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Rain brings relief to city residents Chandigarh, August 1 Sharp showers before noon made the weather pleasant much to the relief of the residents. Children had a gala time playing in the rain. Today being a Sunday, intermittent showers and the Asia Cup final between Sri Lanka and India kept most of the residents indoors and there was not much traffic on the city roads. The Meteorological Department recorded a moderate rainfall of 19 mm in the city today and it was fairly well-distributed. Terming it as the “revival” of monsoon, officials forecast mainly cloudy sky with one or two spells of rain in the coming days. Surprisingly, the maximum temperature today was 32.8°C, which was slightly higher than 31.6°C recorded yesterday. However, the minimum temperature — 27.4°C — recorded today was one degree less than yesterday’s temperature. Today’s rainfall is stated to be very beneficial for
farmers who had been reeling under virtual drought-like conditions for the past several days. Although the Monsoon had set in early this month, yet the gap between the last spell and today’s spell had played havoc with the power situation in the region. The current showers are expected to ease the power situation in the city. |
They held yajna for rain and
it did Panchkula, August 1 After the burning of dolls by young girls in villages of the district failed to bring rains, the people resorted to holding yajnas and please Lord Indra. Today the yajna was organised at Sanatan Dharam Mandir, Sector 16. A number of city residents, including local MLA Chander Mohan and municipal councillor S.S. Goel, participated in the yajna. The Chairman of the Mandir Managing Committee, Mr Chander Mohan Sharma, and other members of the committee also participated. Led by Pandit Lalit Sharma, they recited Vedic chants to please Lord Indra. Within hours of the yajna, the township received its first downpour of this season. It rained for almost two hours and commuters could be seen running for shelter. The mercury dipped after the rain and residents could be seen enjoying the pleasant weather in the gardens and parks in the evening. |
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Shootout: cops yet to register FIR
Panchkula, August 1 Senior police officers said today that the victim, Mr Rajesh Sharma, and eye witnesses in a statement given to the police stated that Sanjay Vasudev was fiddling with his revolver, when it accidentally went off and Rajesh was hit on his left thigh. Mr Sharma, a former District Youth Congress President, was rushed to the hospital after receiving a bullet injury on his left thigh last evening. It was alleged that there was an altercation between the victim and Sanjay Vasudev over some financial transaction. The shootout had followed an argument between the two after the accused refused to return Rs 50,000 he had borrowed from the victim. A few common friends of the victim and Vasudev were also present when the incident took place. According to the police, they were informed about the incident from the General Hospital, Sector 6, where the victim was brought, before being referred to Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh. “A police team was sent there, but none of the eye witnesses or relatives of the victim gave any statement to the police,” said a senior police official. The official said today that the police was informed that Sanjay Vasudev was showing his revolver to the victim, when the trigger was accidentally pressed. “So, we have made an entry in the Daily Diary Report (DDR). But we will now move towards cancelling Sanjay’s arms licence on the ground that he does not know how to handle a firearm,” added the official. |
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A unique event to behold Mohali, August 1 A shower of meteors from the sky will be visible to the naked eye on the night of August 11-12. The event known as ‘Perseid meteor shower’, after the name of the constellation towards which the meteors fall, is an annual feature but considered to be the most prominent of all meteors showers. The sight this shower presents on Earth is expected to be enthralling. The shower will take place towards the constellation of Perseus at the rate of 10-20 meteors per hour to 100 meteors per hour. After documenting the rare transit of the Venus across the Sun last month, the Astronomy wing of the Department of Physics, Panjabi University, Patiala, is all set to record this event. “Constellation Perseus rises around 10 pm, so from 10 pm onward towards the constellation of Perseus one can watch this spectacular shower. Peak of the shower will reach around the morning of August 12. For best viewing one should be away from city lights and there should be cloudless night,” explained Mr Tejbir Singh, Observer at the Department of Physics, Punjabi University,
Patiala. Perseid meteor shower remains active from July 17 to August 24. This means that during this whole period, some meteor activity can be seen toward this constellation. But this annual phenomena reaches its maximum around August 11-13 August. ‘‘But this year number of meteors crossing sky will be maximum after 1991-92 as predicted by researchers,’’said Mr Tejbir Singh. It will be best visible from the whole of India, Eastern Europe, Eastern North Africa and East to Central Russia, and Western China. ‘‘To locate the Perseus constellation one can look toward east around 10 pm and try to compare the star chart given. Just above the Perseus constellation, as arrows point, one can find shooting stars going all around,’’he added. Mr Tejbir Singh also said that for those who had a telescope this event should not be missed for its photographic value. ‘‘If a camera can be attached to the telescope, then a meteor shower is the most beautiful of celestial sights worth capturing,’’he said. Period meteor shower is caused when the Earth passes through the dust tail left by the comet Swift-Tuttle. The earliest record of its goes to Chinese who observed it as early as 36 AD. Eduard was the first observer to provide the hourly rate of meteor shower in 1839, at 160 meteor per hour. Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1835-1910) reported a strong resemblance of this meteor shower to the comet Swift-Tuttle, which has a period of 120 years, and this was the first time that a metro shower has been correlated with a comet, related Mr Tejbir. |
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GCM decision rejected in tehelka case Chandigarh, August 1 According to sources, the trial is scheduled to commence at Ferozepur cantonment from August 6. The GCM is being presided over by Lieut-Gen C S Chima, Director-General, Air Defence Artillery. The
GCM, on July 6, accepted the defence plea that the case had become time-barred for trial and the decision had been sent for confirmation, in this case, Chief of the Army Staff. Since the GCM's convening authority was the GOC-in-C, Western Command, the confirming authority, which is one rank higher than the convening authority, had to be the Army Chief. The defence had taken the plea that three years had elapsed since the alleged offence had come to the knowledge of the authorities. the video tapes showing Army officers allegedly demanding and accepting bribes had been aired publically on March 13, 2001. The trial had commenced from May 24, 2004. The prosecution, on the other hand, had maintained that the authorities came to know about the alleged wrong doings on June 15, 2001, when the findings of the court of inquiry instituted into the matter were finalised. Meanwhile, in another development related to the GCM of Col Anil Sahgal, who is also being tried on similar charges in the same case at Chandimandir, the Delhi High Court is learnt to have stayed the passing of the final sentence by the
GCM. The case had come up for hearing before the Delhi High Court on July 27. The prosecution counsel, Mr Arvind Moudgil, when contacted, confirmed the stay on the sentence, but said that the GCM proceedings would continue. " The court will not give any verdict or pass a sentence till the stay is vacated," he said. The GCM is scheduled to re-convene tomorrow. It was adjourned on July 10 to enable the accused to proceed to New Delhi to attend the hearings of the Phukan Commission, which is investigating into the scam. Moudgil said that P. Shashi, who was an assistant in the Master General of Ordnance's Branch at Army Headquarters when the scandal broke, is scheduled to depose before the court tomorrow. Shashi was working under Colonel Sahgal at that time and was alleged to have introduced journalists of tehelka.com, who were posing as arms dealers, to Colonel Sahgal. A civilian officer, he was later moved out of the Ministry of Defence. |
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Outsiders, not farmers, flourish at kisan mandis Mohali, August 1 More than half of the Phase VIII ground opposite YPS School is occupied by local fruit and vegetable vendors. But Market Committee inspectors choose to turn a blind eye to them. Some vegetable vendors told this correspondent that they sent Rs 10 per rehri to “market committee people” so that they did not trouble them on the day mandi
was held. Denying this, an employee of the Market Committee, Mr Jaspal Singh, said the situation was beyond the committee’s control. “We have tried our best to ensure that kisan mandis remain exclusively for farmers but nothing has worked. There is political pressure to let them
stay here.” A farmer who wants to sell his produce in the mandi has to pay Rs 10 as entry fee. Other than collecting the entry fee, the Market Committee inspectors put up the rate list for products sold in the market. While the farmers cannot make any change in the rate list, local vendors sell their stuff at rates they want. They have a knack for selling and end up attracting more customers than the farmers. “Since they are based in Mohali, they reach the mandi early in the morning, while we come from far off villages on tractors and can reach only by the afternoon,” pointed out Rajinder Singh, a farmer from Manak
Majra village. “The vendors neither pay the committee (at least not officially), nor are they bound by the rate list. We have no control over them. They can sell anything they like. Vegetables, fruits, open spices, tea, cooked food. We cannot regulate their rates or quality,” said Mr Jaspal Singh. There is a vast difference between the farmer’s rates and the outsiders’ rate for the same items. “The outsiders insist that their vegetables are more expensive since they bring these from the hills but we try buying everything from farmers who come all the way to get a good rate for their produce,” said Tulsi, a housewife who had come to shop for vegetables at the
mandi. |
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Legislation needed to tackle cyber obscenity, say experts Chandigarh, August 1 However, until now no specific international instrument has been formulated by the United Nations to tackle this malaise of digital society. This form of violence against women started chiefly with the advent of the Internet technology and is spreading at an alarming rate all over the world, affecting countless women within and across the national borders of every country. This issue was discussed by Ms Jyoti Rattan, a senior UGC research fellow in law at Panjab University, and Dr Vijay Rattan, Professor of Public Administration, at the International Congress of Administrative Sciences held at Seoul earlier this month. At the conference, theirs was among the two papers presented from India. Says Dr Vijay Rattan, “Cyber violence remains undefined and uncovered under the international law. Gender has today become an integral part of global policies, not only in human rights, but also in development, environment and housing, or with regard to combating violence.” “The fear of violence, including harassment, is a permanent constraint on the mobility of women and limits their access to resources and basic activities. High social, health and economic costs to the individual and society are associated with violence against women. Violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared to men,” adds Ms Rattan. Therefore, as it may cause physical harm, interfere with peace in their personal and working lives and violate their human rights, violence against women in any form or manifestation is to be abhorred, checked and ultimately eliminated in any civilised society, they claimed. “Equally, if not more, dangerous are the emerging modern forms of violence against women and need to be fought with the same zeal by the United Nations, international community, governments and civil society, as the other traditional forms of violence against women,” Ms Rattan opined. It is only during the last two decades that violence against women has emerged as a serious issue at international fora. “It is surprising why such an important area has remained neglected. A still greater cause of concern is that a majority of countries do not seem to have suitable national legislations in place to deal with such forms of cyber violence against women,” they added. “In our paper, we have suggested that the already existing international instruments should be supplemented with declarations and, under e-governance, all countries should take steps to further strengthen the implementation machinery, including the e-sensitisation of judiciary, the administrators and the police officials concerned,” he concluded. |
Voltage problem for five years! Chandigarh, August 1 They have been facing the problem of fluctuation and low voltage, which forces fans and coolers to slow down and stop the air-conditioners from functioning. Whenever they complain to the authorities, a few officials come but nothing improves for them. After having exhausted all channels of redress, the residents have formally written to the UT Administrator, asking him to help them in the matter. According to sources, the houses are located at the what is called the “tail end” of a power feeding line. The problem gets aggravated at night, while teams of the Electricity Department come for checking during daytime. After the lodging of complaint by residents a week ago, there have been visits to the area by the SDO. However, residents said that nothing had been done so far. |
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Cong leaders ask Bahl to convene meeting Chandigarh, August 1 In a letter signed by the Deputy Mayor, Mr Pradeep Chhabra, a former Mayor, Mr Subhash Chawla, the party Vice-President, Mr Ram Pal Sharma, among others, the leaders have asked Mr Bahl to urgently convene a meeting of the CTCC failing which they have threatened to raise the issue with the AICC President, Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr Janardhan Diwedi, in charge of the city affairs. Openly holding Mr Bahl guilty of playing a “negative role” in the election, the leaders said that he had “stabbed the party in the back by repeating that the Congress candidate would loose badly”. They added that Mr Bahl went to the extent of propping up a rebel candidate and even financed his campaign during the elections. Interestingly, the first letter to Mr Bahl, insisting on convening a CTCC meeting, had said the local leaders wanted to discuss issues affecting the common man as well as the role of people who had worked against the party candidate during the elections. However, despite the letter, Mr Bahl failed to convene a meeting of the CTCC. He reasoned that the letter was signed by Mr Devinder Babla who was not even a primary member of the party and there was no reason to call a meeting since the Congress candidate had won by a big margin, falsifying the claims of the anti-party activity. In the second letter, the same leaders excluding Mr Devinder Babla, have asked Mr Bahl to urgently convene a meeting to discuss this issue. The two factions within the party have already been to Delhi to seek an audience with the party high command. They were assured that the “crisis” within the local unit would be resolved shortly and indiscipline would be dealt with strongly. |
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Residents ask MC to repair kerb channels Chandigarh, August 1 In a representation to the Chief Engineer of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh, the Modern Housing Complex (Duplex) Residents Welfare Association, alleged that the faulty kerb channels were a major hindrance to the smooth flow of the storm water into the road gullies. This is despite the fact that the residents had complied with the notices issued by the civic body urging them not to block the road gullies. The onset of the monsoon would compound problem of the smooth flow of water. It alleged that the department officials had been fixing the broken kerb channels at certain places which were of little use. The dumping of the “malba” on the roadsides by the corporation staff, which was not removed for days together, was also hindering the flow of the water. |
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Stamp duty was paid, claims Kataria Chandigarh, August 1 The stamp duty was paid at the Collector’s rate. Additional stamp duty, as demanded at the time of registration of sale deed, was duly paid. No stamp duty for the structure mentioned in the sale deed was demanded. Even at the time of transfer of ownership of the said property, the Estate Office did not raise any demand for additional stamp duty. Hence, there was no question of evasion or concealment. In response to his letter, the Collector had intimated on July 20 that some amount was payable. To avoid any controversy, he had deposited the amount under protest. |
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Technical snag leads to 5-hr cut Panchkula, August 1 Officials in the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) said the transformers in Sectors 4 and 21 had developed a snag and because of the heavy downpour, it took them some time to rectify the fault. The power supply was restored to most parts of the Sectors by 5 p.m., though the residents complained of voltage fluctuations and two phase supply. The proper supply was restored only around 7 p.m. The supply in Sector 6 was restored at around 9 p.m. MEETING: A meeting of the District Congress Committee was held today under the chairmanship of the District President, Mr R.S. Chauhan. All office-bearers of the party were present on the occasion, along with MLA Chander Mohan. Discussions on the preparation for the rally to be organised by the Haryana Congress in Kurukshetra on August 9 were held in the meeting. |
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Magazine released Chandigarh, August 1 The editor of the magazine, Mr H.S. Billing, said the idea was to bring out facts on the injustice meted out to
families deprived of their land following its acquisition at the time of the formation
of UT. He said families of at least 11 villages, uprooted at the time of acquisition, were yet to be rehabilitated and had not been declared “oustees”. Mr Bansal assured those
present that he would extend all possible help to the villagers uprooted. |
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Night patrolling begins Mohali, August 1 Teams of policemen in PCR jeeps and an motorcycles would patroll markets and main roads. ‘‘Special searchlights had been placed atop jeeps. The aim was to catch thieves and prevent crime, said Mr Malkiat Singh, posted at the Phase I police station. Over 30 policemen in plainclothes would be deployed at various places in the township in shifts throughout the night. |
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Society to promote Punjabiat Chandigarh, August 1 Stating this here today, Mr Jaspal Singh Kandhari, president of the Punjab and Chandigarh Chapter of the society, said the conference, would discuss, among other things, the promotion of Punjabiat. The conference would be attended by US Congressman Brad Sherman and Mayors of Los Angeles and Malibu, besides council members of the city of Malibu. Dr Amarjit S. Marwaha, president of the California branch of International Punjabi Society, would play host at one of the sessions. From Punjab and Chandigarh, a 50-member delegation led by Mr Kandhari comprising Mr Chaman Lal Sharma and Mr Amarjit Singh Sethi, president and general secretary of the Chandigarh Nagrik Sabha, would participate. |
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Chemists Association donates ambulance van Chandigarh, August 1 According to Mr Amarjit Singh, president of the association, the society has donated three such ambulance vans to various social bodies in the city. |
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24-yr-old housewife kills self Chandigarh, August 1 A 24-year-old housewife, Geeta, poured kerosene on her clothes and set these on fire at Bapu Dham Colony. Her mother received burn injuries while trying to save her. However, Geeta died on the spot. Her mother was taken to the PGI where she is stated to be out of danger. Geeta, married for two years, was childless. She was married to Balram, who had recently gone to Uttar Pradesh. In an accident at the Transport chowk lights, 25-year-old Ankush of Mandi Kharar died when a CTU bus ran over him after hitting his scooter. |
Seminar on budgetary changes Chandigarh, August 1 Mr Anil Gupta, Additional Commissioner, Central Excise and Customs, Chandigarh, was the chief guest while the key speaker on the occasion was Mr Dinesh Gupta, Deputy Commissioner, Central Excise and Customs, Chandigarh. Mr K.B. Sharma, Chairman, while deliberating on the theme of the talk opined that indirect taxes constituted a major source of tax collections in the country. He said the government had always been introducing procedures for the proper compliance of the act. Mr S.K.Sharma, national secretary-cum-treasurer of the institute, discussed various issues and shared his vision of the World Congress organised by the IFPMM in Switzerland last year. Mr Anil Gupta, Additional Commissioner, Central Excise, explained the important changes made in the
budget relating to the central excise and service tax. He mentioned that there were two important changes made in the Budget 2004-05. The first was the provision of compounding of offences given to the Chief Commissioner whereby the assesses would get immunity from prosecution if he paid the duty along with the interest and penalty. The second change was to make the adjudication and appeal procedure speedier, adjournment of hearing had been restricted maximum to three. In service tax the panel
provision of the non-registration, no filing etc had been made simpler and less punitive in nature beside scope of service tax widened by bringing 13 more services in service tax net and increasing the service tax rate from 8 to 10 per cent. Mr Dinesh Gupta explained the change in the excise duty rates and exemption granted to the tractor, dairy machinery, hand tools and computers. He was of the opinion that changes in the excise duty rates would certainly give a boost to the industrial growth. He explained in detail the applicability of education cess on excise duty and service tax. He said that education cess paid on input was available as credit for payment of cess on the final production. The government would come out with rules for credit and service tax and excise duty across goods and services. |
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