Held for stealing water taps
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 19 — Jeet Singh, a resident of Sector 31, was caught by the police while stealing water taps from a bathroom of the Sector 16 General Hospital.

The police swung into action after a complaint was lodged by Dr Harmeet Singh.

A case under Section 380 of the IPC has been registered.

Cash stolen
Mr Sham Sunder Yadav, a panwala in the NAC, Mani Majra, alleged that some one stole Rs 600 and some packets of cigarette after breaking into his shop on December 17 night.

The police has registered a case under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC.

Bicycle thief held
The police has arrested a bicycle thief, Ramu, a resident of Jeetpur village in Champaran district of Bihar, from the Sector 15 market.

Acting on the complaint of Mr Ravneet Singh of Sector 15, the police arrested the accused and seized the bicycle from his possession.

A case under Section 379 of the IPC has been registered.

Car stolen
Mr Paramjit Singh, a resident of Sector 23, in a complaint to the police, reported that his car (CHK 5005) had been stolen from his house.

A case under Section 379 of the IPC has been registered.

Dera Bassi

Girl recovered
The Lalru police claims to have solved a case of an alleged kidnapping of a minor. The police registered the case on the complaint of Pal that her daughter was allegedly kidnapped by Rajkumar, a resident of UP.

The police arrested Rajkumar from near the Dhillon theatre within 12 hours of registering the complaint and recovered the girl.

A case has been registered under Sections 363 and 366, IPC, and further investigations are on.

IT is after a gap of several years that a bureaucrat has been elected President of the Chandigarh Golf Club. The new President, Mr Gurinderjit Singh Sandhu, is an IAS officer of the Punjab cadre. Supported by a strong bureaucratic-cum-defence officers lobby, Mr Sandhu defeated the sitting President, Mr Tegbir Singh Sibia, by a margin of 84 votes.

Before Mr Sandhu, the last IAS officer to be elected President of this prestigious golf club of North India was Mr Bikramjit Singh. Mr Paramjit Singh and Mr R.S. Mann had been other IAS officers to have headed this club in the recent past.

On the day of elections, almost everyone who matters in Punjab and Chandigarh was there on the club premises to cast his or her vote. The difference this time was that members were mostly secretive about their choice of candidate. Except for hardcore supporters of either of the panels, others talked about good and bad points of both the panels without revealing their minds.

Among those who cast their votes were Mr Harcharan Singh Brar, a former Governor of Haryana and Chief Minister of Punjab; Mr K.S. Narang and Mr A.S. Chatha, former Chief Secretaries of Punjab, and some of old members of the club, including Mr Pitambar Singh, Mr H.S. Johl, Mr Milkha Singh, Mr Inderjit Singh Bindra, Mr Y.S. Ratra,and several others.

BIC

The Bradlaugh India International Centre plans to start its activities in February next year, according to Mrs Anuradha Gupta, Honorary Secretary of the Bradlaugh Hall

India International Centre Management Committee, the first function to be organised will probably be a lecture by former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral. The lecture and subsequent interaction with the guest speaker would be organised at Panjab University campus as the construction work on the Centre's own building in Sector 15 on Madhya Marg is yet to commence.

After Mr Gujral's lecture, the Centre proposes to invite other eminent personalities from the field of academics and literature. In March, the Centre proposes to have Ms Arundhati Roy.

Meanwhile, the process of recruitment of members for this exclusive centre has started.

Greeting cards

Beautifully hand painted greeting cards from slumdwellers of the city have been received by Sentinel. Most of these cards have a hut, a flower pot, a jug, and a few flowering trees to reveal the mind and feelings of the painters who aspire to live in neat, clean, green and healthy environs.

Some of these greeting cards have been posted by Mr Prem Singh, Principal of College of Art. And for these slumdwellers, the concept of sending greeting cards may be new but they do wish their relatives, friends and others on special occasions with flowers or through other means.

Senior citizens

How much senior citizens are required to pay when they travel by buses of Chandigarh Transport Undertaking? Though the Administrator of Chandigarh announced on October 5 this year that free bus travel facility has been extended to all senior citizens of the city, the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking has clarified that concession is 50 per cent of the actual fare only on local routes.

Mr H.R. Grover, a senior citizen, in a letter to sentinel points out that even Railways gives 30 per cent concession on all long and short distance destinations to senior citizens while Punjab Roadways offers 50 per cent concession on short and long distance travel by buses to senior citizens while the Chandigarh Administration only gives 50 per cent on local routes only. This facility must be extended on long routes operated by the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking, he argues. Mr Grover has a point.

Special Card

With new year round the corner, greeting cards have started arriving in droves. The most exclusive so far is one from Mr Robin Gupta, a senior Punjab bureaucrat. Every year he gets his own cards printed which highlight one or the other aspect of the culture of the state. This year, he has focused on the dargah of Hazrat Baba Sher Shah Wali at Ferozepore, where he was posted as Commissioner till recently.

What has caught his fancy is not the dargah proper, nor the wall containing ceremonial lamps next to it, but a devotional lamp in the hollow of a tree, somewhat removed from the main shrine, but located within the dargah premises. It is the photo of the lamp which has been printed on the card along with a Urdu verse, translated into English by Mr Gupta:

The ribbons and medals of this ephemeral world do not possess me/ The pearls of Basra, the rubies of Burma, the emeralds, sapphires or the diamonds of Africa/ Nor riches of this world hold any allurement for me. Most Merciful Allah, this creature is replete with the blemish of untold trespasses/ what sustains me through life's perplexities is the divine mercy/ Thy all pervading compassion for humankind.

Tailpiece

Mr Bikramjit Singh will go down in the annals of history as one officer who held the post of Chairman of the Punjab State Electricity Board on more occasions than anybody else. He held the position before Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa was made Chairman. He held this position after Mr Dhindsa left and Mr S.K. Tuteja was appointed and has been given again the additional charge now after Mr Tuteja has gone to the Centre. Perhaps, Mr Bikramjit Singh specialises in stop gap Chairmanship of the Board.

DAV sport meet held
By Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, Dec 19 — The third annual sport meet of DAV Public School, Sector 8, was organised at the Sector 7 Sports Complex where children took part in yoga drill, colourful frill drill and karate exercises and other activities. Students of Class III to Class X took part in the meet.

Nancy Singla and Jyoti Sharma among girls and Himanshu and Abhishek in the boys' section were declared the best athletes. Mr D.S. Saroya, DPI (UT schools) gave away the prizes.

Results: 50 m (under-10) — Nikhil 1, Himanshu 2, Rohan 3; under-16 — Ankur Chaudhary 1, Abhishek 2, Deepinder 3; relay race (4 x 100 m, under-16) — Jyoti House 1, Abhyar House 2, Nishtha 3.

Under-14 (100 m) — Himanshu 1, Dhananjay 2, Ketan 3; under-16 — Abhishek 1, Bhupinder 2, Ankur Chaudhary 3; 800 m, under-16 — Yogesh 1, Vivek Gupta 2, Karan Mehta 3; under-14 (400 m) — Ketan 1, Daisy 2, Raghav 3; under-16 (200 m) — Abhishek 1, Deepinder 2, Ankush 3; 100 m — Anshul 1, Shiva 2, Ashish 3; 400 m (under-16) — Digvijay 1, Abhishek 2, Parag 3.

Under 14 (50 m) — Raghav 1, Sumit 2, Himanshu 3; under-14 (200 m) — Himanshu 1, Ketan 2, Dhananjay 3; under-16 (50 m) — Ratika 1, Jyoti 2, Deepshika 3; under-14 (100 m) — Nancy 1, Shivani 2, Navdeep 3; under-16 100 m — Jyoti 1, Ratika 2, Alankrita 3; under-14 (400 m) — Navdeep 1, Nancy 2, Shivani 3; under-16 — Jyoti 1, Diksha 2, Alankrita 3; under-16 200 m — Jyoti 1, Ratika 2, Alankrita 3.

Under-12 (100 m) — Preeti 1, Shaily 2, Samridhi 3; under-14 (50 m) — Nancy 1, Shivani 2, Sonali 3; under-14 (200 m) — Nancy 1, Sonali 2, Navdeep 3; under-10 (50 m) — Himani 1, Priyanka 2, Ankita 3.

Under-16 long jump — Digvijay 1, Vishal Kohli 2, Abhinav Sondhi 3; girls — Ratika 1, Alankrita 2, Deepshika 3; under-14 boys — Sumit 1, Himanshu and Raghav 2, Vikas 3; girls — Shivani 1, Sonali and Garima 2, Navdeep Kaur 3.

Cricket match

Tuff Trak organisation held the Nostalgia-99 Cup Match today at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium between Tuff Trak-Delhi and Tuff Trak-Chandigarh. Mr Surinder Singh, Secretary of the Chandigarh Cricket Association, was the chief guest.

The Chandigarh team won the match by four wickets with Kawaljit playing a captain's knock of unbeaten 52 runs. The Chandigarh team scored 157 runs for the loss of six wickets, while the Delhi team was all out for 154 runs.

Shivalik spikers win tourney
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Dec 19 — Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, won the junior boys' title in the Chandigarh Volleyball Championship which concluded here this evening at the Sector 7 Sports Complex today. In the girls' section, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Secondary School, Sector 35; in the senior men's section, the Chandigarh police; and in the senior women's section, Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, were the winners.

Sunil of SPS-41 was adjudged the best player, while Geeta Chaudhary of IS Dev Samaj Girls Secondary School, Sector 21, was praised.

In the women's section, the match between MCM DAV-36, and GGSC-26 was a thrilling one which extended to five sets. The Chandigarh police won the title by overpowering SGGSC-26 in three sets in the senior men's section final.

Mr Parag Jain, SSP of Chandigarh, gave away the prizes, while the ICICI sponsored the three-day meet.

Meanwhile, during the final match of the meet, two sports reporters, one of Punjabi Tribune and the other of Desh Sevak, were allegedly harassed by a sub-inspector, Yashpal, who was also present there. The matter was taken up with Mr Vijay Pal Singh, the DSP, and the Secretary of the Chandigarh Volleyball Association, but, the newsmen did not receive a satisfactory reply.

Results: Senior men — The Chandigarh police b SGGSC-26, 25-23, 25-22, 22-21; senior women — GGSC-26 b MCM DAV-36, 25-15, 20-25, 25-18, 19-25, 15-7.

Junior boys: SPS-41 b coaching centre-7 — 25-15, 25-17, 25-14; junior girls — SGGSSS-35 b ISDSSS-21, 25-18, 18-25, 25-12, 25-19.

Soccer tourney

The Punjab police (Patiala) won by a solitary goal against the Gurkha Training Centre, Subathu, in the final match of the fifth Vijay Rana Memorial Football Tournament which concluded here last evening at the HMT Sports Complex in Pinjore, near here, on Saturday.

Harmalsingh scored the lone goal for the winners. Mr K.B. Malik, President of the District Football Association, gave away the prizes.

Inconvenience at cinema hall

Who says the days of the Maharajas are over? One realised this when a routine visit to a cinema hall in Sector 17 was made three weeks ago. The film began on time for the evening show of 6:00 pm to a packed audience. Hardly 10 minutes had passed when the projector suddenly shut and the lights of the hall came on. Thinking it to be a mere technical snag, the viewers sighed and patiently waited for the film to start again. Going by the expected duration of such failures, the crowd started to hoot. Minutes began to tick — 10-15-25 and so on.

Myself being an enthusiastic film-goer, enquired rather irritably from the torchman as to what was happening. A power failure, the reel snapped, the projector chap took an unscheduled visit to the rest-room or what. Promptly the replay came,” Aisa kuch nahi hai, proprietor saab ke khas mehman is picture ke liye aa rahe hai. Jab woh aenge, to hum film chalainge? For a split second, I found myself speechless and reactionless. Did I hear correctly that the owner of the hall was shamelessly displaying his ownership privileges at the cost of public time and entertainment. This was unbelievable. In spite of the restless crowd, Mr Proprietor ensured a delay of good 40 minutes before restarting the film along with those insufferable commercials which we were painfully made to see all over again.

If these special guests wanted a special viewing their may I suggest most humbly, that an entire show should have been kept for them.

No one has the right in civilised society to mess with a commoner’s favourite pastime.

Suparna
Chandigarh

Affluence and poverty

This is in reference to an interview with the Administrator of Chandigarh, who solicits cooperation of all sections of society.

The evils of affluence are as grave as those of poverty. Surplus wealth generates immoral, exploitative and criminal tendencies in its owners, who waste resources on their non-essential and psychological needs to satisfy their arrogance.

An ideal state is one where there is sacrifice of the surplus for the whole — for the have -nots. A medieval poet translated this spirit of blissfulness in the following couplet:

Saain itna deejiye ja mein kutumb samaye
Main bhi bhukha na rahun sadhu bhi bhukha na jaye.

S.R. Sharda
Panchkula