Thursday, December 16, 1999
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N E W S Thursday, December 16, 1999 |
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BJP to consult high
command CHANDIGARH, Dec 15 — With just two days left for filing nomination papers for the post of Mayor, the ruling BJP is yet to choose the consensus candidate for the top post. The election committee of the BJP comprising Mr Dharam Pal Gupta, Mr Gian Chand Gupta, Mr Satya Pal Jain, Mr Mahaveer Prashad and Mr Neeraj Tayal, which met here today, deliberated on the prospective candidates, but failed to evolve a consensus. Ultimately, it was decided that the party high command should be apprised of the deliberations held by the local party president, Mr Dharam Pal Gupta, with the councillors and the other party functionaries and the local SAD president, Mr Gurpartap Singh Riar. A delegation of the party comprising Mr Jain, Mr Suresh Verma and Mr Prashad is likely to meet the party president, Mr Khusabhau Thakre, and the party in charge for Chandigarh, Mr Narinder Modi, tomorrow, and the final decision is to be taken in consultation with them, according to sources. In fact, simmering differences between the Jain faction and the Gupta faction came to the fore last evening when the councillors, owing allegiance to the Jain faction, boycotted the meeting called by the party president to seek their views for evolving a consensus on the party nominees for the posts of the Mayor, the Senior Deputy Mayor and the Deputy Mayor. It may be recalled that the talks by the party president with party leaders in the past couple of days had failed to yield any positive results. The sources said as of now Ms Shanta Abhilashi seemed to the front-runner for the top post. Ms Abhilashi, a senior leader and wife of the late Babu Hitabhilashi, who was gunned down by militants during militancy in Punjab, has been less controversial, and may be acceptable to the Jain group also. The Jain group, in all possibility, would lobby for the post of Senior Deputy Mayor for one of its councillors, with BJP’s junior partner, Shiromani Akali Dal getting the post of Deputy Mayor. If the BJP is a divided house, the condition of its junior partner is no better. A vertical split in the party had divided its two councillors in two opposite groups — one led by Mr Riar and the other by Mr G.S. Palia. Which councillor should be given the post of Deputy Mayor is going to be a tough decision to be taken by the BJP. Meanwhile, the Palia faction today announced that Ms Harjinder Kaur would be the official candidate for the post of Deputy Mayor\Senior Deputy Mayor “as per the SAD-BJP alliance’s decision for elections to be held on December 23”. The decision has the concurrence of SAD general secretary and Union Cabinet Minister, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, a press note, issued by Mr N.S. Minhas and Mr Harcharan Singh Sawhney, both general secretaries, said. Taking a serious note of the statement issued by Mr Riar expelling Ms Harjinder Kaur, the press note said no individual had any right to expel a senior functionary from the primary membership of the party. Only the enrolling authority — SAD President, Parkash Singh Badal and Mr Dhindsa could do so — it added. The election to the top three posts is to be held on December 23 and the post of Mayor is reserved for the lady councillor for one year. The Congress has announced that it would declare its candidate for the post of Mayor on December 17. In another development, Mr M.P. Verma, Chairman of the Backward Classes Cell of the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee (CTCC), has criticised the Acting President, Mr Kulbhushan Gupta, for his announcement regarding the candidate for the post of Mayor without consulting the MP, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, and the party councillors. Mr Bansal and Mr
Harmohan Dhawan should have been invited to the press
conference where the party’s decision to contest the
Mayorial election was announced, Mr Verma said in a
statement. |
Inquiry against absconding SI Chandigarh, Dec 15 — A departmental inquiry will be instituted against a sub-inspector of the Chandigarh Police, who is absconding after allegedly killing the brother of a groom with his service revolver during a marriage function on December 12 at Agundh in Kaithal district of Haryana. The inquiry will look into his absence from duty without informing his seniors and carrying his service revolver to a private function which is against norms. Senior officers have viewed this lapse seriously and strict action is reportedly on the anvil. He is stated to have been part of the marriage party and during the ceremonies was firing in the air. One of the shots reportedly hit the brother of the groom, who died on the spot He was reportedly in an inebriated condition at the time of the incident. According to sources, the cop, Kuldeep Singh Kahian, is reportedly a repeat offender and was dismissed from service in 1993 while being posted in the traffic wing. He reportedly stopped a family travelling by a van and said that it had committed an offence. At that point of time, cops of the rank of SI had the power to accept the challan amount at the spot. He reportedly gave a receipt of Rs 500 as a fine for compounding the offence while wrote only Rs 50 on the counter foil of his book, thereby pocketing Rs 450. The offender saw this and reported the matter to the then SSP, who suspended him. He was reportedly found guilty by the inquiry officer and his services were terminated. He moved the Central Administrative Tribunal, which too upheld the termination. He finally petitioned the Supreme Court which ruled in his favour and was subsequently reinstated on April 24, 1996. Sources revealed that continuing with his activities, Kuldeep reportedly orchestrated an extortion and a theft totalling Rs 5.30 lakh from a 70-year-old resident of Sector 19 with the help of two female friends. He sent the women who posed as tenants and had some drugs planted in the house. He later arrived at the house and alleged that the old man was involved in selling drugs. The old man pleaded his innocence but a sum of Rs 30,000 was taken from him. Not satisfied with this, the accused forced the old man, who lived alone, to let the women occupy a room in the house as tenants and during this course, the house was burgled by the women. A sum of Rs 5 lakh was stolen by them. The women were apprehended, confessed to the role of the accused in the whole set-up later on and a sum of Rs 2 lakh was recovered from them, while Kuldeep Singh was suspended in 1998. He somehow managed to get himself reinstated in July this year and was presently posted at the Sector 3 police station, the sources added. He was recruited in the
local police as an ASI in 1987. |
Main railway platform closed CHANDIGARH, Dec 15 — The main railway platform here was today closed till February 13, 2000, for departure and arrival of trains due to construction activity on it. Departure and arrival of the Shatabdi Express, Himalayan Queen and Kalka Mail, among other trains, will now be at the newly constructed platform Nos 2 and 3, according to railway sources. At platform No 1, or the main platform, the Railways are constructing a ''washing apron'' to wash coaches with water jets. This is a part of the long-drawn project of the Railways to bring more long-distance trains to Chandigarh that has suffered on account of lack of basic facilities like washing line and maintenance facilities. All other facilities, including tea stalls, cafeteria and offices of the Station Superintendent, are presently located on the main platform. Another problem for about two months will be for the people who bring along two-wheelers and other heavy material in the brake van of the long-distance trains. The loading and unloading of such goods will add to the problem. The unloading of bigger parcels from goods trains will not pose any problem as there is a separate area for the purpose. Another area to watch
will be the movement of VIPs who often come by the
Shatabdi trains and walk to the exit point at the end of
the main platform to board waiting cars. It remains to be
seen how the common man will be troubled when a VVIP gets
down at platform No 2 or 3 and then uses the stairs and
exit at platform No 1. |
Night classes to begin soon CHANDIGARH, Dec 15 — As a follow-up to a plan of the UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen (retd) J.F.R. Jacob, to introduce night classes in government schools to provide basic education to slum children, the Director Public Instructions (DPI schools), Mr D.S. Saroya, today held a meeting of 41 principals of village and colony schools of the city at Government Senior Model School, Sector 10, to tell them about the proposal. According to Mr Saroya, a sub-committee of two principals, the Assistant Director of Vocational Education, and Deputy Director of Adult Education, would be constituted to prepare a capsule programme for introducing the classes. These classes are to begin by the end of the next month. These classes will be held for three hours in a day. Initially, five or six schools would be identified as centers of night classes. Talking to the heads of 41 schools, the DPI (schools) asked them to motivate their teachers to volunteer their services for this programme. Plans were also afoot to include various volunteer organisations working in this field. Other plans which were discussed in today's meeting included a self-help movement for the upkeep and cleanliness of schools, even giving toilet training to students. Mr Saroya also urged the heads to motivate their teachers to divide the school areas among themselves and students for the campus improvement. According to sources, the Central Government has already been asked for more than 300 jobs to be created at these schools. Meanwhile, on the issue
of improving the quality of education, it was said that
schools and the parents should maintain a 24-hour check
on students, though regular parent-teacher meetings would
also be held. |
SC rejects Jerath’s
bail plea CHANDIGARH, Dec 15 — The Supreme Court today turned down a bail plea preferred by Mr K.K. Jerath, former Chief Engineer of Chandigarh. Mr Justice A.B. Patnaik and Mr Justice U.S. Banerjee, who constituted the Bench, however, directed Mr Jerath to prefer his fresh bail application after six months. The Administration was informed last evening by its standing counsel at the Supreme Court that Mr Jerath’s case was listed for hearing this morning. The Advisor to the Chandigarh Administrator, Mrs Vineeta Rai, immediately deputed Mr Ajay Kashyap, SSP, Vigilance, to reach the Supreme Court for presenting the viewpoint of the prosecution. Mr Jerath, along with 53
other officials and private individuals, was booked by
the Administration in the ongoing kickbacks case. Except
Mr Jerath, all other accused have been bailed out. |
DSP's bail plea dismissed CHANDIGARH, Dec 15 — Punjab Deputy Superintendent of Police Jaspal Singh's application for anticipatory bail in Ropar advocate Kulwant Singh's murder case was today dismissed as withdrawn by the UT Additional District and Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge for CBI cases, Mr S.S. Lamba. At the very onset, counsel stated that the petitioner was on regular bail in the case in which the additional challan had now been presented and as such the petition was being withdrawn. Seeking grant of bail, counsel had earlier stated that the DSP had already joined investigations in the case and had remained in judicial lock-up for about 10 months. The petitioner, counsel had added, was no longer required for interrogation as the challan had already been presented in the court "as per the orders of the Supreme Court". The additional challan presented by the CBI, he had further stated, had arisen out of the case "in which the petitioner was released on bail by the Supreme Court on August 26, 1997". The court had issued bailable warrants against the petitioner for January 11, 2000, after the additional challan was presented by the CBI. The petitioner, along with other accused, had earlier filed an application for being discharged as the report under Section 173, CrPC, according to them, had not disclosed the commission of any offence. The application was dismissed by the Designated Court. Even the criminal miscellaneous application filed against the order was dismissed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The apex court, partly allowing the SLP against the order, on August 5, 1998, had directed the Designated Court to make a complaint to the magistrate. The CBI had also been directed to file an additional challan. The incident dates back to January, 1993. Kulwant Singh's father had reported to the police that the advocate, his wife and two-year-old son had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The police had, however, failed to trace them. The CBI was subsequently
directed to investigate the matter by the apex court.
Meanwhile, trial was initiated against Harpreet Singh,
alias Lucky. The investigating agency stated that Lucky
was innocent and DSP Jaspal Singh, Inspector Balwant
Singh, Sub-Inspector Arvinder Bir Singh and Assistant
Sub-Inspector Darshan Singh were responsible for the
fabrication of evidence against him. |
Minor reshuffle of police
officers Chandigarh, Dec 15 — Setting at rest rumours of a complete reshuffle of officers at the level of subdivisional police officers (SDPOs), the UT Home Department today ordered the transfer of an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), two SDPOs and an ASP, who was awaiting his joining orders here today. The orders will be implemented with immediate effect. Mr Sagar Preet, who joined on Saturday and had been awaiting his posting orders, will be the new ASP, central division, in place of Mr Alok Kumar, who has been transferred as ASP (Traffic). While the former belongs to the 1997 batch of the IPS, the latter is from the 1996 batch. The joining orders of Mr Sagar Preet could not be issued as Mr S.K. Singh, IGP, was away to Delhi. Mr Surjit Singh, DSP, Police Lines, will assume charge as DSP (Operations), against a vacant post, while Mr S.S. Randhawa, DSP, Traffic, will be the DSP, Police Lines. Terming the transfers as a routine affair, the IGP said the new officer had to be posted in a division as per norms. Scotching rumours, he said the tenure of other SDPOs was yet to expire and no reshuffle at this level was on the cards. It is not fair to shift them before they complete their tenure unless they had committed any irregularity or there was a serious complaint against them. Sources revealed that
many DSPs were expecting a complete reshuffle and the
probable postings of various officers were doing the
rounds since Sunday. |
Urban estates to be developed SAS NAGAR, Dec 15 — Following pressure of urbanisation on the satellite townships of Chandigarh and increased threat of unauthorised colonisation in the adjoining areas of Punjab, the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) is seriously contemplating to develop its urban estates at Kharar and Dera Bassi. Though the land to be brought under the proposed urban estates was yet to be identified, the Chief Administrator of the PUDA, Mr K.B.S. Sidhu, said the viability of the projects were being ascertained. In fact PUDA had given licences to some private colonisers at Dera Bassi to encourage planned development. In the recent past it had got criminal cases registered against certain property dealers for raising unauthorised colonies. Moreover, due to
large-scale industrial development at Dera Bassi and
consequent increase in the demand of housing for the
industrial labour, the planned urbanisation was required. |
Two teachers suspended CHANDIGARH, Dec 15 — Two teachers of separate schools were suspended today by an order of Director Public Instructions (DPI), Schools. According to sources, a Punjabi lecturer of Government Senior Secondary School, Dhanas, was suspended for creating indiscipline and defying the Principal of the school for the past six months. In a separate instance,
another JBT teacher of Government High School, Maloya,
was suspended in connection with a recent incident in
which a student had to be admitted to hospital after his
ear was badly injured, when the teacher tried to pull the
child's ear lobe. |
Pamy Mann’s book
released CHANDIGARH, Dec 15 — A collection of poems ‘Here There Everywhere’, penned by Pamy Mann, was released today at Art Folio, Sector 9, by Ms Vineeta Rai, Adviser to the Administrator, UT, Chandigarh. While assuring to look into the demand for forming a forum to work for the promotion of young artists, Ms Rai said she had known the poet as a person of sensitivity to the naunces and shades of life. She added that Pamy’s poems had many facets to human emotions, like love, joy and pain, and that her belief in spiritualism was woven around her works. Later, Pamy Mann read three of her poems for the select audience. Her 74 poems in this collection are both in Hindi and English. Pamy has two other books to her credit, ‘Kuch Yaadein Aur’ and ‘Yaadein’, and is also planning to bring out a collection of short stories shortly. Ms Alka Pande, art
consultant and Adviser to Art Folio, said the folio was
not only holding art exhibitions regularly, but also
organising talks and providing opportunities to poets,
artists and sculptors of the city and from outside. |
Bail for jailbreak accused CHANDIGARH, Dec 15 — Jaswinder Singh, an accused in the Burail jailbreak conspiracy case, who was confined in Burail Jail in Chandigarh for the past about year and-a-half, was today granted bail by Mr Justice K.S. Kumaran of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The allegation against the petitioner was that he used to be present when the main accused in the Beant Singh murder case, Jagrar Singh Hawara, and the then Jail Superintendent, who himself was an accused in the jail break case, used to have consultations. It was alleged that the accused persons were conspiring to break the jail by exploding a bomb to allow the accused in the Beant Singh murder case to escape. Counsel for the
petitioner, Jaswinder Singh, argued that no witnesses had
come forward before the trial court to say the petitioner
was involved in the conspiracy. He was falsely implicated
in the case, contended the counsel. |
Punwire ED’s remand
extended KHARAR, Dec 15 — Mr Sanjay Agnihotri, Judicial Magistrate, Kharar, today remanded Vep Parkash, Executive Director of Punjab Wireless Systems Limited (Punwire), who was arrested by the SAS Nagar police, in judicial custody till December 24. He had been remanded in police custody till December 15 by the same court. Ved Parkash was arrested by the SAS Nagar police after registering a case against him on the charge that he failed to deposit Rs 3.39 crore with the Provident Fund Commissioner, Punjab, which was deducted out of the salaries of employees from October 1998. The bail application of the accused will be heard on December 16. The defence counsel
pleaded that Ved Parkash was innocent as he was only the
professional director of the company. He pleaded that
during the period for which the amount of provident fund
was not deposited, Ved Parkash was not the occupier. |
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Shooting of
serials in city Directed by Ravi Nishand, Patake Tha — a programme of jokes — is a satire on society, while Highway Top Ten will have the latest film songs, punctuated with comedy. Vivek Shauq will be in the lead role. Bail
in cracker case The two — partner A.P. Selvrajan and manager T. Amudha — were directed to be granted bail after furnishing bail bonds of Rs 30,000 each, along with sureties of the like amount. In his complaint before the court, practising advocate G.S. Bal had earlier stated that his ward’s eye was damaged after being hit by splinters from a bursting cracker. He said 10 packets of “Bullet” fire cracker had been purchased by them. Colourful
show by children The function today started with Saraswati vandana, followed by ‘Unity in Diversity’ presented by primary school children. Students also paid tributes to martyrs of Kargil. A 55-piece orchestra and the English play ‘The Count’s Revenge’ based on the Alexander Dumas’ play, ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ were the highlight of the afternoon. Welcoming the chief guest, Air CMDE SK Banerjee, VM, AOC, 12 Wing, Air Force Station, Mr Saranjit Singh, presented the school’s annual report. The colourful school programme concluded with a foot-tapping bhangra. Later, Mrs Rina Banerjee gave away the prizes to the outstanding performers of the school. Scooterist
killed in mishap Karam Singh, a resident of Balongi village, died on the spot. Gurcharan Singh was rushed to the Phase VI Civil Hospital. The driver of the truck, Harish Kumar, fled from the scene of the accident. ‘Provide
more toilets in schools’ The programme, under the National Environment Awareness Campaign 1999-2000 on the theme “Keep Chandigarh Clean and Green” was organised by the Environment Society of India. Participants opined that the number of toilets in the schools is less. It suggested the provision of more toilets in the local schools. Soaps for washing hands should also be provided in all schools. Each school should also be allotted an area for carrying out environment action programme. Stolen
car seized The information of the stolen car was received from the police control room, Ambala, following which the district police was alerted and checks at police nakas intensified. At around 1.30 a.m., the car was spotted at one of the nakas put up near the Mata Kali Mandir in Kalka. The car has been impounded. Those arrested include Bhupinder, Atul Kumar, Surender Kumar and Rajinder Singh Dhillon of Ambala Cant. Fined
for using loudspeaker Mela Ram was booked by the Chandigarh police under Sections 3 and 4 of the Noise Act on November 26. According to the prosectuion, he was using a loudspeaker without taking permission during a jagrata. Deduction
of taxes flayed The President of the committee, Mr Angrez Singh, said here today the income from the acquisition of land was not an income to farmers but a loss. Moreover, as there had been no tax on the farming income, the deduction was illogical. If the authorities were really interested in earning the revenue, they should tax the Chandigarh Housing Board and the Estate Office, which sold land at market rates, he added. Pact
on drilling rigs signed The rigs would be beneficial in drilling deep tubewells in the Kandi area of Punjab, Mr V. K. Garg, MD, Punjab State Tubewell Corporation, said. Ban
on Mizoram lottery goes Pensioners’
Day tomorrow The Adviser to the Administrator, Ms Vineeta Rai, will be the chief guest. KV
annual function The chief guest, Brig Charanjeet Singh, Commander, 474 Brigade, called upon the students to work with dedication and determination. A colourful programme
which included folk dances, skits and songs was presented
by students of the school. |
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