Shortage of phone instruments
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21 — Hundreds of new telephone connections in Chandigarh, Panchkula and SAS Nagar, have been delayed as the local telecom department does not have sufficient number of telephone instruments for installation.

At present, the department has installed wires and is technically in a position to energise the connections. However, lack of new instruments is the only hurdle, according to sources. In some cases the wait for applicants has been for more than four weeks.

Even those applicants, who are keen to install their own instrument and get their phone connections energised, are not being allowed to do so. The department’s plea is that this would ‘’technically’’ become an out-of-turn connection as someone whose connection has been released earlier would be bypassed by such person , who is much lower on the waiting list, but gets priority as he is prepared to buy his own instrument.

A permission for the same requires detailed instructions from top authorities. Even the authorities are circumspect in granting such out-of-turn permissions, fearing it would come under the ambit of the model code of conduct that has been enforced in view of the ensuing Lok Sabha poll.

A Sector 42 applicant whose connection has been cleared but not installed said this defies logic. ‘’A subscriber, who is buying his own instrument is actually saving the department some money,’’ he said.

Sources said the shortage of instruments has arisen as a change in the procedure for procuring new instruments was not yet streamlined.

From this year, the Union Ministry of Communications, which used to purchase instruments from private parties by inviting tenders, did away with the practice of procuring instruments for the entire country. They asked the respective telecom circle offices to procure their own instruments to further supply to the telecom circles within their areas.

In case of Chandigarh, the Punjab Telecom Circle is the procuring agency, which has reportedly invited tenders from private manufacturers to supply instruments. At present, the situation in Chandigarh is so bad that the department had to get around 500 instruments on loan from Ambala that falls in Haryana telecom circle to tide over the problem partially. Sources said the supply of instruments was slow .

Sources added that in a way the new procurement scheme was good as it reduced cost and logistics that were earlier involved in transporting the instruments from one place to other. But the new system was not yet streamlined, causing hardship to applicants.

HC seeks police report on challans
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the SSP of Chandigarh to submit a report as to how many challans had been issued for violation of Rule 108 of the Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, during the period from July 25 to August 15, 1999. This order was issued by Mr Justice T.H.B. Chalapathi on a “court on its own motion” petition.

The Judge also directed the SSP to inform the court whether the challans had been filed in the court and what action had been taken in regard to the same.

Rule 108 of the Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, says, “In addition to the requirement specified in sub rule 1, every motor vehicle which does not use asymetric lamps in its headlights, shall have the panels of the headlights shaded by a painting in black for frosting like bull’s eye of a diameter of not less than 10 mm at the centre exactly opposite the point where reflectors converge”.

On the last date of hearing, the SSP of Chandigarh was directed to file a reply to explain how much delay was caused in filing the challan in various cases after registration (of cases), while it has come to the notice of this court while hearing several petitions under Section 482, Cr PC that there was inordinate delay in filing the challans in criminal cases.

The Judge further observed: “It appears to this court to be expedient to give suitable directions for early completion of investigation and presentation of challans in various cases in exercise of the inherent jurisdiction of this court under Section 482, CPC.

Mika fails to impress
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21 — Mika of the ‘Sawan mein lag gayi aag’ was finally able to perform tonight at the Parade Ground, Sector 17, after a series of controversies on his performance that was slated earlier this month.

The Chandigarh Models Association (CMA), which had organised the earlier show-that-never-happened, again presented the show today. In fact for the earlier show the association had claimed that the Chandigarh Administration was the co-organiser, but the administration reportedly denied this. This time the association included only the names of the sponsors on the invites, and even omitted the name of the chief guest. The name of the chief guest, Mr P.S. Gill, SDM, was announced on the stage in the evening.

Mika was very upset at the turn of the events, and on the stage he thanked the administration and the police for co-operating him for the show.

But the ‘aag’ was certainly missing today, with both the performer and audience not being able to add any animation to the evening. Also with the number of policemen far outnumbering the audience, the evening was certainly not slated to provide any glitter or sparkle. Little wonder, that the Mika nite had to wait for more than one-and-a-half-hour for a ‘decent’ number of audience to show up.

The show started off with six models holding the Indian flag and moving their bodies to the music of A.R. Rehman’s ‘Vande Mataram’. While the audience seemed to be at their wits' end to figure out what was happening on the stage, two more poorly choreographed dances followed by three scantily clad women. These performances were apparently to present the solidarity of the CMA towards the Kargil heroes.

Mika came on to the stage with an unheard number, ‘Nachan di hami’ and proceeded to sing a medley of Hindi and Punjabi numbers. And though the youngsters in the crowd did climb up their chairs and start dancing with Mika’s very first note, he could not electrify the audience for very long, unlike his brother, Daler Mehndi.

Gurbachan alleges foul play
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21 — Mr Gurbachan Singh, nominee of the Nationalist Congress Party, has demanded an inquiry to establish an alleged nexus between the Returning Officer and members of his staff on one hand and the Congress candidate, Mr Pawan Bansal, on the other, leading to rejection of his nomination papers after a day's suspense yesterday.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Gurbachan Singh, produced a bunch of papers in support of his claim that it was the staff of the Returning Officer which had not only "misguided him" but even removed a paper from his file. The paper was subsequently traced from the office of the Returning Officer and put back in the file.

Mr Gurbachan Singh said that after receiving the clearance from the party high command on the evening of August 17, he, accompanied by his supporters, went to file his nomination papers. Since the NCP is a registered party but not recognised at the Centre or state-level, he had 10 proposers with him when he filled the nomination papers.

Members of the staff of the Returning Officer, who cross-checked the names, addresses and voter numbers of all 10 proposers, made all relevant entries in the papers concerned. He said before he could present both completed sets of nomination forms, Mr K. Singh, a subordinate of the Returning Officer, deputed to check the documents, told him that forms A and B were not required as his party was a recognised one. He then took out the form carrying names, voter numbers and signatures of the proposers.

Instead, he said, he was given a new form and asked to give the name of only one proposer. He said that Naib Tehsildar, Ms Kanta, also corroborated what Mr K. Singh had said and a message to that effect received from the Chief Election Commissioner was lying with the PA to the RO.

Mr Gurbachan Singh said unsuspectingly, he filled another form with the name one proposer on it. After that he went to present it to the RO who told him that one paper was missing and his nomination might be rejected or he might have to contest as an Independent candidate. Shocked by this comment, he said he came out and after a while, two of his workers went to enquire how the paper had disappeared from the file.

He said that later, a telephone call was received by his son that the "missing document" had been found.

On the day of the scrutiny, the RO allegedly told him that his papers were being rejected as these did not carry names of 10 proposers as required under the election law. "We argued that the paper was removed by a member of the Election Staff and that it was available on record which could be cross-checked with official records. We were asked to make a representation which we did. We were told that a decision would be taken the next day," he said.

"Next day, no decision was conveyed to us. The RO told me that in 11 years of his service, no such thing had happened before. Even the Additional RO wanted that the RO should not be mentioned in any controversy. It was only after 7 pm yesterday that decision in writing of the RO was conveyed to us," he said, supported by his men.

Mr Gurbachan Singh said that he would lodge a formal complaint with the Chief Election Commissioner along with documentary evidence, besides seeking legal remedy for the "illegal" rejection of his nomination papers.

16 in fray after withdrawals
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21 — Sixteen candidates have been left in the fray for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat after two candidates, Dr Ved Parkash Aggarwal (BJP Loktantrik) and Mr Jaspal Singh (Ind), withdrew their nominations on the last day of withdrawals here today.

Those left in the contest are Mr Mata Ram Dhiman (Bahujan Samaj Party), Mr Ravi Parkash Kansal (Lok Shakti), Mr Dilbagh Singh (Ajeya Bharat), Mrs Bimla Sapna (BSP-Ambedkar), Mr Krishan Lal Sharma (BJP), Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal (Congress), Col H.S. Sandhu (Rashtriya Raksha Dal), Mr Manphool Singh (Samajwadi Party), Mr Gurnam Singh Sidhu (Khalsa Conference), Mr Ram Pal Hans (New Congress Party) and Mr S.M. Bhatti, Mr Kartar Singh Hothi, Mrs Gurvinder Kaur, Ms Palac Shri and Mr Inderjit Gupta (all Independents).

B.Ed. entrance test results declared
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21 — The results of the entrance test for admission to the B.Ed course conducted by Panjab University in July were declared here today.

A press release said that copies of the gazette would be available at the new enquiry counter and Arts Block V on the campus on August 22 and 23.

Sources said that copies of the gazette would also be available at the Government College of Education and the Dev Samaj College of Education here, besides at Moga, Ferozepore, Amritsar and other places.

Sources said that nearly 40,000 students appeared for the examination and more than 50 per cent had qualified for admission.

The minimum requirement of marks for students of the general category was 40 per cent and for the reserved categories, including the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, 30 per cent.

'Congress a house divided'
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21— Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, Senior Vice-President of the BJP and a candidate for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, said here today that the Congress is a divided house and has no positive programme.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Sharma said the Congress started with a split in the party. Even the local unit of the party has no issue to talk about.

He invited Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal for an open debate at any forum over his achievements for the people of Chandigarh as a Member of Parliament — six years as Rajya Sabha member and five years in Lok Sabha— compared to those of Mr Satya Pal Jain, who had two brief terms as a Member of the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1999. Further, he said, he was prepared for a debate on local issues with Mr Bansal.

"I am presenting my view point before people, let him present his. Since neither he nor the Congress had any issue to comment upon, they picked on helmet issue to criticise the prime Minister's rally and press conference here. Let the Congress talk about important issues like national security, nuclear policy and others," Mr Sharma said.

Introducing Dr Ved Parkash Aggarwal and Mr Jaspal Singh, two Independents, who withdrew their nominaton papers in favour of Mr Sharma this morning, Mr Sharma said when he came here, he had set for himself two objectives— multifaceted development of Chandigarh and unity in the local unit.

"I have achieved complete unity in the party. All active workers and leaders are back in the family fold," he said, by parading all eight Councillors, including the present Mayor and a former Mayor, besides others who had been either expelled or had quit the party on their own since September last year.

"After this win, we are now confidently moving towards a bigger win in the Lok Sabha elections. We are all keen that Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee must continue as prime Minister and the BJP and its partners get a clear majority in these elections to give the country a stable government for next five years," Mr Sharma said.

He said that as a matter of principle, he does not want to own an inch of land anywhere in the country but promised that he would live and have his office here by taking a house on rent.

Mr Sharma said he would soon release his local election manifesto. Expressing hope that all alliance partners would support him in the coming elections, Mr Sharma said that unity in the party at this stage has its own significance.

Talking about Chandigarh, Mr Sharma said he would go by sentiments of the people here and represent their case and would leave it to the Prime Minister to settle it once and for all by holding negotiations with all parties concerned.

Also present at press conference were Mr Satya Pal Jain, Mr Dharam Paul Gupta, Mr Gian Chand Gupta, Mr Krishan Kumar Addiwal, Mrs Kamla Sharma, Mr Gurpartap Singh Riar and all other councillors of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation belonging to the reunited BJP-SAD alliance.

An insight into Sikh history
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21 — The screening of cine actor Mangal Dhillon's film 'Khalsa' at the Tagore theatre yesterday was like going through a lesson in history and religion for the audiences.

The film which Mangal himself has scripted, produced and directed, has been dedicated to 300 years of the Khalsa.It traces the history of the 10 Sikh gurus and finally focuses on the last Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, who created the Khalsa Panth.the film has an overdose of lengthy fight sequences.The background score has been arranged by Mangal Dhillon.

For the generation of today, which might be aware of the French Revolution or the Russian uprisings, 'Khalsa' does prove to be an eye-opener which lists not only the chronological details of the Sikh history but also relates some interesting facts like how Guru Gobind organised a 'Rajput Nagara', which would keep on beating drums to keep the spirits of the Sikh warrior alive.

The pace of the two-and-a-half hour film was racy enough to keep the interests of the audience alive, but the momentum heightened after the interval, when the film showed the incident at Chamkaur Sahib, where Guru Gobind Singh was deserted by his men.

The music of the film ,available in audio cassettes and CDs, given by Arvinder and Surinder and sung in the melliflous voices of Sonu Nigam, Arvinder Singh and Sukhwinder Singh, is stirring.

Though Mangal had limitations of making a historical film which is also religious, 'Khalsa' seems to be an honest attempt to put the Sikhs and their story on the screen.

It remains to be seen how political parties receive this film at the time of elections, especially because it has many pictures of the Chief Minster Parkash Singh Badal sitting in Gurdwaras.

Meanwhile, Dr Barjindera Singh, Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, said that since he did not have the details about the film and nor had he viewed it, it would be difficult for him to pass a judgement on the same. Moreover, he added that only the Election Commission would be able to pass a directive on the same if the contents of the film were found to be "objectionable" in any way.

SNIPPETS

Story writing contest on Kargil
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21 — The HRK Memorial Trust organised a story writing contest on the theme of Kargil here today.

As many as 41 students from various schools of the city and Panchkula took part in the contest. The children were awarded the prizes and certificates of participation by Mr S. D. Bhambri, General Manager, The Tribune group of publications.

The competition was held in the memory of a former IPS officer, Mr Hemraj K. Talwar, at the Hemraj K. Talwar memorial reading room-cum-library in Sector19-C today. Also present on the occasion were Mr P C Wadhwa, Mr S Brar, Mr J S Bawa, Mr I J S Sodhi and Mr B R Sur, all DGPs and former colleagues of Mr Talwar.

The entries were judged by a panel comprising Mr Swadesh Talwar, Ms Pushpa Chaudhri and Ms Promilla Bhasin.

The winners in Group A (7 - 11 years) were: Aman Sharma (1), Tushar madan (2) and Prateek Dudeja (3).

Group B (11-15 years): Vandana (1), Priya Sharma (2) and Swariddhi Shekhar (3).

Group C (15-18 years): Priyanka Sharma (1) and Mallika Sharma (2).

Plan to educate voters about EVMs
From Our Correspondent

DERA BASSI, Aug 21 — The government will soon conduct a special six-day programme to educate the voters about the electronic voting machines (EVMs) which will be used in the Patiala constituency during the elections.

Mr Sher Singh Sidhu, SDM and Assistant Election Officer (AEO) of Banur, said that the EVMs were being used in the Patiala constituency for the first time. So it was necessary to educate the voters and the election staff at different polling stations about the functioning of the machines.

Mr Sidhu said that six inspection officers would educate the voters by demonstrating the functioning of the EVMs at every polling station.

The election staff would take part in the rehearsal to be held at the local Government Degree College on August 23, 30 and 31.

Panches, sarpanches back Bansal
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21 — A large number of sarpanches and panches of the Union Territory today visited Chandigarh Congress Bhavan to express their solidarity with the party candidate, Mr Pawan Bansal, for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing the village elders, a former Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Harmohan Dhawan, appreciated the work done by Mr Bansal during his previous tenure as MP and said that he brought more funds from the Centre for the overall development of the Union Territory. He commended the resolve of Mr Bansal to make all UT villages model villages.

Meanwhile, Mr Bansal continued with his door-to-door campaign by visiting Mauli Jagran village and Mauli Jagran complex.

Hundreds of rehri workers from all over the city went to him to offer their unconditional support after thanking him for getting them pucca booths.

Sandhu releases manifesto
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21 — Electioneering has started picking up after the allotment of symbols to Independent candidates here today. Col Harsharan Singh Sandhu of the Rashtriya Raksha Dal, who got "jeep" as his election symbol, also released his election manifesto today.

Emphasising on national security, a separate pay commission for the defence forces, integration of services headquarters, raising the morale of the troops, one rank one pension, priority in employment for disabled soldiers and population control as national issues, Colonel Sandhu also wants to retain Chandigarh as a Union Territory, check on further growth of labour colonies, besides improving the condition of existing ones, proper upkeep and maintenance of homes for senior citizens, housing for government employees and others and amendment of the law exempting women from wearing helmets as local issues.

He said that he wants to make Chandigarh the cleanest city, ensure regular water and power supplies, better traffic management and development of Chandigarh as a centre of learning, conventions and city of the youth. Colonel Sandhu said he would also oppose any property or other civic tax in the city.

Meanwhile, Ms Palac Shri, former Miss Chandigarh and Independent candidate, said that she was happy with her election symbol of a "Baby Doll". She claims that she has been getting a good response from the electorate of the city.

The BSP nominee, Mr Mata Ram Dhiman, said at an election rally today that a third front comprising the BSP, Marxist Communist Party of India (MCPI) and Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal has emerged to oppose both the Congress and BJP in the city. His rally was addressed by the President of the local unit of the SHSAD, Mr Joginder Singh Sawhney, and others.

Food festival begins
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 21 — A three-day Punjab and Haryana Food Festival organised by students and faculty of the Dr Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management Catering & Nutrition in collaboration with the Tourism Promotion Society of Chandigarh was inaugurated here last night. A Punjabi countryside setting with a tastefully decorated reception with a “charkha”, a hand fan and other utilities, including phulkaris on the walls, greeted the visitors.

Mr K.K. Khullar, Managing Director, Haryana Tourism, inaugurated the festival. He appreciated the efforts of the students and promised support of the corporation in such endeavours of students in attaining skills.

Mr Man Mohan Singh, President, Tourism Promotion Society, emphasised that such programmes were learning platforms for young boys and girls. Mr Naveen K. Nanchahal, Principal of the institute, said that more such festivals would be organised in connection with the “Visit India Year”.