& V I C I N I T Y
Tuesday, January 5, 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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Tuesday, January 5, 1999 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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Rotary Club to begin 'Gift
of life' project |
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 Youth Cong flays attacks on Christians CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — The President of the Indian Youth Congress, Mr Munish Tewari, criticising the attacks on Christian religious places and institutions in Gujarat alleged that the Rashtriya Sewamsewak Sangh and the Sawadeshi Jagran Manch were looking for an agenda to communalise the nation. |
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Northern
Command gets new GOC Governor,
CM greet people Civil-Military
Liaison Conference tomorrow Refresher
courses for lecturers |
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Rotary Club to begin 'Gift of
life' project CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — ``Gift of life'' is one of the two major projects to be undertaken by the Rotary Club, says Dr Gulshan K.Thakral, District Governor of the club, who is on his annual visit to the city's Rotarian camp. He has 60 clubs of the district stretching from Bhakra Nangal in Punjab to Shimla in Himachal Pradesh and from Panipat in Haryana to Mussoorie in Uttar Pradesh. Speaking to The Tribune here this afternoon, Dr Thakral said of the 60 districts under his supervision, the work done by the Rotary Club of Chandigarh was unprecedented and the dedication of the city Rotarians was unparalleled. Talking of the new projects to be undertaken this year, he disclosed that ``Gift of life'', a Rs 1 crore project, will provide corrective heart surgery free of cost to children, below 18 years, who can ill-afford the huge expenses involved. A screening committee of seven members will decide the children who will qualify for this treatment at the PGI where the project will be started. While half of the total finances for the project have come from Rotary International, Chicago, the district and the local club along with aid from Rotary clubs in Japan and Germany have generated the other half. The Rs 3 lakh, promised by the Finance Minister of Punjab, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, has been delayed due to political turmoil and is awaited, he said. Another ambitious project to be undertaken this year is the children's opportunity grant under which the club will get a grant of $ 25,000 from the Rotary foundation in Chicago. This scheme will provide computer education facilities for children up to 17 years of age at Government Model School, Sector 18. He also revealed that he was happy with the work the Rotarians had undertaken at Bapu Dham colony. Besides opening a dispensary and a school there, they were providing vocational training in typewriting, tailoring and embroidery to over 20 girls. The President of the club
in Chandigarh, Ms Kawal Bedi, Mr R.K.Saboo, former
President of Rotary International, among other members,
were also present. |
Panchayat poll Migrants
to play major role CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — Campaigning in the villages is yet to pick up with many prospective candidates still in the process of shortlisting members for their panels even as the last date for filing of nominations approaches. The last date for filing of nominations is January 6. The major political parties remain undecided on announcing their candidates for the poll and in all likelihood prefer to let the individual rapport of the contestants in their respective villages be the deciding factor. The 'migrant and caste factor' is also giving sleepless nights to many as the contestants are busy shortlisting the candidates likely to carry this sizable vote bank with them. All 17 villages going to polls, barring a couple, have a sizable migrant population which, over the years, has taken an active role in the conduct of the affairs of the villages. While the percentage of the original inhabitants of the village increased marginally over the years, the increase in migrant population has been "phenomenal". Mr Ujagar Singh and Mr Satwinder Singh, residents of Palsora, said the picture would become clear in the next few days but the main contest will be between Mr Harbhajan Singh, the sitting Sarpanch, Mr Bhupinder Singh and Mr Jai Chand. Major problems pertain to regularisation of the lal dora, improved sewerage, better roads and civic amenities. The issue of release of money from the sale of panchayat land to the villagers goes against the present sarpanch. A court case on the disbursement of the money is yet to be decided, they added. Mr Jasbir Singh, another resident said as compared to earlier elections the migrants have become more assertive and were demanding that an adequate number of seats for the posts of panch be given to them. Certain dominant castes in the village are also "demanding" representation. In Kajheri, a Scheduled Caste and migrant dominated village, the prospect of a migrant becoming sarpanch may come true. Villagers said the contest is likely to be between a candidate backed by the sitting sarpanch, Mr Kuldip Singh and Mr Jagir Singh. Mr Kirpal Singh, a resident, said in view of the large number of SCs and migrants efforts are afoot to prop up a migrant candidate. The village has been reserved for a SC candidate. It is too early to say about the outcome of the poll but the village is likely to be divided equally between the two camps. Money power is going to play a great role as both parties are financially sound and would leave no stone unturned in ensuring victory for their panels, he opined. The canvassing, which is low key at this moment in both villages, is from door to door. It will pick up once nominations have been filed and candidates allotted their symbols, villagers said. Palsora will have the
largest panchayat in the UT, 13 members including the
Sarpanch, while Kajheri will have the second largest
panchayat, 11 members, including the Sarpanch. |
Youth Cong flays attacks on
Christians CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — The President of the Indian Youth Congress, Mr Munish Tewari, criticising the attacks on Christian religious places and institutions in Gujarat alleged that the Rashtriya Sewamsewak Sangh (RSS) and the Sawadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) were looking for an agenda to communalise the nation. Mr Tewari was talking to mediapersons at Indira Holiday Home in Sector 24 last night. He was in the city on the invitation of the Citizens Welfare Council to meet members of the public and party workers. He said the attacks had started due to the desperation that had set in among the rank and file of the RSS and the SJM following the rout of the BJP in the assembly poll. The Gujarat wing of the Youth Congress had taken out a march in the markets of various cities in that state. "We are deliberately not reacting on a large scale as that is exactly what the SJM and the RSS want us to do," he said. In view of the 50th death
anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Youth Congress would
take out a padayatra from Sewagram in Gujarat which would
culminate at Nagpur on January 30. |
Kickback case Jerath,
others appear in court CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — All officials and a contractor who were booked by the Vigilance Department for committing alleged irregularities in the execution of the electrification work at the Sector 32 Government Medical College were today produced in the court of the Sessions Judge, Mr B.S. Bedi, for supplying copies of the chargesheet filed against them by the Administration. The accused were K.K. Jerath, Chief Engineer (under suspension), Jagdish Mitter, Superintending Engineer (Electrical), B.R. Madan and Sadhu Singh, both Executive Engineers, A.K. Gupta, O.P. Arora, Paramjit Karwal, and S.C. Aggarwal, all Sub-Divisional Engineers. The contractor in this case was Yash Pal Saggi. While Jerath and Saggi were in judicial custody, all other suspects were issued summons for appearing in the court. In the case of Jerath and Saggi, production warrants were issued. All of them were booked under Sections 420 and 120-B, IPC, and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The allegations against them were that they offered higher than the prevailing market rates to the contractor. Tenders were not called nor was any notice given to other contractors. The register did not contain the signatures of tenderers and the Divisional Accountant. The officials also did not seek mandatory administrative approval. On the contrary they invited tenders of small amount and later enhanced the amount of the tenders.
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Northern Command gets new GOC CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — Lieut-Gen Hari Mohan Khanna today took over as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, at Udhampur. An alumnus of the Rashtriya Indian Military Academy, he was commissioned in 1960 in 8 Light Cavalry, the 65 Armoured Regiment and the Special Frontier Force. He is at present Colonel of the 8th Gorkha Rifles. He has held a large number of prestigious and challenging assignments and is known for his special aptitude for counter-insurgency operations. He had worked as an instructor at Defence Services Staff College and a Colonel, General Staff of a division in Jammu and Kashmir. After his successful command of a division in Eastern Sector, he was appointed Additional Military Secretary at the Army Headquarters. In 1987, he was selected for a prestigious course at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London from where he went and joined as Military Adviser to the Indian High Commission in London.
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Governor, CM greet people CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — The Haryana Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad, and the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, have greeted the people on the eve of the birth of anniversary Guru Gobind Singh. They described the 10th Sikh Guru as a great revolutionary and social crusader who did not belong only to the Sikh community but to the entire humanity as throughout his life he fought a relentless war and even sacrificed his sons to safeguard the depressed sections of society. Mr Bansi Lal said the State Government had decided to institute a Chair at Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, in the memory of Guru Gobind Singh. He said a State-level committee had already been constituted to suggest ways and means to celebrate the tri-centenary of the birth of Khalsa, founded by Guru Gobind Singh, in a benefitting manner. The Governor, as well as the Chief Minister urged the people to take a pledge on this day to strengthen the secular fabric of the country and crush the communal forces which were trying to raise their head to disturb peace and tranquillity in the country.
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Civil-Military Liaison
Conference tomorrow CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — The annual Civil-Military Liaison Conference will be held at the Western Command Headquarters, Chandimandir, on January 6. The Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Mrs V.S. Rama Devi will inaugurate the conference. Senior officers from the Army and civil administrations of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chandigarh and Delhi will take part in the deliberations. Another conference of para military forces commanders will be held in the afternoon the same day. High ranking officers of the Army, Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police in the Western Sector will participate. Meanwhile, formation commanders of the sector will meet tomorrow.
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Refresher courses for lecturers CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — In order to bring qualitative improvement in the field of higher education, the Directorate of Higher Education, Haryana, in collaboration with the University Grants Commission, is organising orientation and refresher courses for the lecturers in the state. An official spokesman today said the Education Department had identified thrust areas to achieve this objective. He said the department was inviting eminent educationists to make teachers aware of the latest developments in the field of education and to update their professional skill by regularly organising orientation and refresher courses for them. He said 160 lecturers would be imparted training in these courses. He said the scheme was financed by the UGC and the State Government in the ratio of 60:40 ratio. The department would also organise orientation courses, one for male and the other for female lecturers at Dronacharya Government College, Gurgaon and Government college, Gurgaon, he added.
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Louis Braille remembered CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — The 190th birth anniversary of Louis Braille was celebrated at the Institute for the Blind, Sector 26, here today. Visually handicapped students presented a colourful cultural programme. Songs in his remembrance were also presented. The President of Innerwheel club, Mrs Lalita Aggarwal, along with other members presided over the function and donated Rs 1,100 to the institute on the occasion.
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Commissioner charge-sheeted CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — The Haryana Government has charge-sheeted Mr K.C. Sharma, Commissioner and Secretary Administrative Reforms. According to reliable sources, Mr Sharma has been charge-sheeted in connection with a number of appointments made by him as the Managing Director of a bank without following set procedure, including clearance from the government.
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Section 144 extended Chandigarh, Jan 4 — The District Magistrate has extended the imposition of Section 144 of the Cr PC that bans the assembly of five or more persons, in the sectors north of the Madhya Marg. The ban will remain in force for a period of sixty days from tomorrow.
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11
elected unopposed to PU panel CHANDIGARH, Jan 4— Eleven candidates were elected unopposed as added members to different faculties of Panjab University on the last date for display of lists of candidates in the fray, here today. The election for 154 of the total 167 seats of added members to the remaining eight faculties including arts, language, science, law, medical science, business administration, design and fine arts is scheduled to be held on January 18. Three members will be nominated by the Vice-Chancellor. "According to sources, Dr A.M. Kalra, Dr Y.C. Chopra, and Mr H.C.Beri were declared elected unopposed in the faculty of engineering and technology, while in the dairy, animal husbandry and agriculture faculty Dr C.L. Duggal, Dr Digambar Bahera, Dr Kumkum Kohli, Dr Raj Gopal Garg and Dr Sukhbir Kaur were declared winners. Similarly, Mr Ajay Kumar Mahajan, Dr P.D.Sharma and Dr V.R.Sinha were elected as added members from the faculty of medical sciences. As many as 18 candidates are in the fray for nine seats of the language faculty, 63 for 32 seats of the arts faculty, 41 candidates for 21 seats of the science faculty, 26 for 13 seats for the law faculty, 17 for nine seats of the medical faculty, 59 for 30 seats of commerce faculty, 54 for 27 seats of education, and 25 for 13 seats of the faculty of design and fine arts. According to a notification issued by the Registrar, who is also the Returning Officer for the election, the Senate members who were the member could cast their votes personally or through registered post till five p.m. on January 18. Counting of votes would be held on January 19. Earlier, a delegation comprising of four Senators, Mr Charanjit Chawla, Mr Randip Surjewala, Mr Rajinder Deepa and Mr Ashok Goyal had met the Registrar on December 31 and objected to nominations of certain candidates having discrepancies such as non-filling of the faculties and educational qualifications in the nomination forms. The second objection was said to be regarding displaying of the list of candidates, which should have been displayed by 5 p.m on December 30 since it was the last day for display of lists, the sources added. Seminar: Jan 4 — "There is no guarantee to a healthy existence of the European Union in future," says Mr Benjamin Bassin, the Ambassador of Finland to India. Mr Bassin was speaking at a seminar organised by the Centre for the Study of Geopolitics, Department of Political Science, at the ICSSR complex in Panjab University here today. Comparing the organisation to a bicycle, which had greater risk of falling, Mr Bassin said the prevailing situation was due to lack of a required degree of mutual cooperation and positive willingness among the members of the European Union (EU). The problem was that the bigger powers, who were members of the organisation, were inclined to watch their interests first than play an important role in the organisation, said Mr Bassin, who cited the example of Great Britain which went its own way on the issue of Iraq. Explaining the troubles being faced by the European Union, the Ambassador said it was embroiled in a leadership crisis. If Germany was a nuclear state, France and Great Britain, the two nuclear powers were too weak and too quarrelsome. In that case, small and medium powers looked towards the US. Earlier, the Ambassador was welcomed by Prof Bhupinder Brar, Chairman of the Department .
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hurt in road accidents CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — An unidentified person was crushed to death by a bus on Dakshin Marg dividing the two industrial areas last night while two persons, including a girl have been injured in separate road accidents in the city. The unidentified person's identity could not be ascertained till late on Monday night. The bus sped away with the vehicle. Ms Kanupriya of Sector 39 was seriously injured when her moped was hit by scooter in Sector 37. Raju, a cyclist, was hit by scooter . Both have been admitted to the PGI. Vehicle theft: A motor cycle and a scooter were stolen in separate incidents in the city. A motor cycle ( CH-01-Q-9553) owned by Mr Dev Sharma of Sector 45 was stolen from his residence while a scooter ( MP-09-JB-1699) owned by Mr Kaushal Vyas was stolen from inside the Air Force area. Held for assault: An autorickshaw driver, Pyare Lal, was arrested for allegedly beating up, Sadhu Singh a resident of Kurukshetra. The incident had occurred on Saturday night. Sadhu Singh was on a visit to the city. Poisoning: Three cases of poisoning were admitted to the PGI on Monday. They were identified as Gagan Deep of Sector 45, R.K. Mehra of Sector 37and Sanjeev Kumar of Dadu Majra village. PANCHKULA Accident death: A child, Gagan, died after being hit by a tractor-trailer at Bhogpur village, near here, yesterday. The police has registered a case against the driver, Nazar, under Sections 279 and 304-A of IPC. Liquor seized: Two persons have been arrested by the police with 2000 pouches of country liquor at the Chandigarh-Panchkula border here. The persons — Vinod Kumar, a resident of Yamunanagar and Yogesh, a resident of Jagadhri — who were travelling in a Maruti car had concealed the liquor pouches in gunny bags. They used to purchase the liquor at the rate of Rs 6 per pouch from Chandigarh and the sell the same at Rs 12 at Bilaspur (Yamunanagar). According to the police one of the accused, Vinod Kumar, had earlier been arrested with 12 bottles of liquor.
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Dogra
case CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 (PTI) — Describing the affidavit filed by Mr V.K. Gupta, an official in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, as non-compliance with the directions of the Central Administrative Tribunal, the Bench adjourned the hearing on the writ petition challenging the second extension given to the Punjab Director-General of Police, Mr P.C. Dogra to January 8. The tribunal directed that the person concerned who was present in the High Court before the case was remanded to CAT should positively file an affidavit on or before January 8 for a final decision in the case. The three ADGPs — Mr
Sarabjit Singh, Mr M.S. Bhullar and Mr G.S. Chahal —
had sought a stay of the six-month extension given to Mr
Dogra by the Central government at the end of the first
extension given to him by the state government. |
Mayor
asked to seek vote of confidence CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — The BJP-SAD alliance in the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh has urged Mr Kewal Krishan Adiwal, Mayor, to secure a vote of confidence. In a signed statement, the leader of the alliance, Mr Des Raj Tandon, and the President of the SAD, Mr Gurpartap Singh Riar, said Mr Adiwal enjoyed the support of only 12 councillors in a House of 29 and, hence, had no locus standi to call himself the Mayor. They also criticised the "misuse" of official machinery for the "graha pravesh" ceremony for the house of the Mayor in Sector 24 yesterday. The alliance had boycotted the ceremony. Honoured: The Sweepers Union, at a function at Tagore Theatre here today, honoured Mr Adiwal. A shawl, a memento and a picture of Maharishi Balmiki was presented to the Mayor on behalf of the union. The Mayor, the Senior Deputy Mayor, Mr Kanhaiya Lal, and the Deputy Mayor, Mr Bachan Singh, were also felicitated by residents of the Indira Colony, Palsora Colony and Kamal Colony yesterday. Memorandum: A delegation of the Maloya Colony unit of the Democratic Youth Federation of India met Mr Adiwal and submitted a memorandum in support of their demands. The main demands listed in
the memorandum were repair of roads in the colony,
construction of a link road between the colony and Dadu
Majra, provision of a bus stand and community centre,
development of parks and upgradation of the primary
school. |
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