Chandigarh, May 13
Bapu Dham resident Satish and hundreds like him can barely believe what the welfare wing of the state has done to him.

He has been literally robbed of his hard earned money by those responsible for securing it. He is shell-shocked over the way the staff of the Schedule Caste Backward Class and Minorities Financial and Development Corporation, UT, went about defrauding thousands of poor who had availed of the loans under various empowerment schemes of the corporation.

From April 1, 2004 to April 30, 2005, the corporation staff, in connivance with some officials, had been conveniently cheating poor people of their money. They pocketed thousands by entering into loan accounts much less money than the loanees had actually paid.

The modus operandi was simple - while receiving the loan amounts and entering the same in words, the carbon paper was not kept purposefully. In some cases very old carbon paper was used so that the impression on the counterfoil was not readable and was easy to alter.

After the original receipt was issued to the loanee, lesser money was entered in his/her counterfoil. In several cases, whereas the people had deposited thousands, only a few hundreds have been deposited in their accounts, leaving the default figures unchanged.

For many safai karamcharis who barely earn to make both ends meet, the news came as a shock. When they returned to clear the dues, they found the amount was much higher than they had thought.

The matter of large scale embezzlement of public money came to light a few days ago when an anonymous letter was received at the office of Ms Madhavi Kataria, MD of the Corporation. The letter warned the authorities of the scam whereby several poor from city’s colonies like Bapu Dham, Deep Complex, Palsora, etc, had been left high and dry.

On enquiring, the authorities recovered 75 doubtful receipts which confirmed the fact that embezzlement had indeed taken place. All receipts had been issued by a woman clerk of the corporation who has been suspended for having indulged in malpractices in as much as showing less amounts in official copies of loan receipts than those mentioned on the original receipts issued to loanees.

Preliminary enquiries have revealed that the accused had pocketed Rs 39,900 between April 2004 and April 2005.

Further enquiries are on, and the UT Chief Vigilance Commissioner is also posted of the matter. A CBI team has already visited the corporation office to take into possession receipt books between the said period.

While the extent of the damage is yet to be ascertained, officials in UT Social Welfare wing confirm that those wronged during the tenure of former corporation MD Mr Gurdip Singh would be compensated for.

“Once the amount of money embezzled is determined, we will begin the recovery proceedings. Those who defrauded the poor will have to pay back from their own accounts. Several heads will roll once the enquiry report is tabled,” said an official.

Chandigarh, May 13
A woman allegedly duped 20 banks of lakhs of rupees in the city, Panchkula and Mohali in connivance with her husband who is now cooling heels in the Burail jail. The woman kept dodging the police for almost a year since her husband was arrested.

Indu Jagota, a resident of Sector 56, was working as a domestic help to hide herself since her husband was imprisoned. Indu said she was doing the work of a domestic help as she had run out of money and her son refused to support her.

She is an expert in producing forged documents of mortgage and property to raise a loan and not return the money later. She was dismissed from the Haryana Social Welfare Department for allegedly embezzling funds as a clerk.

But her cheating spree came to an end today and she will probably join her husband in the Burail jail. She was arrested by a team of the Sector 31 police station.

The police had the information that she was going to meet her husband today in the jail. Following the information the police laid a trap and arrested Indu from near Sector 17 Football Stadium.

In one of the complaints dated June 6, 2004, lodged by Mr J.C. Duggal, Branch Manager of the State Bank of Patiala, Phase I, Industrial Area, he alleged that Indu had got a loan of Rs 1 lakh from the bank by submitting forged documents. After investigating the matter, a case of cheating was registered under various Sections of the IPC, but Indu remained elusive.

There was another case of cheating registered against him by the Economic Offences Wing of the UT police on January 28, 2004, in which HDFC Bank, Sector 36, reported to the police that Indu had duped the bank of Rs 3.20 lakh taken in the shape of a loan to buy a plot. She had pledged a fake registry to obtain the loan.

A case was also registered against her by the Haryana police in Panchkula in 2003. According to the FIR, Indu had taken a loan of Rs 50,000 from Syndicate Bank, Sector 10.

The police sources said she will be produced in a local court tomorrow.

Chandigarh, May 13
A newly born calf became an alleged victim of the Municipal Corporation (MC) of Chandigarh even before it opened its eyes in the world. The calf has been feeding on bottled milk for the past five days, as its mother was seriously injured when the cattle catchers of the MC hit it with their truck. The cow is admitted in the veterinary hospital in Sector 38.

The hapless cow belonged to Ram Singh of the Milk Colony in Dhanas. According to Ram Singh and eyewitnesses, on May 8, the Municipal Corporation staff came to the Milk Colony to catch stray animals. The physically challenged wife of Ram Singh was grazing her cows in the area. On seeing the approaching MC vehicle, the animal panicked and began to run here and there. The MC employees chased the animal in their truck and in the process hit cows, as a result of which a cow died on the spot and another one, which was pregnant, received fractures on her loin. With the impact of the hit by the truck, half of the foetus came out from the womb of the cow.

Two of the MC employees were allegedly in an inebriated condition, said the villagers. After the incident, they sped away in their vehicle leaving the dead and injured animals behind.

On seeing the condition of the injured cow, villagers rushed the cow to the Sector 38 veterinary hospital, where the injured cow was operated upon, giving birth to a calf, which is now being fed milk from a bottle.

The cow today tried to stand on its feet but failed.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the Human Rights International (LHRI) has sent a complaint to the Administrator and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi in this regard. The LHRI activist Arvind Thakur said doctors in the hospital were on leave when the injured cow was brought there. However, the attendant staff worked on the animal with compassion, he said.

Panchkula, May 13
Children, aged between 10 and 15, danced around to celebrate the marriage of their 12-year-old friend and his 17-year-old cousin from Tibbi village. The brides aged 8 and 14, respectively, both sisters, sat coyly as they were married off at Bakshiwala Tibbi village in Pinjore on May 11.

As word of the child marriages spread, the district administration ordered an inquiry. Senior officials say that the Block Development Officer has been asked to look into the matter and submit his report at the earliest.

But even before the administration turned its heat on the families for circumventing the law by allowing child marriage, the families along with the 12-year-old groom and his 8-year-old bride have gone underground. His 17-year-old cousin, and his 14- year-old bride are, however, staying in Tibbi, near Barwala.

It is learnt that the 12-year-old groom had lost his father a few years ago. He is a student of Class V at Government High School, Bunga. The school authorities say that he has not been attending school for the past one week. “When we inquired, we were told that he is away because of a wedding at home. On the day of the marriage, about 15 other students of his class were absent, and only then I got to know that it was Aslam’s wedding,” informed a teacher at the school, requesting anonymity.

Interestingly, several of the two grooms friends were part of the baraat (marriage procession) that went to Bakshiwala Tibbi on Wednesday. While the older groom’s bride came with him, the younger bride was left with the parents and would join him after a few years.

However, as the administration and local police got wind of the child marriages having taken place, the young “couple” and bride’s family had left the village.

While villagers say that the marriages have taken place, the grooms’ family has reportedly told the BDO, Barwala, that the younger boy was only engaged to be married. Only the 17-year-old boy was married, they claimed.

With a large number of child marriages being recorded in the rural areas of the district, the Child Welfare Department had requested the panchayat members in villages to administer oaths to villagers against child marriage. However, in many villages, residents have reportedly refused to cooperate, say officials.

Chandigarh, May 13
Merely nine months’ old, and Ravneet Kaur has become a victim of fate. Her entire left arm was recently amputated at the GMCH-Sector 32 due to the alleged negligence of the doctors treating her for diarrhoea at the Civil Hospital, Samana.

On a visit to the GMCH-32 here for the second operation of the girl’s shoulder after the amputation last month, her father Paramjit Singh rues if the doctors were more responsible, the girl would not have gone through so much pain. “Ravneet was just suffering from diarrhoea when we took her to the Civil Hospital. We never knew that we would have to pay such a huge price for a common ailment,’’ he says.

While the innocent child is yet to fathom the indelible effect of the incident on her entire life, her father, a granthi at the gurdwara at Sondhewala village, near Rajpura, wonders if his child’s future could have been different. Due to the wrong administration of IV fluid at the hospital under Dr Prashant Gautam, the girl had to lose her left arm, he alleges.

The family alleges that after Ravneet was administered IV fluid on April 4, her arm swelled and turned blue the same day. “We were sent back the same evening and the doctors told us that there was nothing to worry. But after three days when I took note of Ravneet’s shrivelled figure and a lifeless arm, I panicked. I took the child to the GMCH here where the doctors told me that her arm would be amputated since the glucose had been wrongly administered. Since then, two operations on her arm have been performed,’’ says Paramjit Singh.

Ravneet’s mother worries over the bleak future of her daughter, fearing that more than the physical disability, the social stigma would ruin the child’s life. “She has done no thing to deserve it. Her life has become tough right from the beginning,’’ says Sukhwinder Kaur.

The family has moved an application in the Consumer’s Court for compensation. Though Dr Gautam could not be contacted, the Civil Surgeon, Patiala, Dr S.K. Garg, while talking to The Tribune said an inquiry had been marked into the incident. “We have not set any time limit for the submission of the report, but senior officers are looking the matter,’’ he added.

Panchkula, May 13
The state government’s claim of success in breaking the monopoly in mining of minor minerals from the 55 quarries in the district seem to have fallen flat, after one of the successful bidders, who is from outside Panchkula, has been forced to surrender the contract.

Harish Aneja and Company, a consortium of businessmen from Delhi, Sonepat and Rohtak, was awarded the contract for 15 quarries (Zone I) on the Nalagarh road, during an auction on May 10. As against a reserve price of Rs 1.14 crore, the contract was awarded to them for Rs 4.13 crore in an open auction.

The partners in the company, however, say that they were forced to quote an astronomical price in order to retain one zone from the local mining contractors. “But after paying such high royalty, we will suffer losses. Moreover the local mining contractors have a tie-up with stone crushers in Burj Kotian, where all the river bed material will be sent. The stone crushers can refuse to take our material, and we will be incurring further losses,” he says.

The partners in Harish Aneja and Company had taken the mining operations here on a 10-day permit, till the auction was held. But as they had taken away this permit from local contractors (who had taken two previous permits since April 1, 2005 ), the stone crushers in the district went on strike. The owners of these crushers were partners with local mining contractors. Since the crushers were on strike, the mining contractors who got the last permit since April 30, had to suffer losses to the tune of Rs 7 lakh a day, as no stone crusher was ready to pick up the mined minerals.

Alleging that the Department of Mines and Geology, Haryana, too, did not offer any protection against such practices by local contractors, they had no option but to surrender the contract. “We have asked the Department of Mines to set up a new stone crusher zone on the Pinjore- Nalagarh road, where we are allowed mining of river bed material. This will not only solve our problem, but also help in generating additional revenue as crushers can feed the growing demands of construction industry in the neighbouring industrial towns of Himachal — Baddi and Barotiwala,” informed a partner in Harish Aneja and Company.

Ban on mining in Aravallis in Faridabad and Gurgaon by the Supreme Court has brought quarrying for minor minerals to the Ghaggar river and various rivulets of Panchkula on the forefront. The auction of 55 minor mineral quarries in the district two days ago, had yielded a sum of Rs 35.46 crore to the Department of Mines and Geology, Haryana, against a reserve price of Rs 14. 25 crore — an increase of 250 per cent. Of the six zones created by the government, the local mining contractors, supported by the owners of stone crushers in Burj Kotian, here, and Mubarikpur in neighbouring areas of Punjab, got contracts for four zones.

Chandigarh, May 13
The Chandigarh Administration today assured a delegation of the local Congress, led by its President B.B. Bahl, that all future development of the city, including the provision of civic and transport services and changes in rules and regulations, will be carried out keeping in mind the changing requirements of the Union Territory.

The delegation was assured that a decision had been taken to rehabilitate the slum-dwellers in flats to be built for the purpose. At the same time, the Administration would not create an incentive for a greater influx by handing over the ownership of flats. The flats would be available on rent, a spokesperson of the Chandigarh Administration said.

The delegation was assured that the Administration was sensitive to the need for change in building byelaws to reflect current realities and future aspirations rather than past compulsions. For this purpose, a sub-group of the Advisory Council of the Administrator had been assigned the task of suggesting amendments to byelaws. The sub-group had submitted its report which had been circulated to various political parties and reactions were awaited.

Decisions in this regard would be taken shortly. The introduction of the Rent Act required balancing the interests of house owners with the interests of tenants. The matter was sub judice in the Supreme Court.

The delegation was told that the Administration would not permit vested interests to hinder the orderly growth of the city. The deputation raised the problems being faced by the hotel industry. They were informed that the Administrator had taken a separate meeting with the association concerned.

I am in favour of having apartments on single unit houses for the following reasons:

1. To have a house/flat in Chandigarh is beyond the reach of a common man.

2. What to speak of the lower strata, even an honest Class-I officer cannot think of purchasing a house/flat in Chandigarh due to the skyrocketing prices of property.

3. The Southern sectors, which are heavily populated will get some relief if apartments are allowed in northern sectors. People will certainly migrate to the less populated sectors, if they find some suitable accommodation at reasonable rates in the shape of apartments. 4. Moreover, elderly people, who are leading a lonely life in northern sectors will find some companions in their neighbourhood.

5. It will reduce cases of stressed/strained relations between owners/landlord and tenants.

6. There will be handsome receipt/revenue for the Chandigarh administration, which can be utilised for the development of the city.

7. The construction of apartments in the interior of Chandigarh will not reduce the beauty of Chandigarh. Rather it will add uniformity, and symmetry to the city houses.

8. No developing country, like India, can afford to ignore the skilled/unskilled workers, ‘medium income group’ people, while planning and setting up a modern city like Chandigarh.

9. Emphasis should be to beautify the villages falling within the municipal limits of Chandigarh to enhance the beauty of Chandigarh, which is on decline for the past many years.

10. In the end, by constructing apartments on single unit houses, there will be hustle and bustle in every part of Chandigarh. I appreciate the efforts made by the Chandigarh Administration to rehabilitate the downtrodden people living in slums. But providing apartments, common man, too, will be rehabilitated in the real sense up to a great extent.

The writer is an engineer

Chandigarh, May 13
The local police has arrested one person accused of stealing LPG cylinders. In a separate case, two persons were caught while carrying poppy husk, the local police said here today.