BJP harps on Kargil issue
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — For the first time in the electioneering for the Chandigarh Lok Sahba seat, the BJP today tried to make Kargil an election issue.

Addressing a poorly-attended election rally in support of the BJP candidate, Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, in Sector 40 here late tonight, the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, said though the party did not want to make Kargil an election issue but the other opposition parties had forced it to do so.

Mr Dhumal was at pains to describe how the Vajpayee government had handled the Kargil.

Detailing the sacrifices made by the soldiers of the state and measures taken by the government for their welfare, Mr Dhumal said of the four Param Vir Chakras (PVCs) conferred by the Government of India, two PVCs had been conferred on martyrs of the state.

Describing the Congress as a "destabiling factor" in Indian politics, He came down heavily on the Congress saying that it had no right to ask for votes or talk about stability when it had destabilised seven governments since 1977.

Mr K.L. Sharma alleged that his main opponent, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, was trying to make the Lok Sabha elections as a municipality election by raising local issues.

Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion were the Mayor, Mr Kewal Krishan Addiwal, the local BJP president, Mr Dharam Paul Gupta, the Senior Deputy Mayor, Mr K.L. Sharma, a former Mayor, Ms Kamla Sharma, and the SAD president, Mr Gurpartap Singh Riar.

Ducklings in Sector 17 baffle many
By Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — Making sounds like 'pack..pack...chick...chick', they marched as if they were members of some royal band, all dressed alike. And the mesmersing sight of 12 ducklings was enough to pull a big crowd in the busy Sector 17 for about four hours this morning.

The show of nature, that too in the midst of a thick of jungle of concrete began at around 9 a.m. when a chowkidar of the Central Labour Bureau found the little birds roaming in an open space outside his office and crows hovering over them to select their prey. Noticing the mysterious appearance of the birds in the thickly populated area and their predicament, the chowkidar rang up Mr N. K Jhingan, an official of the department, who in turn informed the UT Wildlife Department, whose officials reached the site soon and started the rescue operation.

the week- old beautiful birds, in the absence of their mother, were confused enough about which way to go.they made a number of futile attempts to find the elder female bird by hopping around, here and there at a swift pace. in the process, the gaggle went haywire ,making the rescue operation initiated by wildlife officials difficult. " Actually, the collection of the birds was very difficult,as seeing so many people ,they jumped around. Ultimately, this was possible only when members of the crowd and two officials of the People for Animals (PFA), who were called by the UT Chief Wildlife Warden Mr H. S. Sohal, reached there," said Mr Jaswant Singh, a Forest Guard with the department.

The first thing done by these people was to put the yellowish-green birds with black stripes on their back and webs in their feet into a tub, so as to unable them to fly . According to spectators, the mother duck made a number of attempts to meet and take her 'kids' alongwith her. " She came thrice. So much so that during one such strike, one of the ducklings followed her for a few steps. But the big bird, probably got scared with so many people around, said a member of the crowd. People around anxiously stared at the birds and peeped in the vehicle of the PFA.

Even as the birds left for the Sector 10 office of the PFA, what kept the crowd wondering was how these birds had descended at the place and how such a large number survived without their mother? According to some, the family belonged to some species of migratory ducks, while others suggested that the family was that of domesticated ducks, which might have been bred at some nearby place by some one.

Mr Gurmeet Singh, Director, Wildlife Department, Punjab, however, ruled out the possibility of the ducks being migratory. "The migratory birds start their journey towards India and other south eastern countries in October and remain there upto March-April. Moreover, I am amazed as to how they have survived at such a place for quite some time, particularly when dogs and other animals were around in a large number," he added saying that it need a tonnne of luck for survival for such delicate birds in such conditions. While identifying the birds as belonging to some domesticated species of duck, he said for proper growth the birds will need proper diet containing foodgrains and insects.

Ms Kiran, an official of the PFA, the custodian of the birds, said the birds were hale and hearty and have started relishing porridge, offered to them by caretakers.

Areas for rallies, posters marked
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Aug 24 — The District Electoral Officer, Mr Vivek Joshi, announced areas marked for rallies and earmarked areas for putting up posters here today.

He said prior permission of the Estate Officer, HUDA, for Panchkula, the Secretary of the Municipal corporation for Kalka, Pinjore and HMT, the Block Development and Panchayat Officer for Raipur Rani, Barwala and Morni, would have to be sought by the parties. They would be given permission after requisite fee was deposited.

Posters can be pasted only at the nursery school site near houses 363 to 366 in Sector 2, near houses 327 and 330 in Sector 4, parade ground in Sector 5, the site near houses 398 and 403 in Sector 7, near houses 563 and 569 in Sector 8, near houses 124 and 129 in Sector 9, near the dispensary in Sector 10 and 11, near the higher secondary school in sector 12-A, near houses 133 to 137 in Sector 12, sites near the crossing of Sector 10, 11, 14 and 15, near the crossing of 16, 17, 8 and 9, and near houses 43 and 44 in Sector 17.

Posters can be put up at Gandhi Chowk in Kalka, Chauna croosing in Pinjore, near the bus stand at Barwala, and vegetable markets.

SOPU fast enters second day
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — Activists of the Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) continued their fast on the second day here today. They are protesting against the 'indifferent' attitude of the university authorities towards the demands of science students for provisional promotions to the next class.

PSIEC staff resent loan to government
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — Members of the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) Employees Association at a rally held in Sector 17 today criticised the decision of the corporation to sanction a loan of Rs 20 crore to the Punjab Government.

The employees, who raised slogans against the management, said that this would jeopardise the career of more than 2,000 employees. The loan had been cleared even though financing was not a listed activity to be carried out by the organisation. Besides, no interest rate had been fixed for the amount.

The corporation had also cleared a loan of Rs 50 lakh to the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation. All this had been done under political pressure and by flouting all established norms at the cost of the livelihood of the employees, they alleged.

Mr G.S. Oberoi and Mr Gurdip Singh, President and General Secretary of the association, respectively, said their other demands pertained to the release of arrears, filling all vacant posts through promotions, cancellation of arbitrary transfers, besides enhancement of salary to daily-wagers and work-charged employees.

Tohra talks of third front
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Aug 24 — The President of the Sarab Hind Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr G.S.Tohra, today said the his party's alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BKU), Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) and Marxist Communist Party of India (MCPI) had emerged as a third front in Punjab.

Mr Tohra, who was in the town to canvas for the party's candidate from the Ropar parliamentary seat, Bibi Balbir Kaur Khalsa, said the third front would come up to the expectations of the masses who were fed up with the misrule of the Congress and the Badal Governments.

Charging the Congress and the SAD-BJP combine with ignoring the interests of the people of Punjab, he said both the parties were two faces of the same coin. Corruption reigned supreme during the regime of both the parties, he alleged.

Welcoming some local leaders of the Congress and the BJP, who joined the party on the occasion, he said the Vajpayee Government had totally ignored the interests of the Punjab. He maintained that Mr Badal had failed to implement his pre-election promise to reward honest officers and punish corrupt officers. Mr Tohra challenged Mr Badal to name a single officer who had been punished for corruption.

Mr Tohra said one of the objectives of his party was to end corruption. Every member of Parliament, who wins on the party's ticket would be asked to give a declaration of his or her assets.

Mr Hardeep Singh, a national executive member of the party, and Mr Arvinder Singh Bedi, President of the SAS Nagar block unit, were also present on the occasion.

The local leaders of the BJP and the Congress who joined the party today were Mr Ashok Bhalla, Mr Vikram Toor, Mr Surinder Singh, Ms Rajinder Kaur, Mr Varinder Sodhi, Mr Surinder Pal Rana and Mr Sukhdial Singh Sodhi.

'Review demolition policy'
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — In a letter to the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, the convenor of the Residents Welfare Association, Dr B.L. Tandon, has demanded a review of the policy with regard to the proposed demolition drive of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in the second week of September.

He stated that residents had converted empty spaces in front of their houses into lawns to keep the area free from congress grass, cattle and garbage dumps. The HUDA had failed in the upkeep of open spaces and checking cattle menace in the sectors.

BSP launches poll campaign
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — The Bahujan Samaj Party launched its election campaign at Badheri village today. The BSP nominee, Mr Mata Ram Dhiman, who is supported by the local units of Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal and Marxist Communist Party of India, visited a number of other villages, including Palsora, Dadumajra, Sarangpur, Dhanas, Khuda Ali Sher and Kaimbwala.

The villagers apprised Mr Diman of their long standing problems, including total neglect of the Administration as little has been done to improve roads, water supply and sewerage disposal in the villages. Mr Dhiman promised to take up their problems with the authorities concerned.

He also addressed a rally of employees in Sector 17 where he assailed both the Congress and the BJP for their anti-people policies. He also visited markets in Sectors 15,16,17 and a few other places.

Bansal continues poll campaign
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — The Congress candidate for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, continued his door-to-door campaign today by visiting various colonies, besides addressing corner meetings. He also visited Students Centre in Panjab University and interacted with students there.

Mr Bansal addressed a meeting of workers of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking. He visited Sector 15 in the morning.

The Mahila Congress workers organised a meeting at Shantinagar, where residents complained against lack of basic amenities. A large number of trade union leaders called on Mr Bansal in the evening and resolved to support him in the elections.

Maini joins BJP
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — Mr Aftab Rai Maini, a socialist, formally joined the local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here today. A brief ceremony was held at the Sector 33 BJP office in the afternoon, where senior leaders of the BJP welcomed him.

Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, the BJP candidate for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, addressed a meeting of sarpanches and panches at Sat Sangh Bhavan. He assured them that the manifold development of villages would be on his priority list.

Mr Sharma also promised extension of lal dora, regularisation of houses built outside lal dora and provision of basic amenities like roads, water, power supply and sewerage for all villages. He also assured village elders that in case of any land acquisition, the farmer concerned would be paid compensation at the prevalent market rate.

SNIPPETS

Restore power supply: BJYM
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) today alleged that officials of the Electricity Department, in connivance with local leaders, were charging more amount for the installation of new connections in Vikas Nagar in Mauli Jagran.

A press note alleged that the so-called leaders were depositing Rs 354 instead of the fixed amount of Rs 254, thus fleecing the poor residents.

It alleged that the department had disconnected power supply to the whole colony as certain residents were drawing power through "kundi" connections. Of the 2,600 residents, about 2,000 had deposited the requisite amount for new connections. The rest of the residents could not deposit the amount as officials failed to visit the area, it alleged.

The press note threatened that if the department failed to restore the power connections within two days, morcha workers would stop the Shatabdi Express in front of the colony.

Workshop at TTTI ends
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — A two-day workshop on 'Effective Implementation of the Schemes of Community Polytechnics in India' concluded at the TTTI, Sector 26, today evening. After two days of intensive interaction, experts made a number of recommendations. They were of the opinion that monitoring mechanism at national, regional, state and polytechnic levels needed to be strengthened.

The recommendations were made in the presence of Prof Ashok Chandra, Special Secretary for Education of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Some of the major recommendations of the experts included adoption of villages for creating awareness about community polytechnic schemes and their benefits. Experts said this way, the scheme could improve the standard of living of the underprivileged people of society. The experts stressed on the need of strengthening non-governmental organizations (NGOs). They said that for an effective implementation of the scheme, it was imperative that various polytechnics collaborated with the NGOs.

Another recommendation of the experts was to include components of rural development in the polytechnic curricula and to encourage students to undertake demand-based rural development related project works.

The experts also felt the need to establish database and information exchange centers at the polytechnic level and added that a technology demonstration van should be introduced at this level.

Dr S.K. Bhattacharya, Principal of the TTTI in Calcutta; Dr M. Narayana Rao, Principal of the TTTI in Chennai; Prof P.C. Jain, Principal of the TTTI in Bhopal; Dr S. Krishnamurthy, Principal of the TTTI in Chandigarh; Mr Satinder Singh, National Project Director of the World Bank Assisted Project for Development of Technician Education; Prof R.K. Maini, Central Project Advisor of the National Project Implementation Unit; participated in the workshop.

Relevance of Sanskrit emphasised
Tribune news service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — A function to mark the Sanskrit day was held in Panjab University here today.Dr Sansar Chandra , an eminent scholar, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Dr chandra outlined the glory of Sanskrit and said that it could be used for social services.Relevance of Sanskrit in the modern times was the subject of the function.

Dr Anirudh Joshi of PU dwelt on the utility of the subject in the present day world.Mr Kamleshwar Sinha of Visva-Bharti and Shantiniketan called it the Ganges of the Indian culture from which flowed its divine majesty.

Other participants included Prof Ramakant Sharma, Prof Pradhuman Kumar Sharma, Prof Balraj Sharma,Prof Ved Prakash,Prof Krishna Kumar Dhiman, Prof Ved Prakash ,Ms Manjari Joshi Prof Vikram Kumar, Dr Shankerji Jha and Dr Virender Kumar.

Good response to street play
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 — Today was the last day of a series of production of street-play 'Gadhey Ki Baraat', produced by Theatre Lab, Chandigarh, as a spoof on the present day politics. During the last Lok Sabha elections also Theatre Lab had presented the same production to satirize the process of elections and the politicians.

'Gadhey Ki Baraat' was taken to various parts of the city, including market-places, and was presented in front of huge crowds. The play was staged at Sector 17, opposite Jagat cinema, the Sector 19 market, Panjab University campus, Terrace Garden, Sector 33, Grain Market, Sector 26, Rock Garden and the Sukhna Lake.

This hilarious play was directed by Umesh Kant and the main actors included Sudesh Sharma, Shalini, Rajiv Mehta, Manpreet Singh, Puneet Sharma, Yogesh Tungal and Yogesh Arora.

This active theatre group had produced 'Shaheed Ki Wapsi', a patriotic play, during the the Kargil crisis.