Chandigarh, March 3
The UT Administration is likely to order a CBI inquiry into the booth scam in the Sector 41 Krishna market here in which union parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal, Adviser to the UT Administrator Pradip Mehra, former Mayor Pardeep Chabbra and former Deputy Commissioner RK Rao have been named by the inquiry officer PS Shergill.

Highly placed sources said Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj Patil had taken a serious view of the reports indicting senior politicians and bureaucrats, police officials and estate office officials. Exercising the powers of the UT Administrator, Patil may take a final call on ordering the CBI probe into the scam as recommended by Shergill after the report is submitted to him in a couple of days, sources informed.

“The allegations in the Shergill report needed to be probed further to bring out the politician-bureaucrat-police official nexus in the fraudulent allotment of booths, which had blown the lid off the multi-crore scam in Chandigarh,” they added.

Following complaints of glaring irregularities in the allotment of the booths, Patil had ordered a magisterial probe by Shergill in March 2010. The 700-page report prepared by Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officer PS Shergill was recently submitted to the DC.

“The financial dimensions of the fraudulent allotments run into crores of rupees that include money being paid to politicians, police officials and officers of the estate office. Several bogus surveys and inspections were done by the estate office, further strengthening the claims of illegal allottees,” the report says.

Since the report brought under the scanner the dilly-dallying attitude of senior officers on complaints by Dinesh Kumar Sood and Nathu Ram, the CBI probe seems to be the only alternative.

Meanwhile, advocate Arvind Thakur, who fought the legal battle on behalf of the complainants, claimed that it was “a fit case for a CBI probe” as out of the 700 pages, over 400 pages were documentary evidence submitted to the inquiry officer. “If the acused are above board, they should welcome the CBI probe. I will approach the Special Court (Vigilance) if the matter is not handed over to the CBI,” he warned.

Chandigarh, March 3
The Krishna market booth scam in Sector 41 here is pegged at over Rs 20 crore. The booths, which were allotted for a paltry sum ranging from Rs 5.25 lakh to Rs 6.25 lakh, are at present priced at around Rs 25 lakh in the open market.

The report stated that following a fire at the Bajwara market in 1989, several unscrupulous people managed to secure licences by conniving with certain police and Administration officials.

If the current market price of around Rs 25 lakh is taken into account, the scam could be worth over Rs 20 crore. The financial dimensions of the fraudulent allotments run into crores of rupees that include money being paid to politicians, police and estate office officials. Several bogus surveys and inspections were conducted by the estate office, further strengthening the claims of illegal allottees,” the Shergill report alleged.

Documents revealed that the complainants, Dinesh Sood and Nathu Ram, had brought the alleged irregularities into the allotments to the estate officer during the allotment process from 2005 to 2007. In the first list, they had sent names of 52 “ineligible” persons while in the second list names of 21 persons had been sent.

However, despite their representations, the estate office turned a blind eye to the issue. It was after a lot of hue and cry by the complainants that the possession of 19 alleged fraudulent allotments was put on hold by the estate office.

Sources said out of these 92 allottees, 80 persons were suspected to have been allotted booths in a questionable manner. Not only that, 12 of these 92 files sought by Shergill during the course of the inquiry had allegedly gone missing.

Chandigarh, March 3
Feeling a threat to their lives, two victims of the booth allotment scam --Dinesh Kumar Sood and Nathu Ram -- who played a vital role in pursuing the case, sought police protection today.

Talking to The Tribune, Sood said they were feeling insecure and threatened with the names of many influential persons emerging in the scam in the inquiry report by UT’s former Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) PS Shergill in the case.

“We spoke to the SHO of the Sector 39 police station in this regard this evening. We will go to the police station tomorrow to submit our application for protection,” said Sood, who owns a garment shop in Sector 41.

However, he denied when asked if they had received any threat after the ADC’s report. “Though we did not get any threat after the report, but we have faced several threats and pressures from various sections in the last five years,” said Nathu Ram, adding that only last month, he had been attacked by a group of around a dozen persons in Sector 22.

They also alleged that a UT police vigilance inspector had threatened them after summoning them at his office in June last year. “He (the inspector) threatened me to book under the Prevention of Terrorism Act if we did not stop pursuing the case,” alleged Nathu Ram.

They also claimed that some shopkeepers of the Bajwara market, who were supporters of the Congress, would threaten them every now and then.

Chandigarh, March 3
In a tragic incident, a three-year-old child, who died after being hit by a rashly driven vehicle, was abandoned by the driver of the vehicle near the Sector 18 church here today.

The accused, who continues to be at large and remains unidentified, was taking the child to hospital, but abandoned him near the church on finding him dead. The police is on the lookout for the accused, who was driving a taxi and is a turbaned man, according to eyewitnesses.

The mishap took place at the Sector 20/30 intersection in the afternoon, when three-year-old Sonu Kumar was killed after being hit by an unidentified vehicle near Sai Baba temple in Sector 29. The child was a resident of Hallomajra and had come to the temple to partake of ‘langar’ with other children of his locality.

After partaking of ‘langar’, the child was crossing the road towards Sector 30, where he was going to meet his father, Ram Sarup, who is a rickshaw-puller, at the rickshaw stand.

According to eyewitnesses, the vehicle is an Indica taxi. After hitting the child, the driver took the child in his car towards hospital. However, on realising that the child died on the way, the driver abandoned him near the Sector 18 church.

The boy was spotted near the church by a Manimajra resident, Mandeep Singh, who rushed the child to the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16. The child was declared brought dead by doctors. The police registered a case at the Industrial Area police station.

In another incident, a retired head constable with the Punjab Police was crushed under the rear wheels of a bus at the Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) in Sector 43 here this afternoon.

The victim, 59-year-old Natha Singh, came to board a bus to Sangrur when a Himachal-bound bus crushed him. The police arrested the bus driver and registered a case of causing death due to negligence under Section 304-A of the IPC.

The mishap took place at 4.30 pm, when Natha Singh, a resident of Khuda Ali Sher, came to the bus stand along with his son, Gurdwinder Singh. According to eyewitnesses, Natha Singh purchased the ticket to Sangrur and was about to board the bus when the HRTC bus (HP28B-7508) hit him while being reversed.

The wheels of the bus ran over his chest, killing him instantly. The trauma van of the police stationed at the ISBT rushed him to the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, where he was declared brought dead.

The police arrested the driver of the bus, Vinod Kumar, a resident of Mandi, and a case was registered at the Sector 36 police station. Natha Singh is survived by his wife and two sons.

The son of the deceased was inconsolable. “The bus was reversed blindly. I came to drop my father,” said Gurdwinder. Natha Singh had retired from the Punjab Police past year.

Chandigarh, March 3
“My son studies in Class VI. As a practice, key headlines of a day are written on his classroom’s blackboard. During that turmoil, he refused to go to school saying he could not bear to look at the blackboard which had his father’s name with a word like sexual harassment. My family has gone through hell and I shall never return to PU,” said Dr GK Gauba, former director-principal HSJ Dental College, Panjab University, reacting to reports of college students protesting against his speculative comeback.

With Gauba getting support from all quarters of the faculty now, a group of college students who are ‘scared’ of him being reverted submitted a representation to Vice-Chancellor RC Sobti asking him not to let Gauba rejoin.

However, Dr Gauba claimed that the way PU dealt with the issue, he would never come back.

“My elder son is in third year of BDS and imagine his plight when his classmates sat on an enquiry panel to judge his father. I don’t think anybody should be afraid of my comeback, as I have not been asked to. Ever since I am on leave I have received numerous informal calls expressing support, but not a single official call asking me to rethink. I was picked up, as I was never indulged in politics. I stepped aside quietly despite being declared innocent and that suited the university well as there was no effort to upkeep my dignity,” quips Gauba.

Interestingly, Dr Gauba’s wife had applied for the post of next director-principal in November last year. Though she plans to appear for an interview, if selected she is not too keen to join.

“Our kids cannot be exposed to chances of facing this humiliation again. Though my wife will compete to prove her worth, she is still undecided about joining, as the university is no longer a place for non-political academicians,” he said.

Dr HSJ Gauba ran into trouble last month for allegedly passing derogatory comments on T-shirt of a girl student. The matter took a serious turn when students of the college sat on a hunger strike demanding his immediate removal. Dr Gauba requested repatriation to the PGI and proceeded on an extended leave, even as the official enquiry panel constituted by the university gave him a clean chit.

n When I had a conversation with that student, there were two other senior faculty members in the room. Why were they not quizzed immediately in the presence of girl’s parents rather than setting a complete enquiry panel?

n Why did they hold me responsible for the entire thing when three of us were involved in the conversation?

n Despite being aware of the politics in the university why did the enquiry panel consisted of teachers and students rather than some impartial authorities?

n Was this enquiry made to probe one incident or review my four-year tenure?

n Why were non-teaching employees asked a question like, “Gauba sahab apke saath pichle paanch saal se kaise behave karte hain? (How has Dr Gauba been behaving with you for the past five years?)

When contacted for a comment at 6.30 pm, Panjab University’s official spokesperson Anil Kapoor said since he was home, it was “inappropriate for him to contact the Vice-Chancellor”. He added that Dean University Instruction BS Brar “was not in a position to comment as he was on his way to Kolkata with some people”. Kapoor then advised this correspondent to call Sobti since, according to him, “he (Sobti) had high regards for you (this correspondent)”. But when this correspondent called on his residence number twice (the last at 10 pm), a person who attended the call said he (Sobti) was away and would return “late at night”. Sobti, who carries a mobile, has consistently refused to provide his number. 

Chandigarh, March 3
The sanitation campaign was flagged off by Municipal Corporation Mayor Ravinder Pal Singh today at Hallo Majra.

The grievances of residents were heard by the Mayor and officials present at the event. The area was sprayed by the Pest Control Wing of the corporation.

The information, education and communication activities were conducted for bringing in change in public behaviour towards managing solid waste. Pamphlets to create awareness were distributed among the residents. The residents were educated through public-address system to segregate dry and wet waste separately.

The residents were also sensitised to deposit waste with the door-to-door collector or in the garbage container placed by the corporation.

Chandigarh, March 3
In a bid to revolutionise the country’s civil services, the Union Public Service Commission has not only made its application process online, but has also decided to check Indian Administrative Services aspirants for the right attitude. Deviating from its usual pattern of evaluating students in preliminary examination on general knowledge and a chosen subject, the UPSC now plans to switch subject knowledge assessment with aptitude test.

The move aims at ensuring that it is the requisite aptitude which gets importance over the academic knowledge of a subject.

“What counts at key posts is the right aptitude. The new preliminary exam format will revamp our examination system. It will ensure that the people with right attitude get chosen and are then eventually tested for minor details of their chosen subject,” said an official, UPSC, Delhi.

The changed paper though has elated many, it is going to be a key reason for many aspirants to skip exams this time.

“Students have been preparing on the earlier pattern for the past one year and now this sudden change is bound to affect many. Applicants for whom it’s their final attempt and many who come from rural background plan to drop just to ensure that they don’t waste a change. The move, however, is welcomed and will go a long way in changing facet of the IAS exams,” said Anil Sharma, director, IAS Study Circle, Sector 32.

Meanwhile to give a better opportunity to the fairer sex, the commission has made application free of cost for all women candidates. Applications for the UPSC examination scheduled for June 12, 2011, are available at General Post Office and has to be submitted either online or offline latest by March 21.

Chandigarh, March 3
In a bid to bring transparency in issuing tickets and to check corruption among the ticket-checking staff, the Railways has decided to introduce hand-held terminals (HHTs) so that the availability of vacant berths can be instantly provided to passengers.

According to a railway official, the HHT system will be made available to travelling ticket examiners (TTEs) of all express trains on different routes across the country.

The use of HHTs by TTEs has been envisioned as a means to ease their work pressure.

It is likely to help them in allotment of berths and knowing the current position of reserved bogies.

HHTs will display on the screen the number of passengers occupying their berths and the number of vacant berths in the bogies, according to the official.

The official has admitted that the new HHT system will help maintain full transparency in the allotment of berths by TTEs on running trains.

TTEs need not carry sheaves of paper related to reservation charts. The new system will benefit passengers in two ways.

First, they can easily know the position of berths, occupied or vacant, from TTEs on duty at any station. Secondly, it will be easier for passengers seeking refund against tickets that they have booked, but have not travelled on.

HHTs will help TTEs download information through the GPRS, update the chart while checking tickets, inform the status of vacancy to the central server periodically through the GPRS, collect excess fare, penalty and other charges, issue receipts for the same to the passenger and give reports on the cash collected.

Chandigarh, March 3
A slice of meaningful theatre with socially relevant thematic content marked the Spring Theatre Festival here yesterday. The drug menace and its causes and effects are immaculately analysed and the channels of drug peddling juxtaposed in the powerful drama “Mitti Rudan Karre”, a production of the Theatre Arts group.

Written by Baldev Singh Moga and directed by Gaurav Sharma, it depicts the ruining of a well-off farmer by a cunning neighbour, who succeeds in a fraudulent land grab.

Asha Saklani, Jasvir Kumar, Mukesh Pal, Sunny Gill, Harmanpal Singh, Tejinder and Neetu Sharma form the cast.

Chandigarh, March 3
Gulzar Singh Sidhu, a former chief engineer, Irrigation, Punjab, passed away on Tuesday. He was 97 and was not keeping well.

He joined the irrigation department in 1939. He had a number of irrigation and power projects, including the Bhakhra Dam, Sirhand Canal and UBCD, to his credit. He retired in 1972.

He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son. He was cremated today. Bhog ceremony will be held on March 12.