Woman commits suicide
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Nov 14 — A 55-year old woman, Kamlesh Sodhi, reportedly committed suicide by immolating herself at her house on the premises of Saket hospital on Friday night.

Her son, Manjit Singh, found her charred body in the kitchen of the house yesterday morning. The body has been sent for post-mortem to the General Hospital, Sector 6.

A case under Section 174 of CrPC has been registered. She was working as a clerk at the hospital and had been in depression for some time, family sources said.

CHANDIGARH

Three booked: Three persons were booked for creating nuisance after drinking liquor at a public place in Sector 17. According to the police, Saran Pal of Kum Kalan in Ludhiana district, Ravinder Singh of Kansal village and Om Parkash of Dhanas were nabbed and booked under the Excise Act.

Art exhibition opens
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARHNov 14 —An art exhibition which opened at the Rose Garden Art gallery here today will be organised in various parts of Punjab and Delhi shortly.

The annual art exhibition, organised by the Lalit Kala Akademi, opened after a gap of nearly two years. A sculptors’ workshop will also be organised shortly.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Mr J.R. Kundal, Secretary in the Public Health Department. Eleven artists were awarded on the occasion.

The category of above 30 years’ age included Bheem Malhotra who got Dr M.S. Randhawa Memorial Award, Desh Ranjan with Amrita Shergill Award, Devinder Singh with Sobha Singh Memorial Award and Satwant Singh with Dr Inderjit Singh Memorial Award.

The award winners in the lower than 30 years’ age group included Harmanjit Kaur Saini with Darvesh Foundation Memorial Award, Jagdeep Kaur with Chitarkar Kirpal Singh Memorial Award, Manjit Singh Gill with Diwan Singh Kalepani Award. Preeti Mann, Rajesh Tenghur , Rajesh Kalsi and Vishal Bhatnagar were awarded in the same category.

The seniors were awarded Rs 5,000 each for their creation, while the young bagged Rs 3,000 each. The exhibition will remain open till November 30.

Creations titled ‘Perceptions of time through me’ by Harmanjit Saini, ‘Worry’ in terracota by Manjit Singh Gill, ‘Landscape’ by Bheem Malhotra and ‘Ups and Downs’ by Rajesh Tenghur drew public attraction.

Apple, grapes dearer
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 14 — Apple and grapes have become dearer here during the past one week.

During a survey of local markets, it was found that if a kg of delicious variety of apple was priced at Rs 30 last week, it could be had today for Rs 40. The wholesale price has increased from Rs 275 to Rs 325 per 17 kg pack. Similarly, the price of Kinnauri variety of the fruit has jumped from Rs 50 to Rs 60 a kg in the retail market and from Rs 650 to Rs 800 per 17 kg pack in wholesale market. The price of the golden variety of the fruit has also increased from Rs 30-35 to Rs 40 a kg in retail and from Rs 500 to Rs 600 per 17 kg pack in wholesale market.

The price of pomegranate has also increased from Rs 40 to Rs 50 in retail and from Rs 120 to Rs 150 per 4 kg pack in wholesale market. Same was the case with orange as its price has increased from Rs 40 to Rs 50 a dozen and from Rs 250 to Rs 300 per eight dozen in wholesale market. Mausambi was priced at Rs 60 a dozen in retail and for Rs 120 per 3 dozen in wholesale market. One could purchase guava for Rs 20 a kg in retail and for Rs 12 a kg in wholesale market.

'Baggugosha' could be purchased in retail for Rs 50 a kg and in wholesale market for Rs 600 per 20 kg. "Cheeku" was priced at Rs 40 a kg in retail and for Rs 170 per 8 kg pack. Grapes have also become dearer during this period as the price of a kg of the fruit has jumped from Rs 80 to Rs 100 in retail and from Rs 130 to Rs 180 per 2.5 kg in wholesale market. There was no change in the price of banana as it was stable at Rs 20 per one dozen in retail and for Rs 120 per 100 pieces in wholesale market. Same was the case with papaya as it could be purchased in retail for Rs 20 a kg and in wholesale market for Rs 14 a kg. Pineapple price has come down from Rs 35 to Rs 30 per piece in retail and from Rs 25 to Rs 20 a piece in wholesale market.

More reshuffle in the offing

THE Chandigarh Administration has witnessed some changes at the top during the past one week. A couple of more are in the offing. The most significant of these changes has been that of the Senior Superintendent of Police where Mr Parag Jain, an IPS officer of the 1989 batch belonging to the Punjab cadre, has joined, replacing Mr CSR Reddy, who had perhaps the longest tenure of more than five years as SSP, Chandigarh. Equally interesting was the replacement of the Superintending Engineer, Electricity Operations, Mr P.S. Chawla. At one stage, the Administration wanted to retain him because of some major ongoing projects. Suddenly, his repatriation was ordered. Even the PSEB was not keen to replace Mr Chawla. His place in the Administration has been taken by Mr J.N. Sachdeva, also a Superintending Engineer from the PSEB.

The Administration will soon have yet another woman officer, Ms Varsha Joshi, an IAS officer of the AGMU (UT) cadre belonging to the 1995 batch, may join the Administration soon. The Union Home Ministry has placed her services at the disposal of the Administration for appointment as Secretary, Chandigarh Housing Board.

Transfers in the Administration in the wake of the directions from the Central Vigilance Commission are also in the offing. The CVC wants that those holding sensitive positions for three or more years should be replaced by those holding non-sensitive positions for a similar length of time.

Committee: After a gap of nearly two years, the Chandigarh Administration has reconstituted the Press Accreditation Committee under the chairmanship of Mr Hari Jaisingh, Editor, The Tribune.

The number of journalists covering the Chandigarh beat has multiplied during the past few years, mainly because of new publications from here and also because of other newspapers, especially the vernacular Press, getting correspondents for the city beat exclusively. The new committee may consider extending number of correspondents from each newspaper to be accredited in view of the changed scenario here.

The newly constituted committee, which has 22 members, including the Director Public Relations as its Member Secretary, has four representatives from Indian Express, three from The Tribune, one each from Punjabi Tribune, Dainik Tribune, Jansatta, Divya Himachal, Ajit , Times of India, Economic Times, Arth Prakash, UNI, PTI, AIR, Arth Prakash, Siti Cable and two from the Hind Samachar group of newspapers.

Longest tenure: Mr Piyush Kumar Verma, who recently relinquished charge as Secretary to Governor of Punjab-cum-Administrator of Chandigarh, has a record of sorts to his credit. He had the longest tenure in Raj Bhavan. Only two other officers who could come anywhere near him had been Mr GPS Sahi and Mr Y.S. Ratra. But both these officers had stayed in Raj Bhavan as Secretary to Governor for about five years each while Mr Verma stayed much longer.

For Mr Verma, it was a little different also. He had earlier served as Home Secretary, Chandigarh Administration until 1989. So his association with the Chandigarh Administration had been of almost a decade, the longest by any bureaucrat.

Confusion: Are you aware of Sector 46 in SAS Nagar and Sector 61 in Chandigarh? If you want to look at the official maps of both Chandigarh and SAS Nagar, then your probable answer would be ‘‘No’’. But in reality, it is true.

Problems of territorial jurisdictions apart, the residents of both Chandigarh and SAS Nagar are facing a plethora of problems because of these jurisdictional controls. For example, only a portion of Sector 46 falls in SAS Nagar. And those living in SAS Nagar portion write their addresses as Sector 46 SAS Nagar while their counterparts in the same Sector write Chandigarh with their addresses. The SAS Nagar residents of this Sector are beneficiary to the extent that whenever they board CTU buses from Sector 46, they pay fares at par with the Chandigarh residents.

On the other hand, those living in Sector 61 of Chandigarh are forced to pay SAS Nagar fare, which is Rs 3 more per trip to city, than anywhere else in the entire Union Territory. There is no direct access to Sector 61 of Chandigarh as CTU buses have to move through SAS Nagar to reach this sector.

Similarly, the residents of Sector 61 also face a unique problem of octroi barriers on either side of their Sector while those in Sector 46, who live in SAS Nagar, have no such hassles.

Musical IG: The Inspector General of Police, Mr S.K. Singh, has a great liking for music. He is well-versed in classical music and is even able to find time out of his busy schedule for his “riaz”, which he undertakes daily with harmonium as his sole companion. Mr Singh, who is a diploma holder in classical vocal music from Gandharva Vidayalaya, Delhi, is a disciple of IS Bawra, an eminent music teacher of the Capital.

What led him to take music as passion? It was the death of his wife in 1994, which created a void in his life. He is so passionate about music that he gets recorded notations of lessons in music from Delhi and practices them here. When asked whether he would like to adopt music on a professional basis, he replied in the negative. My affair with music is private and pious as it was with my wife" .

Environment awareness: The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has selected a number of government organisations and non-government organisations (NGOs) for carrying out various awareness-cum-action programmes under the National Environment Awareness Campaign for the year 1999-2000. These organisations will get financial assistance from the ministry through the Environment Society of India (ESI) to supplement their activities. The theme for this year is "keep our environment clean and green." The ESI will hold workshops for the selected organisations to brief them on the activities to be undertaken.

Twentyone government and NGOs as against 19 during last year have been selected from Chandigarh this year under this campaign.

In Haryana, 59 organisations in 15 districts as against 58 in 16 districts last year have been selected. The maximum number of such organisations were in Rohtak district (17) followed by Sonepat (8), Faridabad (7), Karnal (6), Gurgaon (5). In other districts, their number is 1-2 NGOs.

The number of army units under the Western Command, Chandimandir, taking part in this campaign dropped drastically from 50 in 1998-99 to 13 this year. Surely an effort is required by the Ecology Cell.

Pollution in Panchkula: Pollution has made inroads in Panchkula. Besides garbage dumps everywhere, air pollution is now becoming a common sight. Surveys carried out by the ESI have revealed that the Sector 10B road starting from its entry to exit towards Sector 11 is the most polluted amongst all the B roads in various sectors.

About 1,400 vehicles run on this road in a day with high speed. Sometimes, there is a road blockage. In the evening hours, it is very difficult to walk or cross this road. The emission from the vehicles has forced the residents to close their doors.

The Sanatan Dharam temple, Janjghar and some dharamshalas are situated on this road. During festivals and marriage parties, the number of vehicles increases sharply. Besides, many vehicles pass through this road to get direct entry to the Sector 11 market. Surely remedial measures like construction of speed breakers, declaring this road as one way traffic, and closing down of the direct entry in Sector 11 market are necessary. Some school buses now run on the sector dividing road to pick up and drop children in the morning and evening hours. Others should follow this example.

Selective: It appears that the local Municipal Corporation has adopted a discriminatory policy as far as removal of encroachments and hedges in Southern and Northern sectors is concerned.

While the civic body staff more or less makes sure that encroachments, mostly in shape of hedges outside houses, are removed after a gap of some time in southern sectors, no such initiative is being taken in northern sectors. In the absence of a drive residents of these areas who in most cases are influential politicians and bureaucrats, prefer to encroach upon the government land outside their houses by putting up hedges, iron grills or bamboo sticks with impunity. Such encroachments are particularly visible in Sectors 16, 9, 5, and 8, resulting in inconvenience to people.

Admitting that there had been no proper initiative for removal of hedges and other forms of encroachments, Mr M.P. Singh, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, explained that the anti-encroachment operation was undertaken by the civic body staff before recarpeting roads in an area. As most of recarpeting work was being undertaken in southern sectors, the visibility of the anti encroachment action was more in these sectors. He, however, assured that a separate policy for removal of encroachments, particularly in areas where these had not been done so far would be formed soon.

ITBP sport meet opens
From Our Correspondent

BHANU (Ramgarh), Nov 14 — The 19th inter-sector annual sport meet of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force started at the Basic Training Centre, Bhanu, here today.

After releasing pigeons, Mr Divakar Prasad, Inspector-General, ITBP Force Headquarters, declared the meet open and took the salute at a marchpast by athletes. Besides volley shots, colourful balloons were released.

He highlighted the force's achievements. He said the force had been entrusted with internal security and VIP security. The force had rendered help to civil administration along northern border during natural calamities, he said.

Mr S.C. Nayar, Additional Deputy Inspector-General of the centre, welcomed the chief guest and thanked Mr Gautam Kaul, Director-General of ITBP, for allotting the meet to Bhanu for the third time. A ribbon PT display was organised.

As many as 207 athletes from seven sectors are participating in the 23 track and field events in the three-day meet. The results of the first day's competitions are — relay race (4x400 m): Himachal Pradesh 1, Jammu and Kashmir-I 2, Jammu and Kashmir-II 3; shotput: Upender Singh (J and K-I) 1, Sultan Singh (L and C) 2, Anand Shah (J and K-I) 3; 1500 m: Pradeep Singh (HP) 1, Sawamy V.P. (Garhwal) 2, Satpal Singh (Garhwal) 3; high jump: T.S. Sumesh Kumar (Garhwal) 1, Balbir Singh (Garhwal) 2, Shri Bhagwan (HP) 3.

Delhi win carrom series: Delhi clinched the title in the two-day second triangular carrom test series which concluded at St Stephen's School, Sector 45, here on Sunday.

Delhi got 10 points while Chandigarh got second position with 7 points. Haryana was placed third with 1 point.

Results — Delhi b Haryana 3-0 (Mohd Waseem b Saurabh Sharma 13-25, 25-5,14-11, Mohd Aseef b Gaurav Khungar 24-04, 18-04, Ashish Singh b Mohinder Sharma 11-25, 25-13, 21-01); Delhi b Chandigarh 2-1 (Mohd Waseem b Tejinder Harry 17-16, 24-6, Mohd Arshi b Gagandeep 11-25, 24-15, 25-5, Ashish Singh lost to Ramanpreet 21-17, 10-24, 13-17); Chandigarh b Haryana 3-0 (Tejinder Harry b Mohinder Sharma 17-22, 25-1, 24-9, Sanjay Negi b Gaurav Khungar 5-20, 21-15, 24-4, Gagandeep b Saurabh Sharma 24-6, 14-0). In other league matches yesterday, Delhi beat Chandigarh 2-1, Delhi b Haryana 3-0 and Chandigarh b Haryana 2-1.

Chandigarh yoga: The 23th Chandigarh Open yoga championship concluded at Government Yoga Centre, Sector 23, with more than 350 participants from 20 institutions. The age groups were from 8 years to above 50 years.

Results — girls: 8-12 years- team championship — Shivalik Public School-41 1, Government Girls School-25 2, AKS International Public School-41 3; individual — Ruchika Sharma 1, Ritika 2, Supriya 3; boys: 8-14 years- team championship — Air Force School 1, Government Girls School-25 2, SPS-41 3; individual — Vikas 1, Vishal 2, Navneet 3; girls: 12-18 years- team championship — Government Girls High School-25 1, GCG-11 2, Vedic Girls SS 3; individual — Samita 1, Shallu Rani 2, Parminder 3; boys: 14-20 years- team championship — DAVC-10 1, GGDSDC-32 2, YCM-Ramgaon 3; individual — Gurpreet Singh 1, Paras Arora 2, Hanish Kumar 3; girls: 18-25 years- team championship — MCDAV-36 1, 2, 3; individual — Meenakshi Khurana 1, Poonam 2, Harjinder Kaur 3; boys: 20-30 years- team championship — GC-46 1, PUC-14 2, Government Yoga Centre 3; individual — Rahul 1, Kamal Grover 2, Harish Kumar 3.

Inter-school cricket: Hosts St John's High School carved out a 89-run win over Saupin's School, Panchkula, in under-10 section of the Blessed Edmund Rice inter-school cricket tournament. In another match, Edmund Rice-26 outplayed St Anne's-32 by 7 runs.

Brief scores — first match: St John's 181 for 4 in 20 overs (Karan Dhanoa 72, Devjot Singh 29 n.o., Ish Dhand 23); Saupin's 91 for 3 in 20 overs (Amit 11); second match: Edmund Rice 113 for 4 in 20 overs (Ketan 2 for 18); St Anne's 106 for 7 in 20 overs (Abhijit 22, Praveer Singh 2 for 10).

City shooter shines: Jasmeen Kaur Brar of Government Model Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 18, won 3 gold medals in two national shooting meets held recently.

She won 2 gold medals in the tenth GV Mavlankar national shooting championship (NR) held at Ahemdabad. She scored 330 points out of 400 to set a new meet record and win the gold medal in air rifle (NR) in the junior women's category. She also won a gold medal in the senior women's category.

She won the gold medal in the All-India Surindra Singh inter-school shooting championship at Meerut. In the air rifle (NR) event, she scored 310 points out of 400 to set a new meet record.

DAV-15 win title: DAV Model School, Sector 15, won the All-India Mahatma Hansraj inter-zone basketball tournament, held at Ranchi in Bihar recently, by defeating a team from Rajasthan 75-34 in the final.

The highest scorer was Harminder Singh with 42 points, while Bahadur and Aman netted 12 and 10 points, respectively. In the semi-final, DAV-15 defeated a team from Himachal Pradesh 59-12.

PGI win JAL Cup: A good performance by Gupreet Sonu, who scored 78 runs off 62 deliveries and claimed 4 wickets for 14 runs, helped PGI Cricket Club win the third JAL Cup cricket tournament at the Cricket Stadium, Sector 16, here on Sunday.

In the final, PGI beat Mohali Gymkhana Cricket Club by 9 wickets. Mr Charanjit Ahuja, Secretary-General, Chandigarh Press Club, gave away the prizes.

Mohali club won the toss, elected to bat first and scored 182 runs for 9 wickets in the stipulated 35 overs. Munish Arora scored 84 not out. Harjit Bobby scored 43 runs. They were involved in a 90-run third wicket partnership. Anil Chaudhary took 3 wickets for 24 runs. Rajinder Singh scored 66 not out for winners.

National shooting: Chandigarh won one gold, three silver and five bronze medals in the ninth GV Mavlankar national shooting championship held at Ahmedabad recently.

According to Mr Vijay Pal Singh, Secretary of the Chandigarh Rifle Association, Aarti Mehta won silver in .22 std rifle and gold in junior section with 490 points out of 600.

In junior women's section, she won bronze with 508 points out of 600 and in air rifle OS senior women (NR) she clinched bronze with 325 points out of 400 and in junior women, she won silver medal.

Harwinder Singh won silver in centre fire pistol with 276 points out of 300. Holinder Singh got bronze in .22 std. They were from Chandigarh police.

Gurparnit Sekhon won bronze in air rifle OS sub-junior men's section with 294 points out of 400. Pavittar Singh secured bronze in .22 std rifle prone (NR) in junior men's section with 526 points out of 600.

Give elders their rightful status

THE United Nations is celebrating 1999 as the International Year of the Aged. In the past 50 years, global life expectancy has increased by 20 years to its present level of 66.In India, life expectancy was just 23 years in 1901. It took 95 years to bring it to 62 in 1996. The real challenge for society today is to take care of the aged and make best use of their wisdom which they have acquired over the years. A World Health Organisation (WHO) report was rightly said: “Old age is not an affliction but a great opportunity to make use of resources acquired over the course of life. Old people can be an asset to the society.” Moreover, providing alternative economic and social security support to the elderly is not only a necessary social welfare measure but is also essential to stimulate the acceptance of small family norms. Family is the best place for elderly people because they get chance to interact with the people of all age groups. They can be happy and make their contribution in running the family. There could be problem of generation gap in the family but even then the elderly feel more secured and less constrained in their home.In 1950, there were about 200 million persons aged 60 and above in the world; this figure now stands at 550 million, and is expected to reach a billion mark by 2020. In India, the percentage of aged is still 6.8 which accounts for 56.7 million people but will rise to 76 million by 2001, representing 7.7 per cent of the population.

While ageing is a natural process, its onset can be delayed by having an active life. The elderly are more prone to diseases of hypertension, heart, diabetes, arthritis. The best way to avoid health-related problems is by leading active social life. Moreover, ‘One is as old as one thinks he is’.

On ‘Ageing: exploding the myths’, a WHO paper lists a few directions, which if followed whole-heartedly, can lead to active and healthy ageing. The list is as follows:- (i) Smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol should be avoided. (ii) Young girls, and pregnant and lactating women should get balanced nutrition. (iii) Babies should be breast-fed for at least four months. (iv) One should exercise regularly. This would include simple things like walking, climbing stairs and doing housework. (v) Consume a diet high in fibre and low in animal fat and salt. (vi) Keep your weight in check. (vii) Stay involved in your family and community, a club or a religious organisation.

Few old people know that their children are required by law to maintain them. Under Section 20(1) of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, an aged and infirm parent, if unable to maintain himself, is entitled to maintenance. Again, Section 125(1) (d) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc), 1973, makes it incumbent on a person having sufficient means to maintain his parents who are unable to maintain themselves. By submitting proof of neglect of old parents, a first class magistrate can order their children to provide them a monthly allowance not exceeding Rs 500.

Himachal Pradesh has taken the lead by passing the Himachal pradesh Maintenance of Parents and Dependents Bill, 1996. It entitles parents and grand parents above 60 to appeal to a tribunal (to be formed under the Bill) for the maintenance from their children. The tribunal, after assessing the applicant’s financial needs and income, can order the children to pay either a one-time lumpsum or monthly or periodic allowances. The tribunal, bound to decide every application within six months, shall have the same force as the CrPC. Despite the 1956 Act and Cr PC, cases of children abandoning their aged parents are on the increase.

The need of the hour is recognition of the precious qualities of age. We need modesty and pay heed to the wisdom and judgement of those who have coped and learned from life. By keeping such an attitude, we would return to our elders their rightful status.

Sanjay Khurana
Chandigarh

Courts for senior citizens

It was heartening to read in Chandigarh Tribune of November 2 that the Constitutional Rights Council (CRPC) has demanded separate tribunals and courts for the speedy disposal of cases concerning senior citizens.

Thanks to the government’s liberal economic policies, unscrupulous finance companies are openly cheating people of their hard earned money by luring them with a false promise of paying higher rate of interest on their fixed deposits. Managers of these companies take advantage of weakness in the legal system, not only by paying the promised interest but also by not refunding the principal amount after the date of maturity. Thousands of people are now victims of such fruad committed by such finance companies with impunity.

National convener of the CRPC Veer Vikram Aditya has rightly pointed out that 80 per cent of such fraud concerns senior citizens who have neither the energy left nor the money to fight long legal battle. Hence, the need for separate tribunals and courts for senior citizens is justified.

J.C. Sharma
Panchkula

Flyover

It is gratifying to know that the Chandigarh Administration is planning to smoothen the traffic flow at Transport Chowk by providing flyover. It is suggested that instead of flyover, an under-passage be provided on the Industrial Area-Timber Market road. Underpassage costs less than a third and the construction time is also less. Under-passage wil also not spoil the urban landscape.

Under-passage is used extensively abroad and should be provided at all major crossings in the city.

Tarun Mathur
Chandigarh