma Day Chandigarh, May 4 On the World Asthma Day, Additional Professor of Pediatrics at the PGIMER Dr Meenu Singh said that pollution was not directly responsible for asthma. Quoting a research, another doctor added that over 18 million working days were lost worldwide to asthma each year. In the UK, one person died from asthma every seven hours. However, 90 per cent of these deaths were preventable. He added that over 50 per cent of the patients with asthma were living in fear and often isolation. Their relationships were being adversely affected by the problem. Claiming that the number of asthma patients, including children, was increasing, Dr Meenu Singh added that the causes included change in lifestyle and exposure to allergies. She asserted that a large number of residents were not permitting sunlight to penetrate carpeted rooms by drawing heavy curtains encouraging the breeding of bacteria and insects. She claimed that junk food too was taking its toll. “As far as asthma is concerned, sunflower oil is not very healthy, along with other oils which increase `oxidative stress’. Rice brain oil, soybean oil and olive oil are recommended for the asthma patients. She added that breast feeding was a must at least for six months as it helped in protecting the child from different allergies. “If you introduce foreign proteins in your child’s diet, the chances of allergy increase,” she added. Smoking, the doctor asserted, should be avoided in the presence of an asthmatic patient. The patient should also avoid the same. Dogs, cats and cockroaches should not be allowed inside in case you are suffering from asthma. The symptoms among children include cough, wheezing, attacks of respiratory difficulty. The problem aggravates mostly from March to April and from October to November due to change of season. In Punjab, wheat-dust aggravates the problem. The habit of sports, swimming and yoga should be encouraged among the children. |
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Wage hike eludes Admn staff Chandigarh, May 4 Salaries of government employees were expected to rise substantially from April 1 as the Union Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, in January, had announced the clubbing of the basic salary and a portion of the dearness allowance. Meanwhile, the Central Government employees received hiked salaries from May 1. The rise has been between Rs 600 and Rs 1,500 depending upon the seniority, status and whether the employee occupies a government house or not. About 10,000 Central Government employees are posted in Chandigarh. Chandigarh
Administration officials say, “We are bound to follow the Punjab pattern of
pay scales.” Sources in Punjab Government say the Capt Amarinder Singh government had set up a committee to establish the financial implications on the exchequer in this regard. The Finance Department,
The Administration is bound by the Re-organisation of States Act, 1966, to follow the Punjab pattern of service conditions for its employees. Administration sources said the rise in salaries could not be stopped. However, Punjab would have to do it first, they added.
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No headway in Simran murder case Chandigarh, May 4 Acting on a tip off, the police had picked up two persons from Ropar about a fortnight ago. But their interrogation also revealed nothing. Simran’s parents, on the other hand, say “we have a grudge against the police as even after nine months no progress has been made in the case.” The parents of the girl fear that the case may go “untraced” as the police had reportedly claimed that progress could not be made in the case as the parents of the girl had gone to the USA. For some time, their house was also reportedly locked. However, the police denies that it had ever cited these reasons. The father of the girl, Balbir Singh, told The Tribune from the USA that the police had reportedly claimed that the mother of the girl had some clues about the case. He said “Whatever we knew, we have already explained to the police at every visit of the officers concerned to our house.” He said they had left the country with permission from the Inspector General of Police for three or four months for medical treatment as his son lived in the USA. Mr Balbir Singh denied that their house was locked in their absence as was claimed by the police. The Crime Branch handling the case, however, refuted the charges and said the department had never claimed that the progress in the case had been hampered because of the absence of parents of the girl or because the house was locked. The police said as many as 70 persons, including the milkman, vegetable vendor, class fellows of the girl, family members, her friend with whom marriage was being discussed and cousins had been interrogated till today. Vir Dalwinder Singh and Harminder Singh, relatives, were put through polygraph test in the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) but the scientific opinion had suggested that they were making truthful statements. The police recently again wrote to mobile service providers to keep a track of the mobile stolen after the murder of the girl in order to get fresh clues. |
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Budh Purnima celebrated Panchkula, May 4 The school director, Mr Pritam Singh Serai, spoke on the life and teachings of Gautam Buddha. The participants were given prizes. |
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Buddha Vandana held Chandigarh, May 4 Community lunch and dinner as well as debate and quiz competitions were also held. In the evening, a solo dance performance by children besides games were organised. A hall was inaugurated in the complex. |
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Cyclist seriously injured in mishap Chandigarh, May 4 After the accident, the car driver, while trying to flee, also hit a scooter and a motorcycle on the Dakshin Marg (near Sector 32) and injured three more persons (riding the two-wheelers). The car driver managed to escape but was later apprehended in Panchkula. When the reports last came in, condition of J.P. Singh was stated to be critical. The police has registered a case against the driver, who has been identified as Raj Kumar. |
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Condolence meeting for Chandolia today Chandigarh, May 4 The meeting will be held on May 5 at 12.30 p.m. at Rose Garden. Employee organisations of Punjab, UT and Central government will attend the meeting. |
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Cash snatched from Panchkula resident Chandigarh, May 4 According to police sources, Mr Naresh Kumar of Sector 12-A, Panchkula, was going on his scooter when he was intercepted by the youths. They beat him up before snatching the bag. Mr Kumar, however, managed to note down the registration number of the motor cycle, which he has given to the police. A case has been registered. Meanwhile, a resident of Milk Colony, Dhanas, Ashok Kumar, has been arrested for allegedly stealing a stereo from a car parked at a house in Aman Colony in the area. He has been booked under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC. LALRU:
Sukhbir Singh, a resident of Chandiala village, was injured when his motor cycle rammed into a rehri on the Kalka-Ambala highway at Dappar village near here late on Monday night. According to police Sukhbir was on his way back when the accident took place. He was taken to the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi, but was later referred to the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh. |
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Woman robbed of
Rs 15,000 Panchkula, May 4 According to the police, Ms Reshma Devi, a resident of Sector 15, was returning from the bank after withdrawing the money when she was robbed. The police has registered a case on the complaint of the woman. |
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CITCO records Rs 11.22 cr profit Chandigarh, May 4 This is 29 per cent more than the profit generated by the corporation during 2002-03. Stating this here today, Mr
S. P. Singh, Managing Director of CITCO said the corporation recorded a turnover of Rs 275.83 crore which was Rs 52.82 crore more than the previous year. The main profit making units in terms of cash profit are: Hotel Mountview Rs 7.75 crore, Hotel Shivalikview Rs 1.89 crore, Chief Lakeview Rs 1 crore, Steel Depot Rs 2.85 crore, Hotel Parkview Rs 83.49 lakh and petrol station Rs 49 lakh. |
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