& V I C I N I T Y
Wednesday, April 7, 1999
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C H A N D I G A R H & V I C I N I T Y |
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Wednesday, April 7, 1999 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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10 per cent cops remain on agitation
duty CHANDIGARH, April 6 — Close to 10 per cent of the nearly 4000 personnel of the Chandigarh Police are on duty daily to keep a check on various dharnas, rallies, processions and other events. Malpractice
at pollution check centres
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  A swimming pool in Chandigarh waits to be filled with water. (Report on page 4) — A Tribune photograph Swimming pools in a sorry state CHANDIGARH, April 6—With summer on its way, Chandigarh not only experiences a plethora of watermelons, mangoes, aerated drinks, air-conditioners, and short dresses, but also a whole set of swimming pools. |
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Fake
currency racket: 2 held AIR,
DD staff on strike
Road
blocked to protest power cuts Phone
subscribers plan monsoon cell
Four
villages get amenities |
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10 per cent
cops remain on agitation duty CHANDIGARH, April 6 — Close to 10 per cent of the nearly 4000 personnel of the Chandigarh Police are on duty daily to keep a check on various dharnas, rallies, processions and other events. This seriously hampers investigation work and throws beat systems haywire, affecting routine working of police stations. This year, till March 31, the Chandigarh Police had handled 209 such events, where a total of 18,431 personnel were deployed. The figure was much higher last year when a total of 1,41,780 police personnel did duty to manage 3,039 events in the city. If Sundays and gazetted holidays — when no such rally or dharna is usually organised — are subtracted, this works out to be 472 men on an average daily, engaged in such tasks. Interestingly, most of the agitations and processions are of Punjab or Haryana employees, who come here to protest primarily when the Vidhan Sabha of the two states, is in session. Otherwise, events like meetings of various political parties, demonstrations, rallies, processions, dharnas, strikes, chain fasts, nagar kirtans, anti-encroachment drives, sports events and sessions of the Punjab and Haryana Vidhan Sabha, merit security. Senior police officials say the city police has no special force to deal with such events on a daily basis. Presently the arrangement is to withdraw personnel posted in special units like anti-auto theft, CIA and staff of police stations. Even SHOs from other police stations and DSPs of the other wings are called to pitch in whenever there is a bigger rally or procession. This hampers routine investigations like serious accident cases. It cuts into public meeting time of the officials also. The beat system also suffers, said a senior cop, who did not wish to be quoted. Citing an example, another official said Punjab and Delhi have the Punjab Armed Police and the Delhi Armed Police, respectively, to handle such events. However, in Chandigarh there is no force to deal with such events exclusively. A proposal to have the
Chandigarh Armed Police (CAP) came up last year but no
recruitments have been made. Apart from this, other
strain on the force includes VIP duty. This is
particularly in excess nowadays as a large number of VIPs
from Delhi are going to Anandpur Sahib via Chandigarh. |
Beat staff
not to be disturbed CHANDIGARH, April 6 — At a meeting of Ms Kiran Bedi with SHOs today, the point about beat staff being disturbed for various sundry duties came up. The IG said no beat staff would be disturbed in any case. She also stressed the need to have a younger beat staff to interact with members of the public. Even the Investigating
Officers (IOs) have been asked to coordinate with the
beat staff, according to sources.
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Kiran keeps
her word CHANDIGARH, April 6 — True to her word, Dr Kiran Bedi, Inspector-General of Chandigarh police paid a surprise visit to the Sector 17 police station this morning. Things in the city seem to be improving with the arrival of Ms Bedi. Unauthorised rehris were removed on their own by vendors from outside hospitals . The same was true for encroachments alongside roads in Sector 22. A “no parking board “ has been put up outside a popular school where haphazard parking used to result in traffic bottlenecks. The traffic staff that usually ignored wrongly parked vehicles asked scooterists not to park in verandahs. The traffic cops were out in full strength from 8 a.m. today. The IG arrived at the Sector 17 police station at 9.05 a.m., when the attendance for the day was being marked, and stayed there for more than an hour. At the police station she interacted with the Station House Officer (SHO), Sub Inspectors and the ASI before discussing matters with Head Constables, constables and other officials. She reportedly told the cops that there was no need to be afraid of her as she wanted to work with the staff. Later a cop told TNS that” the IG has an aura around her, she is very humble and mingled with us very well.” While talking to mediapersons yesterday Ms Bedi had said her day would start with a surprise inspection of any of the police stations in the city tomorrow morning. Apart from the IG, the
SSP, Mr N.S. Randhawa and SP, City , Mr Baldev Singh also
visited some police stations. While Mr Randhawa visited
the police station in Sector 3, Mr Baldev Singh visited
the police station in Sector 31. |
Malpractice
at pollution check centres CHANDIGARH, April 6 — One can obtain a pollution-control certificate required for a vehicle by paying just double the amount at many petrol stations in the city. Several petrol stations in the city, approved by the State Transport Authority, Chandigarh, to issue the certificates are issuing the document even if the vehicle is not present at the station. State governments are bound to check the pollution level of vehicles in its jurisdiction under Rule 115 and 116 of the Centre Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989. They have the responsibility of checking and maintaining the contents of Carbon Monoxide (CO) emitted by the vehicles. The permitted limit for four wheelers is 3 per cent, while for two and three-wheelers the limit for CO is 4.5 per cent. In a survey by Chandigarh Tribune, it was found that some stations are issuing the certificates even if the vehicle is not present at the testing centre. When this correspondent visited a petrol station in Industrial Area Phase II, he saw a certificate being issued for an additional Rs 10, whereas the authorised charge is only Rs 10. The testing machine was not even placed near the vehicle. Moreover, this correspondent got a motor cycle tested at four different centres and got varying readings. At a petrol station in Sector 17, the meter displayed the CO level to be 3 per cent, while the vehicle showed 1.5 per cent reading at a Sector 35 petrol station. An attendant told this correspondent that a certificate could be had by paying Rs 20 as it was “cumbersome as well as time consuming procedure to rectify the fault”. Last year in a similar case, the licence of a petrol station in Sector 17, was cancelled with the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This was after a surprise raid on the pump after complaints of malpractice. At a Sector 9 petrol station, being run by CITCO, the pollution-checking facility which existed earlier has been withdrawn. At a petrol station in Sector 28, no attendant was at the pollution checking machine when this correspondent reached there in the afternoon. Mr Bhuninder Singh Sandhu,
a local resident said the government should provide its
own genuine testing centres to make the city
environment-friendly. |
Vehicle
checking reintroduced CHANDIGARH, April 6 — The Pollution Control Cell of the State Transport Authority (STA), Chandigarh, has challaned more than 2, 500 vehicles for not adhering to the pollution norms during the past three months. The checking is likely to be intensified in the coming days. The drive, a low-key affair until certain directions were issued to the Administration following a case in this context by the Punjab and Haryana High court, was recently stepped up but certain directions are yet to be complied with. The directions were given in July, 1998. The directions pertained to carrying out an exercise to identify vehicles which were polluters and were still being plied in spite of their unroadworthiness, periodic checks to identify repeat offenders, recruitment of staff, besides purchase of a mobile van for surprise checks, According to sources in the STA, one of the directions yet to be implemented pertains to publicity about the outcome of the case within 15 days of the judgement. While the court had asked the department to furnish particulars about the number of unroadworthy vehicles to be taken off the road and the number of vehicles checked and issued “pollution under control” stickers, little has been done in this context till date. In fact, some of the centres being run for carrrying out such checks are not functioning properly. For example, the centres being operated earlier at CITCO filling station and near the Municipal Corporation office rarely function nowadays. Out of the 12 centres to be operated in the city only half are functional. A centre also functions at the CTU workshop, but it is to check its own fleet of buses exclusively. The only checkpoint, which functions regularly is the one which functions near Hallomajra village. This centre is manned by the staff from the cell and the officials from the Punjab pollution control department, Patiala, on alternate months. A mobile van has been provided with all infrastructure needed for checking petrol and diesel vehicles by the Haryana government. The department has yet to advertise the posts and recruit its own staff. It is making do with the staff sent by the Motor Vehicles Departments of Punjab and Haryana. The direction for the same had also been given by the court but nothing in this context has been done so far. Sources said this ad -
hocism was affecting the functioning of the department
and many of the officials posted to the cell had asked
the authorities to repatriate them to their parent
states. One of the major reasons is lack of a proper
office and a place for carrying out their work. At
present, the staff of the cell function from a shed meant
for parking in the building of the UT Industries
Department in the Industrial Area, Phase II. |
Strike by
PGI employees CHANDIGARH, April 6 — Members of the PGI Employees Union tonight said they would go on an indefinite strike from midnight tonight. On the other hand, the Union Health Minister , Mr Dalit Ezhilmalai, has promised the formation of a committee to look into the demands of the employees. The decision of the Health Minister was conveyed to The Tribune by Prof B.K. Sharma, Director , PGI, who returned from Delhi tonight after attending a special governing body meeting. The minister had said he would soon formulate the committee, Prof Sharma said. Meanwhile, the union in a
statement issued late in the evening said the strike
would start at midnight. On earlier two occassions the
strike was postponed. In March, employees also resorted
to mass casual leave. |
Monkey bites
child in Panchkula PANCHKULA, April 6 — Monkey terror struk a pocket of houses in Sector 4 here after a wandering monkey bit a four-year-old boy, Akshi Mahajan here today. Residents of the area remained indoors fearing attacks from the monkey. The unsuspecting kid was bitten four times by the monkey when he went to the terrace of his house No 472 for playing. Distress calls to the Wildlife Department and the police did not yield any results. A week earlier another
child, Bittu, was bitten in a similar fashion by the
money in the same area. |
PU exams
begin on April 17 CHANDIGARH, April 6—The examinations for the graduate and post-graduate classes of Panjab University have been re-scheduled to begin on April 17 and April 26, respectively. Earlier, they were scheduled to commence on April 1 and April 16. Papers for the first year of graduation will begin with English compulsory and those of the second year with examinations in Punjabi compulsory, history and culture of Punjab. This will be followed by the paper on compulsory English on April 19 of the same class. The third year examinations will commence with Paper I of the vocational courses while the English compulsory paper will be held the following Monday. The first year B Sc papers will begin with chemistry while examinations in geography, music (vocal) and sociology for the arts stream will be held on April 19. Both the elective papers for all languages are scheduled for April 28 and April 30, respectively. The first two papers of physics and botany are to be held on April 29 and May 3. Paper I for all vocational courses will be held on April 6. The first year exams will end on May 14 with the second paper of economics, defence studies, education and history of art. The second year graduation examinations, to be held from 2 pm to 5pm, have the chemistry paper on April 21 along with the papers of geography and sociology. April 30 has been fixed Paper I of all vocational subjects while the second paper will be held on May 4. elective languages will be held on May 7 and 11. Papers for the pass course will finish with Paper B of zoology, mathematics and history on May 14. Examinations for all honours subjects will commence on May 15 finish on May 19 . After beginning with the first paper of vocational courses, followed by English compulsory, the examinations of the science stream will begin on April 20 with physics and botany papers. Papers of arts will begin with examination in the subjects of economics, education, history of art,fine arts and adult education on April 21. The second paper for the vocational courses will be held on April 24. Examinations of elective languages are scheduled for April 29 and May 3. While the final year pass course exams will end on April 14 with papers in political science, computer science, statistics and applied statistics, exams of the honours subjects will be held on May 15 and will go on till May 19. Examinations for the commerce stream are scheduled for April 17 while those for the BBA and BCA will commence on April 19. The date-sheet of the post-graduation examination will be put up tomorrow. The examinations will be
held at the centres already allotted and communicated to
the students. The roll number cards have already been
issued to the candidates. In case of any information or
clarification, the office of the Joint Controller of
Examinations, Panjab University,can be contacted on all
working days between 9am and 5pm. |
AIR, DD
staff on strike CHANDIGARH, April 6 — Members of the United Forum of Prasar Bharati Employees Akashvani went on an indefinite strike from midnight yesterday. Members of the Akashvani and Doordarshan Administrative Association are already on strike for the past fortnight. Mr Gian Chand, Secretary of the forum, said their main demands were revision of pay scales, pay parity with programme and engineering staff. Those participating include member of Group D, newsreaders-cum-translators, rajbhasha karamcharis, stenographers and Doordarshan professionals.
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Road
blocked to protest power cuts SAS NAGAR, April 6 — Villagers blocked traffic on the Landran road, near here, today in protest against an inordinately long power failure in the area. The protesters, who resorted to the blockage for around two hours, said the supply of electricity to Landran and nearby villages remained cut off “continuously for 48 hours”. Long queues of vehicles formed, causing inconvenience to road users. It is learnt that a “breaker” at the Phase VII power substation here got damaged on April 1, the day of the India-Pakistan cricket match. Temporary arrangements were made to continue the power supply but these proved to be ineffective, affecting the villages. The Executive Engineer of the Zirakpur power subdivision, under which the areas fall, Mr K.K. Goel, told The Tribune that an 11-kv incoming panel of a transformer first got damaged, reducing the capacity of the transformer by half. The power load was then shifted to a Kharar feeder which also suffered damage due to overloading. Mr Goel said the power
supply to the Landran area was resumed in the afternoon,
but certain others villages remained affected. |
Phone
subscribers plan monsoon cell CHANDIGARH, April 6 — The Chandigarh Telecom District Telephone Subscribers Association (CTSA) is in the process of creating a “monsoon cell” to monitor the situation of fault control in the coming monsoon months. The aim is to see that subscribers in the telecom district face minimum problems, said a press release issued by Mr R.K. Verma, President of the CTSA. Data collected would be sent to the Union Telecommunications Ministry on day-to-day basis. For this the association had sought information from all desired organisations over phone no 606487 on Sunday between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Further the statement said the association was of the view that services should not take a back-seat while implementing the revised tarrifs proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The association wanted the documents on quality of service dated November 12, 1998, where benchmarks, targets, monitoring and enforcement mechanism were mentioned in detail to be implemented first. Telephone instruments which had lived their life or which were more than five years old should be replaced immediately. On the local level the association strongly protested the expansion of the telecom network at the cost of shifting of telephones and other services. This had happened as expansion targets were fixed for the last day of the financial year. The association also wanted that targets be set for faults in a year and how many were attended to at proper time as per Indian telegraph rules. The association demanded immediate transfer of all officers who had completed more than four year of service as per instructions of Central Government implemented in all Central Government departments to avoid corruption. It demanded immediate improvement in the services in villages, particularly in Punjab area of the Chandigarh Telecom District. Lastly the association
condemned the illegal confinement of Mr D.V. Joshi a
subscriber and employee of the The Tribune, in the
telephone exchange at Zirakpur.
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Race for
posts of dean hots up CHANDIGARH, April 6 — With the meeting for the selection of the three deans, Dean Student Welfare, Dean Alumni Relations and Dean Foreign Students, having been fixed for April 19 at 4 p.m. the countdown has begun and all contenders have started efforts to get the posts. Though the three ex-deans, Prof R.C. Sobti, Dr R.S. Grewal and Dr R.K. Kakkar are making frantic efforts to occupy their respective “seats of power”, reliable sources point out that the Vice-Chancellor, Prof M.M. Puri, is adamant on having Dr Grewal as the DSW, though he is willing to compromise on the selection of the other two. The meetings of the two groups, led by Mr G.K. Chatrath and Dr Deepak Manmohan Singh, are yet to take place and the names to be forwarded by the two groups have not been finalised. However, a few names are afloat and speculation on the next three deans is rife. The front-runners in the race are Prof Paramjit Kaushal and Prof Subhash Kaushal of the Department of Botany, Dr Uppal of the University Business School and Dr R.D. Anand of the Department of Chemistry, while the possibility of Dr V.K. Bansal being appointed dean cannot be ruled out. He is a member of the selection committee. The other candidates for the three posts are Dr Jatinder Mohan of the Psychology Department and Prof I.M. Govil of the Department of Physics. The members on the
selection panel are Mr Rajinder Deepa, Mr Ashok Goyal, Dr
Deepak Manmohan Singh, Dr V.K. Bansal, Dr K.S. Chugh, Mr
Rajinder Bhandari and Mr Rabinder Nath Sharma. |
Four
villages get amenities CHANDIGARH, April 6 — The Chandigarh Administration and the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) have decided to provide additional amenities to the four villages incorporated in the civic body. According to sources, the MCC has decided to recarpet the internal and circular roads (phirnies) of the four villages — Burail, Buterla, Badheri and Attawa. The stadium of Government Senior Secondary School, Burail, would be developed and the boundary wall of the school constructed. The civic body, in its 1999-2000 Budget, has earmarked Rs 1 crore for the development of these villages. The residents of these villages had been alleging that the civic body was meting out a step-motherly treatment to the villages so far as the amenities were concerned. A visit to the school today revealed that the work on the boundary wall and filling of the low-lying area earmarked for the stadium was in full swing. The entire work, costing about 26.5 lakh, would be completed in six months, the contractor for the project, Mr Karam Singh, said. With the construction of the boundary wall and the development of the stadium, the long-standing demand of the villagers would be met, Mr Sat Pal Gupta, Chairman of the Chandigarh Panchayat Parishad, told The Tribune. Mr Gupta said that the Adviser to the Administrator, Mr Jagdish Sagar, during his visit to the village in January, had assured the residents that the Administration would speed up the work on the project. The school Principal, Mr Shingara Singh, hoped that with the construction of the boundary wall, the entry of stray cattle would be controlled to a large extent. This would help to create a congenial atmosphere suited for studies, he added. Meanwhile, the estimates for various works, including the construction of the circular road and roads in the Kesho Ram complex in Burail, had been approved and the work was likely to start soon. Additional facilities would be the first major work to be undertaken by the civic body after the transfer of these four villages over three years back. A former Mayor, Mrs Kamla Sharma, who represented Badheri, Buterla and Attawa villages, had also been pressurising the MCC and the Administration to provide more amenities to these villages. The Tribune had run a
four-part series — city’s poor cousins —
on the poor civic amenities in these four villages last
year.
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Committee
on PGI reservations CHANDIGARH, April 6 — A five member high powered committee, headed by the Union Health Secretary, will look into the issue of reservations top faculty posts at the PGI and give its report in three weeks. This was decided following a special governing body meeting convened at Delhi this evening. The Director, PGI, Prof B.K. Sharma, upon his arrival at Chandigarh tonight, said that the Union Health Minister, Mr Dalit Ezhilmalai, will nominate the remaining four members of the committee. The committee was formed after the Association of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Caste PGI Employees petitioned to the Union Health Ministry, seeking modifications in the advertisement inviting applications to fill 140 vacant posts. The issue of reservations had rocked the PGI in the past several years and more than 140 posts were lying vacant while legal wranglings continued. A constitution bench of the Supreme Court, in its judgement on April 17, 1998, had said that there would be no reservation against single-cadre posts. The PGI authorities had referred the matter to the Union Ministry of Personnel for interpretation of the judgement. The ministry had suggested a rotation system of reservation and allowed the advertisement. In Delhi, the discussion
over the issue lasted several hours today. The aspect
that how much change, if any, could be carried out, was
discussed.
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Swimming
pools in a sorry state CHANDIGARH, April 6—With summer on its way, Chandigarh not only experiences a plethora of watermelons, mangoes, aerated drinks, air-conditioners, and short dresses, but also a whole set of swimming pools. But how clean are the public pools of the city and how safe is it to swim in these pools? With most doctors contending that skin and urinary infections are on the rise during summer, is “thanda-thanda pani” really the answer to fight the heat? “I always feel slightly hesitant to send my sons for swimming, especially since the incidence of flu and other such diseases are on the increase during summer. If you see a pool after it has been used, you find it filthy most of the times”, says Mrs Sethi, whose sons apparently caught flu last year after swimming in a pool that was being cleaned with ammonia rather than the filter plant , because of its shutdown. The Panjab University plans to open its pools to the public on April 15, instead of the earlier proposed date of April 5, since the “filters of the filtration plant need replacement”. According to the authorities, the health centre at the university has to verify a swimmer ‘fit to swim’ in the pools, which are regularly cleaned. With two swimming coaches and one life-saver, the pools attract around 700 persons every season. According to the Sports Department, Chandigarh, the two pools in Sector 23, one at the Lake Club and one at the Government College, Sector 11, will open after April 15, after the cleaning and maintenance processes are complete. The cleaning of these pools falls under the Public Health Department, says an official of the Sports Department. Interestingly, these pools ask for medical certification, which most students say they do not have to get done. Says a final-year-student of Psychology , “Who has the time to go in for the whole process of getting oneself examined? Most of us obviously know one doctor or another and can easily get a certificate of medical fitness”. The Sports Department, Chandigarh, also mentions that it will offer its services to the pool at the Engineering College as well. The Government College, Sector 11, which is crying itself hoarse over the fact that no life-saver was ready to be employed at a salary of only Rs 2,500, will get a life-saver from the Department this year. Officials of a club in Sector 6, which will open its swimming pool to its members to coincide with the Baisakhi celebrations on April 13, say,”A medical certificate is not required, since we are confident that people with any kind of skin diseases or any such diseases will not enter the pool”. According to the club officials, the pool staff makes sure that every person getting inside the pool takes a shower. The officials also add that their filter-plant keeps their pool clean. With last year’s
reports of various pools being contaminated or not being
regularly cleaned and a pool getting flooded, the
residents will need to tread on safer waters.
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'CEO at
crux of project's success' CHANDIGARH, April 6 — A lecture on the ``Planning and Implementation of New Projects'' was organised jointly by the Chandigarh Management Association and Centre for Industry Institute Partnership Programme (IIPA) and the University Business School, Panjab University, at the UBS auditorium today. The chief guest, Mr Surinder Singh Virdi from Anaesthetic Gases, shared his practical experiences on the topic. He explained how careful planning and management of projects supplemented by honesty, integrity and commitment of the top management could lead to success in spite of the difficult phase the industry was passing through. Prominent among those who attended the seminar included Prof KN Pathak, Prof SK Sharma, Mr SK Duggal, Col PK Vasudeva and Prof RN Nauhriya . A lively discussion after
the lecture concluded that accountability of the CEO was
the crux of successful management .The need for a closer
interaction between industry and academia was also
highlighted in view of increasing competitiveness in the
field. |
Fake
currency racket: 2 held PANCHKULA, April 6 — Two members of a gang involved in circulating forged currency notes in the market have landed in the custody of the Kalka police. The police has seized 40 fake currency notes of Rs 500 denomination from their custody. According to information available, Pan Singh approached Babu Khan, a resident of Godam village in Kalka, for getting currency notes of smaller denomination in lieu of a currency note of Rs 500. Getting suspicious about the authenticity of the currency note Babu Khan informed the police. On being questioned Pan Singh disclosed the names of the persons from whom he had procured the currency note. On the basis of the information the police arrested Dharam Pal and Mangli. The leader of the gang, Ramesh, has, however, absconded. In the raids conducted by the police 40 fake currency notes of Rs 500 denomination have been recovered. The members of the gang
have been booked under Sections 489 B and C and 120-B of
the IPC. |
CHANDIGARH, April 6 — A 12-year-old boy was crushed to death while a man injured in a hit-and-run accident two days ago succumbed to his injuries this morning. The boy, Japani, a resident of Phase X in SAS Nagar, was hit by a truck (CH-01-S-7448) on the road dividing Sectors 45 and 46. The child died while the truck fled from the spot. A case under sections 279 and 304—A of the IPC has been registered against the truck driver. Meanwhile, Sushil Kumar, of Nayagaon, who was hit by a vehicle on the road dividing sectors 16 and 17 on Sunday succumbed to his injuries this morning at the PGI. In a separate incidents, Sheela of Mauli Jagran, was hit by a scooter (RNI-94) driven by Nirmal Singh. The scooterist fled. The injured was admitted to the PGI. Car stolen: A Maruti car (CH-01-E-0053) owned by Mr Rajeev Baghi, of Sector 22 was stolen from his residence on the night of April 4. PANCHKULA Cashier booked: April 6 — A cashier of the Haryana Roadways posted at the local bus stand has been booked by the local police for a criminal breach of the trust by allegedly misusing government money. A case under Section 409 of the IPC has been registered against the cashier, Mr Purshotam Lal, on the basis of a complaint lodged by the General Manager of the Chandigarh depot of the Haryana Roadways. The cashier has been accused of not properly maintaining the cash record and tampering with the government money to the tune of Rs 3.17 lakh from the cash branch at the bus stand. SAS NAGAR Cash snatched: Col Dalip Singh (retd) of Phase III B 1 here complained to the police on Tuesday that a young man snatched Rs 45,000 from him inside Punjab and Sind Bank, Phase V, and fled. Col Singh raised the alarm and ran after the thief who escaped with an accomplice sitting on a scooter with its engine on. He said he had got the money after selling a plot at Naraingarh and had gone to the bank branch to deposit it along with his wife. He said there was no bank
guard on the premises when the incident took place. |
CHANDIGARH, April 6 — The prices of seasonal vegetables have started coming down while the price of onion has started going up in the local market during the past two days. During a survey of the market today it was found that gourd, which had been selling between Rs 12 and Rs 14 a kg just two days back, was available in different city markets for Rs 8 a kg. According to traders, the fall in the price of the vegetable was due to increasing arrivals of local crop in the market from nearby areas. Earlier, the vegetable had been coming from Howrah and Calcutta, and it had been selling at higher prices due to higher transportation costs. Similarly, the price of brinjal has crashed from Rs 16 a kg to Rs 10 a kg during this period. According to traders, what led to the decline in the price of the vegetable was the enhanced arrivals of local varieties of the vegetable in the market during the past one week. Same was the case with cucumber, as its price has come down from Rs 16 to Rs 10 a kg. Traders attributed the fall to more arrivals from Himachal Pradesh during this period. On the other hand, the price of onion has witnessed a jump during this period. A kg of onion, selling at Rs 6 just two days back, was available in the market today for Rs 8. The wholesale price of the vegetable has also gone up from Rs 180-200 to Rs 240 per 40 kg during this period. Similarly, the price of peas has jumped from Rs 14 to Rs 15 a kg during this period. Several other commonly used vegetables have become cheaper during this period. A kg of lemon, which was available for Rs 100 just two days back, was priced in the market today at Rs 60. The fall was owing to improved arrivals of the vegetable from Chennai and other lemon producing areas in the South India. Similarly, a kg of radish, which had been selling for Rs 8 two days ago, was available today between Rs 3 and Rs 4. The price of garlic has come down from Rs 30 to Rs 24 a kg during the period. On the fruit front, “ber” witnessed a sharp hike in its price. A kg of fruit, which had been selling for Rs 20 a kg just two days back, was available in the market today for Rs 30 a kg. There was, however, no fluctuation in the prices of other fruits. The prices of other
vegetables and fruits are as follows:- beans-Rs 12 a kg,
capsicum-Rs 50-60, lady’s finger-Rs 30, bitter
gourd-Rs 24, carrot-Rs 8, squash gourd-Rs 10, potato-Rs
3, ginger-Rs 40, apple-Rs 40, banana-Rs 20, grapes-Rs
40-50, orange-Rs 50 a dozen, pomegranate-Rs 40 a kg,
strawberry-Rs 70, mango (safeda)-Rs 50, water melon-Rs
12. |
Triplets
born DERA BASSI, April 6 — Mrs Satvir Kaur of Kala Majra village in Fatehgarh district gave birth to triplets in the local civil hospital, on Tuesday. All the three are girl
babies, weighing 900gm,1100gm and 1100gm, respectively.
The babies have been sent to the PGI for care for one
month, as the hospital lacks the required facilities. |
Housefed
Director CHANDIGARH, April 6 — Dr A.P. Sanwaria, President of the Chandigarh Tenant Cooperative House Building Society, has been elected a Director of the Chandigarh State Federation of Cooperative House Building Societies (Housefed). After his election Dr
Sanwaria promised to make the functioning of Housefed
“absolutely transparent”. He expressed the hope
that the administration would soon allot land for
cooperative societies. |
Artiste
from Pak to be in city CHANDIGARH, April 6 — The Pracheen Kala Kendra will organise 'surmayee sham', a special programme of ghazals by renowned Pakistani singer Ustad Hussain Baksh on April 9. The programme will be
organised at the Bhaskar Rao Indoor Auditorium in Sector
35-B.
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CPM
condemns NATO strikes CHANDIGARH, April 6 — Members of the CPM held a rally to protest against the NATO strikes against Yugoslavia and the killing of thousands of innocent people in the process. Carrying placard and banner, the protesters later formed a human chain in Sector 17. Mr Inderjit Singh Grewal, Secretary of the local unit, said the people of the country were brave and that they wished to express their solidarity with the suffering masses. It was the handiwork of imperialist forces which had no business and right to interfere in the internal affairs of any country. He condemned the act of
aggression and said the people of the world must unite in
assailing the attacks on another country and country such
attacks in future. |
New Bar
team takes oath PANCHKULA, April 6 — The Advocate-General of Haryana, Mr H.S.Hooda, administered the oath of office to the new team of the District Bar Association, led by its President, Mr Randhir Singh Badhran, at a ceremony here today The elections to the Bar Association were held on April 1. The rest of the members of the association who were administered the oath were Mr B.S.Virk — Vice-President; Ms Vadana Bhuria — Joint Secretary; Mr Amit Singla — Secretary and Mr Anirudh Sharma — Cashier. A number of members of the judiciary were present on the occasion. Mr Hooda, who was the chief guest, in his speech, urged advocates to maintain their professional dignity and play a positive role. Mr Randhir Singh, President of the Bar Association, said the association would soon meet the district administration to solve the issue of chambers at the judicial complex coming up in Sector 1 here. He said efforts would be
made to have a District and Sessions court here and to
get the Environment Court shifted here. Later Mr Randhir
administered the oath of office to the five executive
members of the Bar Association — Mr Parvinder Sodhi,
Mr Naresh Sharma, Mr Ramesh Gopal, Mr R.C. Narang and Mr
R.K. Duggal. |
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