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Truckers’ Strike Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 10 This stopgap arrangement has been made to ensure free flow of essential commodities to minimise inconvenience to public owing to the transporters’ strike. Confirming this, Vandana Disodia, Secretary, State Transport Authority, Chandigarh, said: “The decision has been taken keeping in mind inconvenience faced by the common people for want of ration, milk, medicines and vegetables. The relaxation will be enforced till the truckers’ strike stays.” To maintain smooth flow of essential commodities across the country, the Department of Road Transport and Highways has advised state governments to allow the use of all motor vehicles, including passenger buses. Disodia said carrying of essential goods even on carrier of vehicles would be allowed. The governments of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have already adopted the temporary practice. The situation arising out of the strike, which is likely to impact distribution of essential items especially food grains, is being reviewed every day. Meanwhile, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has said adequate food stocks of wheat and rice are available with all FCI godowns in the country. FCI officials admitted that the stock lying in godowns would meet the requirement of the countrymen for three to four months. The FCI has appealed state governments and UTs to lift foodgrain allocated under the TDPS and other welfare schemes from the base depots of the FCI and transport these to their own godowns. They have also urged them to arrange resources for further distribution to fair price shops. According to sources here, the January quota of foodgrain has already been delivered to fair price shops in almost all states.
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2 held for selling vehicles on bogus papers
Tribune News Service
Mohali, January 10 Raids are being conducted to recover vehicles that have been sold on the basis of fake papers. The SSP, JS Aulakh, said investigations were on to get to the bottom of the case. Two members of the gang, Charanjit Singh Channi, a resident of Zirakpur, and Sohan Singh Bains of Ludhiana had been arrested. The recovery of copies of unfilled police verification report of Mullanpur Dakhan police station set the alarm bells ringing in police circles. By filling the vehicle registration number and other related details, fake documents were used to sell vehicles to unsuspecting customers. The gang largely operated in Ludhiana, but further investigations by a team led by SI Sarabjeet Singh could indicate other areas in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, where the gang was operating. While on the trail of the suspects, the probe team found that a Tata Safari bearing registration no PB 10 CG 5142 had been allotted to a Honda Activa scooter by the DTO, Ludhiana. The SP (detective), Mohali, RK Bakshi, said the modus operandi of the gang was to get expensive vehicles financed from banks on fake documents and then prepare another set of forged documents to sell these vehicles. By doing so, the gang ensured that it could not be easily tracked. The police has recovered four stamps of the DTO, Ludhiana, Motor Vehicle Authority, Ludhiana, XEN (B and R), Mekrian, and medical officer of the civil hospital, Ludhiana. Fake copies of registration, international driving license and other related documents were also recovered from the suspects. Sohan Singh Bains is learnt to be bringing out a transport magazine and claims to be a member of the state transport advisory committee. A number of MUVs and expensive cars are likely to be recovered from the gang. A case under various Sections of the IPC has been registered.
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Shopowner attacked; store vandalised
Chandigarh, January 10 Anil Kumar, owner of the store, said three persons came to the store at 9 am and asked for a soft drink, but did not pay for it. “When I asked for the money, they threatened me and went away after the intervention of other shopkeepers,” he said. But after about an hour, five persons came with rods and sticks and vandalised the shop. “They threatened to kill me and hit me with rods before fleeing,” he alleged, adding that the accused came in a Maruti car. The police said it had received the copy of the complaint and a DDR had been registered.
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Graft
Chandigarh, January 10 The ASP (CBI), Amardeep Singh, set a trap to nab the engineer fromnear the state judicial academy in Sector 43. The CBI said Amit Kumar Midha, assistant engineer, was arrested from his car while accepting a bribe of Rs 8,000 from Swaran Singh, a contractor of a project at the ISBT in Sector 43. According to information, the accused asked the contractor to give him money if he wanted the pending bill of Rs 13-14 lakh to be passed. The ASP said the contractor had filed a complaint and the car had also been impounded. Sources in the CBI said a raid was conducted on the engineer’s house in Panchkula. Interestingly, Swaran Singh had been booked in some cases earlier.
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Man found dead
Chandigarh, January 10 The deceased has been identified as Raju, a beggar, who from past five-six years use to come to sleep in the market. The shopkeepers in the market said nobody was aware about his permanent address, as he was residing in the market from past several years. The police said he was a drunkard and due to heavy consumption of liquor, he died. Last night, a rickshaw puller in the same sector, took him to the PGI, where he was declared brought dead. Maninder Singh, incharge Police Post Sector 24, said, “We have initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC. The body has been shifted to the mortuary at GMSH, Sector 16.”
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Mayor seeks details of contract, re-employed staff
Chandigarh, January 10 She has even asked for a list of all contractors on whose behalf daily wagers are kept in the MC. In both lists, details pertaining to names of individuals, age and addresses have been sought. The MC has employed a large number of employees who have retired from other departments and attempts have been made on many occasions to remove them by the employees of MC. In fact, Kamlesh had raised the issue in August last year during one of the house meetings as a councillor, wherein she had asked for the credentials of these employees. However, she was only given incomplete information at that time. After she protested against the same, she was assured that the issue would be brought up again in the next house meeting but that never happened. There are 167 employees on contract in various divisions of B&R circle, including electrical and horticulture, on various posts like steno, clerk, data entry operator, lineman, gardener, etc. MC employees have been demanding removal or replacement by younger staff of all those who have been re-employed after attaining the age of retirement from various departments. Insiders claim that most employees come only for a few hours a day. According to official numbers, the road division I has 14 employees on contract and around Rs 2 lakh
per month is contributed towards their salaries. In road division II, 10 employees are on contract while in electrical wing, 12 employees are on contract. Interestingly, eight assistant linemen have been employed on contract. Even in EE electric, employees are on contract and when Kamlesh had questioned their salaries in the house, she was told that they were drawing pension. Besides, additional MC security personnel, helpers, guards, diesel mechanics, electricians and cleaner, fitters, operators, telephone operators are also recruited through contractors. Sources say 191 employees have been employed through contractors and out of these maximum (93) are operators. It had also come to the notice of the house that many contractors gave blown up figures of the employees actually recruited, by fudging documents. In one such incident, officials had even assured the house to blacklist one of the tainted contractors. However, even after four months, no action has been initiated by the authorities against the same. Kamlesh said: “I have asked for each and every detail pertaining to contractual and re-employed employees to find out if they have been recruited after adhering to the rules laid down by the MCC.”
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Pre-paid auto-rickshaw service fails to take off
Chandigarh, January 10 The service was started at five places to give the benefit of low fare service to passengers by paying the fare in advance at designated booths. The booths had been set up at Sukhna Lake, PGI, Sector 22, Sector 17 and the railway station. A survey of the booths revealed that very few passengers were aware of the service. An official of the STA said drivers generally charged more from passengers and to check the practice the service was initiated. Lists had been displayed at every booth and passengers could pay
the entire fare in advance and collect a receipt. The drivers could collect the money any time by showing the copy of
the receipt. STA officials said it was mandatory for every auto-rickshaw driver to be in possession of a receipt of service charges of Rs 3 from pre-paid booth while ferrying passengers. Those without the receipt would be challaned. A clerk at a booth said: “The plan has failed to elicit a favourable response from passengers as very few are aware of this service. The authorities are least bothered about it and rarely does the traffic police check receipts of such auto-rickshaw drivers.” A cab owner at the railway station said: “Senior officials rarely come here to check the progress of the service. The scheme has failed to achieve its target.” Deepti, a passenger at the railway station, said: “I am not aware of the service. Drivers still charge more from passengers and the problem is still the same.” SP HS Doon said: “Our service is getting a good response in some areas and if is not working at certain places, I will look into it.” STA Secretary Vandana Disodiya was not available for comments.
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BJP protest against govt role
Chandigarh, January 10 Hundreds of party workers took part in a procession that started from the BJP office (KAMLAM), Sector 33-A, and passed through Sectors 34 and 35 before culminating at the party office. Addressing the gathering, Kamla Sharma said the demonstration was being held as part of the nationwide call given by the national BJP leadership. “Strikes, dharnas and demonstrations are being held everywhere in the country against the policies of the Congress-led UPA government. The Central government should lower the prices of petrol and diesel by at least Rs 10 a litre each in commensurate with the prices of crude oil prevailing in the international market,” she opined. She said the Central government though had expressed its intention to cut fuel prices, it was withholding its decision just to gain political mileage in the wake of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Addressing the demonstration, former Member of Parliament Satya Pal Jain said although oil companies had called off their strike, things had not come back to normalcy. He said the Centre was aware of the indefinite strike of truck owners but had done little to solve the problem. Also, the government was slow to act on the three-day strike by oil companies. The country had to suffer losses as prices of essential commodities went up and the life of people came to a grinding halt due to non-availability of petrol and diesel at petrol stations. Jain urged the government to invite truck owners and their representatives for a dialogue and accept their reasonable demands to break the deadlock. Mandal and cell presidents also participated in the demonstration.
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Gunners observe Air Defence Day
Chandigarh, January 10 A barakhana for AAD troops was also organised as part of the celebrations, according to a statement issued here today. The first light anti-aircraft unit was raised in October 1941 with L/60 guns on the Territorial Army (TA) concept. At the time of partition, only two Air Defence Artillery units came to India. The L/60 guns were gradually replaced by radar controlled L/70 guns in the seventies. By 1975, all exiting TA Air Defence units were converted into regular Air Defence units. Air Defence units continued to be an integral part of Regiment of Artillery till January 10, 1994, when the Army Air Defence Corps was carved out. AAD, today, is equipped with sophisticated weapon system and supporting infrastructure. Exponential advancement in the air power has brought AAD to the centrestage of dominating the battle field. Besides wars, AAD units have actively participated in Operation Meghdoot, Operation Trident and Falcon, Operation Pawan, Operation Vijay and Operation Parakram. Several AAD units have been engaged in counter insurgency tasks.
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Baltana without power complaint centre
Zirakpur, January 10 Earlier, the centre was functioning in a single room near a private school, but now that has been demolished by a property owner for his personal use. The residents are facing inconvenience, and hence, are demanding an electricity complaint centre along with a facility of contact numbers. Residents claimed the complaint centre was running from an open place only during the day time but nobody is found there during night. Even the contact numbers of the lineman and complaint register are not available. “In the absence of a complaint
centre, it is difficult to get proper electricity supply,” said Gaurav, a resident of Ravindra Enclave. “For solving the problem, we have to hire a private electrician,” revealed Ajay Kumar, a resident of Gobind
Vihar. When we try the telephone number of the authorities concerned, either it is switched off or busy, he added.
Zirakpur XEN, PSEB, HS Oberoi, said the matter was not in his knowledge. “We will ask the municipal council to provide a proper space to build a complaint
centre”, he said.
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‘MBA aspirants must become job creators’
Chandigarh, January 10 Anshu Kataria, chairman, Aryan Business School (ABS), presided over the function while Hirdesh Madaan, head (North), Bulls Eye, led a team of experts. The school organised the camp in association with Bulls Eye. A panel of experts discussed that although 2.75 lakh students appeared in CAT-08, but around 5000 students only would be able to secure their seats in the IIMs and other top In Chandigarh, around 14,000 students appeared in CAT'08, out of which around 800 would be adjusted in the top B-schools of the country. The students participated in the discussion and Satish Goel answered various questions regarding the educational loans for MBA and facilities provided by the banks after the course.
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Speed breakers on campus draw flak
Chandigarh, January 10 In this regard, Sahil Nanda, president, Panjab University’s Student Council president Brinder Dhillon along with others submitted a memorandum to the vice-chancellor recently. The students were of the view that it was difficult to drive on the road from Gate number 1 leading to administrative block due to so many speed breakers. The students alleged the four speed breakers, on less than one kilometre stretch, was taking its toll on the vehicles causing wear and tear. They also submitted a second memorandum regarding the upgradation of the parking lot in UILS and its canteen.
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36 challaned for smoking
Mohali, January 10 Around 38 persons were challaned, out of which 34 were asked to pay a fine on the spot. Five persons, who were caught smoking in public places, also had to pay fines. A team led by district health officer SP Surila conducted raids in Phases I to V and VII. He said the team found that persons were selling cigarettes in various shops without putting up the mandatory display boards, showing the ban on the sale of cigarettes to persons below 18 years of age. As per the laws, advertisement of tobacco items and their promotion in any other form were not allowed. It was also mandatory for shopkeepers to get a licence to sell cigarettes. Dr Surila said vendors selling tobacco items were fined and their goods were confiscated. He said the fines varied from Rs 50 to Rs 200. Rs 6000 was collected in a day-long drive.
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IGNOU to open centre in city
Chandigarh, January 10 According to sources, the proposed regional centre is going to fill the gap of an educational institution in this region offering an array of programmes through distance learning. Presently, the nearest centre is in Khanna, which is now being shifted to Jalandhar. The only hiccup is to get a building in the city to house the centre. Though the jurisdiction of the centre is yet to be determined, sources claim that the centre would be catering to parts of Punjab, some districts of Haryana, Chandigarh and certain districts of Himachal Pradesh. Already, the officials at head quarters of IGNOU in New Delhi have appointed Asha Sharma, as the regional director of the Chandigarh Centre. She was earlier serving as deputy director of IGNOU regional centre in Dehradun for many years. Asha Sharma said, IGNOU is on a lookout for a building in the city and the proposals would reach on January 12 for temporary arrangements. Soon we are going to send a proposal to the UT administration for allotment of around 4 acres to open a mini university campus of distance learning in the city. The centre also proposes to have tie-ups with institutes like PGIMER and PEC to have study centres for programmes in health sciences and engineering respectively. Also, the centre would be introducing the convergence mode of education in this region for the first time apart from the conventional distance learning mode. The convergence mode of education is newly started wherein the students while studying from the notes provided by IGNOU get the feel of a regular classroom. The teachers of nearby colleges teach the students and even specialised teachers are also hired for the purpose. Already the students are studying through this method in regional centre, Dehradun, where IGNOU has tied-up with two noted colleges of the area. Ram Niwas, the UT home secretary, said, “As soon as we receive the proposal, we will consider it since it deals with higher education in the region. We will certainly do the needful after weighing the proposal”. IGNOU offers a variety of programmes under its school system, which includes school of management and commerce, school of humanities, school of law, school of agriculture, vocational courses etc.
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Stress on disaster prevention
Chandigarh, January 10 Dr Trilochan Singh, in his address stressed that there is a need to develop a culture of preparedness/prevention and that can happen only if the respective community becomes an equal partner in the process of disaster management, emphasising the need for capacity building
programmes. Dr Nandita, the organiser said there was a need to rethink the relationship between the institutions and community. The first technical session was chaired by Akhil
Bakshi, a fellow of Royal Geographical society and the founder of Yuva
Shaktia, a national organisation of rural youth leadership at the village level. This session saw presentations from Colonal Harjeet Singh, who talked about ‘man-made humanitarian disasters — an Indian perspective’. Dr Trilochan presented a case study from north-east India on earthquake. He maintained that prevention is better than cure through strategies like advance planning, rehabilitation and resettlement and research development. Prof LN Sharma from PEC talked about the impact of natural disasters and the paradigm shift required in their management. The second technical session was chaired by Prof BS
Ghuman, dean, faculty of education. In this session four presentations were made. Prof S Nagpal spoke about how education can become a vehicle in combating disasters. RC
Kelita, president of 3E Innovative Foundation, discussed the role of NGOs in disaster management. Dr Rakesh Khullar stressed on the need to change attitudes starting from the grassroots levels. This was followed by Akshay
Mehra, from The State Bank of India emphasised the importance of ‘preparedness’.
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Workshop on values in education
Panchkula, January 10 The workshop dwelled on the importance of human values in education and how to make educators aware of these values. Ashok Yadav, IAS, administrator, HUDA, said human values were eternal and lasting while morality kept on changing. Even in the past, ‘sati pratha’ was moral and women were encouraged to adapt to that system, but with the transformation of the society, it was banned constitutionally considering it as a social evil, Yadav said. However, human values like ‘satya’ or ‘sadachar’, truthfulness, love, ‘ahimsa’ or non-violence, abstinence, serving the needy or respect for elders were ever lasting, he said. More than 500 teachers attended the workshop. Asking teachers to be role model for students, Yadav told them to be innovative, to keep abreast of happenings around and to understand their students well as every child was special and could do wonders in future.
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