The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Part-I
Misuse of govt houses rampant
Bureaucrats, cops and journalists occupying accommodations illegally
Aman Sood
Tribune News Service

In violation of norms an advertisement put up by the chairman of the district planning committee, Patiala, Surjit Singh Rakhra, at his government residence (4-D Passey Road) in Patiala. A Tribune photograph

Patiala, January 23
Ignoring even the prospect of a penal rent and using their clout in the corridors of power, numerous VIP residents of the state have taken the state government for a ride, illegally occupying prime government property in the city. The list includes politicians, bureaucrats and unauthorised freelancers.

The beneficiaries continue to hold on to government properties without paying prescribed rent. Sources in the estate office told The Tribune that Patiala has 87 earmarked government residential accommodations from category ‘A’ to category ‘D’ which are meant to be used by senior government officials.

Defaulters

Former Patiala SP RK Sharma, who was transferred to Chandigarh as the SP in November, last year, continues to hold on to his official house 14-C. Sharma wants to retain the house for his children who, he claims, are studying in Patiala.
The list includes names of chief editor Newsline Express Ashok Verma, police officers SP Sunita Rani, SP Jaipal Singh, DSP Amarjit Singh, Inspector Guriqbal Singh Walia, tehsildar Rajesh Dhiman, Sub-Inspector Rajesh Chibber and journalist Manish Kaushal, who have occupied houses in Patiala despite being posted out of the district.
IPS officer Sham Lal Gakhar, IG, Lokpal, is still to vacate his official residence at 6-A, Rajbaha Road. Gakhar was transferred from Patiala in September, last year, and has been holding the house from the past seven years.

Meanwhile, another 100 ‘E’ category houses are also available in Patiala for officers. Out of the total 187 houses in the offing, majority are taken by teachers while the rest are occupied by policemen and politicians.

The rush of procuring houses is such that the estate officers are making hay and allotting houses to the ones obliging them out of turn. Last year RK Bakshi was posted as SP (Crime), Patiala, but he failed to find a house during his, over three months, stay in the city.

While the market rent varies from Rs 5,000 to Rs 12,000 per house, depending on the category, the incumbents are paying only 10 per cent of their basic salary.

“Usually there is lot of ‘sifarish’ culture and thus rent is fixed accordingly,” said an estate office employee.

Meanwhile, numerous police officers have accommodations allotted in the Patiala though they have been serving in other districts.

Officials do not vacate their houses even when out of power and they also do not believe in paying the penal rent levied for overstaying at these properties. This is mainly due to the vague house allotment policy as well as lack of transparent transfer policy.

Patiala Divisional Commissioner GS Grewal told The Tribune, that he would initiate proceedings against all defaulters and ensure that the allotment is done again. “I would even ask the estate office to come clean and explain its conduct,” he said, adding that defaulters would have to pay penal rent.

Khushi’s Murder
Shiv Sena activists demand arrest of killers
Tribune News Service

Kharar, January 23
Activists of the Shiv Sena Hindustan party today demanded an immediate arrest of the killers and abductors of Khushpreet. They said if the guilty would not be brought to book, they would stage a protest in Chandigarh on Republic Day.

Party’s state president Nishant Sharma said Union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had failed to safeguard the interests of residents of Chandigarh. As a mark of protest, the activists sent sarees, bangles and bindis to Pawan Kumar Bansal.

Sharma asserted that the party would help Khushi’s father Lakhbir Singh find his son’s killers. He said any person who would give information about Khushi’s killers would get a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh.

Easy win for Black Elephant club

Patiala, January 23
Black Elephant Cricket Club defeated Passport Cricket Club, Chandigarh, by 103 runs in the Friendship Cup which concluded today. Chandigarh team won the toss and elected to field first, but the decision backfired when the hosts gathered 191 runs for the loss of three wickets. Prabjot Singh 52, and Abhinav Mehta 42 were the main batsmen.

In reply, Passport Club, Chandigarh, scored 66 runs in 10.1 overs. However, the going got tough, when the hosts relied on their spinners and the visitors lost wickets in a quick succession.

Left-arm spinner Gurtek Singh took four wickets for just 13 runs, while right-arm leggie Arun Bharti claimed two wickets for 11 runs.

Scores: Black Elephant Cricket Club, Patiala: 191 for 3 in 25 overs (Varun Arora 16, Prabjot Singh 52, Abhinav Mehta 47 n.o, Vikrant Sarohi 39 n.o, Tarun 1 for 33, Billa 1 for 32 and Rajeev Khetrpal 1 for 22).

Passport Cricket Club, Chandigarh: 88 all out in 18.2 overs (Pankaj 29, Ranjit 13, Sunny 15, Gurtek Singh 4 for 13, Arun Bharti 2 for 11, Ashish 1 for 6 and Rajat Pusha 1 for 8). — TNS

Blood donation camp

Bassi Pathana, January 23
Blood Donor’s Society, Bassi Pathana, organised its 97th blood donation camp at Aggarwal Dharmshala yesterday. A team of doctors from the PGI, led by Dr Usha Rao, conducted the camp and 80 units of blood were donated.

Dr Mohinder Singla, president of the society, made 110th donation, Ajay Malhotra 111th, Kamal Gupta, president of the Industries Association made 100th donation and Sushil Singla, a social worker, made 98th blood donation. Addressing the function, Dr Mohinder Singla said the society was formed in the days of terrorism. Since then the society had been regularly organising blood donation camp after a gap of 90 days. — OC

COURTS

Judicial employees hold protest meeting

Panchkula, January 23
Members of the All-Haryana Judicial Employees Association today held a protest meeting near the district courts complex. The members were protesting against the new transfer policy framed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Ramesh Dhankar, president of the association, demanded that the pay scale of matriculate employees be fixed.

They said there should be a difference in the pay scale of readers and deputy superintendents. Other demands of the members included an assured career progression scale for new entrants and provision of other facilities.

Dhankar said they would present their case before the High Court and in case of non-acceptance of these demands, the association would file a writ petition in the Supreme Court. — TNS

CRIME

One killed, 1 hurt in accident
Tribune News Service

Zirakpur, January 23
A woman was killed and a man was injured in a road accident near Kesar hospital at the Zirakpur-Patiala highway last night. The deceased was identified as Swaran Kaur (35), wife of Kuldeep Singh, while the injured was identified as Kulvir Singh, both residents of Chhat. Kulvir got married two months ago.

The investigating officer said the incident occurred around 10 pm when Swaran Kaur took a lift from Kulvir, who was going towards Chhat village from Zirakpur on his motorcycle. When they reached near the hospital, a car hit the motorcycle and they fell on the road.

A passer-by informed the police, which took them to the Dera Bassi Civil Hospital where Swaran Kaur was declared dead on arrival, while Kulvir Singh, who sustained serious injuries, was shifted to the PGI, Chandigarh. Kulvir’s condition was said to be critical, the investigating officer added.

The police official stated that Swaran Kaur was a daily wager and a mother of five children. A case has been registered against the car driver.

2 women dupe man of Rs 11 lakh

The police booked two women on charges of cheating here today. A case has been registered against Deepmala and Kaushlya Devi, both residents of Phase X, Mohali, on the complaint of Ranbir Singh, a resident of Gulmohar Trends, Dhakoli.

Ranbir Singh, in his complaint to the police, stated that he had purchased a flat (number 19/D) from the accused in 2006 and paid Rs 20 lakh after he got a registry of the flat.

He said after three months he got a notice from State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, Phase XI, Mohali, about the pending loan of the flat. When he asked the accused about the bank loan they gave him a cheque of Rs 11 lakh. He deposited the cheque in the bank, which bounced later on, he told the police.

He submitted his complaint to the SSP, Mohali, and after proper inquiry a case was registered against the two women.

The investigating officer said the accused would be arrested soon and further investigations were on.

SPORTS

Sorab is best horse rider
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, January 23
Sorab Sandhawalia of Woodstock School secured the first position in the UT Inter-School Horse Riding Championship (U-14) that concluded here today. He was also declared the best horse rider in his age group.

Whereas Kartik Sachdeva of St John’s School secured the second position in pole bending bare back, pole bending and hack events of the tournament. Gurmannat, Maanas, Govind Sandhu, Shebaz Tiwana, Jatin Singla and Ritvik Thakur were another position holders in different events of the tournament.

In the under-10 category, Gurbaz Sandhu was declared the best rider. Gurbaz secured the first position in the ball and bucket race, pole bending bare back, jumping normal, jumping fault and out and jumping top score events of the tournament.

While Sahaj Ghumman, Ratik Kapoor, Gurbaz Sandhu and Ritik Kapoor (joint) and Abhijay Rana were able to secure third positions. In the girls’ category, Nehmat Brar secured the first position in pole bending, whereas Zania Brar secured the third position in the girls’ trotting event.

In the above-14 category, Rajkumar Shivendera Pal, Agrima Ahluwalia, Jaynti Jha, Durgeshwari Kumari, Ahdev Mann and Karuna Singh secured the third positions.

Proflex Cup Inter-Corporate Employees Meet
Godrej XI rout Talwar XI

Panchkula, January 23
An all-round performance by Umesh Kaira (58 runs and 1 for 34) enabled Godrej and Boyce XI to defeat Talwar XI in the league match of second Proflex Cup Inter-Corporate Employees Championship at the Sector 3 cricket stadium here today.

After winning the toss, Godrej XI decided to bat first and scored 189 runs in 25 overs for the loss of five wickets. Godrej team received early blows as the first two wickets fell within seven overs with just 34 runs on the board. Thereafter, Umesh Kaira took the crease and played some fine strokes with skipper Vaneet Chawla at the other end. Both the players stitched a 54-run partnership in the next five overs. Inderjeet also chipped in with 29 important runs. Umesh was the main batsman as he scored 58 runs off 53 deliveries and was caught on the last ball of the innings. For Talwar XI, Kuldeep was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped two wickets for 36 runs. Ravinder Malik and Puneet were the other bowlers who took one wicket each.

In reply, Ravinder Malik gave Talwar XI a good foundation as he scored 48 runs at the top of the order stitching together a 50-run partnership for the second wicket, along with Sushil Siwach. Ravinder Malik was caught in the 12th over, as Sushil continued to hold fort at the other end. After a couple of quick wickets, Sushil then partnered with Surinder to take the innings forward. Both the batsmen hit one's and two's. But Talwar XI failed to reach the target.

In the second match, Gurinder Saini hammered 81 runs and remained unbeaten to help HDFC Bank XI rout Deep Engg XI by nine wickets. Batting first, Deep Engg scored 144 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 25 overs. Virender Singh was the top scorer with 45 runs to his credit, while Harinderjit Singh chipped in with a quickfire of 26 runs. For HDFC, Balwar Pooni and Gurinder Saini picked up two wickets each, while Sandeep Saini chipped in three wickets. In reply, HDFC Bank XI had no trouble in chasing the target as opener Gurinder Saini was in prime form and smashed the bowlers to all parts of the park. He scored 81 runs off just 65 deliveries and got the team to the target in just 18.5 overs.

Scores: Godrej and Boyce XI: 189 for 5 in 25 overs. (Umesh Kaira 58, Inderjeet 29, Vaneet Chawla 25 and Kuldeep 2 for 36).

Talwar XI: 174 for 6 in 25 overs. (Sushil Siwach 50, Ravinder Malik 48, Inderjeet 2 for 35 and Naresh Dhingra 1 for 22).

Deep Engg XI: 144 for 8 in 25 overs. (Virender Singh 45, Harinderjit Singh 26, Sandeep Saini 3 for 29, Gurinder Saini 2 for 24 and Balwar Pooni 2 for 26).

HDFC Bank XI: 146 for 1 in 18.5 overs (Gurinder Saini 81 not out, Vaibhav 29 not out and Ishant Batha 1 for 20). — TNS