The Tribune...Chandigarh

C H A N D I G A R H

Friday, July 10, 1998

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Vijay Kumar, a private security guard, who was shot at on Thursday morning by a Haryana cop inside Piccadily Cinema in Chandigarh on Thursday.— A Tribune photograph
Cinema hall gateman shot at by cop
CHANDIGARH , July 9 — A constable of the Haryana Police posted in the security of a Haryana MLA fired from his service carbine after he was allegedly ordered by a nephew of the MLA and seriously injured a private security guard posted at the main entrance of Piccadilly Cinema in Sector 34 here this morning.

Middlemen bail plea hearing on Monday

CHANDIGARH, July 9 — "It is a sad state of affairs with the Chandigarh Administration," observed in the open court Mr Justice B. Rai while hearing arguments this morning on the bail pleas preferred by Dinesh Sharma and Suresh Sharma...

Campus Beat

Plea for child welfare work in slums
CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The Haryana Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, said here today that the State Child Welfare Council should extend its child welfare activities in slum areas and villages for the total development of the children belonging to economically weaker sections
of society...
Stir hits postal services
CHANDIGARH, July 9 — Postal services in the city as well as in the neighbouring towns of Panchkula and SAS Nagar were disrupted today as postal employees of the region joined in the indefinite nationwide strike.

No takers for plus one classes in colleges
CHANDIGARH, July 9 — There seem to be no takers for the plus one classes started by the Education Department in three government colleges of the city from the 1998-99 session. These classes were meant exclusively for children from rural areas and colonies of the city...

Sainik Bhavans to have computer centres
CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The Haryana Defence and Secruity Relief Fund Committee has decided in principal that all institutions to be set up for imparting training in any income generating activity or related activities to the ex-servicemen

Plea for child welfare work in slums
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The Haryana Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, said here today that the State Child Welfare Council should extend its child welfare activities in slum areas and villages for the total development of the children belonging to economically weaker sections of society.
The Governor, who is also president of the council, was presiding over its annual general meeting here today. He said the council should focus its attention on the poor children up to six years of age who were most vulnerable.
The Governor also presided over the executive committee meeting of the council in which annual Budget estimates for the year 1998-99 amounting to Rs 228.52 lakh were approved along with the Budget estimates for Bal Kunj, Juvenile Home and observation Home at Chhachrauli, amounting to Rs 8.58 lakh.

Complementing the state government for running a number of child welfare schemes, the Governor said that the council was also conscious enough in providing health, recreation, training, nutrition and educational facilities to the children of all age-group through its various projects and progammes such as Bal Bhavan, Mini Bal bhavan, Anganwari centres, play centres, libraries, creches, home work classes, Bal Bhavan Apke Ghar Aya, adoption of children and villages, besides helping the poor street children.
The Governor congratulated the award winners present on the occasion for their services towards child welfare and development. He especially complemented the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, who was present in the meeting, and the council for being the recipient of the National Award for Child Welfare, 1997.
The Chief Minister, who is also vice-president of the council, lauded the performance shown by the council in the field of children welfare. He said it was due to their hardwork that Haryana had attained the first position in the country in many fields of development.
He exhorted all functionaries of the council to revise their targets for various projects, programmes and schemes, especially in the field of small savings. He said women should be encouraged to work for collecting more funds through various small saving schemes which would go a long way towards the progress and prosperity of the individual, organisation, state, nation and society.
Dr Kamla Verma, Social Welfare Minister, commended the achievements of the council in the field of child welfare.
The Governor and the Chief Minister also presented seven shields, four gold medals, eight silver medals, seven special souvenirs, four mementos and 12 commendation certificates to those who had shown excellent performance in the field of child development and welfare.
The B.N. Chakravarty Shield for overall performance was given to the District Child Welfare Council, Karnal, the Dhanik Lal Mandal Shield for over-all performance in Child Welfare in backward areas was given to the District Child Welfare Council, Rewari. The District Child Welfare Council, Gurgaon, was honoured with the Child Welfare Fund Collection Shield.
The Runners-up shield for Child Welfare Fund collection was given to the District Child Welfare Council, Hisar.
Mr N.D. Jagga, Honorary Secretary of the council, gave details of various child welfare activities, schemes and projects being run by the council.

Cinema hall gateman shot at by cop
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh , July 9 — A constable of the Haryana Police posted in the security of a Haryana MLA fired from his service carbine after he was allegedly ordered by a nephew of the MLA and seriously injured a private security guard posted at the main entrance of Piccadilly Cinema in Sector 34 here this morning.
This was the second incident of shooting in the city in the past four days. Today's incident took place while the morning show of `Ghulam' was on. Though movie-goers could not hear the gun shot as a song was in progress thus raising the sound level inside the hall, sources said. Had this not been the case the sound of bullets could have resulted in a stampede .
The errant constable, Shamsher Singh, the MLA's nephew, Aman Kumar, and Devi Lal , driver of the vehicle used by them, have been arrested by the Chandigarh Police and the service carbine recovered. The vehicle was a private jeep that had an unauthorised red light fitted on top .
The three have been booked under sections 307 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and section 25/27/ 54/ 59 of the Arms Act. The SSP Mr C.S.R. Reddy, confirmed the incident and the arrest.

Vijay Kumar , the injured guard is employed by the "Suraksha security " — a private concern. He was admitted to a local hospital where his condition is stated to be serious .
According to sources, Aman is a nephew of Mrs Vidya Beniwal, MLA from the Darba Kalan constituency that falls in Sirsa district. She is from Mr Om Prakash Chautala's party, the Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya). The trio arrived in a jeep around 11 a.m. and the constable was covering his carbine with a shawl like cloth, sources said. Aman had brought along the security guard to avenge the "insult" he had to face in front of friends, including two girls, during the last evening show.
Aman and his friends had been asked by the torchman inside the hall to vacate the seats as they were not sitting as per the allotted seat numbers. The boys refused and this lead to a verbal duel and the security guards of the cinema, including the injured Vijay Kumar, intervened. The matter was then settled amicably. This infuriated Aman and he came this morning to the cinema hall.
A verbal duel ensued in the morning and the constable after identifying Vijay Kumar fired at him and hit him on the right side of his chest.
After the firing the trio managed to escape. The driver of the vehicle, Devi Lal, then faked injuries and got himself admitted to General Hospital in Sector 16. The doctors at the hospital declared him fit as the injuries were due to some bite marks and not gun shot injuries. The police arrested him and the others within two hours of the incident, largely due to the fact that the vehicle number had been noted down.
Later in the evening the Inspector- General of Police, UT, Mr R.P. Singh, said he proposed to write to the police chief concerned so that departmental action could be taken against the constable. He added that cops on security duty were allowed to carry only small weapons like pistols and revolvers while in civil clothes, whereas the errant cop in this case was carrying an automatic weapon.
The Chandigarh Police could not take action on its own and it was the duty of the respective police chiefs of the neighbouring states to take and initiate action, he added.

Middlemen bail plea hearing on Monday
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 9 — "It is a sad state of affairs with the Chandigarh Administration," observed in the open court Mr Justice B. Rai while hearing arguments this morning on the bail pleas preferred by Dinesh Sharma and Suresh Sharma, two of the three alleged middlemen in what is described as kickback case registered by the vigilance wing of the Administation against certain officials of the engineering department.
"Clever persons are at times caught in their own trap and in this case too they are," the judge told counsel for the Administration. He directed that the confessional statement by A.K Sachdeva, a Haryana cadre Superintending Engineer before the Chief Judicial Magistrate be placed on the record of the high court. "I shall deal with this case whole hog on Monday," the judge told the counsel.
Mr Justice Rai raised his eyebrows in surprise when counsel for the Sharmas brought to his notice that the Administration did not oppose the bail application of Sachdeva before the Additional Sessions Judge, Mr M.R Batra. "Was he (Sachdeva) granted bail even before he turned approver?", the Judge quizzed counsel for the Administration. And he replied in the affirmative.
How many persons the Administration intends to arrest?", asked the judge. Counsel for the Administration replied: "Between 33 and 35".

"You want to arrest them because you want to pull their legs apart in the presence of other suspects," quizzed the judge. "This treatment given to arrested persons is called manji in the Punjabi language," the judge observed and hastened to add: "Counsel for the Sharmas knows it and the court too knows it. Perhaps, the IO does not know it," observed Mr Justice Rai.
Earlier counsel for the Sharmas brought to the notice of the court that they had been behind bars for 75 days. He told the court that as many as eight persons had already been enlarged on bail.
At this stage the judge intercepted and told counsel for the Sharmas that who knew whether the bail applications moved by K.B Sharma and J.C Gilhotra, a Superintending Engineer with the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, and a former Chief Engineer of the Punjab State Electricity Board would be rejected or accepted.
Counsel for the Sharmas then told the court that at least six persons had been granted bail. They are R.P Vashist, Hira Mani, former P.A and peon, respectively, attached to the Chief Engineer A.K Sachdeva, J.K Gandhi, a Junior Engineer, and two other persons.
The judge told counsel for the defence and the prosecution to argue the case on Monday.

No takers for plus one classes in colleges
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 9 — There seem to be no takers for the plus one classes started by the Education Department in three government colleges of the city from the 1998-99 session. These classes were meant exclusively for children from rural areas and colonies of the city.
Sources said there were only about 125 applicants for 375 seats, out of which about 40 were found eligible. On the second day today, when students who secured more than 70 per cent marks were interviewed, only three students were admited to Government College for Girls, Sector 42; seven to GCM, Sector 11; and eight to GCG, Sector 11.
Since the last date for accepting application forms has already passed, there are not likely to be more than 40 students in all three colleges. Although the Administration seems pretty determined to go ahead with the classes, no decision has yet been taken on whether to hold classed in all three colleges or at one place only.
The District Education Officer, Mrs Joginder Moti, said the number of applicats had been low. However, a final decision in this regard could only be taken after a meeting of senior officials. One principal, on the condition of anonymity, said that one of the reasons for the poor turnout was the state of education in the rural areas and colonies. The pass percentage was poor. Another major deterrent was that while the medium of instruction in schools was Hindi, they would now have to take their lessons in English.
The Education Department had decided to give extended classes of the GMSSS, Sector 16, and the GMSSS, Sector 35 to three government colleges of the city. In the first year, one section of 75 students was to be offered at GCM, Sector 11, for non-medical classes; two sections of 75 students each in GCG, Sector 11, having both medical and non-medical streams; and two sections in GCG, Sector 42, both offering the science streams.
These schools are meant exclusively for children from the rural areas of the city and its colonies. They were required to submit proof of the residence in these areas for the past two years. Documents showing that they had done their schooling in a rural area or a colony of the city during the preceeding two years was also required.
Meanwhile, non medical courses are the first preference of top scorers in matriculation while seeking admission to plus one classes in government schools of the city.
On the second day of admissions today a number of schools had their seats in non-medical streams filled. GMSSS, Sector 16 and GMSSS, Sector 35, continued to be hot favourites among students and parents as was evident from the rush.

Campus Beat
PG courses: interviews on July 22, 23
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 9 — Panjab University today asked the candidates seeking admission to nine postgraduate social science departments to submit their detailed marks cards on July 15.
According to the convener of the centralised admission committee, Prof Bhupinder Brar, the decision had been taken as the results of BA (Final) had been declared. The detailed marks cards could be submitted in the office of the committee — the Department of Political Science.
He said the tentative dates for the interviews had been fixed as July 22 and 23. These would be done according to reference numbers allotted to the candidates.
The admissions are likely to be made on July 27 and 28. The exact date and time of the interviews would be announced in a couple of days, Professor Brar added.
Meanwhile, the university has fixed July 21 for the sports trials of the candidates, who have applied for the MA courses.

B.Ed. entrance test: Keeping in view the indefinite strike by employees of the postal department, the university on Thursday decided to distribute the admit cards for the B.Ed entrance test to the candidates residing in Chandigarh and nearby areas at Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on July 10 and 11.
The candidates should come in person to collect the admit cards, a press note said.

Stir hits postal services
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 9 — Postal services in the city as well as in the neighbouring towns of Panchkula and SAS Nagar were disrupted today as postal employees of the region joined in the indefinite nationwide strike.
Local employees joined the stir following a call given by the Joint Council of Action (JCA), New Delhi, comprising the National Federation of Postal Employees (NFPE) and the Federation of National Postal Organisations (FNPO) representing six lakh postal employees.
All postal employees working in post offices, the Railway Mail Services, mail motor services, administrative offices, among others were on complete strike in UT and Punjab, Mr Surinder Pal, convener of the local unit of the Joint Council of Action said today.
There was no booking of registered articles, momey orders and any other type of postal transactions. There was no transmission of mail as well as delivery of letters to the public. No clearance of letter-boxes were made. The Bharatiya Postal Employees Federation (BPEF) took part in the strike in most cities in Punjab and UT.
In lunch time, a big rally was held before the offices of the Chief

Postmaster-General of Punjab Circle in Sector 17.
The speakers attacked the ruling BJP Government for its "negative role and attitude" towards conceding the 10-point charter of demands of the postal employees, which is pending since November '97 with the Central Government. This unusual delay on the part of the government has forced the employees to go on an indefinite strike, Mr Pal claimed.
The employees demands include implementation of the Talwar committee recommendations for ED employees, better pay scales for group D, group C, accountants, stenographers, postman, drivers and workshop staff of the MMS, regularisation of the services of part-time staff and better formula for bonus.
While regretting the inconvenience caused to the members of the public, the employees have sought the cooperation of the public.

Sainik Bhavans to have computer centres
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The Haryana Defence and Secruity Relief Fund Committee has decided in principal that all institutions to be set up for imparting training in any income generating activity or related activities to the ex-servicemen and their dependants would be centrally located so as to make them more easily accessible to a large number of people.
The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, who presided over the 24th meeting of the committee here last evening, said stress should be laid on enabling the wards of the ex-servicemen to earn their living by providing them training in vocational courses besides rehabilitating the ex-servicemen. Referring to the setting up of a centre at Panchkula, which was near completion, he said such a centre should also be set up at Rohtak. In future, all Sainik Parivar Bhavans should have such computer centres and in case these bhavans did not have adequate space, additional room might be added for setting up computer centres.
The Chief Minister appreciated the proposal of constructing toilet-cum bathrooms for the benefit of 65 paraplegic ex-servicemen in the State but suggested that these should be got constructed by getting financial assistance from the Social Welfare Department. The Secretary, Rajya Sainik Board, Brig Satya Dev (retd) said each such toilet-cum-bathroom would cost Rs 12,000 and this benefit would be given to those paraplegic ex-servicemen who had monthly income of Rs 3,000 from all sources, excluding pension.