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Chandigarh Club: counting over,
suspense stays
Chandigarh, October 17 Earlier in the morning, Mr Justice Amar Dutt, while declining a stay on the counting of the votes on an application filed by a club member, Mr Rajeev Kwatra, ordered that the result would not be declared till the main petition pending with the Delhi-based Company Law Board (CLB) was disposed of. The Judge directed the board to take up the hearing of the petition on a day-to-day basis from November 4 onwards, which meant that the results would be officially under wraps till that date. Mr Justice Dutt also directed the club management, the returning officers, and Mr Neeraj Chaudhary, the board Observer, to ensure that “the result of the counting is not disclosed to anyone nor published in any manner.” The returning officers were directed to forward result in a sealed cover to the Company Law Board for the declaration of the result after a decision on the petition. The order said: “In the event of any party failing to produce any document, which it seeks to rely, on or before October 29, the CLB may draw an adverse inference against that party as would be available in accordance with law.” Mr Sanjiv Bansal, Mr R.C. Setia and Mr Amit Jhanji, counsels for Mr Mukesh Bassi, a contestant for the post of the president, opposed the application moved by Mr Kwatra. Meanwhile,
contrary to the expectations, counting was a low-key affair with very few members turning up at the club following the court order that the results would not be declared today. Though the contestants avoided passing any information about the results to the Press for the fear of “contempt of court”, yet smiles on the faces of certain candidates said it all. And by the evening, supporters of certain candidates were already in the party mood. Certain members had moved the CLB against voting by 461 members in the April 3 elections. They had alleged that the membership of the 461 members was “illegal” as they did not come under the original ceiling of 5,000 life and permanent members, who were eligible to vote under the Article Association of Chandigarh Club. |
Physically challenged swims across Sukhna for job
Chandigarh, October 17 As visitors enjoyed the sight of a physically challenged man fighting to swim through the two km stretch, they knew little about his past which has been all A regular visitor to the Employment Exchange for the past five years, Jaspal told The Tribune that he had given about 300 interviews and had been rejected every time. "My disability has been my greatest disadvantage. No matter how good a worker I am
and how determined,
no official in any government department
has been courageous enough to trust me. They feel I am of no help, although I have equipped myself well. I can type in English and can handle all official work with efficiency. What I can't do is get my right leg back, because I lost it due to polio as a child," he rues. Dejected, Jaspal resolved to swim across Sukhna Lake, no matter how much it pained. He went to a certain spot by motor boat and then started swimming towards the tower. Using freestyle and backstroke, he covered the stretch in two hours, six minutes and 30 seconds. And he was not too thrilled about his feat because it did not still ensure him a job. "I have done all that I could. I will now see how much substance is there in the suggestion that — if you do something adventurous as a disabled, you might be considered for a job in some government department. Otherwise, there is no chance," Jaspal said, his tone heavy with pain. |
NRI girl eludes cops, marries
Chandigarh, October 17 The parents of the girl and that of the boy could not attend the wedding as they feared that the Punjab police would implicate them in some case if they came out of the hiding. Immediately after the marriage, the couple again went into hiding and is likely to seek protection from the Chandigarh police. The couple had been in hiding since September 22, when they were betrothed against the will of the girl’s brother-in-law Rajwinder Singh who wanted to force the girl to marry his younger brother. Rajminder had allegedly even implicated his wife Sumandeep to force the NRI girl to marry his brother apparently to settle his brother in Canada. Sumandeep spent many days in jail in Ludhiana leaving behind her two-year old child. Rajwinder, who has connection with politicians, had allegedly set the Punjab police after the girl’s and her fiance’s family to force them to cancel the planned marriage. The marriage was solemnised by a Human Rights lawyer and an industrialist. |
‘Sr Dy Mayor
creating hurdles due to grudge’
Chandigarh, October 17 Targeting Mr Chhabra at a press conference held in the market, members of the association said he was intentionally creating hurdles in the holding of the shopping festival. “He has been looking for an opportunity to create trouble for us ever since I stood for parliamentary elections.” “With the Mayor away, he got the opportunity to mess up our festival by forwarding our case to the Finance and Contract Committee, which will decide our fate and forward the recommendations to the administration. In that case, who is MC to levy a fee on us?” asked Mr Arvind Jain, president of the association. “We want the CBI to conduct an inquiry into the manner in which the MC grants permission for holding of exhibitions at various venues in the city. The Senior Deputy Mayor books grounds for organising exhibitions. Doesn’t that lead to traffic chaos? When the MC allows setting up of stalls for the Rose Festival and blocks flow of traffic, doesn’t that put residents to inconvenience? These exhibitions are only ways of evading sales tax since the participants are allowed to carry out sales,” he claimed. “We are only trying to hold a festival just like we have done in the past. There is nothing new about it. Why is the MC hell-bent on inviting trouble? Last week, Mr Chhabra even went to the extent of telling me to ask the local MP, Mr Pawan Bansal, to give him a call to clear the file. He is playing politics and spoiling the image of the Congress. We will write to the Congress president, party’s local president and everybody who matters and apprise them of the role of Mr Chhabra,” Mr Jain stated. When contacted, Mr Chhabra, said he did not want to comment on the matter since the granting of permission for the festival was an internal matter of the MC. |
Suicide by sarpanch’s husband
Chandigarh, October 17 According to the police, Sajjan Singh stopped his motor-cycle at the back side of the PGI near a choe and allegedly took some poisonous substance. He immediately collapsed at the spot from where the people took him to the PGI last evening. He died late in the night, the police said. Sajjan Singh hailing from Nada village had property dealing business in Nayagoan. He has two children. The body of Sajjan Singh had been handed over to his family after a post-mortem examination. The police has registered a case. |
Politicians upbeat over Aiyar’s remarks
Chandigarh, October 17 Politicians feel that such a reform is long overdue in an important UT like Chandigarh which, besides being the only planned city in India, also serves as the seat of government of Punjab and Haryana. Elected representatives, including the MP, have a rather limited say in the functioning of the UT Administration which, more often than not, treats them with disdain bordering on contempt. The bureaucracy feels that such a setup here may be totally unnecessary. Chandigarh geographical area is spread over just 114 sq km and includes 18 villages with a total population of just 10 lakh. A single agency like the UT Administration is enough to run and maintain it. Therefore, there was no need for a municipal corporation here. As a matter of fact, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation set up almost 10 years ago, has failed to spur the development of the city in any way and is being looked upon as a white elephant which the UT, with its limited resources, can ill-afford. That may be so but the fact remains that the residents still see Chandigarh as they used to 30 years ago when the government, in its attempt to quickly populate Le Corbusier’s City Beautiful, was offering all sorts of exemptions from taxes and a host of incentives to attract people from all over the region to come and settle down here. Chandigarh was originally planned for a population of five lakh only. But over the years, it has grown tremendously. Every 10 years, its population has grown by 40 per cent. Today it stands at nearly 10 lakh. The number of sectors also has grown and today there is hardly any vacant land available in the city. However, the people of Chandigarh continue to live in a time warp. They don’t want to grow along with a growing Chandigarh. They want to continue to enjoy indefinitely the tax exemptions and concessions originally offered to them by the government for a limited period only. CMC’s salary bill on its staff exceeds the grant in aid it receives from the Government of India through the UT Administration. While the grant-in-aid from the UT was Rs 45 crore in 2000-01, Rs 50 crore in 2001-02, Rs 52.90 crore in 2002-03, Rs 72.29 crore in 2003-04, it has been pegged at Rs 52.90 crore during the current financial year. As against this, the salary bill was Rs 47.89 crore in 2000-01, Rs 55.12 crore in 2001-02, Rs 54.54 crore in 2002-03, Rs 58.03 in 2003-04 and is expected to touch an all time
high of Rs 71.75 crore during the current financial year. There is no octroi in Chandigarh. By contrast, the neighbouring town of Mohali raises Rs 16 crore annually from octroi alone. “In Chandigarh, which is much bigger in size and where the level of trade, commerce and business activities are much higher, we can raise at least Rs 100 crore annually from octroi alone”, says Mr M.P. Singh, Commissioner, Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. Repeated attempts to impose a comprehensive property tax in the city have failed so far. After several attempts, the CMC recently adopted a resolution imposing a tax on only commercial property equal to 3 per cent of the annual rental value. The tax yield may be peanuts when compared to the total property tax potential of Rs 175 crore every year but it is seen as the thin edge of a wedge as regards the imposition of property tax in Chandigarh is
concerned. In Hyderabad, the Municipal Corporation raises Rs 500 crore through property tax alone. Parking fee was introduced in major sectors in the city after a major struggle and now yields about Rs 2.50 crore annually. Water tariff, revised twice in recent years, is expected to yield Rs 4 crore this year. Sewerage cess will
contribute another Rs 1.20 crore. |
Time ripe for Indo-Thai pact on tourism: Narula
Chandigarh, October 17 This was stated by Prof P.S. Narula, Chairman of the Thai Chapter of Global Indian’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while talking to mediapersons here on Thursday. He said nearly 10.8 million tourists visited Thailand in 2002, and as most of them stayed for an average of at least 8 days, the revenue generation was over $ US 7.5 billion. The size of the country, he added was 20 times less than that of India, but more than 1 crore tourists from overseas visited the place every year. The number of tourists coming to India is about 20 lakh. He attributed the vast difference in numbers to better infrastructural facilities, government incentives and friendly attitude of the people. He suggested that in order to attract more international visitors and give a boost to its tourism industry, India needed to focus more on developing its transportation, accommodation facilities, besides going in for skilled human capital. Giving figures, he said there were nearly 85,000 non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin in their country, most of whom were of Punjabi origin and constituted 0.7 per cent of the total population of Thailand. Elaborating on the business opportunities between the two countries, Professor Narula said he would be bringing a 15-member delegation to India by January 15 to explore the possibilities of having joint venture with the Punjab Government in the areas of agriculture and horticulture. Even the handtool industry of Jalandhar had immense trade potential between the two countries. Later, he released a concept paper on “Emerging Business Opportunities: Thailand and Northern India, prepared by the Institute of Tourism and Future Management Trends (ITFT)”. The paper suggested pilgrim packages, including Buddhist circuit, Ram Tirath Ashram at Amritsar, Radha Swomi headquarters at Beas and for promoting golf tourism. Suggestions have also been made for a mutual exchange of a group of 10 students, besides a FAM tour of travel agents and tour operators for training them as travel guides and tour escorts. Mr Narula also highlighted the scope of film-based tourism since a lot of movies have already been shot in Thailand. Bangkok, the capital of the country, has already become a centre for medical tourism as Bumrumgrad Hospital in the city alone attracts 2,70, 000 patients from other countries across the world, which is higher than the total inflow of foreign patients in Malaysia and Singapore. India, too, should tap the potential that exists in medical tourism. The Director, ITFT, Dr Gulshan Sharma, suggested that with a view to fostering better cultural ties between the two countries the Thai cultural -cum-cuisine festival should be organised in City Beautiful on the eve of Baisakhi next year. He said Thai Airways would shortly be starting its flights from Delhi to Amritsar and Thailand. Prominent NRIs from Thailand would participate in the NRI investment conclave, scheduled to be held on January 15 at Chandigarh. |
Army discharges artillery troopers in unlawful manner
Chandigarh, October 17 Under instructions issued by the Artillery Regimental Centre, technical assistants in the Artillery placed in low medical category were served discharge notices as the strength of their category had exceeded the sanctioned strength. According to sources, the strength could have increased only if the recruitment was not propotionate to vacancies available. Documents in possession with The Tribune contains a nominal roll of 155 personnel who were served discharge notices, while another contains a list of 72 names. Since personnel were discharged in phases the number, according to informed sources is much higher. These include personnel who had seen active service during the 1999 Kargil conflict and were deployed on active duty during Operation Parakram. The fact that the dismissal process was unlawful and arbitrary is borne out by the Army reinstating a handful of personnel who sought legal recourse. An order issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court a few days ago has also directed the Army to act upon a legal notice issued by a dismissed JCO who had subsequently moved the court. Army regulations provide for troops placed in certain low medical categories to be retained in service if vacancies exist. Those affected were to be discharged from the Army with effect from December 31, 2002. While the Army stated that the number of technical assistants have exceeded the sanctioned strength, available information reveals that there was, in fact, a deficiency in certain trades and categories from 1998 onwards. In order to overcome the deficiency, there were large-scale transfers and absorption of personnel in various trades from other arms and corps into the Artillery. Due to apparent miscalculations of the posted strength, fresh recruitment was carried out in 1999-2000, besides the aforementioned transfers. The contents of the discharge order are a revelation in themselves. While one paragraph of the order states that those to be discharged would be served a show-cause notice by the commanding officers of the respective units, the next paragraph states that no representation, except those from battle casualties would be accepted. The order also implicitly states while being examined by a release medical board, the personnel's existing low medical category status will not be changed or upgraded. This is regardless of the individual's current medical status. Further, the individual would not be sent for review examination and would be examined for release only. Though the individuals concerned were to be issued a show-cause notice and their replies were to be processed by the Army, the order clearly states that the personnel listed would be discharged from the Army, Further, the cause of discharge to be mentioned in the individual's discharge book is to be different from the actual reason for discharge. |
Sikh Regiment Museum to be upgraded
Chandigarh, October 17 General Devraj spoke about the performance and achievements of Sikh units deployed in counter insurgency operations as well as delved upon the activities of units based in other areas. He also highlighted various welfare measures for ex-servicemen and widows. Posted as Chief of Staff, Central Command, General Devraj had been appointed as Colonel of the Regiment about two months ago. About 50 officers along with family members attended the get-together. A number of officers also came from places like Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Delhi to meet their old comrade-in-arms. |
Urdu daily editor hails Pak journalists’ visit
Chandigarh, October 17 In Chandigarh on an invitation from Pracheen Kala Kendra, Kazmi shared his experiences about working in the state which has long suffered because of secessionist movement. As head of the largest circulated Urdu daily in his region, Kazmi said his top priority was to be sensitive to the needs of his readers and advocate peace at any cost. He also hailed the recent visit of Pakistani journalists to Kashmir. “They could at least see the ground reality for themselves. They even had to withstand the ire of public at some place in the valley,” said Kazmi, who looked after the entire travel plans of the Pakistani newspersons who recently visited Jammu and Kashmir. “We are now taking a delegation of about 10 Indian journalists to Pakistan. The plans have been approved and we are short-listing journalists,” he said. The delegation will go on November 17. |
Events mark TA anniversary celebrations
Chandigarh, October 17 Addressing officers and other ranks, Commander of the Western Command TA Group, Brig G.J. Singh, felicitated them for their outstanding performance in various fields and dedication to duty. He said that the role of the TA units had been lauded not only for the security-related tasks in Kashmir, but also for the exceptionally good work of greening the ecologically degraded Bhatti mines in Delhi, where TA personnel had planted 1.25 lakh saplings against a target of one lakh in the past year. About 30 personnel, including the Group Commander, donated blood for patients admitted to Command Hospital, Chandimandir, at a camp organised in collaboration with the hospital. Brigadier G.J. Singh also gave away prizes to units as well as individuals in various fields, including sports and adventure activities. The celebrations culminated with a barakhana attended by officers, men and |
Writers’ meet begins; organisers caught unawares
Chandigarh, October 17 Matters became worse as there was no candle to light the celestial lamp. The chief guest had to manage with a matchstick. Although reward worthy insofar as its purpose is concerned, the meet could have attained greater relevance had the organisers paid attention to important aspects like the language they use to conduct the proceedings. Many linguistic contradictions came to the fore during the meet as most delegates spoke only in Punjabi and understood the same. A small section of writers like Gayatri Saraf from Orissa spoke in their mother tongue. The proceedings were also largely conducted in Punjabi, leaving foreign delegates like Dr Janet Levaltey from Sri Lanka, Jurga Jvanausleaite from Lithuania, Olalere Oladitan from Nigeria, some Romanian and Sri Lankan writers at their wits’ end. Foreign writers, however, were gracious enough to admit that they could “sense” whatever was going on. The function was thrown open by Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal who stressed the role of writers in countering the forces of violence that have engulfed the world. Sahitya Akademi award winner Dr Mohan Bhandari delivered his presidential address in Punjabi, saying war was a grim reality of our times. “Writers should treat themselves as commentators, not peace activists,” he said. Thankfully, Dr Atmajit Singh, the first speaker during the session on “World peace and literature” spoke in English, talking about the power of intellect. Admitting that writers were not always sure of what they wanted to say, he added writing could help anyway. “Intellectual power dominates money power and muscle power. Writers can contribute immensely by diluting the impact of aggression,” he said. Gurdev Chauhan underlined the importance of creating awareness about the necessity of peace. As writers talked peace, one could feel the absence of representative writers of Punjabi and other languages. Surjit Patar, Dalip Kaur Tiwana, Manjit Tiwana, S.S. Hans could have served the purpose by throwing better light on the aspects of peace. It would also have been purposeful to invite writers from Jammu and Kashmir. Any discussion on peace seems futile unless it features perspectives of those who have borne the brunt of violence. Many among the audience also felt that a representative from Kashmir should have been present, especially when the meet was a “world writers’ meet”. Some felt that experts on comparative literature like Prof Namvar Singh from Delhi could have been invited to focus deeply on the topic of deliberation. Later in the day, delegates recited poetry. Dr Olalere Oladitan involved the gathering by singing a peace song. He raised a valid point saying: “Peace may be a provocation to a hungry man.” He also recited a poem on the reasons behind violence. Other poets who recited their verse were Bhushan Dhyanpuri, Taran Gujral and Dr Manjit Indra, who also conducted the stage. The meet is being organised in association with the UT Administration. |
Devotees continue to throng shrine
Panchkula, October 17 As many as 70,000 devotees visited the shrine today. Till yesterday, offerings worth Rs 7,04,086 have been collected with Rs 3,19,724 offered yesterday. Other than this, six gold items, 58 silver items and 18 litres of ghee have been offered by the devotees. Today, a dandiya was organised by the SMMDSB near the Yagyashala in the shrine complex. A number of participants played traditional dandiya, as they sang hymns in praise of the Mother Goddess. Dressed in the traditional attire, the dandiya raas was a visual treat. The SMMDSB had also arranged for artistes for this programme. In the evening, a bhajan sandhya was organised, and the artistes from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya sang bhajans in praise of the Mother Goddess. |
Cash, goods worth Rs 1.50 lakh stolen
Panchkula, October 17 The burglary came to light last night, when some neighbours saw that the main door of Mr V K Mahindru’s house was open. One of the neighbours, Mr D N Sachdeva then informed Mr Mahindru that the lock of the main door of his house was broken. The family reached here late last night, and found that the house ransacked. The police was informed and they found that the miscreant(s) had forced their entry in the house by breaking the lock of the main door. The family says that the accused probably knew where they kept the cash and jewellery and only these rooms were searched. Gold jewellery, weighing about 22 tolas, Rs 40,000 cash, and silver utensils were found missing. A dog squad was brought to the house in the morning, and a team of finger print experts were also rushed here in the afternoon. The police have registered a case of burglary, and started investigation. |
Jewellery, watches worth Rs 1 lakh stolen
Mohali, October 17 Mr Ravinderjit Singh, an occupant of the house, said that two gold sets, gold rings and a kara besides watches had been stolen. He said the family had left for Balachaur around 9 am. When they returned home at 2 pm his mother found that a door which had been locked from the outside had been bolted from the inside. When she peeped in from a window she saw that the light in the store was on and its door was open. Belongings in the store were lying scattered. On entering the building they found that the whole house had been ransacked and belongings were lying all over. Cupboards had also been searched. The family said there was always someone in the house and it was on rare occasions that all left together. |
Police claims solving 4 cases of theft
Chandigarh, October 17 According to the police, Manchanda was stopped at a picket in Bapu Dham two days ago and during the
verification of documents in his possession, it was found out that his vehicle was bearing a fake registration number. The scooter was later traced to be from Bapu Dham. Its original number was CH03 8333 instead of CH01 N 6030 displayed on the vehicle when it was stopped at the picket. The scooter had been stolen from the Bapu Dham Colony, according to the police. The police said Manchanda was a drug addict and had even lifted old vehicles and dismantled them to sell them in parts. The police had got two-days of remand of the person and hopes to make more recoveries. However, thefts continued in the city in other areas. Two watches, one gold chain, one pair of diamond earings and some clothes kept in two bags in a Maruti car parked in the Shastri Market Sector 22 were stolen. Ajay Kumar from Delhi complained that his belongings were stolen yesterday from his car bearing registration number DL 8 C 8552. A mobile phone of a Sector 17 A resident was stolen from near plaza. One gas cylinder, regulator and Rs 5,000 in cash were stolen from house number 1943 in Janta Kumhar Colony. |
Industrial exhibition concludes
Panchkula, October 17 She added that a large number of components displayed by bulk buyers like Railways, Defense, HMT and BHEL will be helpful in the development of vendors for existing and prospective small industrial units. As many as 80 small scale industries participated in this fair. The small scale industries catering to Railways, Defence and ancillary units of HMT also participated in this exhibition. |
e-Governance workshop today
Chandigarh, October 17 The three-day workshop is being organised by the Society for Promotion of e-Governance (SPEG), New Delhi. The workshop is sponsored by IBM India and Quark India, and supported by Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Chandigarh IT Club, and the Punjab Engineering College. |
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