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MC okays multipurpose parking pass
Chandigarh, September 30 At its monthly meeting here, the General House of the corporation fixed an amount of Rs 300 for car and Rs 150 for two-wheeler per month for the pass, which would be valid at the parking lots run by the MCC. Earlier, initiating the debate on the
subject, Mr Pradeep Chabbra, a former Senior Deputy Mayor, suggested that a supervisor should be appointed by the MCC at each parking lot for the redressal of vehicle owners’ grievances. Moreover, 50 per cent of the revenue earned from the parking lots should be spent on the sectors where the parking lots were situated. The House resolved that now all parking lots would be auctioned on the basis of the calendar year from January to December. A Rs 2.08-crore agenda for the upgradation of the infrastructural facilities in Sector 17, was okayed by the meeting. However, the supplementary agenda of Rs 15.25 lakh, proposed by the Chandigarh Administration and aimed at sprucing up the water features in Sector 17, was rejected by the
corporation. The area councillor, Mr Pradeep Chabbra, alleged that neither he nor the Mayor, Ms Anu Chatrath, were taken into confidence by the Administration. In another “people-friendly” decision, the meeting withdrew an amount of Rs 25 per 100 square feet levied on the residents beautifying areas outside their houses by growing hedges and erecting fences. However, the commercial establishments would have to pay Rs 25 per 100 sq ft beautified by them. The absence of Ms K. Atma Ram, nominated councillor, from three successive meetings of the corporation in April, May and June on account of her US trip raised a lot debate with Mr P.C. Sanghi and Brig Sant Singh (retd), both nominated councillors, alleging that their agenda had not been included in the meeting. The nominated councillors claimed that under the Punjab Municipal Act, a member absenting himself from three successive meetings should be removed from the membership. Ultimately, the House decided to send the matter to the UT Legal
Remembrance (LR), for legal opinion. Earlier, the local MP, Mr Pawan Bansal, pleaded for the regularisation of need-based changes in marla houses and Chandigarh Housing Board flats. The House also constituted a seven-member committee for studying the problems of roadside vendors.
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CBI raids in city
Chandigarh, September 30 Contrary to initial reports, raids were not conducted at the residences of two Deputy Superintendents of the Chandigarh Police. A spokesman of the Chandigarh Police clarified that none of their officers was proceeded against by the premier investigating agency. In all, raids were reportedly conducted at five different places in this part of the region, including Chandigarh and Amritsar. Among them
were former Akali minister Nirmal Singh Kahlon and his Personal Secretary Vikas. The sources in the CBI said the officers, along with former minister Kahlon, were one way or the other associated with the recruitment of panchayat secretaries and other officials in the state during the Akali regime. The sources close to the officers vehemently denied the carrying out of the raids at their residences or offices. Going into the background of the panchayat secretaries matter, the sources said Mr Kahlon, Rural Development and Panchayat Minister in the Akali government, was booked by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau in the case under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act soon after the Congress government came to power in the state. Though sources in the CBI here said incriminating documents pertaining to movable and immovable properties were recovered from some of the officers during the raids in Chandigarh and Punjab, senior CBI officers in Delhi said they were not in a position to say anything for certain at the current stage. “As of now, we are analysing the documents taken into the possession by the CBI sleuths during the raids,” a senior officer said. Giving details of the raids, the sources said approximately 30 sleuths from the CBI’s Delhi office reached the residences of Mr Kesar and Mr Mandeep Singh in Sector 34 at about 6 in the morning. Certain documents were also taken into possession.
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City to have all-weather pool
Chandigarh, September 30 A first for the region as well, the existing Sector 23 yoga swimming pool is going to be converted soon. The proposal, which hung in the balance for over two and a half years, has finally fructified and the pool in its “new avtaar” will be opened to the public in May 2006. The UT Engineering Department will undertake the construction work while the Science and Technology Department will install the heating system. The Science and Technology Department has proposed that the solar water heating system should be installed which is capable of maintaining the pool temperature in the range of 22 to 26 °C, even in December and January. “This system will be functional on all sunny days without any backup being required as the city is sunny for the larger part of the year”, said Mr Vivek Atray, Director, Science and Technology Department. Project Director G.S. Bains said, “The solar thermal energy system is the most viable and costeffective method of producing hot water, even on a large scale. Even the maintenance expenditure is less in comparison to non-conventional energy sources and the life of the system is between 20 and 22 years.” Chief Engineer V.K. Bhardwaj said, “Our liability is only restricted to the construction part of the pool. All formalities in this regard have been completed and the work will be assigned to a construction company soon. We hope to begin the work by October 10”. The pool’s size will be increased by 40 feet in width whereas the length, which is 75 feet, will remain the same. All sides of the pool will be covered with aluminium glaze and the roof will be of pre-coated GI sheets with a false ceiling under it, explains Superintending Engineer S.K. Jaitely. Mr Bhardwaj said six months were needed to complete the construction work and the heating system will be installed almost simultaneously. The state-of-the-art all-weather pool will be ready by May-end. The tentative cost of the project (heating only), according to the Science and Technology Department, will come out to be around Rs 28 lakh.
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Nagi retires; Gill is new PGI Ortho head
Chandigarh, September 30 A guest speaker at numerous international meetings, he has a number of achievements and awards to his credit.
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13 kids fall ill after meal at creche
Chandigarh, September 30 Mothers of the children work in the same company, Sevtel which runs the crèche. The children had rice and pulses, before taking milk. Soon after they complained to stomach ache and starting vomiting.
TNS
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Passing Thru
Tell us a little about yourself?
I am what you would call a pure fashion photographer for this is my passion. I started five years ago with no formal training for I was a stockbroker and this was a hobby. I had a flair for clicking and my friends, all of who are a part of the fashion and modelling fraternity, introduced me to other celebrities from their field and that is how I started off. I am now considered one of the leading portfolio photographers in the northern India. What do you like best about what you do? Meeting people is the most fun part of this job and then to see somebody grow and get somewhere like Rajneesh Duggal, Grasim Mr India 2003. He has the height, the physique, the smile, the looks—everything. Amongst the women models I like Indrani Dasgupta and Nina Manuel. Where do you plan to go from here now that you have achieved so much? I will continue with photography till I can. However, I am exploring advertising in a big way. I have some super-expensive equipment like a 22-pixel camera, which I hope to use and do some good work within the arena of advertising. I just want to keep growing in this line, that is my biggest dream. — Gayatri Rajwade
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Nayagaon rape victim ‘shooed away’ by DGP
Mohali, September 30 Denying the allegations, the DGP said the victim was not neither shooed away nor misbehaved with by his staff. According to a written statement issued by the victim, she had gone to meet the DGP, Mr S.S. Virk, with her mother at 5.30 pm, but was told that she cannot meet him. “The staff sitting outside his office misbehaved with me and did not allow me to meet him. Then finally they sent a message to him, but he told his staff to tell us that he was not in the office,” she said. Stating that she wanted to meet the DGP to request him to allow Mr Sumedh Singh Saini to continue with the investigations into the case, she demanded that strict action be taken against the DGP and pleaded that she be given justice. The DGP, however, said he was out of his office most of the day busy with the Chief Ministers conclave meetings. “I got back at about 5.15 pm and told my staff that I would not meet anyone since I had to do some written work in connection with the arrangements for the CM’s conclave. Then when I got free around 7.15 pm and asked if there were any visitors. There was only one police officer whom I met after that,” he said.
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4 structures razed on UT periphery
Chandigarh, September 30 By the time the demolition staff, escorted by a strong posse, demolished parts of the residential structures, the residents got an interim stay from a Kharar court. “ We were not given any prior notice before carrying out the demolition. As a result, we had to dump the belongings on the roadside”, said Mr Rakesh Rana, one of the affected persons. Incidentally, the cases registered by the Chandigarh Police against Mr Amba Parshad, president of the Working Women Society, and others is coming up for hearing in a local court tomorrow. As per the revenue record, about two acres sold under the name of the Working Women Society, falls under Khuda Ali Sher, adjoining Kansal village. ” The persons who purchased the land from the colonisers were apparently given the impression by the colonisers that since the land fell in Punjab, they could raise the constructions”, said a senior UT officer. However, the persons on whose name the title of the land stands claimed that they were given water and electricity connections by Punjab. Going into the background of the case, the Deputy Commissioner in a communication to the Senior Superintendent of Police had said that the president of the Working Women Society was selling small plots by way of allotment letters at Khuda Ali Sher village. It has been verified from a copy of mutation, submitted by the purchasers that the land falls in UT and a joint demarcation carried by the revenue staff of the UT and Punjab had confirmed it said the note. The change of use of agricultural land is in violation of Section 11 and is punishable under Section 12 (1) of the Periphery Control Act. In addition, the sale and registration of plots below 1,000 sq metres is banned. Some of the residents said the case was already going on a Kharar court, but the demolition staff chose to ignore the fact.
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Probe against 4 councillors
Panchkula, September 30 The Director Urban Estates has deputed the Assistant Director, Mr R P Makkar, to look into the matter. He reportedly visited the MC office today and saw the records of all MC meetings. The continuous absenteeism by at least four councillors in the MC House, was likely to cast aspersions on their political future. These councillors, including three women councillors, have failed to attend three consecutive meetings of the General House of the MC in three months. While the lone male councillor from among them, who represents one of the elitist sectors here, had attended just one meeting this year and only one meeting in year 2004, one of the three women councillors had not attended any meeting last year, and only attended the meeting called for passing the no confidence motion against former president Ms Seema Chaudhary, in April. The other two women councillors have not attended three consecutive meetings of the MC House. According to Section 14 (C) of the Haryana Municipal Act, 1973, if a councillor, without reasonable cause in the opinion of the state government, absented himself for more than three consecutive months from the committee, the government could remove these members.
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Officer questions policy lacuna
Chandigarh, September 30 The policy-letter states that all IPS officers are entitled to the benefit of hard area postings, but the letter’s annexure categorises only posts of Deputy Inspector-General and above for the purpose of these benefits. The policy states that the normal tenure for officers deputed at the CPO who have served a minimum of two years in hard areas can be extended by another two years. This is an incentive to officers who have served in hard areas like high altitude and counter-insurgency operations. Consequently, a number of IPS officers who are deputed to CPOs like the ITBP, the BSF and the CRPF at the level of Superintendent of Police/Commandant are unable to avail of the benefits. One such case, filed by a DIG-ranked IPS officer, came up for arguments at The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) here yesterday. The officer, Mr Adhir Sharma, has contended that he has served for over two-and-a-half years in hard areas and extreme hard areas. During deputation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, he has served with the ITBP as Battalion Commandant in Ladakh. Later, on promotion, he served as DIG (Operations) with the CRPF in Tripura. Citing para 6.5 of the policy-letter, the officer maintained that the provisions contained therein is a general beneficiary provision and makes no demarcation or division between deputation IPS officers on the basis of rank. The annexures are made to effectuate the beneficiary provisions, but the mention of only ranks of IG and DIG in it prima facie restricts the purpose of beneficiary provisions rather than effectuating it. Therefore, it is arbitrary and discriminatory. Stating that the lacuna has resulted in a class legislation within the service, counsel for the petitioner told The Tribune that the benefits should be oriented more towards younger and junior officers as they are the ones who slog it out in the field, while the functioning of senior officers is largely restricted to headquarters.
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Air Cmdr Srivastava takes over charge
Chandigarh, September 30 Addressing officers, airmen and civilian staff on assuming charge, he exhorted them to be professional in their approach to achieve excellence in their respective fields. He also cautioned them to be vigilant and security conscious. A graduate of BITS, Pilani, Air Cmde Srivastava was commissioned into the IAF on January 1, 1973. His appointments include Chief Engineer Officer of an operational airbase, besides staff appointments at Command Headquarters and Air Headquarters. A ceremonial parade, in which officers and airmen of all sections of the depot took part, was organised to mark the change of command. Speaking on the occasion, Air Cmde Virk highlighted the achievements of the depot during the past two years and complimented the efforts put in by the personnel to achieve the stipulated tasks. Meanwhile, Mrs Reena Srivastava has taken over as president of the Air Force Wives Welfare Association (local) from Mrs Manjit Virk.
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Bonding time for senior citizens
Chandigarh, September 30 With songs, recitations and a sharing of reminiscences, the morning passed amidst gaiety and laughter. Jeet Rani, an inmate for the past five years at the home, said, “I love to sing, dance and talk. Times passes so well with company.” Members of the association had also brought home-cooked food which they shared with the residents. A cake baked by members of the Lioness Club, Panchkula district, was cut by the oldest member of the home, Rosy. Brig Keshav Chandra, former president of the association, said the practice of visiting all four old age homes, by rotation, was started four years ago. The finale to the celebrations leading to the Senior Citizens’ Day is at the Tagore Theatre tomorrow, organised by the Chandigarh Senior Citizens’ Association.
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Recognising the never-say-die spirit
Chandigarh, September 30 The celebrations saw performances by students of Government Senior Model Secondary School, Sector 35 D, who presented songs and dances in the course of the evening. The chief guest, Ms Harjinder Kaur, Municipal Councillor, extolled the efforts of senior citizens in her ward for making themselves self-sufficient and for setting an example of extending a helping hand to the needy around them. A living example of dedication and service is 83-year-old Hem Chander, who was honoured for his role in helping the poor, the needy and the downtrodden and unfortunate around him. Chander has been going to the PGI every day from 4 pm to 9 pm since 1994 to help poor patients with free medicines, bedding and other services to those who cannot afford it. He has also been instrumental in setting up a recreational library for patients at the hospital. In addition, he also goes to the Sector 25 cremation ground every week to help the poor who come there. Teetotaler Gurudev Singh Sekhon’s (99) secret to longevity is his daily intake of milk and ghee to stay healthy. A farmer and a hunter, Sekhon insists that a disciplined lifestyle coupled with hard work is what has kept his original teeth intact till now! Faqir Chand Shahi (98) retired as a Punjab Police Sub-Inspector in 1962. Shahi, who was beaten up severely in the riots during Partition, moved to India from Lahore. A non-smoker, non-drinker who has never cultivated any “bad habits” in his lifetime, believes life is about looking towards those who need help, being sincere and doing everything in moderation. The fourth senior citizen to be honoured was 96-year-old Deva Singh who was unable to come for the function due to ill health.
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Seminars on emigration
Chandigarh, September 30
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Tribune employee retires
Chandigarh, September 30
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A clarification
Chandigarh, September 30
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2 flesh trade rackets busted, 7 held
Panchkula, September 30 Police sources say a deal was struck for Rs 2,000, and the decoy paid Rs 500 as advance, when the police team barged inside the house and arrested the accused. Anil, who was the kingpin of the gang, was also arrested. The police said Anil Kumar had been booked earlier too in a case of immoral trafficking. The accused were today produced before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate and remanded in judicial custody. Another flesh trade racket involving three women was busted at Kurari Mohalla in Kalka late tonight. The police has arrested them.
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‘Abused’ cop’s father registers formal complaint
Panchkula, September 30 Mr Mamchand has reportedly said that his son, Raj Kumar, was still in a state of shock, and thus unable to give a statement. The Sector 6 police, after receiving his statement, has informed the Nahan police. “Since the incident took place in Nahan, when the recruitment for the Himachal Police personnel was going on, the Nahan police will investigate and register an FIR,” a local police officer said. Constable Raj Kumar had accused his Deputy Commandant of illegal confinement, physical abuse, and injecting him with drugs, after he threatened to expose him for accepting bribe in a recruitment drive. The Deputy Commandant, however, refuted the allegations saying that the constable had concocted the story to avoid any disciplinary action against him. He claimed that Raj Kumar was a psychiatric case, and had run away from the ITBP campus, without informing his seniors.
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Cyclist killed after being hit by car
Chandigarh, September 30 Cyclist Darshan Singh of Panchkula’s Sector 16 was rushed to Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital after
being hit by a Maruti car near the ITI turn. He was, however, declared dead on arrival. Motorcyclist Yogesh Sarna and pillion-rider Sharda were admitted to separate hospitals after a car rammed into the vehicle they were riding near Sector 7 DAV School. In a complaint, Chander Bhan of Sector 41 said his motor cycle (UA-08-B-3197) was stolen from the Sector 35 market. In another complaint, a Colony No. 4 resident alleged that his minor daughter was abducted by Jatinder of the same locality while she was going to school. A case of abduction has been registered.
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Cyclist run over by truck
Panchkula, September 30
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Bank postpones auction of defaulters’ property
Mohali, September 30 Chandigarh resident Ram Krishan also reached the spot levelling allegations that the bank had “made a mistake in identifying the correct property” for the auction and stuck a defaulter notice on her house instead of his neighbours’. Mr Ram Krishan told The Tribune that he had bought a plot of size 140 sqyd in a colony in Khanpur, Kharar, from Pavan Kumar Nanda, a property dealer in 2003. He also took a loan for the construction of the house on this plot from Vijaya Bank in Sector 34, Chandigarh. All was going on well when a month ago the State Bank of Patiala (SBP) stuck a defaulter notice outside his house still under construction stating that his property had been put up for sale. “I contacted officers in Vijaya Bank who then brought the matter to the notice of the SBP but no action was taken to correct the mistake. I had no option left but to reach the venue of the auction and talk to the bank persons,” he said. When contacted, the SBP Manager, Mr
H.C. Verma, said the bank could not have made a mistake in sticking the notice on the defaulter’s property. An entire set of houses in that colony in Khanpur are our defaulters and we had proceeded against them.” he said adding that he would look into the problem of Mr Ram Krishan. But the officers from Vijaya Bank who had accompanied Mr Ram Krishan in Mohali related an interesting angle to the entire episode. “The fact is that some owners in the area have bought two plots each and taken a bank loan both from the SBP and our bank. However, while they have taken loan for construction from two banks construction is being done in only one plot. They are basically cheating the banks,” said Mr Rajeev Sharma, senior branch Manager, Vijaya Bank, Chandigarh.
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LG introduces promotional offer
Chandigarh, September 30 Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Girish Bapat, vice-president (marketing), said the offer was valid across the country except for Kerala. The company has earmarked Rs 60 crore for this campaign. The festive season offer is a combination of assured gifts and extended warranty. The assured gifts range from divinity gold-plated souvenirs to non-stick cookware, sports bag etc. Apart from this, the lucky customers have a chance to win any of the hi-end premium products such as DIOS refrigerator, Plasma TV, TROMM Washing machine, split ACs, microwave ovens among others. JEWELLERY SHOW: Jewellery lovers will get a chance to see the latest and most dazzling collection of OTM jewellery at OTM Sparkle -2005 to be held in the CII auditorium from October 1 to 4. Pendants, necklaces, bangles, earrings, religious pendants etc will be available under one roof. It also offers a wide range of diamond jewellery. All OTM jewellery is hallmarked and BIS certified.
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