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Negligent cops punished
Chandigarh, January 24 The three, including inspector Udeypal Singh, former SHO of the Sector 34 police station, sub-inspector Narinder Patial, the then in charge of the Burail police post, and the then investigating officer sub-inspector Balraj Singh, have been punished with forfeiture of increments. Inspector General of Police PK Srivastava issued the orders of their punishments recently. While inspector Udey Pal Singh has been awarded punishment of forfeiture of increments for four years, both sub-inspector Narinder Patial and sub-inspector Balraj Singh have been punished with forfeiture of increments for two years. Five-year-old Khushpreet was kidnapped for ransom from Burail village in December 2010. A police trap to arrest the kidnappers failed and the body of the child was recovered from a pit in Mohali on January 5, 2011. This is for the first time that senior police officials have acted against the negligent cops ever since an earlier departmental inquiry conducted by DSP Kulwant Singh Pannu indicted the three policemen for negligence while handling the case. The inquiry report was submitted on June 22 last year. Earlier, senior police officials had also issued them a reduction in rank notice asking them to reply why their current ranks should not be reduced. All three officials were earlier suspended following a magisterial probe in January last year and were reinstated in May. On October 14 last year, the police complaint authority (PCA), too, criticised the police for not taking any action against the three officials despite them being indicted in both a magisterial and a departmental probe. The three were found guilty of taking the ransom calls lightly in the beginning, which had resulted in a delayed police action. Both inquiry reports had indicted inspector Udey Pal Singh, inspector Narinder Singh Patial and sub-inspector Balraj Singh and had pointed to the culpabilities of the police officials for mishandling the kidnapping-for-ransom case.
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When VC raised slogans against himself
Chandigarh, January 24 Professor Sobti raised “RC Sobti murdabaad” slogans before the agitating employees, who were upset over his “questioning their professional intentions”. He was reacting to the agitating employees, particularly against his “overzealous” efforts for ensuring punctuality and proper presence at their respective seats. Parveen Kumar, from the Haryana Urban Development Authority, was getting encroachments removed in the Sikanderpur area of Gurgaon when a group of villagers had accused him of favouring a certain builder. Initially, the officer tried to appease them, but later took out his shoe to hit himself on the head repeatedly. All the time he only kept muttering that had not taken any bribe. He said he “punished” himself as people believed he was corrupt. At the PU, the employees had just started their protest against the VC’s “interference” in their work when Professor Sobti landed on the spot. He attempted reasoning out with the crowd, which would not listen and shouted “management murdabaad” slogans. In an unexpected reaction, Professor Sobti reacted loudly by saying “Arre management ko kyun murdabaad bol rahe ho? Zor se bolo Sobti murdabaad. (Why shout against managements, raise slogans against me)”. After an absolute calm for less than a minute, the entire crowd broke into peals of laughter. The VC had found at least 20 employees missing from duty during a surprise inspection by him last evening. The employees, on their part, organised a rally, saying they were overburdened and lacked basic facilities at their work place. When contacted for his comments, Professor Sobti said, “Humour, sometimes, comes in handling and settling the most absurd situations. There is no substitute for discipline and I have told them that everybody is supposed to be in office for stipulated hours, though all necessary adjustments would be made in case of an emergency. I have also asked officials concerned to maintain discipline of office themselves. Recruitment will be done soon, but staff crunch is no reason to roam outside office.” The employees have, meanwhile, demanded an immediate arrangement for providing tea on every floor.
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PU researcher denied entry into Nari Niketan
Chandigarh, January 24 While the administration has already “banned” the entry of the media in these two institutions, which have been in news for all the wrong reasons, its decision to close doors to even a researcher has surprised many even in the administration. Nari Niketan, which had shot to infamy a couple of years ago due to the rape of an inmate by some employees, was in news recently when the callousness of the staff resulted in burn injuries to an infant from an iron. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Satinder, who is doing
her Phd from of the Department-cum-Centre for Women Studies and Development, Panjab University, on “Women and Shelter”, said she had short listed seven shelter homes for her study and Nari Niketan was one of them. She said she had already visited all other six shelters in Punjab and gathered all relevant information without any problem. “I even made short stays at the homes in Jalandhar, Amritsar and Faridkot and faced no problems. The staff was courteous and extended all possible help,” she said. However, she said that Nari Niketan has turned out to be a totally different ball game, as the Social Welfare Department is hesitant to share any information. She said she had been trying to meet and interact with officials of Nari Niketan and Social Welfare Department, including its Director, Varsha Khangwal, for the past five months but to no avail. “I had applied for permission for my research in August and they have been dilly-dallying the matter on one pretext or the other,” she claimed. Satinder said all her efforts to meet Varsha had failed, as she was either on leave or in a meeting. She said she met the Home Secretary on January 11 and submitted an application for permission to visit Nari Niketan and interact with the inmates. On her application, the HS wrote “Allowed to visit for research purposes” with his signatures and a stamp of the Social Welfare Department. Satinder said she visited Nari Niketan yesterday and was denied permission, as she was not carrying the permission letter with her. However, this morning also she was again denied entry despite the fact that she was carrying the permission letter. All her requests fell on deaf ear and she even accused the gatekeeper of misbehaving with her. Even this correspondent was not allowed entry despite showing her ID card and sending a visiting card to the officials inside. When contacted Rajesh Jogpal, who has an additional charge of Director Social Welfare, said, he had no knowledge about it.
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Bomb hoax at DC office
Chandigarh, January 24 The police swung into action and evacuated the entire building immediately at around 3 pm. The entire area was cordoned off and the police, along with a bomb disposal squad and a dog squad, searched the premises for more than two hours. However, the letter turned out to be a prank and no bomb was found on the premises. The letter, received a day ahead of the Republic Day, stated that after the DC office, the Sector 17 plaza and Burail village would be blown up on Republic Day. “We conducted a thorough search of the premises for over two hours as no such information can be taken lightly. Besides, the DC office, we also checked the ISBT, Sector 17,” said inspector Ranjodh Singh, SHO, Sector 17 police station. Earlier, all officials and those who were present on the premises, which also has the UT Estate Office and office of Land Acquisition Officer, were asked to go out immediately by the cops. The UT Deputy Commissioner, Brijendra Singh, who was present in the office, also
preferred to leave the place immediately. Meanwhile, work at the UT Estate Office suffered a lot due to bomb hoax call. Those, who came for hearing in the court of UT Assistant Estate Officer (AEO), Rahul Gupta, were a harassed lot. The court, scheduled to begin post lunch at 2.30 pm, could not be held as the search went on for more than three hours there. “I came with my brother to attend hearing in the AEO’s court after taking half-day leave from my office. Now we have to come again,” said Rajinder Kumar. “The hearing of all cases, scheduled for today’s court, would take place tomorrow at 2.30 pm,” said Ravinder Sharma, Chief Inspector (Misuse and Enforcement), UT Estate Office.
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JERC admits power tariff hike plea
Chandigarh, January 24 After admitting the petition, the JERC issued directions to the Administration to hold a public hearing session to invite objections from residents on the issue. Confirming the development, Superintending Engineer MP Singh said they would shortly issue advertisements for the public to submit objections on the power tariff hike. Sources said after the receipt of objections, the Administration would file its reply to residents and the JERC, after which the JERC would consider the objections and the reply before pronouncing its verdict. The Administration had proposed a hike of 66.67 per cent for domestic users consuming less than 150 units. Residents in this category had been paying Rs 2.10 per unit. The Administration had proposed a tariff of Rs 3.50 per unit. In the category of above 150 units, the Administration had proposed a hike of 31.57 per cent. Those in this category had been paying Rs 3.80 per unit. A tariff of Rs 5 per unit had now been proposed. In the commercial category, the UT Administration had proposed a two-slab system. At present, there was a flat rate of Rs 4.10 per unit in the commercial category. In the petition, the Administration had proposed a tariff of Rs 5.50 per unit, a hike of 34.14 per cent, in the below-20-unit category and a tariff of Rs 6 per cent, a hike of 46.34 per cent, in the above-20-unit category.
Fixed charges
The Administration had proposed Rs 15 per month as fixed charges for domestic consumers. At present, there were no fixed charges. In the commercial category, the Administration had proposed Rs 100 per month as fixed charges. The existing rates were Rs 5 in the below-20-unit category and Rs 60 in the above-20-unit category.
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IAF’s women pilot touch new heights
Chandigarh, January 24 Located at an altitude of 18,500 feet at the easternmost point of the Karakoram range at the base of strategically significant Karakoram pass and just about 10 km from the Karakoram Highway that connects China with Pakistan, DBO is situated in a bowl. This requires an irregular overhead circuit pattern with hill clearance of just about 400 feet. “At the moment of touchdown, there are so functional things going on in your mind that you don’t have time to think about why you have done,” Sdn Ldr Uppal said. “The sense of accomplishment and elation come in only later when the aircraft stops and your mind if off the controls,” she added. Hailing from Ludhiana, the daughter of an Army officer, she has flown extensively in the northeast as well as Jammu and Kashmir and her missions include operations sorties to unpaved advance landing grounds as well as drop sorties over Siachen Glacier. This, according to Air Cmde SC Chafekar, Air Officer Commanding 12 Wing, makes her the only woman aviator who is qualified to fly independently to almost all forward bases in the country. Moving from twin-engine aircraft into the league of the “Big Boys” is Sqn Ldr Veena Saharan, who has become the first woman pilot to captain an IL-76 strategic freighter, the largest aircraft in the IAF’s inventory. She is the first and the only woman IAF pilot to be at the controls of an IL-76. Daughter of an Army officer and married to an Army doctor, she was recently cleared for IL-76 operations to high altitude areas after her squadron move to Chandigarh and has become the first woman officer to land a military multi-engine at Leh. She moved to the IL-76 as a co-pilot in 2009 and has since logged 600 hours on this aircraft. “Flying is exciting but also calls for a high degree of professionalism and judgement. In the cockpit, you regularly encounter varying situations and if you don’t react appropriately and in time, some of them can become life threatening,” she said. She joined the services due to her family background and chose the Air Force over Army because the Army Aviation Corps did not take women officer at the time of her joining. For Sqn Ldr Nidhi Handa, the first in her family to join the services and also the first woman IAF pilot from Himachal Pradesh, every moment and every task has been challenging. “While flying, a lot of unforeseen situations keep cropping up, but you have to handle them,” she said after having logged 3,400 hours, including overseas stints and operations in the Andamans. All women pilots are performing the same role as their male counterparts. They have actively participated in military exercises as well as aid to civil authorities in times of natural calamities or internal disturbances, often carrying out multiple landing in a day to airlift relief material and evacuate casualties. “Often during relief operations, the aircraft engines are kept running to reduce the turn-around time for faster evacuation,” she said. |
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Admn to honour 13 at Republic Day function
Chandigarh, January 24 Those who will be awarded certificates are Sumit Kaur, UT chief architect, Amandeep Singh, deputy superintendent, Burail Jail, Chiranji Lal, sub-inspector, Yashwant Singh, constable, Amarjit Singh, fireman, Promila Devi, senior assistant, UT Secretariat, Amita Bawa, superintendent grade-I, UT Secretariat, Paras Nath, gardener, Charanjeet Kaur, PTI, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, Sangita Vardhan, chairperson, Vatsal Chaya Trust, Dr Subhash Ghosh, classical music teacher, Sirjana Dhaliwal, national skater, and Darshan Lal, junior wrestling coach. The NGO, Hamari Kaksha, being run under the presidentship of Anuradha Sharma, would be given the commendation certificate for its meritorious service in the social field.
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City lad to watch parade from PM’s box
Chandigarh, January 24 Inder Pratap, a resident of Sector 23 and a student of fourth year of mechanical engineering, said his college forwarded his name to the government on the basis of his academic achievements. “I am the topper of my batch and my CGPA score is 9.6, besides, I am also the chapter head of college’s NGO, Youth United,” said excited Inder Pratap. He further said the college had forwarded the names of the meritorious students to the government and his name was shortlisted. The government has made all arrangements
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Agents around?
Chandigarh, January 24 Sleuths conducted a check as a preventive measure following the busting of a fake licence scam in October past year. Inspector Dulip Rattan said they randomly checked some persons who came for licences to see if agents were involved. Past year, the cell had arrested six persons in the fake driving licence scam. The accused used to provide licences by forging the signature of DSP (Traffic) Vijay Kumar. The police had recovered 28 files based on fake papers prepared by the accused from the office of the RLA at Sector 17. Investigation revealed that the accused had documented more than 200 driving licences by using fake stamps and signatures. The scrutiny of the files recovered had revealed that the beneficiaries had not appeared for driving test at the Chandigarh Traffic Park in Sector 23. Their files were found to be having valid serial numbers.
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Campaigning picks up in Mohali
Mohali, January 24 Supporting the candidature of Ramoowalia, she said he was a helpful person who always comes in aid of the needy. Riding a bullock cart, she became the centre of attraction for the womenfolk in Gobindpura village. Addressing the gathering, the SAD candidate said a number of NRIs had come in his support and he was getting a positive response form the villages. On the other hand, Dolly Bindra, the former inmate of Big Boss, campaigned door-to-door in markets of Phase 3B 2, 5 and 7 for the BSP candidate, Manav Mehra. Urging the voters to cast their ballot in favour of Mehra, she mingled with the crowd. At a sweet shop in Phase 3 B2, she fried samosas, catching everyone’s attention. She said instead of supporting the veteran politicians who had already played a long inning’s, the voters should elect young faces. The PPP candidate, Bir Devinder today visited Montana and Bariali villages. He also visited Chaperchiri, Lakhnor and Dau villages. Canvassing for Balbir Singh Sidhu, Congress candidate from Mohali Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni addressed a large number of election meetings in Mohali and Mauli Baidwan villages. She lambasted the Badals for diverting central grants worth crores for personal gains in utter disregard of interests of Punjab. She said it was sad that Punjab, which was ranked first till 2007, slipped to the 12th position under the Akali rule. She said 900 industries fled from Punjab during the past five years. It was very unfortunate that 47 lakh youngsters are today unemployed in Punjab and they are slipping into the quagmire of drugs and alcohol. Balbir Singh Sidhu said the SAD candidate Balwant Singh Rammowalia was an outsider and the party had forced the candidate on the unwilling people of this constituency. By fielding of Ramoowalia as its nominee, the SAD had conceded that it did not find any of party leaders from the area fit for contesting against the Congress candidate. Describing Ramoowalia as a political turncoat, Sidhu said he had become a member of the National Commission for Minorities with the Congress support. And again, he cultivated CPM leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet to become a minister in the Central Government.
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Sec-22 traders protest
Chandigarh, January 24 “We are getting notices for misuse of premises from the UT estate office. It is unjust and the authorities should relax such rules, which are against traders,” said Charanjiv Singh, president of the traders’ association here. About 500 members of the association and of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal earlier gathered at the market opposite the ISBT and staged a ‘dharna’ for their demands. “The measures aim at uprooting small-time traders, who are mostly tenants and run business in small portions on upper floors of buildings. Our main demand is allowing them to continue and abolition of conversion charges,” said Charanjiv Singh. The traders asserted that if their demands were not met and notices not withdrawn, more such protests would be organised at other markets.
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Stress to generate awareness about drug menace
Chandigarh, January 24 Panelists focused on the need of proactive role of individuals of all age groups in generating social awareness about the drug menace. The addicts posed a serious threat to their own health and also to society at large. Dr Anuradha Sharma, an associate professor in chemistry at GCG-11 and also president of Hamari Kaksha, an NGO, emphasised on the empathetic understanding of affected individuals and their families. Suman Gupta, a psychiatric, social worker and counsellor with neuro psychiatric-cum-de-addiction centre, in her interactive discussion with the students urged them to be vigilant and play an active role in curbing the menace. Providing information about the ill effects is one of the important contributions they could make. Dr Jitender Dahiya, consultant, State AIDS Control Society, highlighted the role of women in creating a communicative and warm family environment, so that the children indulge in healthy activities and stay away from this menace. The panel discussion covered major issues involved in addiction such as peer pressure, insecurity, lack of communication in families and social apathy at large.
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Expert dwells on life skills mgmt
Chandigarh, January 24 The workshop was addressed by Rajneesh Kumar, an expert on career and relationship, director IPAT. Kumar threw light on various developmental stages of life and issues that need attention at these stages. Dr Ashu Priya, clinical psychologist and head of guidance and counseling department of IPAT, was also present as the co-speaker on the occasion. The workshop enlightened the students about various career options in psychology, life skills and knowing and managing of oneself.
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Examiners not on PU’s priority list
Chandigarh, January 24 Nothing else can explain the blatant violation of the established protocol where PU went ahead conducting at least 3,000 different exams in 2011 without any revising committee. The committee is responsible for scrutiny and revision of list of examiners suggested by the board of studies of various departments. Going by the footnote of item number 3 of PU January 31 Syndicate agenda, which proposes constitution of this committee in 2012, the committee for the period of January 2011 to December 2011 could not be constituted. “The file was sent to the VC and Syndic GK Chatrath on February 21, 2011, but was never received in the office concerned,” read the agenda. The fact left teaching fraternity astounded, as PUTA president, Prof Akshay Kumar, said, “Are we trying to say that paper setting, invigilation or evaluation of over 3,000 different papers was carried out on whims and fancies of the board of studies without even checking the validity of a teacher to exercise this duty? What is the sanctity of these examinations? They are, too, quick to raise fingers at teachers for ‘delaying results’ but have ignored their own protocol.” Interestingly, even the file for the youth welfare committee that is responsible for conduct of youth activities on the campus and colleges was also not sent to the office concerned. “Student or youth welfare has nothing to attract the attention of Senate or Syndic members until they have an axe to grind. Student issues always remain last on the priority of the august bodies of the university administration. They are quick to make committees on issues that had vested interest. That is the biggest reason that we want student president to get a right to speak in the Senate,” said Panjab University Student Council president Pushpinder Sharma. When contacted, Vice-Chancellor RC Sobti said he never got any such file and it was Syndic GK Chatrath who took the responsibility to make these committees and Syndicate had allowed him to do so. At the same time, Chatrath said he had got files only two months ago. “The matter is being blown out of proportion. The revising committee is not an absolutely sacrosanct requirement.” “There is hardly any change in the list of examiners given by the board of studies so not having this committee makes no difference,” said Chatrath. The issue, meanwhile, is bound to snowball into a major controversy at the forthcoming Syndicate on January 31, as Ashok Goyal who has made to the House after a gap of an year, said, “I am surprised that how the university was functioning without mandatory provisions? It is unfortunate that last year’s Syndicate, which met every month never cared to seek a compliance report from revered senior member on task entrusted to him and why were the VC and controller examination silent? If these committees have no meaning then why even constitute them this year? In this Syndicate, we will surely decide that who is responsible if calendar’s mandatory provision are violated.”
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Schools refuse to bypass neighbourhood criteria
Chandigarh, January 24 Taking cognizance of a stay order granted to Delhi private schools against their local administration, which had also, like the UT, asked them to forgo neighbourhood limit of 1 km while accepting applications for RTE reserved seats, the schools have reminded the UT that they cannot alter any provision of the Act without an amendment for Parliament. “The Delhi High Court while giving a stay to these schools observed that the RTE mandates that a school is bound to provide admission to children within 1 km of its premises. It has categorically stated that a local authority can alter this provision only after getting it amended from its legislature or Parliament in case of the UT. This obviously implies that we will be going by child mapping. If it’s faulty that’s not our problem but only children figuring in that mapping in our neighbourhood will get admission,” said HS Mamik, president Independent School Association. Repeated efforts to contacts DPI (S) Sandeep Hans and DEO Chanchal Singh proved futile even as a senior official claimed that this letter held no relevance in Chandigarh’s context. “They should go to court and get a stay for themselves as that is more relevant,” said this official. Reacting to the school’s submission that they were not getting any applications for RTE seats, the UT education department in a recent letter issued to schools directed them to accept applications under the RTE till January 31. The schools were asked to accept applications of all bonafide residents of Chandigarh as the department felt that small size of the city made neighbourhood criteria impractical, though it was duly followed in government school admission application process.
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GCG-11 shines in quiz contest
Panchkula, January 24 The team comprising Rashmi Kumari, Navreet Kaur and Ravinderpreet Kaur bagged the first position, while Sahil Aggarwal, Amit Kumar and Ankit Kumar of Government College (GC), Sector 46, were declared runner-up. Teams from GCG-11, GC-46, Guru Gobind Singh College for Women-26, GCG-14, Panchkula, and GCC-42 participated in the competition, which was organised by the first-year MBA students of Everonn IIPS. The quiz tested general awareness of the students on subjects like literature, sports, business, entertainment and historical facts. Col (retd) KK Sharma, regional head Everonn IIPS (northern region) said a preliminary round of the competition was held in each college during December-2011 and January-2012.
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