34 years, but no compensation
By Rajendra Sharma
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 29 — In the 1965 Indo-Pak war Kaka Singh fought heroically at the Khem Karan sector for defending his motherland. Now he is fighting in courts for getting the promised compensation.

Belonging to Zirakpur village in Ropar district, 65-year-old Kaka Singh shows deep scars on his chest caused by a powerful bomb blast. He was admitted to the Army Hospital at Dehradun. Both his eyes were removed. Since he had lost his eyesight, he was declared disabled and discharged from the Army in 1970 on the recommendations of the Medical Board. At the time of his discharge he was given some paltry pension.

"When I was under treatment at the Army Hospital, Dehradun," says Kaka Singh, "Col Shri Ram of Central Command, Lucknow, had promised that if my eyesight was not restored, I would be given Rs 1 lakh by way of financial assistance, one house to live in and 30 acres of land in Ropar district. Since then 30 years have gone by but I have received neither the compensation nor the house nor the promised 30 acres of land."

During the past three decades Kaka Singh has met successive Chief Ministers of Punjab from Mr Gurmukh Singh Musafir, to Mr Gurnam Singh, Giani Zail Singh, Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Mr Darbara Singh. What did all these Chief Ministers do for Kaka Singh? They merely expressed words of sympathy.

He claimed that he had also met Mrs Indira Gandhi and handed over his representation to her. She, too, had promised to help him. "It is true that the Sub Divisional Officer and Tehsildar had visited me on December 20,1983, perhaps on the instructions of Mrs Indira Gandhi. It is also true that they had recommended his case to the Deputy Commissioner of Ropar for the allotment of land." What happened to their recommendations Kaka Singh does not know.

"I am illiterate. I am blind. I do not have enough money to travel and pursue my case with different authorities," says Kaka Singh.

When he did not get any favourable response from the authorities, he has filed a case in the court for directing the authorities to pay him the promised compensation.

What Kaka Singh regrets the most is that all those persons who fought in the 1965 Indo-Pak war or the widows of those who sacrificed their lives in the war are paid pension at the old rate. The government did not revise their pension or pay them any allowance for the education of their children.

He suggests that the government should grant them the minimum concession of two seats in a bus or train — one for those who lost their eyesight and one for a helper who can take them to their destination.

The indifference of the authorities to the demands of those who fought in the 1965 or the 1971 Indo-Pak wars has not dispirited the patriotism of Kaka Singh. "I am still willing to go to Kargil and fight for my motherland. I am also willing to send my children to join the Army and fight for the nation," he says.

Kaka Singh suggests that the government should not hold out such promises to the families of martyrs who sacrificed or are sacrificing their lives in the Kargil and Dras sectors which it does not intend to honour.

Partition victim recounts tragedy
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 29 — "Those were terrible times, when I saw 13 persons of my family being slaughtered before my eyes. The women and children were spared but the problems that we had undergo afterwards bring tears in my eyes. For a month I stayed alive on leaves and my one year and a half old daughter got nothing else to eat. With torn and tattered clothes and lice-infested hair we went around from one refugee camp to another."

This tale was told by 90-year-old Chando Bai, who was a victim of partition in 1947. She was in the city today at the release function of a women's Hindi monthly magazine, 'Nari Pehchan', where she was honoured. Living in an old-age home at Rajpura, Chando Bai was said she would not visit Pakistan. "my memories are full of blood and misery. I do not like to be reminded of those times," she said.

Hailing from Channigorh in Bahawalpur in Pakistan, Chando Bai recounted how after partition had been announced, three groups of young men came one day to plunder her village and to oust Hindus. "We realised that if we sought shelter in a masjid, the boys will not be able to kill us there. But since the masjid was small, somebody suggested that the men and boys could sit outside while women could stay inside. This was to be treachery as they killed all the men. in an hour, 550 persons were murdered."

Without shedding a tear, she continued, "I saw 13 men of my family die before my eyes. All of them were hacked to death with an axe from behind. Women did not have dupattas to cover their heads. A Muslim woman came to our rescue and gave us one duppata, which was torn to cover four heads."

Widowed after seven years of marriage, Chando Bai was sent to a refugee camp at Abohar, then to Kurukshetra and finally to Rajpura. Announcing proudly, "I come from a family of Hindu Khatri Aroras", she told how her family was asked to come to the fold of Islam but refused. "There was one person in our village who preferred going to their side but not from our family. Out of the two sons of the nawab in our village, one sided with Hindus. So we thought that partition would not affect us. It was not to be so."

On reaching India, Chando Bai worked as a labourer for some time to raise her daughter. Later, she helped in laming soaps and candles in the camps she stayed in. Her daughter has been married and widowed. she stays in Rajpura along with her two sons.

"That was one life and I have loads of memories of Pakistan. But most of these memories are full of fear and terror. The only thing left is to lead this life here in India peacefully. I would like to die here in Rajpura," she said.

The home in Rajpura, which has housed many such victims in the past, has two more such women — Swaran Kaur and Ram Dulari, both in their 90s. Speaking on their behalf, Chando Bai said, "We are being asked to go to Jallandhar, where better facilities are available. But we would like to stay here."

New trends in interior designing
By Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 29 — Corporate offices without cabins and guards and with lots of recreational facilities such as swimming pools, gardens, cafeterias, piped music and waterfalls may sound unbelievable but the trend is catching up in the country.

The corporate interior designing is undergoing a sea change. Cabins are virtually disappearing giving way to multipurpose workplaces. The use of environment-friendly material is on the increase and the concept of discussion rooms for visitors was coming in a big way.

These views were expressed by an eminent architect and winner of the Best Young Interior Corporate Designer Award of the Indian Institute of Interior Designers, Mumbai, for 1998, Mrs Geeta Uppal, while talking to Tribune News Service here today. Mrs Uppal was also awarded the second prize for residential interior designing by the jury headed by renowned architect, Mr U.C. Jain.

A product of the Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA), Mrs Uppal, who runs a consultancy firm in New Delhi along with her husband, Mr Sandeep Uppal, said while designing offices more stress was laid on creating a transparent and customer-friendly environment

Mrs Uppal explained how during office hours the entry of "unwanted" persons could be checked by issuing them the card swipe access (CSA). All that a visitor had to do was to punch the CSA at the entrance of a particular floor and the digital lock would open the door if the card was valid for that floor. Not only that after the office hours the infra-red instruments — a modified version of the close-circuit TV — took care of the security of corporate office and sounded the security agencies in case of emergency.

Talking about the new trends in corporate interior designing, the Uppals said big companies like the ICICI, Mumbai, had a terraced garden which was used for small get-together. Similarly, the CMC, Hyderabad, had a swimming pool, besides other recreational facilities, on its premises. Several corporate offices had jogging tracks, gyms and indoor games for the recreation of the employees.

The concept of discussion rooms was gaining popularity. Now the visitors were not supposed to come straight to the executive and disturb the work environment. Instead, the executive came to the discussion room and the visitors and the executive had a discussion in a formal manner.

Giving details of the projects they did in Chandigarh, they said the personlised branch of the Union Bank of India (UBI) had a waterfall, piped music and coffee vending machine for the convenience of the customers. Similarly, they had provided indoor games and were leaving space for more facilities at the Sector 17 office of the bank.

Baseball ‘getting popular’
By Arvind Katyal
Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, June 29 — Baseball, similar in certain respects to cricket, is all set to take off in India, felt Mr Yukichi Maeda, Secretary-General of the Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA), who was here in the city for the Asian Cup Baseball which concluded here this evening at the Panjab University grounds.

The Secretary-General of the Asian body disclosed that Japan took to baseball nearly 130 years ago and in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics it bagged a silver medal in the discipline. Cuba is the leader in baseball in the world and the USA comes after Japan. In the 1998 Inter Continental Cup Cuba has been beaten by Japan. the BFA has eighteen affiliated units, including India, and Yukichi was confident that looking at the growing popularity of this game, the number of affiliated units would increase in the next four years.

Mr P. Pandarwani, President of the Amateur Baseball Federation of India (ABFI), founded eight years back, said that except for specialised coaching other handicaps for the promotion of this game in the country had almost been overcome. Mr Pandarwani informed that at present the association was planning to start a training scheme for junior players with promise.

The ABFI had 22 units and every year one nationals in the subjunior, junior and senior levels were organised apart from the "little league" for players in the age group of 11 to 13, according to Mr P.C Bhardwaj, Secretary of the Indian body.

As far as the availability of equipment was concerned, except for aluminum bats, which were imported, the rest of the playing equipment were indigenous.

Mr Hector C. Navasero, President of the Philippine Baseball Association, said that the first Asia Cup in 1956 was bagged by has country. Although basketball was their national game,baseball was fast making inroads into the sports arena. When asked about his country's perfromance at theAsian Cup, Navasero instead wished "It would have been better if India had won this cup, thus making their entry for the Asian Championships scheduled in September at Seoul (South Korea)". Now the Philippines had made it to the Asian Championship.

About the participation of professional players in baseball, Yukichi revealed that from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, professional players would be allowed to participate in the Olympics.

He said that 108 countries nowadays played baseball and Asian countries were at second place after the USA followed by Europe, Oceania and Africa.

Regarding the training of Indian baseball players, Yukichi admitted there was great demand for coaches from abroad, but certain constraints needed to be overcome.

About the import of equipment, Mr Pandarwani said the International Baseball Association (IBA) sends equipment at subsided rates which was then passed to the respective state units.

Mr Pandarwani disclosed that as the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) had already included this sport in their annual calendar, the Association of Indian Universities was planning to include it in their calendar also.

Railway station to get a facelift
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 29 — The Chandigarh railway station would get a facelift and several new amenities would be added at the local level in the coming months, announced Mr Boota Singh, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of the Ambala Railway Division, while speaking at the concluding function of the two-day workshop organised by the Consumers Forum Chandigarh here today.

Among the major changes to be brought about are relocating the reservation counter away from the entrance, building waiting halls, on-the-spot refund of unused tickets, filtered drinking water, round-the-clock enquiry, signboards on roads, plan to prevent birds from wandering near the platform by providing alternative habitats nearby and proper uniform for porters.

Railways authorities also informed that the project to lay an electirc track between Ambala and Chandigarh was nearing completion. A second entry to the Chandigarh railway station would also come up. A new reservation centre would also be built in neighbouring Panchkula while the second entry from the township was near completion, Railways authorities said during the workshop.

The two-day workshop that concluded today has been organised by the forum in collaboration with the Consumer Co-ordination Council and the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, Delhi. Among other issues raised during a group discussion was the need to have every information on the public address system. It was felt that the quality of eatables available at the railway station should be improved. It was brought out during the workshop that a number of unauthorised vendors sold their wares at the station.

While discussing the issue of cleanliness, it was felt that travellers did not cooperate by not using dust bins at the station. The issue of clean drinking water was raised by Mr Jai Dev Singh, Chairman of the Consumers Forum Chandigarh. Members also asked about the procedure for finding about lost baggage and how an illiterate person could enquire about various services.

Mr Pawan Bansal, a former MP, who was present during the function, suggested that the Railways should include a system of ''frequent flier'' as followed by various airlines. Under this system, a traveller, not the monthly pass users, could be entitled to some kind of rebate or gift after travelling a fixed number of miles in a specified period.

Col Angad Singh (retd) asked what were ''dependable'' services as claimed by the Railways. Was the interpretation of the word 'dependable' according to what the Railways perceived, he asked.

Mani Majra colony in bad shape
By A Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, June 29 — The water works colony in the Manimajra complex is in a pathetic condition due to neglect on part of the authorities.

A resident of the colony said street lights do not work. The area is infested with about two to three feet of congress grass, making it difficult for children to play.

Pardeep Gupta, a resident of the colony, complained that the Public Works department had dug a pit in the colony to store coaltar. He said the pit was uncovered and unfenced and was proving dangerous, as a few days ago a child had fallen in the pit. He was later rescued by residents of the area. The dangerous pit had also claimed life of a number of stray animals in the area in the past.

Another resident of the colony said the watchman is rarely present at the entrance gate of the colony, making it easy for stray cattle to roam inside the colony. Another reason for the nuisance caused by stray cattle is a broken boundary wall.

Roads in the colony are in a bad shape, making it difficult for residents to drive at night. Garbage bins continue to overflow for many days.

Residents fear outbreak of some disease with the arrival of the monsoons and garbage littered all over the place.