Saturday, July 10, 1999
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N E W S Saturday, July 10, 1999 |
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Where is Rs 2 cr of GMCH
contract staff? CHANDIGARH, July 9 — Nearly Rs 2 crore that was deducted over the past about four years from the salaries of around 600 contract employees of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) is allegedly missing and there is not much documentary evidence with the authorities stating the present position of the money. The sum accounts from the mandatory monthly deductions made from the salaries under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees State Insurance (ESI) schemes, sources said while giving details that Rs 2 crore is just an estimate. The exact picture will emerge only when the records are screened and the contractors show, or fail to show, proof of deposits. Under the labour laws, salaries of the contract employees are disbursed through the contractors or the agencies given the contract to supply manpower for works in GMCH like sanitation, catering, security, junior lab technicians and house keeping. Two shares of the EPF, one deducted from the employees' salary and the other part contributed by the GMCH, are supposed to be deposited with the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner. Each EPF share is around 10 per cent of the salary. Another 1 to 2 per cent of the salary is deducted under the ESI scheme, thus taking the monthly deposit between 22 and 23 per cent of the salary. Over the years, clerks at GMCH have been disbursing salaries to the contract employees through the contractors or the agencies. On the other hand, the clerks or the administrative authorities do not have receipts or proof for the entire sum that should have been deposited in the EPF or the ESI accounts, sources said. This has not only put a question mark over the money, but also about the alleged involvement of some GMCH employees, who did not ask for proper receipts of the deposits made in the provident fund accounts, is the opinion of senior GMCH administrators. This had been going for years but was detected around four months ago when a senior official sought receipts of payments made in the provident fund accounts. The GMCH authorities, while giving the money to the contractor for disbursement, used to send a copy with all details to the Provident Fund Commissioner. A source in GMCH showed a copy of the letter supposedly sent by the office of the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner to the GMCH saying that the issue of depositing EPF was between the the contractors and the provident office. Who wrote or signed this controversial letter is not clear but the GMCH authorities did seek clarifications. The Director-Principal of GMCH, Prof V.K. Kak, said the contractors or the agencies that supplied manpower all these years have been given a deadline till the middle of this month to provide receipts of all payments that were deposited in the Provident Fund Commissioner's office. ''If they fail to provide all receipts that are the rightful money of the employees, we will hand over the case to the police for further investigations,'' he said, while adding that the contract system and its modalities were in place before he had joined around four years ago. Sources said around Rs 25 lakh is the monthly salary bill for contract employees. The salaries are paid to the contractors and the wage bill includes the EPF shares of both the employees and the share given by GMCH, the ESI share and the service charges of the contractor. Under the rules, the contractor is supposed to keep the service charges and distribute salaries while depositing the EPF and ESI amounts in the accounts concerned. According to GMCH records, a contractor had deposited the sum in the Jalandhar office of the provident fund. Another contractor is known to be fair and pays from his pocket and does not wait till the 7th of each month when GMCH disburses the money. Officials say the exact
picture will emerge within a week but where is the money
is the question. |
Petrol,
diesel prices up July 9 — Following the imposition of 5 per cent sales tax by the Chandigarh Administration, the prices of petrol and diesel have gone up in the city. According to sources, the revised prices of petrol and diesel would be Rs 23.71 and Rs 10.42 per litre, respectively. With today's hike in prices, the consumers would have be shell out Rs 1.08 and 0.42 paise more for buying a litre of petrol and diesel, respectively. While after the hike in the prices, the petrol would be still be about 20 paise cheaper in the city as compared to SAS Nagar and Panchkula, the diesel would cost over 40 paise more in the city. According to trade sources, while the sale of the petrol was not expected to be affected much, the diesel sales from the city would be affected. The long-route trucks, which were major consumers of diesel, would prefer to top up their fuel tanks outside Chandigarh, dealing a severe blow to the trade, the sources added. Meanwhile, the decision of the administration has come in for severe criticism by the Chandigarh Petroleum Dealers Association. Calling the decision "anti-people", Mr Arjun Singh, and Mr Amanpreet Singh, President and Secretary, respectively, of the association feared that with the hike in the prices the trade would shift from the city to the neighbouring states. They said the decision
would hit the middle class hard since the prices of the
essential commodities would go up as the transport and
industry was directly dependent on the oil products.
There would be a net revenue loss to the administration
following the shifting of the trade to the neighbouring
areas, they added. |
Who can
use red lights CHANDIGARH, July 9 — Pursuant to the directions issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court yesterday prohibiting the use of red lights atop private vehicles, the Chandigarh Administration has decided to allow the use of red lights on the vehicles of the Adviser to the Chandigarh Administrator, the Home Secretary-cum-Divisional Commissioner, the Inspector-General of Police, the Deputy Commissioner and the Senior Superintendent of Police. The notification issued by the Haryana Government, however, contains a long list of dignitaries who will be allowed to use red light atop their vehicles. They are the Chief Minister, ministers, Chief Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Secretaries, the Chief Secretary, the Additional Chief Secretary, all Financial Commissioners, the Director-General and Additional Director-Generals of Police, all Divisional Commissioners, DIGs of range, all Deputy Commissioners, all Superintendents of Police of districts, the State Transport Commissioner, the Chief Justice and Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Advocate-General, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, apart from all MPs and MLAs on their personal vehicles, the Vice-Chancellors of the state universities and the Sessions Judges. According to the Inspector-General of Traffic, the Punjab Government has permitted the use of red light atop the vehicles of the Chief Minister, all ministers, the Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court, all SSPs in districts, all DIGs, all Commandants of battalions, all IPS officers with 10 or more years of service and all Deputy Commissioners. Interestingly, the notifications issued by the Punjab and Haryana governments and the Chandigarh Administration are silent on the use of blue lights. Blue lights are usually
used atop ambulances used in hospitals or nursing homes. |
Shift in
Haryana policy PANCHKULA, July 9 — Hundreds of unauthorised constructions, which have come up in the Haryana area, adjoining Chandigarh in contravention of the Periphery Control Act are likely to be regularised following a major policy framed by the State Government in this regard. The unauthorised constructions will be regularised subject to certain restrictions. All unauthorised constructions which include residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and religious buildings fall in Panchkula district. The structures falling with the 900-m restricted belt of the Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory (TBRL) at Ramgarh and those falling in the Mansa Devi Urban Complex here will not be regularised. The Punjab Government has already framed a similar policy for the periphery area falling under its jurisdiction. Sources say that as per the draft policy approved by the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, certain stringent parameters will govern the structures to be considered for being regularised. The focus of the policy was to take action against the unscrupulous elements who had sold land or developed colonies in order to mint money and at the same time to take care of the needy people living in the remote and isolated areas. The State Cabinet has already decided to regularise the unauthorised structures falling within the municipal limits of the Kalka and Pinjore municipal committees. About 74000 acre of area comprising 154 villages, besides urban areas fall under the Periphery Control Area and with pressure of urbanisation catching up, the Town and Country Planning Department of Haryana has been unable to effectively check the growth of unauthorised structures. At least 7400 constructions, including some major structures have come up over the past 25 years. Since the government was not in a position to acquire the entire area falling under the periphery of Chandigarh, it has decided to regularise the structures with certain restrictions. Sources say the unauthorised constructions had been divided in compoundable and non-compoundable categories. Constructions falling in the Mansa Devi Urban Complex, constructions falling within 900-m of the restricted belt of the TBRL, constructions within 30 m restricted belt of scheduled roads, constructions within 300 feet of the communication zone and structures which have vital bearing on provisions of infrastructural facilities will not be regularised. On the other hand the
structures of institutions recognised by the Central
Government or the Government of Haryana, except those
falling in the restricted belt of the TBRL, constructions
falling within ‘abadi-deh’ of villages,
constructions which have come up under the government
approved schemes, and structures raised for agricultural
purposes will be compounded after charging of certain
fee. |
STD call
racket busted CHANDIGARH, July 9 — A racket run by two telecom employees to connect international calls through telephone lines drawn illegally from the telephone exchange in Khuda Lahora village was busted last evening. Two employees of the local Telecom Department — R.R. Tewari (former President of the local unit of the All-India Telecom Employees Union, Linemen and group D employees) and Jai Chand Singh — were placed under suspension. They were allegedly caught red handed by a vigilance team led by Divisional Engineer Phones (DEP), Vigilance , Mr A.S. Hundal. Sources said while the vigilance team team sat there for hours, several people called in asking to be connected to various countries. Tewari was also the in charge of the 'C-DOT' exchange in the village that is located just west of Sector 14. Explaining the modus operandi a source said that the duo had taken out eight lines connecting two rakes of 256 lines each within the exchange. These lines, all STD trunk lines, were terminated at the Main Distribution Frame (MDF). Usually these connecting lines are internal and never terminate at the MDF. The duo could not break the digital code of the Pulse Code Modulators but used these lines to connect people to destinations across the globe. The racket had been
going for the past few months and estimates are being
drawn to see how much of revenue loss had been caused to
the department. |
Stress on
independence of judiciary CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The section on Legal Practice conference of the International Bar Association held in Boston in the first week of June was attended by more than 350 delegates. Leading international lawyers, Judges and academics also congregated at Boston's world famous Harvard Law School to discuss the realities facing the legal profession. Giving details of the conference, the Chandigarh delegate, Mr Ranjit Malhotra, said lawyers from over 50 countries, including the USA, the UK, Australia and Asean countries took part in this conference. There were nine lawyers from India. A global perspective was taken on the following conference topics: the advocate as hired gun or advocate of the court; ethical issues in estate planning for the entrepreneur; women and children and the rule of law; damages and catastrophic injury cases; judicial developments and indigenous people, the new lawyers in the age of practice management and technology, government liability issues, the environment and real estate transactions, and the international transfer of sportsmen. The IBA President, Mr Klaus Bohlhoff from Germany, keeping with the scheduled IBA council debate on ‘‘The legal profession at the threshhold of the new millennium,’’ and the plenary session theme ‘‘The lawyer and the future,’’ opened the conference with a speech on globalisation versus regionalisation. He also elaborated upon qualities of the new breed of international lawyers. One hundred and twenty eight speakers presented the Boston programme which covered 28 areas of general practice. The conference was a catalyst for current international legal discussion, said the Chairman of the IBA’s section on legal practice, Mr Fernando Pombo from Spain. The plenary session on ‘‘The lawyer and the future,’’ at Harvard Law School was particularly enjoyable. Panel and audience discussion was led by Harvard law School professor. This was followed by speeches of Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy of US Supreme court and that of Mr Philip Anderson, President of the American Bar Association. Justice Kennedy spoke of what he described as ‘‘the two related imperatives in the law,’’ judicial independence and the independence of the Bar and the two bringing strength to each other. In looking to the future, Philip Anderson spoke of the changes occurring now with the advent of multi-disciplinary partnerships and the growing community awareness over the past 10 years of basic human rights. He emphasised that the independence of the judiciary was essential for a market economy stating that a country could attract capital and sustain growth if it upheld the rule of law. He opined that lawyers, could do more to encourage trade and peace than any army of the world. Formed in 1947, the International Bar Association through its member bar associations and law societies represents over 2.5 million lawyers across the world. Its aim is to defend the rule of law and lawyers’ right to practice without interference and to provide an international forum for legal developments. Celebrating its 25th anniversary at the Boston Conference, the IBA's Section on Legal Practice boasts of an international membership of over 3000 lawyers and 22 committees covering all aspects of general legal practice. The conference closed
with the speeches of the above mentioned eminent
speakers, at the symbol of international excellence in
legal education, the Harvard Law School, Boston. |
SDM visits
cattle export centre KHARAR, July 9 — As per directions issued by the District Administration, the Kharar SDM, Mr Amarjit Singh Dhindsa, along with a senior veterinary officer, visited an alleged illegal cattle export centre yesterday evening and made a surprise checking at Khanpur village which falls under the Kharar municipal limits. Mr Dhindsa, when asked about this today, said he had written to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kharar, that they should see that no provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act were violated. He has written that any truck carrying cattle should have a certificate issued by the Senior Veterinary Officer that these cattle were not below the age of 15. He said the cattle should be loaded in a proper way in trucks and there should be proper space in the trucks and if any one was loading more cattle than the sanctioned number, then action should be taken under the Motor Vehicle Act and they should be challaned for over-loading. Mr Dhindsa said when they visited the centre, there were no trucks loading any cattle. He said strict vigil should be maintained and action taken against the guilty. A large number of local
religious and social organisations have been complaining
to the government for the past many years against the
alleged illegal cattle export centre from where the
cattle were sent to slaughter houses in trucks. |
Kargil:
panel on rehabilitation sought CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The Punjab and Chandigarh unit of the Indian Ex-Services League (IESL) has demanded the setting up of a commission, with members from the judiciary, NGOs and ex-servicemen, to look into the issue of rehabilitation of the dependents of martyrs and disabled soldiers. This has been neccessiated to ensure greater transparency in the disbursement of funds being collected by the central, state and various other organisations in the country at this time of heightened patriotism. According to Col Harsharan Singh, President of the Chandigarh unit, there have been reports of people using Kargil as a plank to line their own pockets which calls for the greatest punishment under law. He said therer was need to recall the funds collected, including gold, during the 1962 conflict which were disbursed with hardly any transparency. Although the collection of funds is a highly laudable step, yet some system should be evolved so as to rule out duplication of help, misappropriation of funds and limiting the distribution to the affected personnel in the constituencies of politicians, especially during the election year. Col Harsharan Singh said it was also the time to look at the rights denied to soldiers who were martyred or disabled in the in the previous wars. A case in point being ignoring the rightful due of granting war jagirs to 220 war widows/ dependents/parents and disabled soldiers of the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars. The problem cited by the government is scarcity of land which can be solved by planning an additional sector in the land already acquired by PUDA. The land so developed could be used to allot plots to the left-out and present day (Kargil conflict ) beneficiaries. Similarly, there was need to look afresh at the quantum of awards given to soldiers who make the ultimate sacrifice. A soldier dies for a cause and it is disrespectful to a hero when we put question marks on the variety of his heroism. There was also need to
change rules that instead of mitigating the misery of the
widows and dependents accentuates it, he added. |
Lure of
job lands couple in police net CHANDIGARH, July 9 — It was a case of the end justifying the means which has resulted in the booking of a city couple for preparing forged documents in order to get a government job. Burail village residents, Amritpal Kaur and her husband, Darshan Singh, were graduates and had been running from pillar to post to land a job for a long time. Both were having small-time jobs and were hard pressed to make both ends meet. This desperation led them to Ram Singh, a peon working at the Punjab Chief Minister's residence, who promised them that he could do the needful for a price. He is also reported to have boasted that he had helped many others in this context. Accordingly, a deal was struck and Ram Singh asked the duo to give him their certificates and other testimonials and assured them that the needful would be done soon. He was so confident of carrying out the "deal" that he deferred the collection of money till they they got their appointment letters ! Police sources said Ram Singh somehow managed to get a directive addressed on an official letterpad on behalf of the Chief Minister by the Principal Secretary, Mr Ramesh Inder Singh, to the authorities of the Punjab State Cooperative Bank asking them to " appoint them in regular posts against my (CM's) quota ." It was while preparing a draft note for implementing the "directions" of the Chief Minister that the dealing assistant, who had worked with the Principal Secretary, suspected that the signatures of the officer had been forged. He brought the matter to the notice of the Secretary, Cooperation, who in turn referred it to the Chief Minister's secretariat for verification. The Principal Secretary denied that he had signed the letter following which the case was referred to the State Vigilance Bureau. The enquiry officer found that while the letter and signature had been forged the dairy number, which is mandatory for all correspondence originating from the secretariat, was true. The letter had actually been marked for its onward despatch to the bank authorities. The case was then handed over to the Economic Offences Wing of the Chandigarh police. The officials made an independent enquiry and recommended that the case merited the registration of a case. A case under under
Sections 420, 467, 468 and 471, IPC, has been registered
at the Police Station North. No arrests have been made so
far. |
Impact of
Kargil under scrutiny CHANDIGARH, June 9 — The Rotary Club of Chandigarh Midtown today held a panel discussion on 'Kargil' at their club meeting at Hotel President, Sector 26. It was over slices of cake and glasses of beer that a large audience passionately discussed the various aspects of the present crisis at Kargil. The panel, comprising Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, a former member of Parliament, Lt Gen Harwant Singh (retd), a former Deputy Chief of Army Staff and Air Marshal M M Singh (retd), a former Vice-Chief of Air Staff, deliberated on the origin of the present problem, the background of the present conflict, the prevalent situation and its future impact. Mr Bansal, while calling the present problem a political one that was being sorted out by the soldiers at the front, said that it was ridiculous to claim any victory at this hour because the nation had lost scores of its men. "It was not that either our Defence Ministry or the Foreign Ministry did not know of the infiltrators. The problem was of coordination. In fact the latest thing of basking in the glory of the Lahore bus ride also lead to complacency on the part of the government", he said. Agreeing to the fact that the government could not be blamed on the recent Kargil crisis Air Marshal M M Singh said the government depended entirely on the Army and the Air Force and the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) for inputs. Mr Bansal added: "Tashkent was a mistake on our part, because we had agreed to third-party mediation. But thereafter we have been wise enough to stick to our stand of bilateral talks. Look at what happened after the Shimla Agreement. We did not have any war-like situation for 27 years". On the issue of the Line of Control (LoC), he said that personally he felt that an opinion among the masses here could be built on turning the LoC into an international border. But such a situation, he added, would not be acceptable to Pakistan. Lt-Gen Harwant Singh also talked extensively on the LoC, and said that the line existed on maps and just as we know where it existed on the land, even the other side knew about the same. "Pakistan is just trying to deliberately confuse on the matter of the LoC", he added. On the issue of crossing the LoC, Air Marshal Singh said that if we wanted to make the National Highway 1-A safe then the LoC should be crossed on all accounts. "Pakistan artillery can still disrupt our movements on that road unless we make sure that their artillery sites are pushed back at least 10 km behind the LoC". The meeting was presided
over by Capt M S Kahlon, President, Rotary Club of
Chandigarh Midtown. |
Sweets
from Ludhiana for troops CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The Punjab Governor, Lt-Gen B. K. N. Chhibber, today flagged off a truckload of sweets for the soldiers fighting at Kargil. The truck containing 22 quintals of shakarparas, 10 quintals of laddoos, 10 quintals of roasted groundnuts and 10 quintals of roasted gram were prepared in desi ghee at the initiative of the residents of Ludhiana. The Governor was told by officers of Western Command that the packets of sweets would be airlifted to the Kargil tomorrow. Ahluwalias' gesture: The Ahluwalia Biradari has contributed Rs 21,000 towards the Army Central Welfare Fund, according to Mr G. K. Ahluwalia, Secretary of the organisation. Rs 11,000 given: Employees of the State Election Commission, Haryana, have contributed Rs 11,000 towards the Army Central Welfare Fund, according to Mr J. K. Duggal, State Election Commissioner, today. PANCHKULA Free training: A free computer education training programme would be run by STG Computer Education Centre here for the children of the soldiers who have sacrificed their life fighting intruders in the Kargil-Dras sector. Giving this information, Mr Gautam Kaul, Director of the centre, said a special discount would be given to the wards of the soldiers who were injured in the counter-insurgency operations in different parts of the country. He said even the wards of the serving defense personnel would be given discount in the computer courses. Teachers' mite: As many as 1,500 students of New India Public School will take out a procession and burn the effigy of the Pakistan Premier, Nawab Sharif, in Sector 15 tomorrow. Mr Kusum Gupta, Director of the school, said all the teachers of the school had donated their one day's salary in the aid of the Kargil martyrs. Pensioners' vow: In a separate statement, the Haryana Government Pensioners Association at its meeting held here today resolved to collect donations for the Chief Minister's War Heroes Fund. A two-minute silence was observed in the memory of the martyrs. Shopkeepers
donate: The market association of Sector 15 and
shopkeepers of Ramgarh village today donated Rs 35,000
and Rs 11,000, respectively, in aid of the soldiers
defending our frontiers in Kargil. |
HC
Judges’ gesture CHANDIGARH, July 9 — In a rare gesture of goodwill, all 29 Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, including the Chief Justice, have donated a sum of Rs 20,000 each to the welfare fund created for the Kargil martyrs. With a forwarding letter, each Judge attached a demand draft of Rs 20,000 and sent it to the Registry of the High Court for sending it to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. Meanwhile, employees of the Punjab State Cooperative Development Federation also decided to donate their one day’s salary to the relief fund. The Punjab Cooperative Officers Association has also decided to donate a day’s salary to the Chief Ministers’ War Hero Relief Fund. Employees of the Punjab
State Handloom Weavers Apex Cooperative Societies also
took a unanimous decision to donate one day’s salary
to the relief fund. |
4 crore
to be spent on flood control SARSEENI (Lalru), July 9 — The Punjab Government will spend Rs 4 crore to control floods in Patiala district, said Mr Jasbir Singh Bir, Deputy Commissioner, Patiala, while hearing the grievances of the public under the Sangat Darshan programme here today. The State Government has released Rs 1.57 crore for the persons under the old-age pension scheme and the amount would be distributed among the beneficiaries within the next week. Farmers of Sitarpur village, whose crops were damaged by fire caused by electric short-circuits, would get compensation from the Punjab State Electricity Board, said Mr Bir. Fifty issues relating to education, water, electricity, roads, pension and land were taken up by the Deputy Commissioner. About 40 problems were solved on the spot while the rest were marked to the authorities concerned. Meanwhile, residents of Hasanpur and Chaundheri villages demanded filling of vacant posts of teacher in village schools. Residents of Sarseeni village complained about lack of any transformer in the village. They also demanded a drainage system along the village link road so that the stinking water could be discharged out of the village. Mr Karnail Singh, a resident of Sarseeni village, complained to the DC about the failure of the police to find his teenaged daughter missing since May 28.He said despite lodging a First Information Report (FIR) and repeated requests, the police was unable to know the whereabouts of his daughter. Mr Harpreet Singh Sidhu, Senior Superintendent of Police, urged the people to cooperate with the police to maintain law and order. He urged the public to come forward and air their grievances to the police without any fear. Mr Sher Singh Sidhu, Sub
Divisional Magistrate, Mr H S Bhullar, Deputy
Superintendent of Police, Dera Bassi, were also present
on the occasion. |
STD
machines to be checked CHANDIGARH, July 9 — Following directions from the Union Ministry of Communications, the local telecom department will curb the use of a particular type of two-way conferencing machines commonly used by STD PCO operators to allow callers sitting at home to make out station calls through the STD operators. Sources said some STD operators use a machine that extends the dial tone to the caller’s home. The ministry only allows the use of a machine that allows the STD operator to dial an out station number and then connect the local caller to him through the conference facility. The machines that extend
the dial tone will not be allowed, according to sources.
The drive to curb this practice will begin within a few
days. |
Few
takers for arts courses CHANDIGARH, July 9— The admissions for the arts, vocational and commerce streams continued at the respective venues here today. While GMSSS-18 is host to students seeking admission to the arts and vocational education faculties, the admissions for the commerce faculty are simultaneously going on at GMSSS-23. Some 48 students were admitted to the arts stream out of which 10 sought admission in the reserved category. The school wore a deserted look with very few students reaching the venue and the admission affair lacked the usual excitement associated with admission interview. The stream of vocational education saw 19 admissions during the day out of which five students were registered in the reserved category. Students with 70 per cent and above were admitted in the two streams.There was a sharp rise in the number of students admitted to the commerce stream. As many as 237 students were given admission during the course of the day against 74 admitted yesterday. With students achieving 60 per cent and above flocking to the venue, GGSSS-18 had 91 takers while 60 students were admitted to GMSSS-41. The government school in
Sector 19 had 42 admissions, Sector 20 had 25 while
Sector 35 had 19 admissions.The two schools are expecting
more students to flock to the venue tomorrow when
admissions will be opened to students with 60 per cent
and above in the stream of humanities and vocational
education while student with 50 per cent and above will
be given admission in the commerce stream. |
SNIPPETS PGI working hours CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The PGI will revert to its normal working hours from July 16 once the summer vacation ends. The working hours will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Registration of patients in the OPD will be made from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., excepting Saturdays and gazetted holidays when the registration will close at 10.30 a.m, an official press release issued by the PGI said today. Rakesh Singh to be CEO CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The Finance Secretary, Mr Rakesh Singh, will also function as Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in addition to his own duties. BJYM takes out 'sandesh yatra' CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) took out "Atal sandesh yatra" in the city today. Addressing the first public meeting of the yatra in Colony No 5 here, the President of the local unit of the BJYM, Mr Satinder Singh, highlighted the achievements of the BJP in the short span of 13 months. The Pokhran blasts, resolution of the Cauvery dispute and credit cards for kisans were some of the achievements highlighted by him. Among those who spoke on the occasion were Mr Satya Pal Jain, Mr Jai Ram Joshi, Mr Dharam Paul Gupta, Mr Shakti Prakash Devshali and Mr Sanjeev Chadha. The yatra, which started form the Sector 33 headquarters of the BJP, will culminate at Mauli Jagran on July 11. Demand to declare results CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The PCS aspirants have urged the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC), Patiala, to declare the final result of the examination immediately. Talking to The Tribune, several candidates complained that with the PPSC prolonging the selection process without any valid reason, an element of uncertainty had been created. June 2 was the last date for the interviews and since then the results had not been declared by the commission. The Haryana Public Service Commission had declared the HCS results only after a week of the conduct of the interviews. It may be recalled that the PPSC had started the process for the examination in March last year. The results of the written examination were also declared after over five months. Lack of funds holds up physical
relief CHANDIGARH, July 9 — Roshni, a registered charitable organisation, with an extension office in Chandigarh, is trying to go beyond the care and rehabilitation of polio-afflicted children into the field of succour for persons who have congenital deformities or the loss of hands and legs. According to Fr Thomas, K.J, President of Roshni, several children born without arms or legs have already been given electronic or mechanical hands and feet. Much of the remarkable work has been done according to the guidelines left by the late Colonel Vohra, the founder of the Nevedac Prosthetic Centre, Zirakpur. The cost of an electronic hand is Rs 11,500 — a sum which is difficult to arrange for an ordinary villager or a poor labourer in a town. Roshni’s immediate task is to provide three persons — Fazal, Stephen (children ) and Beeran Kutty (an adult) — with electronic hands within four days. They have come all the way from Kerala and are now at Roshni’s main centre at Rajpura (phone: 01762-27004). Father Thomas is keen to help them, but government grants have dried up and help from public charities is not coming to Roshni owing to the lack of awareness about its service to humanity. Octroi contract awarded KHARAR, July 9 — The work of octroi colllection was given to a private contractor for Rs 1,05,15,000 for one year starting from July 16 in an auction held here today by the local muncipal committee. According to Mr Gian Chand Gupta, Executive Officer of the committee, as many as 30 bidders participated in the auction. A few days ago, the same contract was given for Rs 1.27 crore but thecontractor could not fulfil the conditions and so reauction was held today. The reserve price of the contract was Rs 1.05 crore. Ban imposed KHARAR, July 9 — Mr Amarjit Singh Dhindsa, SDM, Kharar, has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 in the area of 200 yards of many schools in Kharar subdivision where examinations for filling the posts of Panchayat Secretary are to be held on July 11. According to a copy of the order received today, he has banned the assembly of five or more persons and banned the carying of fire arms etc in this area. However, military, police and para-military forces are exempt from this ban. The schools around which the orders have been enfored are Khalsa Senior Secondary School Kharar and Kurali, Chakwal Senior Secondary School, Kurali, Govt Senior Secondary School (Girls) Kurali, Arya College for Women Kharar, B.S.M Sikh Girls School Kharar, Hederson Girls high School Kharar. The orders will remain in force from July 10 (evening) to July 11. Chandigarh Club staff call off
stir CHANDIGARH, July 9 — The employees of the Chandigarh Club today withdrew their five-day strike unconditionally. The Club President, Mr Chaman Lal, said that the fixed wages of the Chandigarh Administration were being paid to the employees. The strike had taken place over the question of wages. It had taken place on the same day the catering contract of the previous contractor ended. Two new caterers have been awarded the contract, the club management said. The striking employees also took the help of some employee unions, but the club management did not allow third-party intervention. Panel on medical education CHANDIGARH, July 9—The GOMCO Patiala Alumni Association has set up an expert committee under the chairmanship of Dr BD Gupta for suggesting reforms in medical education. According to secretary-general of the Chandigarh chapter, Dr R Kumar, the first meeting of the committee, which consists of experts from various specialities, will be held here on August 1. The committee will go
into the relevance and revision of the syallabi in the
basic medical sciences and clinical subjects and methods
of teaching and practical training during internships and
house jobs.The final report of the committee will be
submitted by the year-end to the Medical Council of
India, Dr Kumar said. |
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