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PUDA office flooded, XEN suspended Mohali, June 21 Following last night’s heavy rain, many PUDA officials discovered that rain-water had entered their rooms this morning. And while the first head to roll in this connection was that of the Executive Engineer (Projects) Paramjit Singh, who was suspended immediately, sources added that a complete inquiry had been ordered in the matter. Sources stated that Chief Administrator A.S. Chatwal was the first to react to the water having entered his room. Other than suspending Mr Paramjit Singh, responsible for the construction of the building, on charges of irresponsibility, he also ordered a complete survey of the building to assess the situation. It was later discovered that the water had entered the rooms through various north-facing windows in the building. The windows fitted into aluminium furnishing had not been water- proofed properly by the builder and the gaps allowed the water to seep into the rooms. PUDA’s seven-storeyed all-glass building was built at a cost of Rs 28 crore. The building was made functional in December last year when the Chief Administrator shifted from a rented office in Sector 17 Chandigarh to Mohali. Sources, however, told that the most fancy furnishing worth over Rs 3 lakh in the CA’s room had escaped damage from the rain water. |
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3 interviewed for Finance Secy’s post Chandigarh, June 21 The panel sent from Punjab has the names of Mr Jagpal Singh Sandhu (1983 batch), Dr G. Vajralingam (1986 batch) and Mr S.K Sandhu (1987 batch), sources in Punjab confirmed. One of them will replace the present Finance Secretary, Mr Karan A. Singh, a 1984 batch officer whose tenure ends in the first week of July. The Adviser will send his preference to the UT Administrator who will approve and then send it to the Government of India. The Finance Secretary in Chandigarh is also Secretary Health, Information Technology, Engineering and Chief Administrator for matters of property. Mr Jagpal Sandhu has served as Deputy Commissioner in Patiala and Sangrur besides Commissioner of Faridkot and Ferozepore. Dr Vajralingam has served in Chandigarh twice, once as Joint Secretary Finance and another time as Finance Secretary. In Punjab he has served as Secretary Expenditure. Mr S.K. Sandhu is presently posted as Registrar Cooperative Societies. He has serve as Director Industries and Commerce. |
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Another sex racket busted, 6 arrested Chandigarh, June 21 However, a woman
kingpin of the sex racket, Manjit Kaur, gave the police the slip. Jagdish, Rahul and Chandrashekhar Pandey, a Sector 45, resident arrested from the house along with the three girls. One of sex workers is around 28 years of age and has a child.
One The police said Chandrashekhar Pandey was also allegedly running a separate sex racket from his house in Sector 45. The police said Jagdish and Rahul were staying in the house in Sector 33 and the girls had been brought to the city on a monthly salary basis. Manjit Kaur had allegedly rented the house and the landlords were living separately. |
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City airport to have new apron by month-end Chandigarh, June 21 While work on the apron, where aircraft are parked for passengers to board, has being going on for the past several weeks, flight operations at the airport are continuing as normal. The surface is being laid in a manner which does not affect the movement of aircraft and most of the work is being done at night. The airport is being expanded to meet a perceived increase in passenger traffic to and from the city. The apron will now be able to accommodate three aircraft of the size of an Airbus 320 or new generation Boeing 737, along with a few small aircraft used for charters. The airport had parking bays for two aircraft earlier. While the switchover from concrete to bitumen has drawn objections from some quarters due to its low life and cohessive strength, officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said that the apron had been strengthen to bear the requisite load. According to an airline pilot, bitumen surface, which is not as cohessive as concrete, wears out very soon, resulting in loose pebbles. "At Chandigarh, an aircraft taxiing in from the runway has to turn to the left on the apron before coming to a halt at its designated bay. This results in immense strain in the left undercarriage, on which brakes are applied to negotiate the turn, causing a shearing effect on the apron's surface," he said. Airport officials, on the other hand, said that the use of bitumen hasd been done under a new policy devised by AAI headquarters, as it was not only easy to lay and repair but it also required less time. While aprons at some domestic airports have already been black-topped, some more would follow suit. Pilots have also been facing problems with markings on the apron. Lines marked to guide pilots to the taxiway connecting the apron to the runway were designed for the old Boeing 737-200, which had a wingspan of 94 feet. Airbus used by Indian Airlines and the Boeing 737-800, used sometimes by Jet Airways are larger. The 737-800 has a span of about 112 feet. This resulted in pilots relying on the sole judgement of aircraft marshallers. A new design of marking lines has been conceived for use on the enlarged apron. The airport building too is slated for expansion and upgradation to increase its passenger handling capacity. Presently, it can handle 100 passengers during departure and it is proposed to increase this capacity to 400. It is also proposed to have additional facilities for passengers onboard flights making technical halts at Chandigarh. |
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Although the UT police is doing everything possible to heighten awareness about road safety in the city, residents of the City beautiful seem to have adopted a couldn’t care less attitude to the problem. Be it a road, roundabout or intersection, the unruly traffic continues to find its way according to the whims and fancies of the drivers. Cars, trucks, buses, autorickshaws, motor cycles, scooters, cycle rickshaws and bicycles vie with each other to occupy space and be the first to reach their destination. Our cameraman Malkiat Singh, took this photograph of a scene on a Chandigarh road which requires no explanation. Rush for polyclinic The Health Department of Haryana has recently upgraded the dispensary of Mansa Devi Complex to a polyclinic. The department has sanctioned more posts and made specialists available for the patients of the area. While one post of Senior Medical Officer has been sanctioned, two medical officers, a dental surgeon and additional staff for labs would attend to the patients at the polyclinic. However, no sooner have the posts been sanctioned, the tussle to get a posting to the polyclinic has started. Those in top positions are enjoying the pulls and pressures, the tug-of-war between doctors, especially two gynaecologists, interested in being posted at the polyclinic, from the sidelines. As one senior doctor puts it, “Whoever is able to get a bigger sifarish gets the seat. We’ll just have to wait and watch, weigh connections and see who ultimately wins.” It was a children’s summer camp with a difference. The camp was for the mentally challenged children who were exposed to a plethora of activities in the 21-day camp organised for them at the Government Institute of Mentally Retarded Children (GIMRC), Sector 32 here. As many as 19 children took part in the camp where they were taught painting, pot making, stone painting, drawing, yoga, physical exercise and music. The parents who visited the camp appreciated the efforts being put by their children. The various products made by the students during the camp were put on display on the last day on Monday and a short programme on yoga, musical chair was also arranged. The prizes for most attractive items on display were given away by the Joint Director of GIMRC-32, Dr B.S. Chavan, who also presided over the function. Guidance tents All the efforts made by the student leaders to help freshers thronging the admission guidance bureau tents at Panjab University are not without a reason. For the university student activists grab every opportunity to help those confused by the admission maze to impress the newcomers and make them their potential vote banks. Although some may feel that admission guidance tents serve no purpose, many find them very useful. The students come to know about their results easily. In the process they not only save time but also a sum of Rs 250 for the purchase of a form along with prospectus. Ragging is also actively discouraged. — Sentinel |
Drive on public toilets comes a cropper Chandigarh, June 21 While the health authorities concede that defecating in the open is the biggest problem among the city slums and colonies, exposing the areas to epidemics, the solution provided by the authorities of setting up public toilets is hardly helping. For most of the colony residents, whose daily income does not cross Rs 100, paying Re 1 everytime for the nature’s call is nothing but exorbitant. Moreover, there are no takers for Rs 25 monthly family pass. “Why should I pay money to use the public toilet when the open spaces are there to be used. I earn less than Rs 100 per day and I don’t want to spend Rs 10 on using the toilets for myself and my family,” argues Virender Kumar, a resident of Colony No 5. A group of residents, with an average family size of five, gathers around him only to answer in affirmative. The stench from these areas, especially Colony No 4 and 5 is unbearable throughout the day with numerous flies hovering in the place. And the roads leading inside the colony are surrounded by litter on both sides. With one option passed off by the dwellers as “exorbitant” there isn’t any another option for them in the absence of properly laid sewerage. Even the personnel manning the single public toilet at Colony No 5 would let you know that the services remain unutilised throughout the day as the poor inhabitants in more than 100 hutments prefer not to part with their money. “We listen to all announcements made by Health Department officials on the microphones. They tell us to keep surroundings clean which would keep all diseases away. But the facilities are of no use when we do not have the money to pay,” said another colony resident. However, talking to The Tribune, the medical officer health (MoH) Dr G.C. Bansal admitted that the problem was compounding in the city slums. However, he said residents were habitual of not using proper toilets, there did not seem to be an end to the problem. “We can’t do beyond educating them about the diseases like diarrhoea and cholera which are caused by filth,” he says. |
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Loss of passports:
SSP assures fair inquiry Chandigarh, June 21 Mr Yadav gave this assurance when a deputation of certain prominent citizens of Chandigarh called on him in his office to demand a prompt inquiry into the case. Meanwhile, Mr Zora Singh, in a press statement, refuted the charge that he had lodged an FIR against the travel agency in order to blackmail it into parting with more money. “This is false and baseless. I never asked for money from the travel agency right from day one. It was the travel agency which offered to bear all expenses on getting new passports and visas etc,” he said. |
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Water level in Bhakra Dam up Chandigarh, June 21 With the monsoon expected to hit the North Western Region shortly , an improvement in the situation was expected. The release of water from the resevoir has been increased from 15,000 cusecs to 20,000 cusecs. Just a week, after facing a reduced inflows, the BBMB has cut back the outflow from 20,800 cusecs to 15,000 cusecs. The increase in release of water will result in increased generation of power from 88 lakh units to 116 lakh units. This will help in
preventing the transmission system from getting overloaded. |
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Search within PAIN and misfortunes strike like an earthquake with crushing suddenness and devastation. A train accident renders a lovely young boy into a living vegetable. A woman’s world collapses when the doctor to whom she had gone with some apprehensions, is told that she has breast cancer. Fear seizes the middle-aged breadwinner of the family as he finds on waking up that one side of his body has become lifeless. When suffering strikes, those of us standing close by, are flattened by the shock. We fight back the lumps in our throats, march resolutely to the family or the hospital bed to offer words of comfort. Even as we do so we are assailed by the futility of our efforts. Often we do not know what to say and may even look up articles or scriptures on what words we could utter to bring hope to the troubled minds.. It is perhaps that sense of futility that holds back some from visiting the sick. But then, they forget how the sick long for company. The patient and his dear ones may not look for miracle workers or charismatic personalities to make a difference to the situation. Often it may be the presence of a quiet person, who talks little and listens more, who does not offer much counsel or make judgements that may prove helpful to troubled souls. ‘’A hand to hold, an understanding, bewildered hug. A shared lump in the throat’’ in the words of Dr Paul Brand., famed for introducing reconstructive surgery for cancer patients who had lost their limps to the dreaded disease. Explaining human anatomy to medical students he had much to say about the skin and the sense of touch. The skin, according to him, is like the eye, a window. On it we read the health of the activities within. Anaemia shows in the nails and skin, drawing a ghostly pallor across its victims. Jaundice yellows the skin while a form of diabetes shades it bronze. Lack of oxygen in the blood causes a purple tint. Skin also provides a window to the emotional world within. We have a love affair with the skin and our chief response curiously is to adorn it. We daub it with shades and colours and support thereby a multi-billion dollar fashion industry. Compares with other finely decorated animals, the human seems naked, vulnerable, incomplete. More than that of any other species, our skin is designed not so much for appearance as for relating, for being touched. And this aspect of skin summons up the basic function of skin within the family of God. The analogy of the skin — soft, warm, touchable — conveys the message of a God who is eager to relate in love to His creations. Touch is the most alert of our senses when we sleep, and it is the one that seems to invigorate us emotionally: consider the lover’s embrace, the contented sigh after a massage, the cuddling of a baby, the sting of a hot shower. Anthropologists have found that close physical contact with mother animal is essential to the normal development of young animals. Except for man, all mammals spend great amounts of time licking their young. Animals will often die if they are not licked after birth. It was Dr Ffritz Talbot of Boston who first propounded the concept of ‘’tender loving care’’ through touch for new born babies. In Bellevue Hospital in New York which put her concept to test made a rule that all babies should be picked up, carried around and ‘’mothered’’ several times a day. The infant mortality rate then dropped from 35 per cent to less than 10 per cent. According to Dr Paul Brand, skin not only conveys information about the world, but also perceives basic emotions. Am I loved and accepted? Is the world secure or hostile? The skin osmotically absorbs these concepts and the world view they provide. He writes that as we grow older, skin offers us the most natural medium for communicating basic emotions such a s love. The world’s needs are increasing day by day. Each day the newspaper brings to us reports of violence, war, fleeing refugees and epidemics. The needs are so great that instead of shocking us into action, they make us callous, insensitive. While we may not be able to tackle all the world’s problems, we may start from where we are: visiting prisoners, taking meals to the shut-ins. Our skin requires regular contacts if it is to remain sensitive and responsive. There may be a neighbour, a relative or a needy member of your community who will immensely benefit by your touch.We must begin with our resources and our neighbourhood. — MPK Kutty |
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Fauji Beat A front page news headlined “Canal must to keep Sutlej water within country, says Army”, in The Tribune on June 14, has raised many eyebrows. It further reads: “Haryana’s case on the SYL canal has received support from an unexpected quarter-Army”. The Army representative told the Union Ministry of Water Resources Committee that the access water from the eastern rivers of the Indus system should not flow into Pakistan in summer or even during the monsoon. The Army’s views have drawn adverse criticism from politicians as well as from the public. At a time like this when the tempers are high on the SYL canal issue, the Army should have avoided expressing any opinion on the construction of this canal. It could have still expressed its opinion by saying that the water of our rivers should be utilised within the country. Experts on the subject feel that the Army’s opinion is based on the wrong premise. One of them, Dr G.S. Dhillon, Chief Engineer (retd), Punjab, says in a letter to The Tribune: “Any release below the Nangal Pond is held up for diversion into the canal system by the Ropar Headworks and thereafter at the Harike Headworks. Even seepage flow or leakage from the Harike Barrage is caught at the Hussainiwala Headworks and used in the Eastern canal/Bikaner canal. Consequently, not even a drop of water goes waste or flows into Pakistan”. Only during the monsson, the water is released into Pakistan. Has the Army forgotten what happened in Punjab in the 1988 floods? ask some experts. War memorial-Punjabis Standing near the Golden Arrow House crossing in Feroze cantonment, this war memorial was constructed in 1919. It reminds one of the sacrifices made by the officers and men of 19, 22 and 24 battalions of the Punjab Regiment who laid down their lives in World War I from August 1914, to June 1919. The War Memorial-Punjabis lists the names of all the fallen heroes of the three units. Being in good state of maintenance, it betrays a visitor of its age. It is seen that some of the memorials of our post-Independence wars are in a bad shape because of poor maintenance. Before a memorial is built, the responsibility for its maintenance should be clearly earmarked so that it does not fall into neglect. This responsibility should either be owned by the state or the unit/units concerned.
The famous 15 Corps Fifteen Corps, which celebrated its 63rd raising day on June 14, has an unparallled history in the Indian Army. Raised in Calcutta in 1942, it fought in Burma operations during World War II. On induction into Jammu and Kashmir, the Corps was designated as J&K Corps. Thereafter, it was first re-designated as LoC Area, and then as 15 Corps. The Corps had fought almost all the J&K operations single handed until 1972, including the 1971 war, successfully. It went through many tense moments in the Chamb sector both in 1965 and 1971 wars. Finally, in May 1972, the Northern Command was raised at Udhampur and the late Lieut-Gen Prem Bhagat became its first Army Commander. The Corps under the late Lieut-Gen Sartaj Singh, who was its GOC even during the 1971 war, moved to Srinagar. Another corps i.e. 16 Corps was also raised at the same time in J&K and Lieut-Gen JFR Jacob, who was former Governor of Punjab, became its first GOC. Incidentally, there are three corps in J&K now. Some of the famous Generals who commanded 15 Corps were late Lieut-gen Kulwant Singh, who was later GOC-in-C, Western Command, the late Lieut-Gen Bikram Singh and the late Lieut-Gen S.D. Verma, commonly known as Shiv Verma. He resigned while commanding 15 Corps in 1961, on some differences with the then Defence Minister Krishna Menon.
— Pritam Bhullar |
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Air Marshal Nigam to visit 3 BRD today Chandigarh, June 21 The engine would be handed over to Air Cmde S S Tilloo, Air Officer Commanding 12 Wing for use in operational AN-32 aircraft based at the local air force station. Besides AN-32 engines, 3 BRD also overhauls Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters and their systems. Air Marshal Nigam is arriving on a two-day farewell visit to 3 BRD tomorrow. He will be laying down office on superannuation on June 30 after 41 years' of service with the IAF. |
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Stress on spiritual approach to life Mohali, June 21 These views were expressed by B.K. Amir Chand, national vice-chairperson of the social service wing of Brahma Kumaris, while speaking at a reception of Social Reconstruction Campaign in Phase VII here. He said that man had learnt to fly in the air but his state of mind was declining. The root cause of increasing violence, corruption and degradation of values was lack of spiritual approach in practical life. Dr Ramesh Dutt Sharma, Minister of State for Transport, Cooperation and Public Grievances, Punjab, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said that earlier man was known by his character by now he was known by his wealth. He expressed deep concern on the ill-effects of Western culture, which had resulted in degradation of moral values. According to B.K. Prem, 21 social organisations of Ropar, Khamano, Kharar, Kurali, Mohali and Chamkaur Sahib participated in the campaign and presented mementoes, shawls, bouquets etc. |
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Notice to
Fun Republic Chandigarh, June 21 After conducting a survey on Saturday and Sunday a team determined that Fun Republic had been allocated a total of 12,000 square feet of parking space in the basement. About 7,000 square feet was being used for parking of two wheelers while the rest was being used as a store and an office. Already Fun Republic is facing a fine of about Rs 1.20 crore for alleged violations in the building. |
Lover follows beloved in death Chandigarh, June 21 They had clicked photographs of their clandestinely arranged marriage on June 18 in Nada Sahib Gurdwara, but did not survive even to get these developed. Jasmeet Singh of Muktsar, a final year mechanical engineering student of Punjab Engineering College (PEC), died today, a day after his 20-year-old wife Ishwinder Kaur. Ishwinder was also from Muktsar. Jasmeet died around 12 hours after his wife and beloved left him. They could not be separated even in death as post-mortem examinations on their bodies were conducted in the same mortuary in Sector 32 hospital within a period of few hours. The families of the two came to the hospital and separated them by taking away their bodies. Their family members kept sitting separately in the hospital for taking their bodies. There was no tension between the families after the death of their dear ones. Members of the boy’s family alleged the couple consumed Celfos tablets after the girl’s family yesterday threatened to take her away from Mohali and refused to recognise their marriage. While the girl belonged to a Jat family, the boy was from a backward class family. He was living in Sector 43 with his brother-in-law, while the girl had been living in Mohali for the past 15 days as a paying guest in connection with her training at C-DAC. When the members of the girl’s family reportedly reached Mohali to take her away, she rang up her husband and informed him about the move. Jasmeet Singh reached Mohali by a car and picked up Ishwinder Kaur. Frustrated at the resistance of the family because of difference of their castes, they entered a suicide pact and bought Celfos tablets from the Grain Market in Sector 26 here. They allegedly consumed it near the gate number two of the Police Line. Later, the boy called up his brother-in-law, Mr Avtar Singh, in Sector 43, and told him about their having consumed poison. Mr Avtar Singh, a teacher in Sector 43, asked one of his friends, Mr Preetam Singh, to go to help them he himself was busy in a test in the school. |
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Woman, paramour jump from building Chandigarh, June 21 The woman Anu Singla fell from the third floor after she saw her brother coming along with a team of the Punjab Police which had registered a case of kidnapping and criminal intimidation against her paramour Shakti Sharma in Nihal Singh Baba police station in Moga. The woman allegedly developed friendship with Shakti Sharma, who was her neighbour in Jagraon. The woman was married to Rajiv in Jagraon. Shakti Sharma has been arrested by the police. |
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Accused in Barista case evade arrest Chandigarh, June 21 The police is yet to identify five more persons who were also allegedly involved in the assault on Mr Saurabh Nagpal. The complainant had said that around nine persons entered the shop and started misbehaving with Mr Nagpal’s wife. This was objected to by Mr Nagpal and his friend Sidharth Kumar. The attackers had allegedly tried to take pictures of the women on their mobile phones. The name of the person assaulted was erroneously reported as Mr Subhash Nagpal in yesterday’s report. It was reported that he was assaulted and that there was an attempt to molest the women. The police had booked the attackers under Section 354 of the IPC for assault and use of criminal force with an intent to outrage a woman’s modesty. |
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