The Tribune...Chandigarh

C H A N D I G A R H

Tuesday, July 7, 1998

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today's calendar

Shootout in city courts: DSP, SAD leader held
A Deputy Superintendent of Police from Punjab and president of the Muktsar unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) were among the 15-odd persons rounded up by the police after a shootout in the District Courts complex in which at least four persons were injured here this
afternoon...
Haryana Govt recalls Anuradha Gupta
For reasons not known the Haryana Government has reversed its decision to allow the Home Secretary of the Union Territory of Chandigarh, Mrs Anuradha Gupta, to continue in her post for one more year...
DCs taking MPs for a ride
Deputy Commissioners-cum-District Collectors have been taking the Central Government and members of Parliament for a ride as far as implementation of the local area development scheme is concerned...
178 criminal cases against policemen
There is no difference in the nature of crime whether it is by a cop or a civilian; human nature remains the same.
This became evident in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha today during question hour...

Death of a green dream
Once adorned with more than 50,000, young trees, the green belt along the outer Dakshin Marg has been depleted following the death of thousands of the trees..
Godara heads Cabinet sub-committee
In order to enforce economy in expenditure and absorption of surplus staff of autonomous bodies, the Haryana Government has set up a Cabinet sub-committee under the chairmanship of Mr Mani Ram Godara, Home Minister, Haryana...
Seminar on environment
A seminar on evaluation of tangible strategy for promotion of environment awareness among Central Government employees was organised by the Labour Bureau here today...
Rotary Club to help in kids' heart surgery
The Rotary Club, Chandigarh, will start a unique project to help 50 poor children from the city and Punjab..

Shootout in city courts: DSP, SAD leader held
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 6 — A Deputy Superintendent of Police from Punjab and president of the Muktsar unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) were among the 15-odd persons rounded up by the police after a shootout in the District Courts complex in which at least four persons were injured here this afternoon.
The incident, the first of its kind in the Sector 17 judicial complex, took place immediately after a suspect in the Sector 10 murder case was produced before Judicial Magistrate First Class, Mr Tejwinder Singh, around 4 p.m.
According to eyewitnesses, supporters of both the complainant and the defendant's groups, carrying double-barrel guns, lathis and other weapons started converging at the judicial complex since morning.
Before the production of the suspect before the Judicial Magistrate, the defence counsel moved a special petition apprehending breach of peace and bloodshed and sought the intervention of the court for directions to the police to tighten the security in the complex. Mr Tejwinder Singh immediately passed orders which were conveyed to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr Surjit Singh, present in the court complex.
The eyewitnesses maintained that trouble started immediately after the remand proceedings ended. One of the groups started raising slogans against the Punjab Police after they spotted Mr Jagjit Singh Gill, a DSP of the Punjab Police, in the court complex. The other group retaliated with slogans in support of the Punjab Police.
It was during this slogan-shouting that some members of either of the groups started pelting stones. As the large number of litigants and lawyers took shelter under tables and at other places, someone from one of the groups took out his double-barrel gun and fired a shot in the air.
This marked the beginning of the first-ever shootout in the complex. Fire was exchanged for almost 25 minutes. Some of the commandos deployed inside the complex were seen taking shelter in the court rooms and also the jail.
At least four persons who received either bullet or stone injuries were immediately whisked away by supporters of their respective groups.
Members of one of the groups had come in jeeps which they had parked along the Sector 17 Parade Ground. After the incident they managed to escape.
The police intervention came only at the end of the shooting brawl in which 15 persons were rounded up and taken to the Sector 17 police station across the street.
As the news of the shooting incident spread in the city, all Station House Officers and Deputy Superintendents of Police assembled at the Sector 17 police station.
The District and Sessions Judge sent a report about the incident to the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek directions in the case.
The Judicial Officers were upset at the incident. They maintained that all their requests and pleas in the past for security cover had been ignored by the Chandigarh Police.
One of the shots virtually pierced through the windowpane of the retiring room of the Judicial Magistrate, Mr Jasbir Singh. At that time, Mr Jasbir Singh was giving dictation. Fortunately for him, the bullet after hitting the cast iron sewerage pipe rebounded in the direction it came from.
Mr A.S. Walia of the Lawyers for Social Reforms, who was an eyewitness to the whole incident, said it took place because of police inaction. He maintained that though there was an order by the District and Sessions Judge prohibiting the carrying of firearms inside the complex, there was no check today.
He maintained members of both groups came heavily armed and with preplanned intentions. Even on the last hearing on July 3, there were some exchanges between supporters of the two groups.
Since more than 1,000 supporters of the two groups had converged at the district courts complex this morning, the inaction on the part of the police was decried by both litigants and lawyers, he added. He maintained that a request for a police picket inside the courts complex was pending before the police.

Haryana Govt recalls Anuradha Gupta
By Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 6 — For reasons not known the Haryana Government has reversed its decision to allow the Home Secretary of the Union Territory of Chandigarh, Mrs Anuradha Gupta, to continue in her post for one more year.
Mrs Gupta is an IAS officer of the Haryana cadre and is currently on deputation with the Union Territory.
Her three-year tenure is scheduled to end in October next.
The U.T. Administration had earlier written to the Haryana Government to grant one-year extention to Mrs Gupta. Haryana had agreed to the U.T. request and had conveyed its written consent about three weeks ago. The case for her extention has been sent by the U.T. to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In a surprise move the Haryana Government sent a letter to the U.T. on July 3 which was the last working day of the week, asking the latter to repatriate Mrs Gupta to her parent State at the expiry of her tenure.
Haryana also sent a panel of three IAS officers for appointment as the next Home Secretary of the U.T. The panelists are Mr Hardip Kumar, Mr Roshan Lal and Mrs Surina Rajan. While Mr Hardip Kumar is the Director, Development and Panchayats, Mr Roshan Lal and Mrs Surina Rajan are Deputy Commissioners of Karnal and Yamunanagar, respectively.
Mrs Gupta in her capacity as Secretary, Vigilance, is currently engaged in a war against alleged corrupt elements in the engineering departments of the U.T. It is speculated in administrative circles of Haryana that the engineers' lobby may be behind the reversal of the State Government's decision.
Another U.T. officer whose term will expire in October is the Deputy Commissioner, Mr K.K. Khandelwal. Both Mrs Gupta and Mr Khandelwal had taken up their U.T. assignments on October 21, 1995.
The Haryana Government has already sent a panel of three officers for appointment as Deputy Commissioner. The officers are Mr M. Ramsekhar, Mr T.C. Gupta and Mr Hawa Singh Dhankar. The Ministry of Home Affairs has sent back the panel because the State had not sent the annual confidential reports (ACRs) of the panelists up to date.
Another senior officer of the U.T. who will soon be repatriated to his home state is the Finance Secretary, Mr N.S. Kang, who belongs to the Punjab cadre.
Mr G. Vajralingam, Managing Director of the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation, is likely to replace Mr Kang.

DCs taking MPs for a ride
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 6 — Deputy Commissioners-cum-District Collectors have been taking the Central Government and members of Parliament for a ride as far as implementation of the local area development scheme is concerned.
This revelation has been made in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) which reviewed the implementation of the scheme in five districts of Punjab represented by 11 members of Parliament (Lok Sabha six and Rajya Sabha five). The review pertained to the period 1993-94 to 1996-97.
The local area development scheme was announced in December, 1993, by the then Prime Minister to enable members of Parliament to recommend small capital works in their constituencies. Each member of Parliament is given Rs 1 crore by the Central Government for carrying out works recommended by him or her in the consituency concerned under this scheme.
In its report the CAG has revealed that out of Rs 33.50 crore received from the Central Government, Rs 22.80 crore remained unspent with the collectors (Rs 14.09 crore) and implementing agencies Rs 8.71 crore) in five districts — Amritsar, Ferozepore, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana and Patiala.
About Rs 2.09 crore which remained unspent with the collectors at the time of declaration of elections for the 11th Lok Sabha in March, 1996, were neither reported to the Central Government nor brought to the notice of the newly elected members of Parliament as required under the instructions of the Union Government.
Some of the collectors unilaterally sanctioned works worth Rs 0.44 crore without the recommendations of the MP concerned. When questioned in this connection, the collectors failed to give satisfactory answers. In certain cases they even failed to get ex post facto recommendations from the MPs. Some collectors took the liberty of releasing funds from the MPs' quota for works not covered under the scheme.
As many as 69 works had to be abandoned after incurring expenditure of Rs 0.38 crore due to insufficient grant out of Rs 16.35 crore disbursed to implementing agencies for executing 1740 works, utilisation certificates for Rs 15.38 crore in 1572 works were still awaited.
Checking of records has revealed that in three districts collectors exceeded their powers for sanctioning works. Under the guidelines, collectors are permitted to sanction works up to Rs 10 lakh but in Ferozepore, Hoshiarpur and Patiala districts the collectors sanctioned works worth Rs 1.22 crore each exceeding the limit of Rs 10 lakh.
The report has also revealed the attitude of district collectors towards works undertaken under the scheme. Scrutiny of the pending 619 works revealed that only two works for 1994 and 18 for 1995-96 were completed as on September, 1997. The remaining 599 works were still incomplete despite the delay of 18 months in 42 works and six months in 557 works. None of these works was inspected by the collectors from 1993 to 1997 though collectors were required to visit and inspect at least 10 per cent of these works every year.
According to the report, the guidelines prohibit sanction of work such as office building, works of commercial organisations, trust, repair and maintenance works, memorial buildings, purchase of inventory etc. In five districts, 32 works involving an expenditure of Rs 42.84 lakh recommended by nine MPs were sanctioned by the collectors and funds released to the executing agencies in contravention of the guidelines.
One collector of Jalandhar spent Rs 1.11 lakh on the renovation of his own office room from these funds and three other collectors at Amritsar, Ferozepore and Patiala purchased stationery worth Rs 0.36 lakh although such items were not admissible under the scheme.

Death of a green dream
By Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH: Once adorned with more than 50,000, young trees, the green belt along the outer Dakshin Marg has been depleted following the death of thousands of the trees.
The green strip, spread on an area of about 250 acres of reserve land to be converted into commercial buildings, later was mainly envisaged by the administration to prevent encroachment of the land by jhuggi-dwellers and provide a greener face to the southern sectors. In comparison to their counterparts in the northern part of the city, these sectors have lesser number of trees. Besides this, it was also contemplated that the plantation of trees with a short life span of seven-eight years could be a source of income for the Administration, which could sell these trees, before developing the area.
Initially, the UT Forest Department was entrusted with the job of planting saplings in Sectors 39 to 43, where the implementation of the first phase of the plan took off during the first half of 1993. About 56,000 trees were planted on an area of 225 acres, with the local Municipal Corporation completing the second phase of the plan in the remaining areas in 1996.
But, except for a fraction of the trees, the plantation, comprising trees such as silver oak, shisham, tun, and poplar, failed to sustain for long owing to the alleged apathy of the Forest Department and the civic authorities. The situation has come to such a pass that not a single plant could be seen in some areas, especially those facing Colony No. 4 though the plants grew well during the initial stage in these areas.
According to highly placed sources, the plants were not adequately sprayed or watered. Which was mandatory at an initial stage. As a result, the trees started withering, with the authorities turning a blind eye to the destruction of the belt. It was also learnt that the land on which the trees were grown was not tilled regularly, which led to the growth of weeds, including parthenium which engulfed the small plants.
Another reason behind the depletion of the belt was the alleged change in the original plan of plantation by the Forest Department by planting longer-living trees like silver oak, shisham and tun. This was against the recommendations of the UT Horticulture Department which had suggested that only poplar trees should be grown in the area.
Mr Hardev Singh, Xen, Horticulture Department, said the dense plantation of trees like silver oak, tun and shisham on the forest pattern did not suit the city plantation pattern.
The manner in which the plantation was done had raised a lot of dust with a section of horticulture experts opposing the dense plantation, fearing that wherever it survived it would develop into a thick forest cover.
Mr Kalwant Singh, a member of the landscape Advisory Committee, in a letter to the Chief Engineer, had pointed out that besides being detrimental to the health of the trees, thick plantation, on maturity would invoke the provisions of the Forest Act, which prohibits felling of trees without the prior permission of the Government of India. Giving an example, he had said the Government of India did not grant permission for the cutting of some trees along the Sukhna choe for the development of the Industrial Area, Phase I.
According to an estimate had 50,000 trees survived, the administration could generate a revenue of around Rs 7.5 crore, as a single mature poplar tree fetched about Rs 1,500 in the market. Besides this, the trees could prove to be shield against vehicular pollution as well as proliferation of jhuggis in the area.
When contacted, Mr Raghbir Singh, XEN of the Horticulture Division of the MC, denied any knowledge about the state of the trees as these had been grown during his predecessor's tenure. On the other hand, Mr H.S. Sohal, Director, Forest Department, asserted that 90 per cent of the plants grown by his department were "quite healthy". Regarding the alleged wrong selection and plantation of trees, he said, these trees were nevertheless accomplishing their "task" of providing oxygen to the city residents.

Miss Priti Mittal of Mehar Chand Mahajan D.A.V. College, Chandigarh, has stood first in the B.Sc. Part III examination conducted by Panjab University in April, 1998. She secured 1732 marks out of 2000.

Godara heads Cabinet sub-committee
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 6 — In order to enforce economy in expenditure and absorption of surplus staff of autonomous bodies, the Haryana Government has set up a Cabinet sub-committee under the chairmanship of Mr Mani Ram Godara, Home Minister, Haryana.
Mrs Kamla Verma, Local Government Minister; Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, Education Minister; Mr Charan Dass Shorewala, Finance Minister; Mr Ramesh Chander, Labour and Employment Minister and Mr Harsh Kumar, Minister of State for Irrigation will be its members and Mr Ram S. Varma, Chief Secretary, its Member-Secretary.
The sub-committee will submit its recommendations to the government.

Seminar on environment
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 6 — A seminar on evaluation of tangible strategy for promotion of environment awareness among Central Government employees was organised by the Labour Bureau here today.
Mr S.K. Sharma, president of the Environment Society of India, stressed the involvement of Central Government employees to make the environment green and laid emphasis on planting of medicinal plants in government hospitals and dispensaries.
Mr S.R.S. Gill, Director-General, Labour Bureau and an eminent economist, said the employees stationed in Chandigarh should do their bit by weeding out the menace of parthenium.
He urged to minimise the use of plastic bags. He also asked members of the Green Environment Club of the Bureau to carry out more such programmes.
He planted medicinal plants in the compound of the office in Sector 17.

178 criminal cases against policemen
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 6 — There is no difference in the nature of crime whether it is by a cop or a civilian; human nature remains the same.
This became evident in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha today during question hour.
In a written reply to a question by Mr Hardev Arshi (CPI), the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, said at least 178 criminal cases were registered against erring policemen between February, 1997, and to-date. But for one, where the cop was acquitted, the position in respect of the others was as follows — 54 cases are pending in courts, 113 are under investigation; four remain untraced and six stood cancelled.
Going through the column "nature and brief facts" one learnt that the cops booked had engaged in the following types of crime because of which cases had been registered against them.
These cases were for holding out a threat to a senior superintendent of police; for intimidation of innocent people; for accepting bribe or indulging in corrupt practices; for rape in custody, escape from custody and death in custody; for illegal detention of innocents or booking wrong persons for extraneous considerations; for wife beating, demanding dowry and in some cases mudering or attempting to murder wife; for planting of ammunition etc to book innocent people; for theft of vehicles; for quarreling in public; for eveteasing school girls; for breaking into women's hostel to beat up a watchman; and for molestation of women et al.
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In another written reply to a question by Mr Arshi, the Revenue and Rehabilitation Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Majitha, said the damage caused by waterlogging and floods in 1997 in Muktsar was immense. Out of Rs 32,75,24,022 spent, 75 per cent came from the Centre and 25 per cent was spent by the state from its own sources.
A total of 7,287 acres was not sown on account of waterlogging; crops were damaged in an area of 1,14,307 acres; over 14,000 houses were damaged (kutcha, pucca, partially built and huts included); public properties had also been damaged, including schools, hospitals, roads, bridges etc.
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Mr Parkash Singh Badal, in a written reply to a question by Mr Ramesh Chander Dogra, said the Dasuya sugarmill had been handed over to a private entrepreneur for a sum of Rs 45 crore on certain terms and conditions, including down payment of 25 per cent at the time of signing of agreement and balance 75 per cent in three equated instalments with interest of 15 per cent per annum compounded annually. The total payment is to be realised by October 8, 2000.
The Speaker, Mr Charanjit Singh Atwal, at one point remarked that the members who had asked the question had themselves abstained from the house.
There was a calling attention motion by Mr Sher Singh Jalalabad on "discontentment amongst people of Ferozepore district due to acute shortage of kerosene".
The Minister, Mr M.M. Mittal replied.
The house will meet on July 9 at 10 a.m. That is the last day when it will adjourn sine die.

Rotary Club to help in kids' heart surgery
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 6 — The Rotary Club, Chandigarh, will start a unique project to help 50 poor children from the city and Punjab to have corrective heart surgery at the PGI in the next two years.
This was stated by Mrs Kawal Bedi, the first woman president of the club, while talking to TNS here today.
Giving details of the project, she said the project was initially being proposed with a corpus of Rs 40 lakh. She said an amount of $ 37,000 had already been contributed by the Rotarians from Japan and Germany. Once the remaining amount of $ 13,000 was raised, the project would be in place as the Rotary Foundation had already approved the matching grant of $ 50,000.
Named the "Gift of life", the project, she said was inspired by the efforts of the Innerwheel Club in collecting Rs 2.5 lakh for the heart surgery of a needy boy — Lakha Ram — in 1996-97.
She said she had already collected Rs 3 lakh and remaining Rs 10 lakh would be collected soon. She urged the Rotarians and general public to contribute generously for the noble cause.
Other unique feature of the project would be that the club, besides arranging for the medical treatment, would provide for adoption of the children by the Rotarians to look after their educational and vocational needs.
Later, Mrs Bedi took over the club presidentship from Mr Sunil Khera. Other office-bearers of the club installed were: Mr Praveen Goyal (vice-president), Mr Charanjit Singh (secretary), Mr Subhash Kohli (joint secretary), Ms Vijay Wadhawan (treasurer), Mr Anil Khanna (director of the Club Services), Mr Arvind Mehan (director of the vocational services), Mr S.P. Handa (director of the community service), Mr Baldev Aggarwal (director of the international service), and Mr Madhukar Malhotra (sergeant-at-Arms).
Ms Madhu Mutneja was installed as the president of the Innerwheel Club, a body of the wives of the Rotary Club members.
The Punjab Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, was the chief guest. Among those present were Mr Raja Saboo, a former president of the Rotary International and Lt-Gen H.R.S. Mann, chief of the Staff, Western Command.