Friday, June 25, 1999
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N E W S Friday, June 25, 1999 |
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Car thief nabbed Chandigarh, June 24 — A teenager who thought of leading a flashy life by stealing cars was nabbed by the Chandigarh police last evening, hours after he had allegedly stolen his fifth car in the past eight days. He has told the police about the other stolen cars. A resident of Mauli Jagran village, Vicky, was disowned by his mother after his father, a Class IV employee, died a few years ago. He used to steal a car, drive it and park it in an isolated spot around the city. He was released from jail on May 27 after serving a sentence for stealing a scooter, police sources said. Yesterday was no different for Vicky. He was on the prowl outside the Sector 22 Shastri Market when Mrs Manpreet Kaur of Sector 23 parked her car ( CH-01-K-9549) in the afternoon. Within minutes, he stole the car. But unfortunately for him, a woman sitting in the balcony of her house located nearby had seen Mrs Manpreet Kaur park the car and she also saw Vicky take it away. Within a few minutes, the owner of the car came back from the market. She raised a hue and cry. The police was called. The woman, who had seen the incident from her balcony, disclosed that the youth was wearing a green T-shirt and blue jeans. Last evening, he returned to the same market, probably for another theft. The description of the youth given by the woman matched and two alert shopkeepers, Mr Dharampal Jindal and Mr Krishan Kumar, stopped the youth, who started to run away but was caught and handed over to a police party, Mr Moti Ram, Station House Office, Sector 17 police station, said. Later, the youth admitted that he had stolen four other cars. On June 16, he stole a car (CH-01-D-2151). Two days later, he struck in Sector 22 when he stole a car ( DL-3-CE-1390 ) and parked it at a place near Ambala. The next day he stole a car ( CH-01-B-4123) from Sector 37 and parked it at Seonk village in Ropar district. On the night of June 21, he allegedly stole a Maruti van (PB-02-L-0234) from Sector 29. The theft yesterday was
his fifth crime in eight days and the latest stolen car
had been parked in Sector 28. He was produced in court
and remanded to police custody till Saturday, the police
said. |
Panchkula notified civil defence
town PANCHKULA, June 24 — Keeping in view the strategic location of Panchkula, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has notified it as a civil-defence town. The place is among the six new towns in Haryana which have been included in the list of the civil-defence towns. Being located near the Western Command Headquarters, with Chandi Mandir on its north-eastern side, Terminal Ballastic Research Laboratory (TBRL) on its north-western side and some other strategic installations in the neighbouring areas of Punjab, Panchkula has been notified as a strategic place. The town, along with Sonepat, Panipat, Rohtak and Yamuna Nagar, has been notified as B category civil defence towns. Already, five towns — Ambala, Gurgoan, Faridabad, Hisar and Sirsa — are among the list of towns classified by the ministry. Of these, Ambala, Faridabad and Sirsa figure in the civil defence towns of A category. Sources say the towns were put in 1 A, A and B categories by the ministry as per the descending degree of their strategic importance in case of an enemy attack. Ambala which was earlier declared as 1 A town was then put in a lower category. Meanwhile, the process to set up the civil defence machinery in the town has been set into motion. Recently, a meeting was called by the district administration with heads of different departments involved in handling different facets of civic life. The civil defence, consisting of citizens of the country, is set up to minimise the effect of any enemy attack in the area concerned and to restore normalcy in essential services. Meanwhile, after the communiqué of notification by the Union Ministry, the district administration has sent the case for notification to the state government which would allow allocation of funds to raise the infrastructure to be used during an emergency. With the Kargil front still seeing action, the administration has forwarded the case to the state government for an early notification. As per the norms, the District Magistrate is the Controller of Civil Defence while the District Commandant of Home Guards is the Deputy Commandant. Though putting the civil defence machinery may take time, officials have already started the paper work to plan various services. According to sources, telecommunication services, fire fighting, first aid, rescue, warden and welfare services would be set up. In the communication services, all service heads would be provided a direct telephonic link to important places and vital installations through a simultaneous broadcasting facility (SBF). A maximum of 144 connections which would be provided through the SBF would be linked to a regional Civil Defence Control Centre. In the town, which has about 40 sq km of area, at least 10 air raid sirens and hooters would be installed. The Chief Warden, Sector Wardens and Post Wardens would be enrolled. Their main aim is to minimise the effect of any enemy action in terms of loss of human life and property and restore normalcy in essential services with logistic support from the administration. The rescue services, in
which there has to be one party for a population of
25,000, are provided by Home Guards. The repair and
demolition squad works under the command of the District
Commandant of Home Guards. |
150 acres for rail link CHANDIGARH, June 24 — The Chandigarh Administration is all set to allot nearly 150 acres to the Railways for the proposed Chandigarh-Ludhiana rail link. An offer letter in this regard is likely to be issued to Northern Railway in a day or two, official sources said this afternoon. The Administration has scaled down its asking price of the land being made available for the rail link. After quoting a rate of Rs 30 lakh an acre for the nearly 114 acres required for the track, the Administration has now agreed to charge Rs 1 lakh an acre for this portion of the land. There is, however, no change in the price quoted for the 36 acres in Industrial Area Phase I which are proposed to be used for Railway siding and godowns. The Administration may maintain in its offer letter that this 36 acres of prime commercial land will be allotted to Railways at the rate of Rs 2.42 crore an acre. The actual cost comes to Rs 5,000 per square yard. Both the Punjab Government and Railways are not happy with this decision of the Administration. They maintain that since the Chandigarh-Ludhiana rail link is a project of national importance and of great value for the socio-economic development of the region, this price is not only "unreasonable but also much on the higher side". On the other hand, sources in the Administration maintain that in Punjab, the Punjab Government was paying a compensation of Rs 12 lakh an acre for the land to be used for the track alone. Though land in Chandigarh for the proposed rail link was earmarked long ago, the Administration may initiate the process to get it free from encroachers and make in encumbrance free before handing over physical possession of this land. Sources maintain that once an offer is made, Railways can accept it any time and take physical possession on ground. According to estimates, the cost of land in Chandigarh alone will touch the Rs 100-crore mark unless the Administration relents and agrees to scale down on the price it is quoting for the 36 acres earmarked for rail siding and new godowns. The Union Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, will be in SAS Nagar on June 27 to lay the foundation stone of this much-awaited project. The Punjab Government is keen that all formalities, including acquisition of land, both in Chandigarh and Punjab, are settled before the formal ceremony on Sunday. Against a token budgetary provision of Rs 1 crore during the past financial year, Railways has provided Rs 10 crore during the current financial year for this project against the total estimated cost of this new link at Rs 248.40 crore. Sources in the Administration reveal that though a major chunk of the land for the project was acquired long time back, some portions are still under acquisition proceedings. Recently, the Administration paid a compensation of Rs 16.50 lakh an acre for the land it acquired in Hallo Majra. Railways propose to
construct one flyover and seven underbridges within the
Union Territory as a part of this rail link. The flyover
will be on the Chandigarh-Ambala National Highway while
all other roads to be traversed by the rail track will
have underbridges. |
Big excise evasion by BHEL
detected CHANDIGARH, June 24 — The Central Excise preventive officers of Amritsar division of the Chandigarh Commissionerate-II have detected duty evasion of over Rs 25 lakh by a public sector undertaking, BHEL at Goindwal Sahib. According to Mr Inder Raj Soni, Commissioner, Chandigarh Central Excise Commissionerate-II, BHEL is engaged in the manufacture of industrial valves. He said the Tiruchirappalli office of BHEL entered into a contract with the buyers for the manufacture and supply of industrial valves and placed an order with the Goindwal unit of the public sector undertaking. The modus operandi adopted by the Goindwal Sahib unit of BHEL has been of under valuation of the products. It supplied goods directly to the buyers and paid Central excise at a lower rate at the time of removal of goods from factory while the Tiruchirappalli office of BHEL, which is a commercial office, raised commercial invoices on the same goods by escalating their value; thus charging enhanced price from the buyers. This resulted in the suppression of the value and huge evasion of duty on the differential value. Mr Soni said during the scrutiny of records of BHEL at Goindwal Sahib, the preventive staff members were able to lay their hands on an interdepartmental correspondence of the Senior Accounts Officer of Goindwal Sahib unit to the Finance department of Tiruchirapplli office suggesting for concealing and suppressing actual information regarding the actual price recovered from the customers by the Tiruchirappalli unit from the Department of Central Excise. Preliminary scrutiny of the accounts revealed that Central Excise to the tune of Rs 26 lakh had been evaded by the Goindwal Sahib unit between 1992 and 1997 and Rs 11 lakh was the interest payable on the duty so evaded. Sensing the gravity of
the situation the Goindwal Sahib unit has deposited Rs 37
lakh voluntarily, including interest. Enquiries are in
progress, Mr Soni added. |
4 new HCS, PCS officers for
city CHANDIGARH, June 24 — The Chandigarh Administration has decided to repatriate three provincial civil service officers to their parent State cadres after selecting their replacements from the panels sent by the governments of Punjab and Haryana. The Administration has selected Mr Ashok Sanghwan and Mr S.P. Arora from Haryana and Mr D.S. Saroya and Mr Tejinder Singh Dhaliwal from Punjab. They will replace Mr Abhey Singh Yadav (Haryana) and Mr Mohan Lal Sharma and Mr Daljit Singh Mangat (Punjab). One post of Administrative Officer, Government Medical College Hospital, has been lying vacant for some time now. Sources in the Administration confirmed that the selection of the new officers had been made on the basis of the records sent by their respective State Governments. Mr D.S. Saroya had stints with the Chandigarh Administration before. Mr Saroya held the post of Subdivisional Magistrate (Central)-cum- Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner. Mr Tejinder Singh Dhaliwal belongs to the 1984 batch of the PCS while Mr D.S. Saroya is from the 1990 batch. Mr Mohan Lal Sharma, who is presently Chief General Manager, Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation, belongs to the 1994 batch. Also repatriated with him is Mr Daljit Singh Mangat, Director of Public Instruction (Schools) who belongs to the 1991 batch of the PCS. Mr Ashok Sanghwan belongs to the1991 batch of the HCS while his colleague selected by the Administration, Mr Satya Pal Arora, belongs to the 1995 batch of the State Civil Service. The posting orders of Mr
Tejinder Singh Dhaliwal, Mr D.S. Saroya, Mr Ashok
Sanghwan and Mr Satya Pal Arora will be issued only when
they report to the Administration. |
'Don't force scribes to tell
news source' SAS NAGAR, June 24 — The Punjab Home Affairs and Justice Department has directed the district magistrates to ensure that reporters or editors of newspapers are not summoned for the purpose of disclosing sources of news as it was a violation of the Press Council Act, 1978. According to a letter, issued recently by the department to all districts heads, the practice of summoning and forcing reporters and editors to divulge the source of news should be discontinued immediately. "Henceforth, no communication should be sent to reporters or editors in this regard," the directive said, adding," It has come to the notice of the government that some reporters and editors were being summoned by the authorities at the district level for disclosing source of their news." The letter has also
referred to Sections 15 (1 and 2) and 13 of the Press
Council Act, 1978, which says,"Nothing shall be done
to compel any newspaper editor or reporter to disclose
the source." |
Clarification on helmets sought Chandigarh, June 24 — While the Chandigarh Traffic Police has set up 29 check points for the drive to check traffic violations starting tomorrow, it has sought a clarification from the Home Department, Chandigarh Administration, about the use of helmets by women riding or driving two-wheelers in the city. Till a clarification is issued, women driving or riding two-wheelers will have to be challaned as per the directions of the court, the Superintendent of Police (SP), Traffic, Mr Balbir Singh, said. In case the home department clarified that women were exempted from using helmets, no challans would be issued till further orders, he added. Challaning is a must due to the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued in July last year. The Supreme Court had stayed the order and later vacated the stay on some issues. after this, the police sought clarifications on certain points, including use of helmets by women, police officials said. Before the judgement, women in the city were exempted from wearing a helmet while driving or riding two-wheelers. Besides, new traffic regulations come into force from tomorrow while those regulations pertaining to school buses will be enforced once the schools open after the summer vacations.Rajmeet Singh PANCHKULA: The Panchkula police will challan motorists for driving vehicles having tinted glasses from June 28. According to Mr Alok
Mittal, SP, the drive will be launched on the pattern of
the Chandigarh police and special nakas will be set up at
various places all over the district. |
Licensing authority to open new
branches Chandigarh, June 24 — The UT Licensing and Registration Authority of Motor Vehicles will open branches in various parts of the city to streamline the functioning of the department. This proposal will also benefit city residents who will be able to get their documents virtually at their doorstep. Offices will be opened in Mani Majra and in some northern and southern sectors. While the hunt for space for housing the offices is on in the sectors, the space for Mani Majra is likely to be finalised in the office of the Municipal Corporation in the township. Five to six offices are proposed. Sources in the department say the process is underway and the necessary infrastructure is likely to be in place in three to four months. The rush is always more on the branch as documents for the entire city are being accepted and processed at one place. The pressure on the infrastructure at the Estate Office in Sector 17 is tremendous, resulting in frequent breakdown of equipment, causing harassment to the public. Another reason for the delay in opening of the offices is that an alternate system of preparing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cards in place of the present colour printouts on plain paper is also being finalised. All the formalities in this context have been completed and the launch of the new system is expected shortly. Tenders for the same are being being floated soon, sources add. The new system, with state-of-the-art software and equipment, will be given to a private party on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis for five years, after which the department will take it over and operate it. This will ensure that lakhs needed to install the project will be saved. After the completion of the contract period, the department might have the expertise to operate the system independently. This way, resources can be saved for other facilities. Sources claim that the backlog of almost 15,000 to 17,000 pending cases has been cleared and the relevant data has been fed into computers. A private firm has been engaged to carry out data entry, which will be completed in a week. Now only the printouts are being taken and at present 400 to 450 licences are being prepared. The backlog will be cleared in a fortnight, sources add. It could have been done earlier but the thrust is on not letting new cases lag behind for the convenience of old ones. The absence of more colour printers has also hampered the functioning of the branch in the past but in view of the installation of the new system, no new expenditure is being entailed by the department at present. After this period,
licences will be available within a week's time while in
the case of registration copies, persons are given
completed documents the same day. Regarding the old
registration cases, the storeroom is being set in order
and the same will also be cleared within a fortnight,
sources add. |
Money for welfare of jawans Chandigarh, June 24 — Many local organisations have donated money to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund for welfare of jawans fighting in Kargil. The Chandigarh Food Products Manufacturers Association has contributed Rs 1.44 lakh to the fund. A cheque for the sum was handed over to the Adviser, Ms Vineeta Rai, by Mr Gian Chand Gupta, president of the association, here today. She appreciated the gesture of the association and hoped that other organisations would come forward and donate liberally. The faculty and staff of the Government Medical College, Sector 32, have decided to donate a day's salary towards the welfare of those injured in Operation Vijay, according to a statement issued by Prof V.K. Kak, Director-Principal of the college. The employees of all the milk unions and dairy development cooperative federation have decided to donate a day's salary to the Haryana Chief Minister's War Heroes Relief Fund. This was stated by Mr Ramendra Jakhu, MD of the federation. The staff of the
Regional Computer Centre has decided to donate one day's
salary towards the Prime Minister's relief Fund as a
token of gratitude to the soldiers. |
Police order on guest houses PANCHKULA, June 24 — The local police has written to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) seeking closure of the guest houses running from residential accommodation in the township. At least 10 guest houses are presently running in different sectors here. The police has sought closure of the guest houses as they have been running in violation of the HUDA Act which prohibits the use of residential accommodation for purposes other than allotted for. In the past HUDA had ordered closure of business activity being run from the residential premises. Even some houses were resumed by HUDA. According to sources the
guest houses are being run in Sectors 4, 7, 8, 9 and 17.
The Superintendent of Police, Mr Alok Mittal, said there
was apprehension that the guest houses could be used by
anti-social elements in the wake of the conflict in
Kargil. |
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Court restrains
truck union According to a copy of the order received here today, the plaintiff company has filed a suit for permanent injunction restraining the defendants from interfering its peaceful transportation business and charging any fee from it. It has also asked that no fee should be charged from other vehicles like trailers and open-platform trucks hired by it for carrying out transportation job for Punjab Tractors Limited SAS Nagar and Chapparchirri. The judge has written in her order that the parties are directed to appear before the court of Mrs Seema Dhillon, Civil Judge (Junior Division) of Kharar. Chhabils mark nirjalla ekadeshi Residents and passersby were offered sweetened water at the “chhabils”, mainly organised by the resident’s welfare associations, market committees and voluntary organisations on the roadside. Boiled black gram was also offered as “prasad”. At some places “aloo puris” were also served. Visitors were offered sweetened water and “aloo puris” at a big “chhabil” organised by traders in the Sector 17 market. Call Telecom Dept before
digging Monsoon season usually entailed digging of certain places by several UT departments or members of the public and this could damage the underground telephone cables, the department said today. Footpath workers stage rally The protesters, who assembled near the labour roundabout in Sector 20, raised slogans against the Administration for the inordinate delay in granting licences to footpath workers and vendors. They, however, hailed the role of the Adviser, Mrs Vineeta Rai, for her positive stance in clearing the decks for granting identity cards to 2,274 vendors. The leaders of the samiti said while it had been agreed to issue identity cards, nothing had been done towards that end. In the absence of the identity cards the vendors were being harassed by the enforcement staff of the Municipal Corporation. The protesters also expressed their solidarity with the troops fighting in Kargil. The samiti members would burn an effigy of the Pakistan Prime Minister near the transport chowk lights on Friday. 3 BRD contests ex-JWO's claim In a press release issued here today, a spokesman of the 3 BRD said it was strange that Harsev Singh Saini, to whom all benefits, including full pension, were granted, had levelled such an allegation, especially when his son was also absorbed as a lower division clerk, even as it was not mandatory for the IAF to do so. The spokesman said the son of Mr Saini was not absorbed for some time as firstly, he had not attained the requisite age, and moreover, there were more deserving cases, which had to be given priority. He was employed on merit in the normal course in March, 1999, and not consequent to the court directions, which were for considering his case as per prevailing rules only, as had been claimed by the former JWO, he added. Special congregation on June 27 According to Mr Amrit Singh Chaudhary, Convener of the gurdwara and General Secretary of the Kahuta association, Ms Kiranjot Kaur, granddaughter of Master Tara Singh, will attend the programme. Ms Upinderjit Kaur, daughter of former minister Atma Singh, Mr Narinder Singh, Mr Sewa Singh Sekhwan and Mr Sikander Singh Maluka — all Punjab Ministers, Mr Harnam Singh Shan, a Sikh historian, Mr Rawel Singh and Dr Kuldip Singh will also participate in the programme. There will be Gurbani kirtan by Bhai Ravinder Singh of Sri Darbar sahib. An exhibition on the heritage of the Khalsa will also be organised the same day, he added. Sharif’s effigy burnt According to Mr Dixit Kaushal (Goru), President of the unit, procession started from Nagar Khera dharamshala and passed through various parts of Kurali. Two dairies demolished According to sources in the department, the demolition exercise, involving about 40 officials of the Estate Office and of Police, started at around 11 a.m. and lasted for three hours. The dairies had been constructed on land belonging to the PUDA. Summer school ends The children enjoyed themselves playing various games of skill, dancing to different tunes, besides participating in quizzes. The Director of the
school, Mrs Ravinder Sabharwal, plans to hold more such
classes for children to ensure their overall personality
development. |
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