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Outgoing Chandigarh Club executive indicted
Chandigarh, November 26 A Member of the Principal Bench of the CLB, Mr K.C. Ganjwal, observed that the executive members “cannot suddenly put the blame on the Acting President.” They were equally responsible and could not be allowed to take benefit from their wrongs, the order added. Those against whom adverse remarks have been made by the CLB include Mr Sandeep Bansal, Mr Sandeep Sahni (now vice-president), Mr Naresh Chaudhary and Mr Ajay Bir Singh, all re-elected members. Mr Anmol Rattan Sidhu, Mr C.M. Munjal, Mr Prem Bhushan Sharma and Mr Gopal Gupta are the other members. The then president, Ravinder Chopra, died in August last year and Mr Sunil Khanna took over as acting president. Counsel for the executive members had contended that Mr Khanna had taken the decision to enrol members without consulting other executive members. However, going against the contention of counsel, Mr Ganjwal, wondered why members had remained silent for over three years. They had been enjoying the benefits of being executive members and had not performed their duty, the board said. “They were duty bound to initiate legal\other remedial actions. They were party to the enrolment of members beyond 5,000 in contravention of the rules,” Mr Ganjwal stated. “They cannot suddenly turn back and put the whole blame on the shoulders of the acting president,” he added. While declaring the new executive, Mr Ganjwal yesterday constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Mr Neeraj Chaudhary, CLB Observer, to scrutinise the cases of the members enrolled after 1998.
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‘Khamosh Pani’ close to
Kiron’s heart
Chandigarh, November 26 She was in the city in connection with the screening of the movie for select audience at Fun Republic, Mani Majra, on Friday. The movie is being released on December 3 all over India. Speaking of the movie, she said, “Playing Ayesha was a very fulfilling experience. My mother hails from West Pakistan. She has been witness to Partition. I grew up on the stories of that time. I acted out the role from instinct. Delivering Punjabi dialogues came naturally to me. The locations are real and no set has been used. To portray the bygone era, a French designer has given authentic looks to the sets.” “Khamosh Pani” has won 14 international awards, including the Golden Leopard awards for the best film, actor and direction. It is a Pakistani-French-German co-production. The story begins in 1979 in Pakistan under President Zia-ul-Haq, when the country embarked on the road to Islamisation. Ayesha’s life revolves around her son Saleem. In love with Zubeida, he and his mother live in the village of Charkhi in the Pakistan Punjab. Saleem gets involved with fundamentalists. The story takes a U-turn when a Sikh pilgrim from India comes looking for his sister, Veero, who was abducted in 1947. Filled with many touching moments, the film is likely to strike a chord with the viewers. The movie is directed by Karachi-born Sabiha Sumar. She studied filmmaking and political science at Srah Lawrence College in New York. “Khamosh Pani” is her first feature film. Kiron , who recently received the award for best actress for this movie in Karachi, was visibly delighted. “It has not been released in Pakistan, but there have been 40 private shows. May be because of political reasons they couldn’t release it in Pakistan. No distributor from there has come forward till now,” she revealed. Commenting on the likelihood of tax exemption for “Khamosh Pani”, she said: “The government has recently exempted the tax for ‘Veer-Zara’. We can also try for ‘Khamosh Pani’. We are planning to invite Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to watch the movie and we would request him for exemption,” she said. Shyam Shroff, director, Shrinagar Films, was also present on the occasion. He said, “This movie is really appealing and many people can identify with it.”
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Carnival magic set to unfold
Chandigarh, November 26 Apart from the much-needed element of magic, an extra dose of glamour will be added to the festival by Kiron Kher who will throw the festival open at the Leisure Valley in Sector 10 here tomorrow morning. The zing of the festival will be sustained through the two days which will be all about fun with children, elders and youngsters. Science and mathematics literacy is also high on the priority of organisers who, through CEVA’s Friends of Children’s Corner, will organise several science friendly events. One among these will be the science corner which will have well laid out science experiments on air pressure, sound, light and heart. Says Harleen Kohli, who is coordinating the event on behalf of CEVA, “The idea is to educate children while they have fun. We will also have many puzzles, language games and collage-making workshop.” The collage-making workshop will be conducted by Raja Jaikishen, while another interesting event called Mathe-Magic will be conducted by Anupama Neogi, a maths instructor with a local school. She will pose maths queries to visitors. Veteran actor Parvesh Sethi will dress up as a “Hazar Jawaab” to address queries related to the relationship between parents and children. Another much-awaited event is the costume corner where costume collection expert Surinder Sood will allow visitors, especially children, to wear his costumes free of cost and get pictures clicked for their family album. Also involved in the festival this time will be Poonam Singh of Preetlarhi magazine. She will run a special story-telling corner. Away from science and languages, four martial arts experts from the city are evolving an obstacle course for children. This will be the new feature in this year’s festival which will also feature “naqaals”, potters’ wheel and artists’ corner, apart from another corner where children will be taught to convert scrap into utility items. This corner will be called “kabaad se jugaad”. On the front of origami, experts will teach children how to fold papers as airplanes. “Every child can take one home,” says Ms Kohli.
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Despite dysfunctional arms,
Chandigarh, November 26 “I have been selected for the national award in the role model category by the President of India,” she beams, pushing hopelessness into the background. For a girl with her kind of medical history, the achievement is nothing less than glorious. “This is something I always worked for. I hate to see people sympathise with the disabled. Mercy is the last thing I would ever want for anyone like myself,” says Dogra, who is most excited about the rehearsals of the event. The President will present her with the award on December 3 at Vigyan Bhavan, while rehearsals will be held on December 2. For her part, Sunita is happy and humble. She says, “It has been a very tough road for me. I have been refused friendships, admissions and jobs. But now is the time to reverse trends. This is only my first big step.” With wind beneath her wings, Sunita shares with us the painful memories of her past, talking about her case and about how she could never attend school after Class V. “Till I was in Class V, I had a caring helper. She lost her mother while I was still taking the exams. Those were the last exams I took as a regular student,” says Sunita whose disabilities were too severe to be treated. She was born with a congenital deformity medically termed as bilateral hypopalsia of the upper limbs, combined with scoliosis (spinal deformity). Her mother Urmila Devi narrates how the family had to sell off the entire property to seek treatment for their daughter. “But nothing positive happened. Finally, we gave up hope, but Sunita did not,” she says. In the arduous journey that followed, Sunita learnt to supplement her hands with her legs. Pursuing her goal, she conditioned herself to use her lower limbs for every task. As a student of music at GCG, Sector 11, she was not allowed to rehearse on the harmonium with her legs. So, she borrowed money and bought an instrument for herself. Later, she learnt web designing and raised a loan to buy a computer which is now her link with the world. Having looked for a job for five years, a determined Sunita recently got recruited as music mistress in the Sector 25 Government Model School. She has also enrolled in the B.Ed course (Correspondence) of Panjab University. Although financially empowered, she still feels the pinch of misfortune, especially when people remind her of her infirmity. But that does not deter her from pursuing her vocation, which is to be a civil servant. Ask her what it takes to battle against odds, and she replies rather reflectively: “It just takes some faith and a lot of blessing.”
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Lakhs visit Nadda Sahib Gurdwara
Panchkula, November 26 The devotees started thronging this historical gurdwara since morning. By afternoon, the devotees had swelled to several lakhs and there was no let up in the numbers till the evening. The local administration and the police had made adequate arrangements for the devotees. The police was deployed at various places near the gurdwara, with cops in plainclothes posted near the premises to keep a check on miscreants. Nakas were laid from Old Ghaggar bridge to the gurdwara on NH-73 so as to manage the heavy flow of traffic. After the parking near the gurdwara was filled to the brim, the police started diverting the vehicles of devotees towards Chowki village near North Park resort. The heavy vehicles on NH-73 was also diverted right from Majri chowk towards New Ghaggar bridge that met NH- 73 beyond Nadda Sahib Gurdwara. The Gurpurab was also celebrated in gurdwaras in Sectors 4, 7, 12, and 15. Devotees visited the gurdwaras and had langar after ardas.
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Best Transport Squadron
Chandigarh, November 26 The award was given during the recently concluded Station Commanders’ Conference of the Western Air Command at New Delhi. Air Officer Commanding, of the Air Force Station here. Air Cdre S.S. Tillo received the trophy on the squadron’s behalf from the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy. The Squadron operates IL-76 — giant strategic airlift capability aircraft — and medium haul workhorse AN-32. Ever since its inception in March, 1963, with AN-12 aircraft in the wake of Chinese aggression, the squadron has many achievements to its credit. It has been ferrying men and materials to forward areas, even far flung calamity hit places such as Bhuj. During the 1965 and 1971 conflicts, the unit flew many a mission. The first night landing sorties at Leh — the highest airfield in the world — were also carried out by the squadron’s AN-32 and IL-76 aircraft in 1996 and 1997, respectively. Besides its commendable role in the 1999 Kargil operations, the unit also participated in joint Indo-US exercises in Alaska in July “with Commanding Officer Gp Capt S.N. Mohanty piloting IL-76 himself”. The squadron also has the honour of representing the IAF in the Golden Eagle exercise in South Africa in September. Giving details of the squadron’s history of excellence, the Station Publicity Officer of No. 12 Wing Air Force, Wg Cdr Kuldip Singh, said it was awarded the Best combat unit trophy in the IAF category in 1999 and 2000.
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Campaigning ends, polling tomorrow
Chandigarh, November 26 The decked up Sectors 20 and 33, which comprise Ward No 11 witnessed hectic campaigning as candidates, accompanied by their supporters, made a last attempt to woo the voters and muster support. All through the day, at different times, the candidates held rallies. The BJP organised a scooter rally while the Congress took out a procession on foot to put their strength in the ward on show. The processions went all over Sector 20 before culminating at the party offices. The supporters went from house-to-house with folded hands, soliciting votes from the residents. As they reiterated their commitment to public causes while talking to the residents, “politics of promises” assumed a greater significance. Clean Chandigarh, better administration, overall development and welfare of the residents, were included in the list of commitments. The message was clear. “You give us votes, we will give you dreams.” Addressing a press conference, the president of the Chandigarh Vikas Manch (CVM), Mr Harmohan Dhawan, said release of manifestoes by political parties had become a ritual and had lost their sanctity. “The manifestoes remain as false promises and no work is done. Instead of this, we have decided to issue an oath to our candidate, Dr O.P. Verma, to serve the people. If he fails to satisfy the residents of the ward by his performance, he will resign from the councillorship of the ward after six months,” Mr Dhawan said. Mr Dhawan also charged the local MP, Mr Pawan Bansal, and the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre for its failure to protect the rights of the city residents. Mr Bansal was trying to hide his failures and complacency by blaming the officers of the Chandigarh Administration, he added. He said the Congress candidate was an outsider while the BJP candidate did not have the support of BJP’s former councillor from the ward, Mr Gian Chand Gupta. Also, a Congress dissident, Mr R. Gupta was in the fray which left only the CVM candidate who was contesting election only to serve the people. The Congress leaders, led by Mr Bansal and accompanied by the Mayor, Ms Kamlesh, and other councillors, went from door-to-door seeking votes for Mr H.S. Lucky, the party candidate. Mr Bansal said all allegations against the Congress candidate were cropping up at the time of election was a manifestation of the frustration of other political parties and groups who were foreseeing their defeat. He claimed that the total votes polled by all three candidates would be less than votes polled by the Congress candidate, alone. The Bharatiya Janata Party organised a scooter rally as also a public rally on the concluding day of campaigning in the ward. Mr Satya Pal Jain, condemned the Congress for the spiraling prices while the BJP president, Mr Yash Pal Mahajan, said the Congress MP and Congress-ruled municipal corporation was creating problems for city residents by imposing new taxes.
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3 cars of Independent impounded
Chandigarh, November 26 The vehicles were impounded for exceeding the number allowed in a cavalcade during the election time. These would be handed over to the respective owners after the elections. Meanwhile, speaking of the police arrangements for the byelection in Ward No 11, a spokesperson for the municipal corporation said 97 policemen would be deployed at the 21 polling booths of the ward on November 28. The security arrangements in Sectors 20 and 33 would be supervised by DSP Om Parkash. Four Sub-Inspectors, two Assistant Sub-Inspectors, 21 Head Constables, 37 constables, 12 women constables and 21 Home Guard jawans would be deployed at the 21 polling booths in the five polling stations.
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Lucky forged wife’s DMC, alleges BJP
Chandigarh, November 26 Levelling these allegations and producing documents to substantiate their claim, the state president, Mr Ramvir Bhatti, in a statement said Lucky’s wife, Harneet Kaur, had tampered with her DMC to qualify for the post of lecturer in English, advertised by DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, in 2002. “From third division, she manipulated the DMC to the extent that her total marks came to over 50 per cent, a second division, which was the mandatory to be eligible for the lecturer’s post. The Principal of the school has attested the forged
marksheet,” Mr Bhatti said. The BJP also produced a letter in which Ms Harneet Kaur cited reasons for not taking up the assignment as lecturer five months after working as lecturer. “She said she was happy working at her earlier post of TGT mistress since her selection had led to unpleasantness among the staff. She also adds that she was already drawing more salary than what she would get as lecturer. Did she not realise all this before she took up the job? It only shows that she feared the teachers would expose her fraud and thought it better to step down quietly,” Mr Bhatti added. The BJP said the original marks in the university records totalled to 193 and the roll numbers on the DMC and the degree showed different roll numbers. The affidavits submitted by the Congress candidate, Mr Lucky, claiming he was unemployed were also produced by the BJP. Meanwhile, reacting to the allegations, Mr Lucky said the BJP was raking up non-issues and unnecessarily trying to create controversies where there were none. “Though I have not seen the papers they have made available to the press, whatever they are saying is false and it is only an attempt to malign my reputation,” he said.
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Elephant delivers dead calf
Chhat Bir, November 26 Sources at the zoo said Parwati went into labour at 11 am and delivered the dead calf after one and a half hours. At that time, Dr Nirmaljit Singh, a veterinary doctor, and Mr Neeraj Gupta, Wildlife Warden, were present. Dr Nirmaljit Singh said Parwati took 10 days more that the normal gestation period of 22 months. “This is the second time that Parwati delivered a dead calf. Earlier, she had delivered a dead calf in 1982,” he said. He said the postmortem confirmed that the calf was stillborn.
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Mystery over abandoned calves
Lalru, November 26 Interestingly, all abandoned are male calves of the Jersey breed and are not more than five days old. This is the second time that the calves have been abandoned at the same spot. While 30 calves were abandoned on November 19, 14 calves were abandoned last night. While some of them died on the first day due to cold and hunger, others have fallen prey to stray dogs. Parshotam, an employee of Nahar, an industrial unit, noticed 30 calves at Lehali village on November 19. Parshotam, his friends and villagers pooled in money and purchased milk for the animals. “We constructed a shed for the calves. During the night, dogs attacked them, leaving 14 dead,” added Parshotam. However, seven calves were adopted by villagers. The remaining calves were sent to a cattle pound at Mukandpur village by the Shiv Mandir Committee, Lalru. Fourteen calves were noticed last night by Sukh Paul, a guard at Mahajan Paper Mill, at the same spot. He along with two other guards herded the animals into the premises of an industrial unit. They informed Mr Bhupinder Singh and Mr Gian Chand Sharma, president and general secretary, respectively, Shiv Mandir Committee. In the morning office-bearers of the committee reached the spot and took the calves to the pound being run by the Gau Seva Dal at Dera Bassi. Mr Gian Chand said the committee had deposited Rs 1,400 with the pound authorities for their feed. The committee members said dairy owners of nearby areas might have abandoned the calves. Meanwhile, the SDM, Mr Narinder Sangha, expressed ignorance in this regard. He said he would ask the SHO, Lalru, to probe into the matter. The DSP, Dera Bassi, Mr Manmohan Kumar Sharma, said the security had been tightened at entry and exit points on the highway and link roads.
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3 held for selling liquor illegally
Chandigarh, November 26 Surjit Singh of Deep Complex in Mani Majra was arrested from Industrial Area, Ram Darbar and Mohammad Raja and Bimla Thakur of Hallo Majra were arrested from near Panchayat Ghar and Hallo Majra, respectively. They have been booked under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act at the Sector 31 police station. The SHO of Sector 31 police station said the accused used to buy liquor in bulk and later sell it in small quantities to the poor living in slums.
Vehicles stolen
Mr Rajeev Sehgal of Sector 32 filed a complaint that his Maruti Esteem car (CH-02-(T)-1677) was stolen from Sector 32-D market on November 24. A case of theft under Section 379 of the IPC was registered at the Sector 34 police station. In another incident, Mr Ratti Ram of Sector 7 reported that his scooter (HR-23-A-0019) was stolen from the Sector 17 ISBT on November 24. A case of theft has been registered at the Sector 17 police station.
1 held for liquor smuggling
MOHALI According to the police, Naveen Parkash, a resident of Phase 1 here, was arrested on the basis of secret information, and liquor was found in his possession. Sources say Naveen was trying to smuggle liquor in Chandigarh and has been involved in the business since long. According to the police, ASI Harbhajan Singh arrested Naveen following a tip off. The police has registered a case under the Excise Act and started investigations.
Man hurt in road mishap
A Chandigarh resident, Gurdip Singh, was injured after his car (CH-03-H-5360) collided with another car (DL 3C-Q -593) at the Phase VIII Kumbra Chowk here yesterday. According to the police, a Sector 48 resident Gurdip Singh complained to the police and a case was registered against Ajay Karam Singh, the driver of the car. Meanwhile, no arrests have been made so far.
Scooterist killed
Panchkula Chain snatcher held
The special staff of the police today claimed to have arrested Suraj, who is involved in several cases of chain snatching. He was arrested from Railly village in Sector 12- A. However, his accomplice managed to escape.
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Man booked for beating wife
Chandigarh, November 26 The police said, they received a call from Kuldeep Kaur that her husband Shivdeep Singh was beating up her. The police went to their house and arrested Shivdeep. The police got a medical examination conducted of Kuldeep Kaur and thereafter registered a DDR under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC in the Sector 11 police station. Shivdeep Singh would be produced in the court tomorrow, the police said.
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Bank takes over defaulter’s property
Mohali, November 26 According to a press note issued by the bank, Sandhu Sons and Sandhu Enterprises owed approximately Rs 30 lakh to the bank. Exercising their right under the Securitisation Act, bank officials sealed the properties mortgaged by Sandhu Enterprises to the bank, including a house in Phase 1 here, a shop on the Tripari Road, Patiala, and another shop on the Sohana-Landran road in Sohana village. According to Mr R.K. Bajaj, Assistant General Manager of the bank, Sandhu Sons were served a 60-day notice on December 12, 2003.
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