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Protesting BJP activists lathicharged
Chandigarh, July 3 Tension gripped the Sector 22-D market with the police using mild force to disperse unruly BJP and VHP activists who forced the shopkeepers to down shutters.
Trouble started when the protesters tried to force Arvind Jain, president of the Market Welfare Association, Sector 22-D, to close his shop.When he refused, the activists allegedly assaulted his salemen. But VHP activists alleged that it was Jain's workers who had assaulted them. The police had a tough time controlling the irate protesters. As the situation threatened to go out of hand, the police cane-charged the protesters. Earlier, BJP and VHP activists went round city markets in groups forcing closure of shops. While senior leaders, including former MP Satya Pal Jain and local BJP president Kamla Sharma, were seen requesting the shopkeepers to keep the shops closed in "national interest", activists of the VHP allegedly used strong-arm tactics. The protesters later converged on the Sector 17 plaza where they were addressed by leaders. Jain claimed that the sole concern of the Congress was to remain in power and for that it was ready to sacrifice “even national interests”.
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Boy slips into pit, drowns
Panchkula, July 3 Rajat’s family had only recently shifted to the village from Mani Majra. His father, Ram Kumar, is a government employee. Kasturi Devi, mother of the deceased, began searching for her son when he did not turn up till 6 pm. She spotted his chappals floating on the water in the pit dug up near their home. She jumped into the water to rescue him, said an eyewithness. Some villagers joined her in her search and fished out Rajat’s body. Sarpanch of the village Jasbir Singh said pits dug around the village for laying sewerage were all filled with rainwater. HUDA had been requested several times to pay heed to the situation, but nothing had been done. The administrator as well as the superintending engineer of HUDA Neelam Pradeep Kasni and AK Aggarwal did not pick their phones despite repeated efforts. Panchkula DC Rajinder Kataria asked the SDM of Panchkula to hold an inquiry into the incident.
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Truckers’ Strike
Chandigarh, July 3 Since the retail chains primarily get foodstuff from New Delhi, they were hit hard with no truck moving out of the national capital. However, the city continued to get its supplies of fruit and vegetables from the neighbouring areas of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Of the 325 trucks that come to Sabzi Mandi, Sector 26, everyday, only 40 brought goods today. In Chandigarh’s Transport area there was no movement of trucks. Of the 1,000 trucks that operate in the city daily, no truck was allowed to move out . The worst hit have been the industries located in the Baddi and Barotiwala belt in neighbouring Himachal. The Baddi-Barotiwala Truck
Union has joined hands with the All-India Motor Transport Congress to press for rationalising toll tax and service tax and removing anomialies in central and state taxes on diesel. This union has 5000 trucks. Even trucks owned by some manufacturing units were not allowed to transport goods. Several pharma units and FMCG manufacturers who transport goods on a daily basis are hit the most. “The strike may soon start affecting the industry which relies heavily on road transport for supply of raw material and also finished products.The tight delivery schedules of exporters may be affected and this may have an impact on their international delivery commitments. Infrastructure projects under way all over the country may also be adversely affected as the strike would start hurting the cement and steel industry soon”, said R S Sachdeva, co-chairman, Punjab Committee, PHD Chamber. Sachdeva appealed to the government to ensure that truck unions do not stop vehicles hired by industries to carry supplies.
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Phase V residents lose battle against rainwater
Mohali, July 3 Three days ago following heavy rainfall, the residents found rainwater inside their homes. “We thought the system, installed two years ago, was functioning well. It is only now that we have realised that it is not good enough for heavy rainfall,” said TS Sudan who had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court for relief in this case. A lawyer himself, Sudan and his neighbours had filed a PIL in 2003 regarding the misery caused to them with rainwater entering their houses every monsoon. The court had ordered the Punjab chief secretary to sort out the matter. It was decided that PUDA constructed a new drainage system with the held of the PWD. “The system was installed in 2005 and since then there had been no problem. But this year the heavy rainfall brought water inside our houses once again ,” said Sudan. Sudan said he would file a contempt plea against the authorities as the system had failed to work. Executive engineer, PWD (sewerage) Inderjit Singh Kang said water had entered these houses because of encroachment by a factory owner in Industrial Area situated adjacent to the Phase V residential area. “The system
installed
Phase V residents lose battle against rainwater some years ago is functioning well. The water that entered the houses this time was due to the encroachment and also on account of accumulated rainwater in Shahi Majra village,” he claimed. Kang added that there was a 25 feet gradient difference between Phase V and the other areas due to which water rushed here first. “If there is any blockage anywhere near the sector it end up affecting Phase V and Phase 3B2 residents first,” said Kang.
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Wife beating: Anurag quizzed
Chandigarh, July 3 Sources said he was questioned for about
an hour. Madhur Verma, ASP (central), said apart from the interrogation, a questionnaire had been given to him, the answers to which he would give in writing. The families of both parties had been called to join the investigation tomorrow. In her complaint, Shweta had alleged that he would beat her up, but she remained quiet to save her family’s reputation.
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Hawkers want their utensils back
Chandigarh, July 3 A brass container costs anything between Rs 2500 and 3,000 depending on its weight. Each of the brass containers stolen weighs between 5 and 7 kg. Interestingly, the fine charged from a violator is not more than Rs 500. The officials concerned issue receipts to hawkers mentioning the status of containers as “in balance”. At the monthly general house meeting of the MC held on Monday, the house had unanimously agreed to reduce the fine charged from hawkers for the offence. Sources in the corporation said there were several instances wherein hawkers had lodged complaints to senior officials alleging that their brass containers, confiscated by the enforcement wing, had gone missing even as they had paid the fine. With a number of such complaints being received in the recent past, senior officials are in a tizzy over giving a satisfactory reply to the complainants. A senior officer said the possibility of involvement of some insider behind the missing utensils could not been ruled out. Hawkers alleged that they were told to take away their bicycles and others belongings, but when they asked about the expansive brass containers they were asked to come again as the utensils had gone missing. On getting the same reply time and again, some complainants took up the issue with the higher authorities. Confirming the incident, mayor Pardeep Chhabra said he had received such a complaint from a resident of Bapu Dham Colony today. The complainant had said that he had not been given back his container in spite of repeated requests as it had gone missing. Chhabra said he had marked an inquiry into the matter and added that he had learned that around 15 containers had gone missing from the store. MC secretary P.K. Sharma maintained that the inspector of the enforcement wing had gone on pilgrimage and that he would be able to comment on the issue after getting a report from the official concerned after the latter joined the duty. However, he said anyone found guilty would be dealt with sternly.
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In her death, she gave new life to 4
Chandigarh, July 3 Usually, the donor’s family and the recipient have no contact with each other. But in this case, her husband insisted on meeting the recipients. “My wife will live on in them. I have to know who it is so I can tell them to take care of their health,” he said. Parents of Varun (18), who received a kidney, were happy to meet him. “We are extremely grateful for this gesture. In one night, all our troubles were taken away. Varun can now get back to his life after years of uncertainty and pain,” Varun’s mother said. Elated, they have also pledged to donate their organs. Another kidney recipient, Pragat Singh, said: “I was told that my only only hope of survival was a kidney transplant.” After being on dialysis for over a year, he was apprehensive about finding a donor. “I only have gratitude for Usha Rani’s family. They gave him a second life,” his wife Kiran said. Bacchan Kaur (60) and Kashmiri Lal (40) received her eyes, a PGI doctor said. “Her family had to deal with the fact that she will not make it. The suggestion of harvesting the corneas, kidneys and liver must have been hard on them. But they understood and rose to the occasion,” said Dr Aashish Sharma of transplant surgery, PGI. The PGI has decided to waive all dues of her husband Hemraj. It is also planning to honour her family on the lines of blood donors
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Brain dead person can save many lives: Docs
Chandigarh, July 3 Organ donation was possible only if a person was brain dead, a condition where the patient did not regain consciousness from a comatose state. It was only when a person was on life support that the organs could be harvested, Dr Ashish Sharma said. “A single donor can save lives of six persons by donating heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, intestines and bone marrow,” he said. Until 2008, only seven cadaver transplants had been performed, he said, adding that 40 persons needing a kidney transplant were on the waiting list. Doctors said the demand for organs was 10 times more than the supply. Prof K.L. Gupta of transplant surgery said after death, organs start deteriorating as soon as the circulation of blood stopped. But if the death occurred in hospital, the organs could be removed within 30 minutes.
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Poor response in Mohali, Panchkula
Mohali, July 3 Residents rued inconvenience caused due to the closure of the shops. “I had taken a half-day off from office to buy some important things but on reaching the market I was told that the shops will open only in the afternoon,” said Usha Rani of Phase VII. Panchkula:The bandh call of the Bahratiya Janata Party could not invoke a strong response in the town. While in majority of markets shopkeepers preferred to keep the shops closed on arrival of BJP leaders in the morning but reopened them as soon as the procession of BJP was over in different parts of the town. By afternoon, all markets were opened in the city. Local BJP leaders took out a procession protesting against the reversion of the land allotted to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. The BJP workers assembled at the roundabout of Sectors 7, 8, 17 and 18 in the morning and then moved in a procession towards various markets, including Sectors 7, 8, 16, 11, 15 and 21 led by BJP mandal president Vishal. BJP state secretary Nardev Sharma addressed the protesters.
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Elderly alleges threat to life from sons
Chandigarh, July 2 In his complaint, Ravi Prakash alleged that his sons had been creating problems for him ever since he disowned them from his property. He maintained that he became the owner of a shop near the bridge market in Sector 17 after the death of his father 22 years ago. However, he could not enter his own shop now as his sons had been creating problems for him, he alleged. Even a local businessman had helped them out and had been influencing the police, he alleged. “Nobody at the police post has paid heed to my grievances,” he alleged. He added that the police had also threatened him of facing arrest if he entered the shop. “I am not in the condition to earn money and have to beg for meals from friends and shopkeepers,” he said.
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No one updates UT website
Chandigarh, July 3 S.K. Sandhu may have been repatriated to Punjab several months back, yet on the UT website, he is still being shown as the finance secretary. Not only that, the salary figures provided on website are as old as July 31, 2007, alleges R.K. Garg, a local social activist. Though following the directions of the Central Information Commissioner, the administration had issued proactive disclosures for the office of UT administrator, yet the concerned information remains sketchy. “In reply to my application, the CPIO (Home) supplied me a list of the CPIO and appellate authorities situated on fourth floor of Secretariat. As per section 4 (1)(b) of the RTI, the official and residential address and phone numbers needed to be publicised which had not been done,” he complained. Meanwhile, on March 17, the administrator had appointed M.S. Brar, IT director, as his officer to look after the complaints and follow-ups. However, the annexure to Section 4(1)(b) does not disclose this.
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Letters
In ancient times, Kashmir was called to be a land of saints. However, what can be seen today, it has become a devil’s workshop. It is heart-rending to see people of Jammu and Kashmir fighting over a piece of land.
The recent Amarnath row has not only disturbed the peace in state, but also has engulfed the entire nation. The curfew in Jammu has thrown the lives of the people out of gear, irrespective of the fact whether they are Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs. The main cause of this flare up is the infighting between the PDP and the Congress. Whether the control of the land goes to the Amarnath Shrine Board or not is not even an issue. This debacle could have easily been resolved. Why PDP is not hearing the cries of the masses? The solution lies in the PDP joining hands with the Congress and working amicably to restore peace in Jammu and Kashmir. Gehna Vaishnavi,
Chandigarh
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UGC to open 374 autonomous colleges
Chandigarh, July 3 The first ever state-level convention of the UGC top brass, principals of 500 colleges, including those from Punjab, administrators and vice-chancellors of other universities, turned out to be an eye-opener for everyone as the vice-chairman of the UGC, Prof Mool Chand Sharma, doled out one scheme after the another for the benefit of the students and colleges. Giving details of the new 374 autonomous colleges, he said an equal number of backward districts have been identified to open up the colleges which will be fully funded by the commission. “Now it’s for the colleges, management and the universities to come out with the proposals to be beneficiaries of the scheme. At present, not many universities allow their colleges to be autonomous in this part of the country whereas there are many autonomous colleges in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chennai, Karnataka and other states. In a startling revelation, Prof Sharma said that out of all the colleges in Punjab, only 210 are those that can benefit from the UGC schemes, as the rest don’t fall under its purview. At the same time these colleges can now get 50 per cent grant from the commission and the rest could be borne by other funding agencies such as state governments. He also apprised the principals to benefit from other schemes such as Rs 500 per month for students who travel for more than 10 km to reach their college as transport allowance. Also if a college has maximum number of students under SC/ST categories and minorities, they can select 100 students on the basis of merit-cum-means and Rs 500 per month allowance can be given
to them. Besides, the colleges can also apply for the grant for general development, which can be utilised for buying equipment, library books, setting up labs etc.
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Class XI Admissions
Chandigarh, July 3 While seats in the science stream were taken in GMSSS-16 and GMSSS-35 yesterday, today GMSSS-37 and GMSSS-33 filled the seats at a cut-off of 78.4 per cent and 76.2 per cent, respectively. GMSSS-16 also closed admission to the commerce stream for the general category at a cut-off of
78.2 per cent. A large number of students were seen making a beeline for admissions at GMSSS-10. A total of
900 applications were received for today’s counselling, out of which 832
students who reported were admitted. The status of seats in various schools can be seen at www.chdeducation.gov.in <http://www.chdeducation.gov.in> and www.spicindia.com <http://www.spicindia.com>. Admission will continue as per schedule tomorrow in the same four slots.
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Contract lecturers’ selection under cloud
Chandigarh, July 3 It has been alleged that the selection committee ignored many eligible candidates to ‘adjust’ their favourite candidates during the interview process. One can judge the favouritism from the fact that a candidate with a masters’ degree and having experience of a school lecturer has been given preference to a candidate with PhD degree for a particular subject at Government College, Sector 46. The candidate with meritorious background and experience has been ignored. Moreover, the candidates, whose names figure in the waiting list for the post, do not fulfil the eligibility conditions as per UGC norms. Similarly, the gap in interview marks between the selected and rejected candidates also made many eyebrows raised. According to official sources, in most of the cases, the successful candidates obtained around nine marks in their interviews, while the marks of rejected ones were not more than four. This can be checked in the case of selection of botany lecturers in Government College, Sector 11. Such a gap in interview marks only shows the biased approach of the
members of the selection committee. Another issue, which has drawn flak, is the fact that for the first time the administration sold separate application forms for different colleges with a cost of Rs 250 per form. With this, the aspirants had to dish out
Rs 1250 for applying in the five local colleges for which the posts were advertised. On the other hand, members of the selection committees were heavily paid on daily basis during the interview process. It is pertinent to mention here that in the past the selections were done on centralised basis. Dr Kanwaljit S.
Saluja, principal of Government College, Sector 46, denied the charges. “We went by procedure and norms. There was no discrepancy in the selection that is what I can say,” Saluja said. Refuting the charges, P. Raji
Srivastava, director, higher education, UT administration, termed the allegations as baseless, saying, “All the things were done with utmost fairness. The selection panels consisted of the officials of the administration, representatives of director, social welfare, principals, vice principals, deans and heads of departments of respective colleges and subject experts.” Principal of Government College, Sector 11,
could not be contacted for comments.
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Academics’ conference held at Panjab University
Chandigarh, July 3 Badal said the objective of holding such a conference was to ensure enrichment of everyone who could secure academic and all-round development in rural areas. He asked the gathering to evolve innovative courses that take care of the bright students and equip those who are above average and can become employable. Panjab University vice-chancellor R.C. Sobti also shared his concern for educating people in rural areas. He informed that in deference of his directions, a workshop to guide and counsel students of rural areas was organised. More than 1,500 children participated and benefited from the programme. UGC vice-chairman Mool Chand Sharma highlighted the importance of education and guided the gathering about how they could get maximum grants from the UGC. Hussan Lal, director, Social Welfare, Punjab, also told the meeting about the three post-matric scholarship schemes for the students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes and minority communities. UGC joint secretary A. K. Dogra appraised the gathering regarding availability of UGC grants under different schemes during the XI Plan period.
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Badal favours central status for PU
Chandigarh, July 3 However, when confronted by mediapersons, outside the venue, if Punjab government was sitting over a letter issued by MHRD regarding central status for PU and utilising of funds given to PU on the higher education in Punjab, Badal refused that any such letter had been received. Later, VC went to the protest site and requested PUTA and JAC members to wrap up the chain fast as CM was positive about the central status, but they refused to do so saying they would hold a meeting of JAC tomorrow to weigh the pros and cons of the CM’s statement. According to sources, CM’s refusal about the letter has shaken the confidence of PUTA and JAC over his stand. Till yesterday, after a delegation of PUTA had met the CM, JAC members were confident that they had almost clinched the issue. JAC members were of the view that a written assurance should suffice Punjab government’s stand on the issue.
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Workshop for teachers
Chandigarh, July 3 The school authorities invited Ritu Kumar, an eminent educationist as the resource person for the workshop. Aruna Bhardwaj, principal, Chandigarh branch, said, “The workshop aimed at enlightening the teachers about the ‘child-centered curriculum’.”
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DPI (S) wants to be repatriated
Chandigarh, July 3 Meanwhile, the Haryana Government has sent a fresh panel of three HCS officers -- Ramesh Krishnan, Ashok Bishnoi and V. Khangolia -- to Chandigarh to replace Setia, who has already overstayed in Chandigarh. Another HCS officer and secretary of the CHB, Kamlesh Kumar, is also going to be repatriated to Haryana.
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Restore direct quota
posts, BSNL told
Chandigarh,
July 3 The judgment by division bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Mohinder Pal came on a petition filed by Dalbir Singh and others against BSNL and others. The petitioners had sought directions for quashing of the waiting list of 3,338 candidates for promotion as junior telecom officers (JTOs) in BSNL against 35 per cent quota prepared in pursuance of a screening test held on April 23, 2000. The petitioners also sought directions to hold the examination for promotion as JTOs again so that the claim of eligible candidates could be considered. The petitioners had claimed under the Junior Telecom Officers' Recruitment Rules, 1999, 50 per cent posts of JTOs were to be filled up by direct recruitment. The remaining 50 per cent were to be filled by way of promotion through limited departmental competitive examination. Out
of the 50 per cent departmental quota, 35 per cent posts were to be
filled up promotion. The petitioners had averred that it was brought to
the Centre’s notice that for the posts of JTOs of the direct quota
were being diverted to 35 per cent departmental quota from past many
years. Moreover, the posts were being filled up from the waiting list candidates of the screening examination of JTOs held on April 23, 2000. It was added the under secretary, Department of Telecommunication, had vide letter dated April 10, 2002, deprecated the practice of the BSNL. However, the practice had not been stopped. It was further pleaded that screening examination for 35 per cent quota posts of JTOs had not been held after April 23, 2000. As such, the right of consideration of the petitioners for the posts had been taken away, even though they were eligible to compete after 2002.
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Author summoned
Chandigarh, July 3 The alleged offensive portion against freedom fighters appears in Chapter IV of the National Movement 1905-1918. According to a petition filed by the Global Human Rights Council in the court of J.S. Bhinder, civil judge senior division, Chandigarh, the book describes several freedom fighters, including Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghosh, and A.K. Datta, as “militant nationalists”.
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Admn goes into reshuffle overdrive
Chandigarh, July 3 While transferring its section officers, accounts officers and chief accounts officers, the finance department has moved even those who had not even completed two years at one place. But a senior chief accounts officer posted in the UT secretariat for the past 10 years has been “spared”. After the administrator gave strict guidelines on following the CVC guidelines, the finance and home departments have been carrying out an intensive exercise to prepare a list of officials who have been on one post for a long period. The first to carry out the exercise was the engineering department, where “sifarish” was witnessed during the reshuffling of engineers, so much so, that the administration today had to revert its orders of posting two sub-divisional engineers within two weeks. Later, the transfer orders were cancelled. In today’s reshuffle, the senior-most chief accounts officer, H.S. Sood, has been transferred from the GMCH-32 to the Chandigarh Housing Board. However, Satish Joshi, under-secretary, finance, who has been in the administration for the past several years has not been
transferred yet. A section officer, Rajiv Tewari, who was earlier assistant treasury officer, has been posted as district treasury officer after being promoted as accounts officer. After his transfer from the estate office to the treasury last year, he had been holding the charge of the district treasury officer, a plum post. Accounts officer U.S. Sharma, with the estate office, has been transferred to the Government Multi-speciality Hospital-16 and accounts officer Goverdhan Lal, who has been transferred to the GMCH, have completed only two years. A section officer, Vijay Wig, who was transferred to the estate office last year has also been moved to the CHB after being promoted as accounts officer. The others who have been reshuffled are Neelam, Harnam Singh, Sushil Vaid, Sudhir Prashar, Amar Chand, S.L. Malik, Jeet Singh, Bhupinder Jatana and Varinder Kumar. |
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