Intermittent showers cool city
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31 — Intermittent heavy showers accompanied by a cloud cover throughout the day resulted in a wet start to the weekend while day temperature was 3°C less than yesterday.

Since morning, the city had received 15 mm of rain. The bursts of rain were sharp and did not last for more than 30 minutes on any occasion. Today's rain was in continuation of yesterday's rain. It had rained 13.4 mm till 8.30 am. Today's first showers lashed the city and its surrounding areas around 10 in the morning. After that, the rain was in short sharp spells and normal life thrown out of gear.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 29°C which was 3° less than normal. The minimum temperature was recorded at 25. 8 °C.

The rain in the early hours, thankfully, brought down the maximum day time temperature to 29°C. A cool breeze blew throughout the day. The day time temperature yesterday had been 32.8°C. On July 29, the temperature was 33.6°C. In the morning itself, the minimum temperatures dropped from 29°C recorded yesterday to a much cooler 20.5°C today.

On the other hand, power breakdowns in some areas made the resident feel the humidity, especially in the afternoon. As water supply to large parts of the the city is based on tubewells that run on power, it also created a problem of water shortage.

Several minor accidents reportedly took place as water on the roads made two-wheelers skid. It was the second spell of showers that led to more problems. After each shower, the road used to be full of water. The southern sectors were affected the most as water rushed down the natural slope of the city.

Work in several business establishments also suffered. Roadside vendors selling maizecorn had to abandon their business during the heavy showers but made brisk sales during the stoppage of showers.

Shopkeepers selling samosas and pakoras reported brisk sales.

Besides this, construction activity came to a standstill as it poured buckets in the afternoon. The rain forced people to even switch off their coolers and fans.

According to sources in the Meteorological Department, the heavy rain occurred due to pressure over central Rajasthan. Besides this an upper air cyclonic circulation persists over Jammu and Kashmir. The met office has predicted rain and thundershowers in parts of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana in the next 24 hours.

Kapil, kids and Kargil
By Harvinder Khetal
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31 — Kapil Dev came and facilitated the collection of lakhs of rupees by the Rotarians for the benefit of children of Kargil martyrs.

But for the kids of members of Rotary Club Chandigarh Midtown, which organised the fund-raiser today, it was a day of excitement, of meeting their hero.

Seven-year-old Partap was convinced that Kapil's signature "will give extra power to my bat and I will strike sixers with it." However, his elder brother, Apram (10) was not game to play with the bat that became too precious with the words "With love, Kapil, 31.7.99" in his super star's hand inscribed on it with black sketch pen. He declared that he would preserve the bat.

And the two boys' mummy, Pawan Preet, also had an important task on hand. She was busy spraying hair spray on the autographs as the ink stays longer, she said she had been told.

Aurobindo Mukherjee (13) came prepared with green bordered piece of paper stuck on his bat for the all-important signature while his kid brother Ashutosh (9) said he would cover the signature with plastic so that it doesn't get spoiled.

Devika Gupta (10) was the only girl cricket buff. She said she and her brother Siddharth (15) had bought new bats and balls to get the initials of the captain of the team that has fetched India its only World Cup in 1983. Siddharth said he was seriously interested in taking up cricket professionally. Why not? After all their hero, Kapil, is a school chum of their father. Kapil laughingly recalled that he became a player by eating Ajay Gupta's vegetarian food during the interval in DAV School, here.

While Sumer Sandhu (5) and Ishan (2) were too young to grasp the significance of the occasion, their Papa, Sandeep Sandhu, proudly informed the boys insisted on having the stamp of the cricketer on their bat.

The mummies and daddies of the youngsters looked on indulgently as their kids' moment of enthusiasm peaked with the arrival of the 'Haryana Hurricane'. Dressed in their formal apparel, the families made a pretty picture as they said cheese with the man jis da jawab nahin.

The ambience at the venue — the CII building — beneath this surface of kids seeing their dream come true, was somber. The club members were aware of the great responsibility that they had taken upon themselves — to be mentors of kids of Kargil martyrs by helping them financially, mentally and emotionally.

Mr Sandeep Sandhu said they had collected enough funds to adopt four needy children. One, Jatinder Singh, 10-year-old son of Subedar Joginder Singh of 8 Sikh Battalion who sacrificed his life while winning Tiger Hill for the country, has already been identified for help.

As Capt M.S. Kahlon (retd), President of the club put beautifully, "There is so much in the eyes of a child which only parents can understand. We wish to be the sparkle when we take care of him and make our own life worthwhile by paying a tribute to a Father who was a great man."

Kapil Dev patiently signed the bats and balls and posed for the photographs. He said: "More important than the collection of money was the spirit of togetherness among people that has come about in the wake of the Kargil conflict."

Nari Niketan to be transit centre only
By Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31— The Chandigarh Administration has decided to use the Sector 26 Nari Niketan only as a transit centre for women in distress after classifying the present inmates into three categories and referring them to specialised institutes and centres.

The working of Nari Niketan has been under review of the administration ever since the escape of some of its inmates early this month.

The administration has decided to requisition the services of Dr Sudha Jain, a psychiatrist working for the Health Department, and Dr Sudha Malhotra of the Department of Psychiatry of the PGI to examine the inmates of the niketan within one week. Both Dr Jain and Dr Malhotra were at the niketan today.

The inmates belonging to the first category — young girls — will be shifted to the Sector 23 Bal Bhavan while those who are mentally retarded will be admitted to the centre for mentally retarded children in Sector 32. |The administration has decided to shift mentally seriously ill or mentally deranged inmates to Government Mental Hospital at Amritsar.

At present, the ill-equipped Nari Niketan is used to keep mentally deranged, sick, mentally-retarded and women in distress. In the absence of any facility for treatment and specialised medicare, some of the inmates had been rotting here. One of the inmates has been at the niketan since 1988.

The Adviser to the Administrator, Mrs Vineeta Rai, accompanied by the Secretay, Social Welfare, Mr Rakesh Singh, and Director, Social Welfare, Mr Prithi Chand, reviewed the functioning of the niketan today.

A major renovation of the building has also been taken up.

Some months ago, local units of various political parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), had taken out processions to demand that the "inmates held in captivity" at the niketan be set free.

Lawyer's licence suspended
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31 — The Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana has suspended the licence of Mr Padam Kumar Jain, a former Additional District and Sessions Judge who is now practising at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, for allegedly commiting professional misconduct.

According to a notification issued by Mr N.S. Sitta, Honorary Secretary of the Bar Council, Mr Jain had filed a petition for maintenance without instructions of his client.

The notification added that Mr Jain had been asked to surrender his licence immediately with the Bar Council.

Women plan 'jail bharo' over helmets
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31 — Various women's organisations and political parties have threatened to defy the prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC to protest against the order of the Chandigarh Administration for compulsory wearing of helmets by both women drivers and pillion riders of two-wheelers.

The Sikh Nari Manch has announced that to further intensify its ongoing agitation on the helmet issue, it would launch a 'jail bharo' andolan. Ms Harjinder Kaur, a Councillor and President of the manch, while talking to mediapersons today said the order was against the tenets of Sikhism and it was creating a lot of problems for the working women.

She said the agitation had got a shot in its arm with the support extended by Ms Pam Rajput of 'Women Watch', Ms Nanda of Shri Krishan Nanda of 'Nari Sanstha', Ms Dera of the Radha Madhav Istri Satsang and kirtan mandilis of Sectors 35,40 and 44.

Others present on the occasion were Ms Amrita Kohli, Mr Tripat Kaur, and Ms Manjit Kaur Sabharwal.

While urging more women organisations to come forward to join the agitation, Ms Harjinder Kaur said the issue had been taken up by the President of the SGPC, Bibi Jagir Kaur, who had met the Governor in this regard.

Besides, the Chandigarh unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has also threatened to defy the prohibitory orders under Section 144. The President of the local unit, Mr Gurpartap Singh Riar, said a decision in this regard was taken at a party meeting here today.

The President of the All-India Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Joginder Singh Sahwney, has urged the Chandigarh Administration to exempt the women two-wheeler drivers and the pillion riders from wearing the helmets.

PU senator protests
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31 — A senior faculty member and Senator of Panjab University, Dr R. D. Anand, observed a token fast outside the administrative block yesterday to express disillusionment over the working of the university. All through the day, fellow colleagues visited him and expressed solidarity with him for the cause. Initially, the police tried to persuade him to shift the venue, following which, a few Syndics stepped in to resolve the matter with the police. Finally, he was allowed to continue his fast at the same place.

Lessons learnt from Kargil
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31 — The country should learn a lesson from the present conflict in Kargil and initiate long term geopolitic planning to identify our enemies, potential or otherwise, and deal with them accordingly.

These were among the views expressed by a panel of experts who participated in a discussion on 'Lessons From Kargil' organised by the Panchnad Research Institute here this evening. The session was chaired by Justice J.V. Gupta and the main speakers were Maj-Gen Rajendra Nath and Lieut-Col Thakur Kuldip Ludra (retd).

The experts said the statement by Pakistan that more Kargils would follow carried ill portends for the country. The entire conflict had been of our own making. Since independence, we had not made any efforts to reclaim the lost territories due to lack of political will.

We were misguiding the people and the coming generations by depicting even the Pakistan and Chinese Occupied Kashmir as being with us. We effectively controlled only 56 per cent of Jammu and Kashmir.

Alleging that the territories were lost by default, Gen Rajendra Nath said it was in the interest of the then CM that the areas of Gilgit and Skardu remained with Pakistan as they were predominantly Shia-populated areas, whereas, the valley and other parts of the state were inhabitated by Sunnis. It was a matter of controlling the people at the cost of national security and strategic importance, he stressed.

It was only after Pakistanis tried to wrest Siachen that we woke up. Had we not defended this area, it would have been used as a bargaining chip by the enemy. Similarly, the Ladakh area was deliberately ignored as the majority population was Buddhist and they had made it clear that in the event of a plebiscite, they would opt to remain with India.

Pakistanis played on all this and funded insurgency in the valley and they succeeded. The army was diverted from its primary task and directed to control insurgency. Otherwise, how could a country far inferior to us, conventionally, and otherwise continue to needle us, he questioned.

He advocated that we should follow the policy followed by America which began an arms race that eventually brought the erstwhile USSR to its knees.

Col Ludra stressed that we should extend a hand of friendship towards Afghanistan, now that the economy of the country was in tatters. By offering to make bridges, hospitals and roads, we could earn their trust and respect and create a potential threat for Pakistan.

Condemning the lack of efforts to retake the PoK, he questioned the feelings of the people living in these areas. Otherwise, he said such incidents sent a signal that our frontiers were negotiable.

The need of the hour was to increase the defence spending and raise it to such a level, say four to five per cent of the GDP, so that Pakistan, which would be bound to follow suit, would get ruined economically, he added.

Rafi remembered
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31—The Rafi Award '99 was organised by the Yaadgar-e-Rafi Society at Tagore theatre here today.

The event took off with the gathering paying tributes to filmstar Rajinder Kumar, who passed away recently and to the martyrs of the Kargil battle, with Arvind Verma rendering, "Vatan Pe Jo Fida Hoga," originally sung by Mohammed Rafi for Phool Bane Angaare, a war movie .

The mood of the audience witnessed a change as soon as the finals of the singing competition of male and female singers started with Amarjit singing " Jara Sun Haseena" from 'Kaun Apna Kaun Paraya', followed by a punjabi number on the directions of a panel of judges of Atul Sharma, B.M. Kalia and Ms Meera Gautam.

Darshan Saini and Devinder Kaushik followed it by presenting,"Mujhpe ilzame" from 'yaasmin' and 'Itni Hasin Itni' from ' Aaj Aur Kal', respectively.

'Yun Hasraton Ke Daag", by Nikhat Ali and "Koi Sagar Dil Ko Behlata Nahin' also drew rich applause. In the slot of duet songs, "Chali Chali Re Patang Meri Chali Re" by Samarjit and Parachi, "Kabhi Raat Din" by Pushpa-Anand and the all- time great," Sau Saal Pehle" by Rammi and Ravinder stole the hearts of audience.

Three PU deans chosen
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31 — The strife over the appointment of deans of Panjab University ended with the announcement of the names of Prof V.K. Bansal, Prof S.K. Malik and Prof Dinesh Kumar Gupta as DSW, DFS and DAR, respectively.

The Syndicate, in its meeting held yesterday, authorised the VC to appoint deans of his choice on the condition that former deans would not be given an extension.

Prof V.K. Bansal, Chairman of the Department of Laws and DSW, who has also held charge as DAR, said, "The appointment came as a surprise to me and more so because I have just taken over as chairman. The appointment entails a lot of responsibility and I hope I can live up to expectations on all fronts."

The immediate problem that he will have to circumvent, when he takes over on Monday, is that of placating students who have been opposing the proposed fee-hike which got the formal approval of the Syndicate yesterday. "I will study the whole fee structure in detail, compare it to that of other universities and then convince students," he added.

The new DFS, Prof Malik of the Department of Maths, will have to redress the problems of foreign students once he takes over. He says he will work on establishing a separate house for foreign students with help from the various embassies. "With the university looking for funds, promoting foreign students is bound to bring in solid foreign exchange for us. Moreover, I'm planning to approach SAARC countries to bring about an exchange programme for students."

Prof Dinesh Kumar Gupta of the University Business School and DAR, said, "I have never been involved in administration, so, I do not know what the appointment entails. I will, however, meet the targets that are fixed." He forsees an active alumni body.

Also, he plans to go all out to attract the alumni settled abroad and explore the possibility of help from them. "After all, this is their parent body and they must come forward to provide any kind of support they can," he says.

Iraq for direct Indo-Pak talks
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31 — Dubbing India as a great friend of Iraq, Mr Salah Al Mukhtar, Ambassador of Iraq to India, today made it clear that Iraq favoured a direct negotiation between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue without any third party intervention.

Mr Mukhtar, who was addressing a press conference here today after attending a session organised by the CII, said since Iraq considered India as a good friend, it was ready to provide India with the Most Favoured Nation status after lifting of the UN imposed economic embargo, possibly this year.

Terming India as a ‘strategic asset’ for his country, Mr Mukhtar said relations between both countries were not new as people of both countries have been dealing with each other for the past more than 6000 years. “We want that we should not deal with each other on a friendship basis, but it should be supported with business dealings,” he added, saying that India, too, could not find a better friend than Iraq in that region.

He said Iraq was of the firm view that there should not be any outside intervention on the issue as any such interference could give third party an opportunity to exploit it according to its preferences. He said the ultimate objective of the USA was to keep Kashmir as an independent state, and to try to contain both India and China from there. He also sought Indian cooperation to counter the “US conspiracies”. “ Such a bilateral cooperation was necessary as the US had hidden plans of becoming a global leader, the first step of which was to control the vast oil reserves of Iraq. It is nothing but sheer blackmail,” he added.

Focussing on the potential for further strengthening of the Indo-Pak relations, Mr Mukhtar said that the Iraqi economy, unlike any other middle east countries, was versatile as it did not depend on oil reserves only. Iraq, like India, has a strong agricultural base and it could be a major area where the two countries could enter into a collaboration. Moreover, Iraq was in the process of setting up industrial zones in southzno fly zones’ in Iraq, Mr Mukhtar said such zones were nothing but a farce as these comprised an area of 80 per cent of the total area of Iraq. “How can they force us not to fly our craft in such a larger area, it is totally impractical and is not acceptable to my people”, he said.

He hoped that as Iraq has met about 90 per cent of its obligations under the UN Security Council resolutions, the embargo imposed on it in 1991 would be lifted soon and the sufferings of people would come to an end as Iraq has already paid a great price for it, not only in monetary terms but in terms of human life too.

Earlier, welcoming the ambassador, Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, the Chairman of the CII (Northern Region), said in spite of the social, cultural and humanitarian issues facing Iraq, there were tremendous business opportunities for India in that country, particularly in the fields of oil, power and telecommunications.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr R.N. Anil Director General Indo-Iraq Friendship Society, urged Indian businessmen to prepare themselves to take the initiative in availing these opportunities. Mr I.S. Paul, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council, also spoke on this occasion.

SNIPPETS

Drafts presented to Chhibber
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31 — A delegation of councillors, led by the Mayor, Mr Kewal Krishan Addiwal, today called on the UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen BKN Chhibber (retd), and presented him five drafts amounting to Rs 71,000 for various funds for the welfare of the defence personnel.

The Mayor informed the Administrator that while Rs 22,000 had been collected by the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh, two drafts of Rs 11,000 each had been presented to him by the Shirdi Sai Samaj Temple, Sector 29-A, and the Friends Traders Welfare Association, Colony No 5. Similarly, the Krishna Rehri Market Association, Dhanas, has collected Rs 11,740 for the Central Army Welfare Fund.

The Senior Deputy Mayor, Mr KL Sharma, presented a draft of Rs 16,000 collected by the Residents Welfare Association, Sector 40-C.

Two councillors — Mr Harish Bhanot and Air Marshal RS Bedi (retd) — accompanied the delegation.

One held for theft
From Our Correspondent

DERA BASSI, July 31 — The police has arrested Ramdas, a resident of Vijay Vihar in Delhi for allegedly being involved in a theft of a truck bearing number HR-01-6285. The police has also recovered the vehicle from him. The truck was reportedly stolen from Dera Bassi on July 21.

In a press note, Mr H S Bhullar said a police party headed by SI Jassa Singh seized the truck from a workshop in Delhi where the shape of the vehicle was to be changed to sell it further.

The police has also recovered a truck (PB-11-C-9017) parked near Bartana on July 29. Earlier, Mr Sajjan Singh, a resident of Lohgarh, had lodged a complained about his missing truck.

Woman kills self
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, July 31— Baljit Kaur of Phase XI allegedly died after consuming some poisonous substance in her in-laws house on Thursday night. According to the police, Baljit Kaur, hailing from Sambhalke village near Sohana, was married to Swaran Singh.

BBA admission counselling
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 31 — Counselling for admission to the BBA(I) seats in different colleges of Chandigarh and Punjab would be held at Government College, Sector 46, tomorrow.

According to the Principal of the college, Maj D.P. Singh, against 240 seats in different colleges of Chandigarh, as many as 338 candidates had applied. While against 720 seats in different colleges of Punjab, only 568 candidates had applied.