 |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
20 pc polling in PU graduate constituency
Chandigarh, September 19 In contrast, the response of the teaching fraternity and the principals in affiliated colleges of the university to elect their representatives to eight seats each in the Senate was far more encouraging. At most booths, nearly 50 per cent voters turned up to cast their vote. In the graduates’ constituency, most of the 33 booths in the city wore a deserted look with voters barely trickling in and the staff sitting idle for the better part of the day. Interestingly, the response in the southern sectors was better as compared to the northern sectors. Sources in the election office of the university said 20 per cent voting for elections was an all-time low, especially since the percentage fluctuated between 30 and 40 per cent, depending on the area. It is learnt that following reports of bogus voting from some districts in Punjab, the university sent two inspectors to supervise the electoral process. These complaints came from Muktsar, Malout and Fazilka, among other places. Just before polling was suspended for lunch, only 31 of the 531 votes of the Government College for Girls, Sector 11, had been cast. While 15 votes had been cast at the Law auditorium in PU by noon, at DAV School-15, 42 votes had been polled. In the afternoon session, a little before the ballot boxes were sealed and dispatched to the university, only 142 of the 827 voters of Government College, Sector 11, had bothered to cast their vote. In two booths in a Government School in Sector 40, 264 votes against the registered 1,516 voters and 603 votes of 1,473 voters were cast at the
end of the day. At Punjab Engineering College, out of a total of 514 voters, only 83 turned up to elect representatives. In Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula, 215 of 1,536 votes had been cast by 3 pm. Meanwhile, outside the polling booths, the supporters kept their spirits high, distributing pamphlets and cards and urging the voters to give their candidate the first-preference vote. The tent of each candidate was decorated with posters and banners while those who could not afford tents had to make do with putting up banners to seek support.
Sidelights *
Women who came to cast their votes at the Sector 23 booth were not allowed to cast their votes by the polling officer on the ground that their identity cards carried their husband’s name and not their father’s name, as mentioned in the list. *
The polling agents of Anu Chatrath came to their rescue and, finally, after a couple of phone calls to university officials and a wait of over one hour, these women were allowed to cast their vote. *
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof K.N. Pathak, an alumnus of the university, did not cast his vote. He said he had decided against participating in the poll to maintain the non-partisan character of his office. *
There were rumours of bogus voters being caught in polling booths in Sector 26 and Sector 46. It is learnt that the matter was later sorted out though the university denied having any clue about the same. *
At Thapar institute in Patiala, there were reports of a scuffle between supporters of two candidates. There was no police presence at this particular booth. *
A former Principal of DAV College and a Senator, Mr R.C. Jeewan, had to return without casting his vote for the simple reason that his name was no longer on the voters’ list released by the university for these elections.
|
|
A fatal turn to an
adventure sport
Chandigarh, September 19 Ankush, who was to turn 18 next month, reportedly received head injuries and gulped water when he slipped out of the boat in a strong current at around 4.30 pm yesterday. The other students of the college saved themselves with the help of life-guards and the rafting guide. Mr Ashok Sharma, father of Ankush, said his son had called him at 6 am yesterday that he had reached Rishikesh and would not be able to later call the family as mobile phones do not work in that area. Mr Ashok Sharma, a Central Excise Inspector, who lives in Sector 45 here, got a phone call from Ms Madhu Chitkara, Principal of Chitkara Engineering College, late last night that his son was ill. Mr Sharma asked her why the call was made so late, asking her if something unpleasant had happened. Then, Mr Sharma kept on unsuccessfully trying to contact the Chitkara Engineering College management. Mr Sharma alleged that there was no teacher along with the students when the mishap took place. He also said that no one from Chitkara Engineering College had either contacted or visited them at home after his son was declared dead. Mr Sharma told Chandigarh Tribune that around 150-200 students had gone on the tour. Mr Sharma, who went to Dehradun to bring the body of his son, said the doctor in the Civil Hospital had told him that his son had died when he was brought to the hospital, which was 20 km from the accident spot. The doctor also told Mr Sharma that students of the same college had also suffered from food poisoning. A sobbing Mr Sharma said his daughter, the younger sister of Ankush, was telling them that the house was looking gloomy after Ankush had gone on the tour day before yesterday. A friend of Ankush told Chandigarh Tribune that Ankush was a brilliant and playful boy, who met him the evening he left for Rishikesh. Ankush, who wanted to pursue his studies in computer science in the United States, had secured around 90 per cent marks in the matriculation and 82 per cent in the Class XII exams. He was the cricket captain of Saint Annes School. Ankush after taking admission in Chitkara Engineering College had got selected in Punjab Engineering College also. Meanwhile, parents of a student who today returned here said that the students had fallen ill as they were served bhang-laced pakoras by the catering contractor, and when students started behaving unusually, the teachers had to call doctors. The bhang was suspected to have been served to loot the students who had mobile phones and Rs 4,000 in cash each. The trip was to return on Tuesday. Sources said the Uttaranchal police had got a complaint against the caterer and the person who provided tented accommodation to the students. The vice-chairman of Chitkara Institute, Mr Mohit Chitkara, told Chandigarh Tribune that life-guards were there when the incident took place and there was a rafting guide also in the boat which met with the accident. Mr Chitkara said Ms Madhu Chitkara had talked to the father of Ankush about the incident but did not tell him about the tragedy at that stage as she did not want to shock them. Mr Chitkara also denied that there was any food poisoning in the camp.
|
|
Industrialist kidnapped, murdered
Panchkula, September 19 The murder of Rajan Bhuchar came to light after the family approached the police. The victim’s body was recovered from the forest area between Kala Amb and Nahan in Himachal Pradesh. Rajan Bhuchar, a resident of Sector 2 here, had gone to his friend-turned-business partner, Mohinder Singh’s house to discuss the launch of their joint business venture yesterday morning. SP Mamta Singh says that Rajan had recently sold off his factory in Industrial Area, Chandigarh, and Mohinder expected that the Bhuchar’s had received a lot of money. “Our investigation has revealed that Rajan was drugged by Mohinder with the purpose of kidnapping him, and getting the ransom
amount. Later, he got scared that Rajan would spill the beans. He, along with his two Nepali servants, decided to eliminate Rajan,” she adds. The police suspects that Rajan was strangulated to death. The suspects bundled Rajan’s body in his green Esteem car and sped away towards Nahan with the intention of dumping his body. They drove in the interior forest areas between Kala Amb and Nahan and threw his body in a gorge. While coming back, the accused made telephone calls to the Bhuchar’s residence, and demanded Rs 25 lakh ransom from the victim’s father Joginder Pal Bhuchar. The police says that they made several telephone calls to negotiate the ransom amount. They later abandoned the victim’s car near Nadda Sahib in Panchkula. In between, Mohinder Singh, pretending to be concerned over Rajan’s disappearance, continued to make calls, asking if the family had received any word from Rajan’s kidnappers, the police said. “The family approached the police in the morning, and the police traced the telephone calls to Kala Amb, a village near Nahan, and to Mohinder’s factory in Sector 2. The police then rounded up Mohinder, who later confessed to the crime,” says the SP. A police team, led by the SP, rushed to Nahan and recovered the victim’s body late in the evening. Though there was no apparent injury mark on his body, the police says that a post-mortem would reveal the exact cause of death. All three accused were arrested by the police late tonight.
|
|
Breasting the tape to make it snap!
Chandigarh, September 19 Around 1,000 measuring tapes were ordered for measuring chests of the candidates, sources said, adding that at this rate more tapes could be required during the selection which will stretch into the middle of October. Around 35,000 of 1.34 lakh candidates have already taken their physical test comprising chest-height measurement and a race of 1,600 metres to be covered in six minutes. Incidents of a high number of measuring tapes snapping are followed by reports that candidates from Haryana, especially from Rohtak and Sonepat, get a special training to hold their breath while giving measurements. A police officer said a candidate whose chest may measure 32 inches in an unexpanded state would hold some breath inside while exhaling to bring it to the required level of 33 inches. Apart from a tight measurement, the police officers are also asking the candidates to count up to 10 in an unexpanded state of chest to find out if some breath has been held back. The sources said there were candidates who had already appeared in many police recruitment physical tests and they knew the tricks. There were a number of candidates who had participated in the previous recruitment drive in the Chandigarh police. The candidates from Rohtak and Sonepat are believed to be leading in clearing the physical test. The candidates from these two districts of Haryana have a very high percentage of getting selected in the Delhi police also. The candidates have been complaining that the selection committee, chaired by the SP (Traffic and Security), Mr Amitabh Dhillon, has been rejecting candidates in the physical test arbitrarily. The police, however, says the physical test that is being
videographed, tries to ascertain a candidate does not adopt a trick during the selection process. The selection committee has been taking tests of around 3,500 candidates every day during the past 16 or 17 days. The chest measurement is done after the candidate has cleared the 1,600 metre race in six minutes. A member of the selection committee said already the candidates were profusely perspiring while giving the measurement. The measurement is taken at the closest level possible to eliminate the possibility of a trick getting through, but in the process tapes give in. Interestingly, the chairman of the selection committee gets mobile phones of the officers involved in the selection switched off. Two separate enclosures have been made for those who clear the race. As soon as six minutes are completed, the rope of the finish line is raised to segregate the selected and the failed candidates. A police officer said an interesting aspect had come to notice that the bulky candidates generally did not clear the race while the lean ones invariably fail in the measurement test.
|
|
Dog helps police to find rightful owner
Mohali, September 19 Which the dog did. Vazeer, the four-month-old pup was back with his ‘family’. But happier than Vazeer is the family who got their loving (and expensive) dog back...a month after it got lost. A businessman of Mohali, (who insisted that he not be identified had bought Vazeer, a few months ago. This businessman, a dog lover, had employed a trainer to take its care. All was well till August 16 when Vazeer got lost about a month ago. We looked for him all over the place but failed. I reported the matter to the local police and they took my application assuring me that they will get back to me once they trace the
dog,’’ the businessman said. Obviously the police had better things to do and Vazeer could not be found. A month passed and the owners had almost given up the hope. ‘‘One day, a friend of mine, who lives in Sector 70 told me that he had seen a similar dog with another family in a park there. We got curious. My dog trainer went to check out this dog and confirmed that it was Vazeer. When my dog trainer asked the family where they got the dog from, they did not respond and instead rushed back into their home,’’ businessman added. We went to the house and asked them to show the dog. But they claimed themselves to be Vazeer’s owner. Since they were not willing to tell the truth, I had to take the help of the police to sort out the matter. Vazeer was asked to choose his owner and he came rushing to me. He is just a pup and will end up getting friendly with anyone but he still chose me,’’ the businessman added. Police sources added that the other owner, a bank officer, claimed that the dog was given to them by someone. ‘‘When that person was called, he said he too had been given the dog by someone else who had left for Australia. It was a difficult decision to take since the Sector 70 owners were showing us vaccination cards of the dog whom they had named Sultan. Moreover, we were under pressure from both sides to resolve the issue in their favour since both are well connected families. That is when we decided that the dog be allowed to resolve the issue,’’ a police official said.
|
|
IIAS to lay greater stress on research in science
Chandigarh, September 19 The Chairman of the IIAS, Dr G.C. Pande, feels the "miscellaneous character" of the institute with regard to studies is inhibiting its expansion and limiting its scope to the narrow confines of research without any substantial contribution to society. "We need to evolve it as a research-centric institute rather than letting it continue with the miscellaneous character where researchers are only looking for answers to fundamental problems of life and thought. We want to be able to produce research that will contribute to widening the vistas of learning," says Dr Pande. In the city for a seminar on "Sri Aurobindo's Vision of Future of Humanity" at Panjab University, here today, Dr Pande said that work in the direction was already underway and the Institute was in touch with the authorities concerned. "We are taking some major projects around which such research can be carried out. These include Indian civilization, philosophy and culture. Also, we are going to be laying greater emphasis on research in science. While we are publishing a number of research journals on varied subjects, a journal focussing on these new areas we are venturing into, is also in the pipeline," Dr Pande stated. "For any creative enquiry and inquisitive mind, the institute is paradise, given the conducive study environment and its well-stocked library. However, our fight is against it being treated more as a resort than a learning centre. The IIAS is not a holiday resort as has been thought conveniently in the past," Dr Pande, a former Vice-Chancellor of Jaipur and Allahabad University, asserted. Expressing satisfaction over the court's decision to let the IIAS function from its present premises, Dr Pande added that shifting out of the Viceregal Lodge would have meant an unnecessary expenditure of nearly Rs 6 crore. Speaking about "Bhagirathi", a collection of Sanskrit poems which won Dr Pande the coveted Saraswati Samman, instituted by the Birla Foundation recently, he disclosed that his poetry revolved around the river of tradition in history, time and culture. "Since I associated my work to a flowing river, Bhagirathi was thus named. a collection of 250 poems, the book went through an exhaustive screening exercise before being chosen for this honour. The best works in all the languages of our country were picked up and one book was shortlisted from each language. Again, from this lot, Bhagirathi was chosen," he explained. Ecstatic that he was the first to get the award in Sanskrit, he rued the fact that none of the Hindi works produced had earned the award so far. "Works in Punjabi, Urdu and a number of other languages have received the award. However, despite being shortlisted on a number of occasions, Hindi writers have been left behind in the final round. Hopefully, next time our mother tongue will get lucky," he concludes.
|
|
BSNL can survive with better services: telecom expert
Chandigarh, September 19 "This is the dilemma facing every wireline operator in the world", says Mr Inder M. Singh, Vice-President, Communications and Head, Technology Research, Prudential Equity Group, based in New York. In an interview with TNS here on Sunday, he points out that "more and more people all over the world are migrating from wireline to wireless phones because of the obvious convenience of mobility and wireless communication. With the development of advanced technology, it is now possible to offer data, video and a host of other services on the mobile phones. The revenue for the cellphone operators is coming from these services. "The fixed line operators, on the other hand, have been losing customers to the wireless operators. Nobody wants to remain tied to a fixed line when he can get all he wants while mobile. Instead of trying to make up the loss of revenue through a raise in the tariff, the fixedline operators have to lower it in tandem with the wireless operators who keep on offering innovative schemes, including frequent trimming of tariff to lure There are still a large number of people who may prefer fixedline phones over mobile phones. But in order to stay in business, fixedline operators will have to find an answer to the challenge of providing data and video on the same copper wire which is presently being used to offer only voice communication to their subscribers. Maybe, he says, the experiment which is being tried out in the USA these days can be replicated in India too by large wireline operators like the BSNL. Technology has been developed to provide data and video on copper wire. Turning to the constant debate about the comparative merits and demerits of the competing wireless technologies, CDMA ( Co Division Multi Access) used by cellphone service providers like Reliance, Tata Infocomm and Connect and GSM (Global Standard for Mobility) employed by players like Airtel, Spice and Hutch, CDMA has certain obvious advantages in terms of initial investment, operating and upgrading costs. Therefore, emerging markets like China are using exclusively CDMA. It is also in use in the USA. But in Europe, it is GSM which rules the roost. In India, there is a mixture of the two technologies because initially, companies like Nokia and Ericsson which supply handsets to India are based in Europe which uses
only GSM. But this debate will become meaningless once India too upgrades to third generation of communications in five to 10 years. This upgradation has already begun in Europe and the USA. Companies like Samsung have already come out with handsets which can run on both CDMA and GSM technologies. Mr Singh says that the next wave of growth will come from broad band communication. Digital subscriber
line (DSL) holds the key to future communication. In Europe, DSL penetration has already reached 80 per cent while in the USA, it is around 50 per cent. In India, where it is still in its infancy, the penetration is confined to a few hundred thousand homes only.
|
Minority status for sehajdhari Sikhs sought
Mohali, September 19 Addressing a press conference here today, Dr Paramjit Singh Ranu, president of the SSF, said the Government of India notification, dated October 8, 2003, that debarred the sehajdhari Sikhs from casting their votes in the SGPC elections was a mere political move of the NDA government and needed to be undone. He added that a census report released recently had shown that the number of Sikh population had declined to 6.1 per cent. Sikh religion is a minority religion and by dividing Sikhs into amritdharis and sehajdharis, a schism within a minority has been created, he said pointing out that 80 per cent of the total number of Sikhs in the world are sehajdharis. Giving details of the definition of a Sikh, an amritdhari Sikh and a sehajdhari Sikh, Dr Ranu said while it was mandatory for an amritdhari Sikh to be a keshdhari Sikh, a sehajdhari Sikh could be or not be keshdhari. But a Sikh who is not baptised at all and goes ahead and cuts his hair cannot be considered a ‘patit’ and removed from the fold of Sikhism, he said. Dr Ranu said the SSF would be strengthening its body and focusing on the youth.
|
|
Punwire former employees lay siege to Garcha’s house
Mohali, September 19 According to the president of the union, Mrs Garcha assured the employees that she would arrange their meeting with the Chief Minister next week in connection with their demand for the revival of Punwire. Over 200 former employees of the company, earlier in the day, held a dharna outside the residence of Mr Malkiat Singh, OSD to the core committee, formed to look into the Punwire’s revival. Alleging that Mr Malkiat Singh had not shown interest in the work entrusted to him by the committee, the employees said they held him largely responsible for the failure of the revival plan. Employee leaders pointed out that if Mr Malkiat Singh wanted he could have ensured that the revival process continued as planned. He did not show any interest whatsoever in the matter. He should have realised that here we are talking about the livelihood of a thousand families, we are not a mere company listed for closure, said Mr Shahid Ahmed, president of the union. The employees, after raising slogans against him and the government moved towards Ms Garcha’s house who lives nearby. According to sources, Ms Garcha initially refused to help the employees pointing out that they had been following her political contender, Mr Bir Devinder Singh, for help and should continue to do so. However, when the employees stated that internal schism within the Congress should not work against the cause of the employees, she agreed to help them.
|
|
Talk on tax-saving schemes for ex-servicemen
Chandigarh, September 19 About 60 officers and their families residing in and around the city attended the meet. Set up in 1990, The Navy Foundation is a forum for all retired officers and families to meet on occasions. The Chandigarh Charter has about 80 members. Tips on investments, tax-saving schemes and writing of the will given by a city-based lawyer Anil Batra, who also interacted with the foundation members on these issues. Commodore B.S. Bajwa, who was deputed by the Naval Headquarters, spoke on the importance of the recently launched ECHS and also highlighted some of the welfare measures being initiated by service headquarters for the benefit of the retired community.
|
|
|
Domestic help dies of poisoning
Mohali, September 19 According to the police, the post-mortem report has shown that Kunwar Singh died of poisoning and was also drunk when he died. The police has started inquest proceedings under Section 174 of he CrPC. The police said foul play in Kunwar Singh’s death could not be ruled out as he had been visiting his relatives a day before his death and could either have been killed or have committed suicide.
|
|
One held on sodomy charge
Panchkula, September 19 The police says, that he apprehended the boy, a class VIII student of Government School in the village, while he was on his way to the school. He took him to the fields, and molested him. The boy told his father, Jarnail Singh, about the incident who informed the police. Barkha Ram was arrested under Section 377 of the IPC.
|
|
Two booked for selling land illegally
Chandigarh, September 19 The cases were registered after the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Arun Kumar, recommended registration of cases against five persons including these two. The DC had also recommended registration of cases against Gurdev Singh, Jaswant Singh and a witness, Rammurthy. These persons are accused of selling plots below 1000 square metre. No arrest has yet been made.
|
|
1 killed as three-wheeler overturns
Chandigarh, September 19 The driver of the vehicle Ram Ujaggar Yadav of Colony No. 4 was arrested after he was booked under Sections 279 and 304 of the IPC in the Sector 31 police
station. Arrested: Arvinder Singh and Ravinder of Panchkula were arrested for allegedly picking the pocket of Rakesh Kumar of Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh at the ISBT, Sector
17. Car stolen: A Maruti car of Mr H. K. Dutta of Sector 22 was stolen from the front of Pizza Hut in Sector 26. Ganja seized: The police has seized 148 gram of ganja from Nathu Jha of Pandit Colony in Kajheri Colony.
|
SBI to interlink all its branches
Chandigarh, September 19 It is learnt that during the first phase of the project, nearly 2,000-odd branches in all big cities will go online by March 2005. Thanks to this facility, account holders will be able to make transactions in any of the branches from anywhere. The process of making all 29 branches of the bank in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula go online is going at a fast pace and is likely to be completed shortly. A senior official of the bank said 6,000 more branches would be covered during the next phase and subsequently all banks would be interlinked with the help of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited ( BSNL). Once the project is through, a customer would be able to withdraw money from any branch and deposit it in same in some other depending on his convenience. Of the 674 branches in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Chandigarh which have to go online in the region, 40 would do so by the month-end. As many as 150 more branches would be covered during the next six months. Sources add that almost all branches in big cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Patiala, Ambala, Shimla will go online. It will perhaps be the first nationalised bank to go online in a big way and the BSNL has the capacity to handle such a project and will be providing them the required lines. Meanwhile, it is learnt that Punjab National Bank (PNB) is also planning to go online with a few of its branches to begin with and the rest depending on the response.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
