Truck driver booked
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 3 — The local police has booked a truck driver for allegedly misappropriating a consignment of fruit boxes meant to be delivered at Balachaur.

According to a complaint by Mr Hardev Singh of the Transport Area here, a consignment of fruit boxes was to be sent by him to Balachaur for which he booked a truck (PB-13-C-8593) on September 9. But Avtaar Singh, driver of the truck, failed to deliver the consignment at Balachaur, Mr Hardev Singh said in his complaint, suspecting that the fruit boxes had been misappropriated by the truck driver. A case has been registered.

Car stolen: Mr Ashwani Moudgil, a resident of Sector 37, in a complaint to the police alleged that his car (CH01-7827) has been stolen from Sector 17.

Mr Rajinder Bains, a resident of Sector 22, reported that his Maruti car (CHOI-Z-0874) was stolen from his residence on the night of October 1.

Stage set for counting

THE stage is set for the counting of votes on October 6. Since Chandigarh is one of the 46 parliamentary constituencies where Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have been used this time, the result is expected to be announced early in the afternoon. A dress rehearsal for the counting staff was held on Sunday last.

The District Magistrate, who had earlier ordered the closure of all liquor shops, pubs and bars in the Union Territory for three days — October 5 to 7 — has now revised his orders and reduced the period to two days — October 6 and 7.

All other arrangements for the counting of votes at all the five centres have been completed. Sufficient number of policemen and securitymen will be deployed at each centre before the result is finally announced by the Returning Officer, Mr M. Ramsekhar.

Interestingly, after the polling, not much has been heard or seen of the candidates in the fray for the lone Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat. This is in spite of the fact that there has been a lot of hue and cry over the law and order situation in the Union Territory. Twenty inspectors have been shifted. Several Sub-Inspectors and others directly connected with maintenance of law and order, including police post in charges, have also been shifted. An attempt has been made to infuse a new life in the working of the department.

But at the same time eyebrows have been raised at the posting of certain policemen who have been facing serious enquiries. In one case, one of the inspectors had his increments stopped. Another Inspector had a serious complaint of implicating someone from Mumbai in a molestation case.

Enquiries ordered during the tenure of the previous Home Secretary are now either being put aside or are being not followed actively. In one case involving a Deputy Superintendent, the enquiry officer indicting the police officer had given his report before the suspension was revoked.

In fact, if one looks back, the year 1999 may hold a special record in the Union Territory of Chandigarh for the number of suspensions made and the suspensions revoked.

Enquiries

Enquiries ordered by the Administration from time to time are perhaps not taken seriously by the officials entrusted with the job. For example, when two children were electrocuted in Ram Darbar, an Executive Engineer was ordered to conduct a probe and submit his report within seven days. But it has taken the Enquiry Officer much longer to complete his report.

This was not an isolated case of its type. Earlier, there were a gang rape at the Sector 16 general hospital in which two lift operators was involved. Again an enquiry was ordered, the report of which was to be submitted within a week to the Administration. This enquiry took several weeks to complete and now when report has been submitted, it is awaiting action.

There are several other cases, including disciplinary cases against employees, in which enquiries were ordered but reports had been delayed inordinately. Heavy workload and non-availability of witnesses are cited as major reasons for delays in these enquiries. There have been instances in which reports have not been submitted for years together.

To make the enquiry officer accountable, there has to be some system to monitor the progress of such enquiries so that the reports are submitted in time for timely action against guilty officials. One of the reasons for inordinate delays in completing the enquiries is to stall action against the guilty as time is considered a great healing factor. And above all, the public memory is also short.People tend to forget fast and their attention is diverted towards fresh incidents.

Air connections

Chandigarh hopes to be airlinked with the Union Capital by a private airline, Jet Airways. On October 15, Jet Airways will start operating its Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi flight by introducing its newly acquired jet aircraft . Initially, the flight after arriving here around mid-day will depart back for the Union Capital only late in the afternoon. The possibility of the airline extending this connection to Jammu and later to Srinagar to make up for the time for which the aircraft will initially remain idle here, cannot be ruled out.

Indian Airlines, which had been the oldest operator on the Delhi-Chandigarh route, may have to redefine its strategy on the route following competition from Jet Airways. Another private airline waiting to expand its wings to Chandigarh soon is Sahara.

Though Jet has an alliance with British Airways, it may provide international travellers a direct connection from Chandigarh on their return journeys as the morning flight to Chandigarh from Delhi may not exactly fit into the existing time schedule of British Airways.

Anjali Kakar

Anjali Kakar, a multi-faceted girl from Chandigarh, has been selected by the Embassy of France to be a part of the student exchange programme between France and India.

In addition to a liberal financial assistance towards her research project during her seven-month stay at the Paris based Academie de Versailles from October 1, all of her travel, board and lodging expenses would be borne by the Government of France. Ms Kakar, who had topped in the Plus Two examination(humanities stream) conducted by the CBSE in 1993, did her certificate course, diploma and advanced diploma in French and bagged the top slot in all of these, proved her prowess in the field of academics by winning gold medal in the MA (French) examination conducted by Panjab University.

Phone bills

A futuristic scheme of the local telecom department to simplify the payment of telephone bills is facing problems in getting started. Firstly very few subscribers have shown interest and secondly several loose ends at the banking level remain to be tied up.

Under the scheme the department had planned to start collecting payments against telephone bills automatically from the bank account numbers of the subscribers. Several thousand subscribers were sent a form through which they could send their consent for getting the bill directly deducted from their respective accounts.

The decision to pay the bills through the bank account or not has, however, was left to the subscriber. This system would eliminate the need to physically go and stand in a queue to deposit the bill at a designated place. The amount of the bill would be automatically transferred from the subscriber's bank account to the bank accounts of the telecom department.

Telecom authorities say that some private banks are already collecting bills from their customers and making payments. A certain bank is said to deposit nearly 2000 bills of their customers and take care of their receipts and other related aspects. Other private and multinational banks have anything between 500 to 1000 customers to deposit their bills.

On the other hand, the department has already got clearance from the Union Ministry of Communication (MoC) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). At present modalities like mode of clearance, disputes or insufficient funds in the accounts are being debated. The banks are also reportedly keen on getting some kind of commission from the telecom department.

Brave letters

For most youngsters "party-lines" — phone where the callers can call to talk all about sex, could mean fun and entertainment. But for Mr Sanjeev Sharma Sankush, a chartered accountant and a free-lance reporter, seeing advertisements about these telephone lines meant writing against them.

And for writing against this social evil Mr Sankush has earned himself a certificate of merit in the eighth Red and White Bravery Award. His nomination was for writing against such advertisements five times during the last two years.

Besides doing a hectic job as a chartered accountant with a local company, this youngman has also written more than 500 articles on various issues in various city-based newspapers.

Krishna Thapar

With the passing away of Krishna Thapar, a key person in the rehabilitation of women thrown out of Pakistan into Punjab in the wake of Partition, Chandigarh's, nay, Punjab's link with a glorious chapter of social service has come to an end. Krishna Thapar was the daughter of a torch-bearer of the freedom movement, Lala Achint Ram, who spent 20 years in British prisons.

She was also the sister of Sukhdev, who attained martyrdom with Bhagat Singh and Rajguru. Lala Achint Ram had taken care of Sukhdev, his brother's son, from his childhood and Krishna and Sukhdev would not tolerate anyone who would call them cousins.
Women's education was a neglected field. Lala Achint Ram educated Krishna up to the graduation level. Chief Minister Gopichand Bhargava took away Krishna from her father to look after the work of the rehabilitation of the unending flow of destitute women.

Ungrudgingly, the father "sacrificed" his daughter's family career and like Sukhdev, Krishna became a household name later. She had a strong will and great patriotism lauded, among others, by Jawaharlal Nehru and Sarojini Naidu. She was instrumental in rehabilitating, educating and marrying off hundreds of homeless girls in various places. Gandhi Vanita Ashram at Jalandhar became the light house for such ships of lives as were caught amidst the waves of a dark, turbulent ocean.

Historians might like to dig up the story of this self-sacrificing crusader for women's dignity. The archives of Punjab's Social Welfare Department and freedom fighter Mohinder Partap of Ludhiana may provide some authentic facts on her life and work.

Cattle paradise

A prominent citizen of Panchkula, Dr Vinay Verma, is so disgusted with the cattle menace that he suggests that the mandarins of HUDA at Panchkula should be considered the top contenders for the post of Animal Lovers of the year by agencies like PFA & WWF. The persistent indifference of successive officers of HUDA has turned Panchkula into a "cattle paradise"

These cattle are free to roam anywhere in the city, sit or shit wherever they want, sleep right in the middle of a busy road and are not supposed to follow any traffic rule. As the word spread about the "facilities" being provided by the administration to these animals, new herds of cattle have been arriving in the city, laments the doctor, as do all other residents of the town.

To ensure that there is no shortage of food for these animals the administration is trying to remove the fencing and hedges outside the houses, so that they can graze to their heart's content. Remember your grandmother telling you that in good old days they used cowdung to clean the kitchen floor and chulha as it was considered pious? The HUDA has taken a leaf out of the old wisdom and with the help of these cattle, they are trying to purify the streets of Panchkula.

Never mind the ever-increasing accidents due to these cattle, for it's the surest way to your "Mukti." If you happen to have an accident with a cow, there is a chance that you shall die and go to haven. Alternatively, if the cow gets killed in the accident, people shall kill you for bringing harm to our "Gau Mata"

It is not only the cattle who are being benefited by the animal friendly policies of HUDA. But with no fencing in front of the houses, the stray dogs in the city are having a ball. They easily leap the three-feet boundary wall and enter the houses in search of shade and food. If you dare question their right, first have a bite and then six injections of anti-rabies vaccine.

The heaps of cowdung and garbage lying here and there also provide ample of food and attraction for the insects and mosquitoes. Talking of mosquitoes the HUDA is doing its bit for them too by not clearing garbage bins on time, nor bothering to repair the potholes on the roads so as to allow sufficient breeding places for these mosquitoes.

Four given interest, compensation
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Oct 3 — The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered the National Public Cooperative, Non-Agri Thrift Credit Society, Panchkula, to pay an interest of 16 per cent per annum to four complainants, Mr Jagdish Kumar, Mr Vinod Kumar, Ms Suman Munjal and Ms Jeewan Asha, on their respective fixed deposits from the date of deposit till actual payment and to pay the principal amount of the deposits, Rs 2,500 as compensation and Rs 1,000 as cost of proceedings to each of the complainants.

The four had alleged that they had deposited Rs 15,000, Rs 12,000, Rs 12,000 and Rs 6,000, respectively, with the company under their fixed deposit scheme. The amount deposited was not paid to them after maturity of the FDRs in December, 1996, despite repeated visits and legal notices.

Upon presentation of the complaints, notices were sent to the company but to no avail. The complainants led their respective ex parte evidence by way of affidavits. A perusal of the file substantiated the claims of the complainants and proved that the amount was not paid after issuance of legal notices.

In the absence of evidence from the company, the evidence of complaints was upheld. The company has been directed to pay the compensation and amount within one month.

HUDA fined: The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has been directed to pay interest and compensation at 15 per cent per annum on the amount deposited by Mr Hukum Chand Soni of Mani Majra, till the offer of possession of the plot, Rs 5,000 for mental agony and harassment, refund amount charged over and above the cost of the plot and enhancement and Rs 1,000 towards cost of litigation, by the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum.

Mr Soni, in his complaint, had stated that he was allotted a residential plot in Sector 2, Kurukshetra. He deposited the earnest money, while the remaining money was deposited later. The money had been deposited from time to time but the HUDA had failed to give physical possession of the plot.

Sometime later, he was informed by a letter that the plot size had been increased from 180 sq m to 265 sq m and more money was demanded. He was issued a legal notice of the accounts outstanding but no accounts statement was attached.

The bench upheld that the HUDA had failed to offer possession of the plot and had not completed development works in the area. This amounted to deficient services and indulging in unfair trade practices.

Vegetables cheap as market flooded
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 3 — The prices of vegetables have fallen in the local market during the past two days.

A kg of cauliflower earlier priced at Rs 20 a kg in the retail and Rs 80 per 5 kg in wholesale markets could be purchased today for Rs 14 a kg and Rs 50 per 5 kg, respectively, due to more arrivals from parts of Punjab and Haryana.

Brinjal has also become cheaper during this period. A kg of the vegetable, priced at Rs 15 two days back, could be purchased today for Rs 10. The wholesale price has come down from Rs 60 to Rs 40 per 5 kg.

Radish has also turned cheaper during this period. A kg of the vegetable, which came for Rs 15 a kg could be had today for Rs 10 today. Beans price has also come down from Rs 20 to Rs 12 a kg in the retail and from Rs 80 to Rs 50 per 5 kg in the wholesale market.

The price of tomato has also come down from Rs 12 to Rs 10 a kg in the retail and from Rs 50 to Rs 40 per 5 kg in wholesale market. Similarly, lady's finger has become cheaper as its price has dipped from Rs 15 to Rs 10 per kg in the retail and from Rs 60 to Rs 40 per 5 kg in wholesale market.

Ginger and lemon were priced at Rs 40 a kg, while one could purchase potato for Rs 4 a kg. On the other hand, the price of onion has increased from Rs 12 to Rs 14 a kg during the past two days. In the wholesale market, the price has gone up from Rs 50 to Rs 60 per 5 kg.

TT crowns for DAV-8, Bhavan-27
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Oct 3 — DAV Public School, Sector 8, in the girls' under-17 section and Bhavan Vidyalya, Sector 27, in boys' under-19 section, emerged victorious in the third CBSE Cluster Table Tennis Tournament which concluded at New Public School in Sector 18 today.

In the girls' final, DAV-8 had to fight hard to beat Ajit Karam Singh International Public School, Sector 41, 3-1. (Ruchi Gautam lost to Ramanpreet, 21-17, 14-21, 18-21; Nadia Saini beat Megha Kassal, 21-19, 21-19; Ruchi and Nadia Saini defeated Ramanpreet and Megha, 19-21, 22-20, 21-18; Ruchi beat Megha Kassal, 21-11, 16-21, 21-18).

In the boys' under-19 final, Bhavan-27 defeated New Public school, Sector 18, 3-1.

Cricket tourney: CNS XI defeated JAL XI by 45 runs today in the third JAL Cup Cricket Tournament being played here at the PGI grounds. In another match, Punjab Civil Secretariat team beat BBMB Cricket XI by three wickets.

Brief scores: (First match) CNS CC — 203 runs for six wickets (Harinder Singh 85, Viresh Sharda 59, Chander Mohan 3 for 49); JAL XI — 158 runs all out (Rajesh Vaid 74, Gurpal 21, Girish Bhanot 3 for 20, Vivek Jain 2 for 18, Viresh Sharda 2 for 21).

(Second match) BBMB XI — 141 runs for nine wickets (Pawan Kumar 38, Devinder 21, Charandass 2 for 13); Punjab Civil Secretariat — 142 runs for seven wickets (Sanjay Mishra 34, Harjeet 30 n.o., Ashwani 27, Pawan 5 for 8).

Football league: On the second day of the Chandigarh Senior Football League being played here, Manipur Students Football Club defeated Capital Club, 2-1 (scorers: Jayanta and Niranjan for Manipur Club and Banish for Capital Club).

In another match, Mani Majra Football Club blanked out Chandigarh Football Club, 4-0. Vicky and Harpreet scored two goals each for the winners. Food Corporation of India team gave a walkover to Chandigarh police.

Pool championship: Sandeep, Rajeev, Manish and Ashok today qualified to reach the last eight of the seniors' section of the first Chandigarh Pool Championship being played here at Bambi's Shot Pot in Sector 37.

Results: Sandeep Duggal b Rajeev Khosla 4-0; Ashok Sharma b Ricky Singh, 4-2; Rajeev Bhardwaj b G.B. Singh, 4-0; Manish b Maneet Oberoi, 4-1.

Kho-kho titles: Government High School, Sector 32, and SGGS Senior Secondary School, Sector 35, bagged the top spots in the girls' and boys' sections, resepctively, of the under-17 kho-kho tournament organised by the Sports Department of the Chandigarh Administration which concluded here today at the Sector 42 sports complex.

In the girls' section, GHS-32 defeated SGGSS -35 by one innings and eight points with Kiran of the winning school taking seven minutes in the middle and Sunita accounting for six players while chasing.

In the boys' final, SGGSS-35 avenged the defeat of their girls' team when they beat GHS-32 by 16 points. Vinod Kumar of SGGSS took 6.30 minutes in the middle and Chanderpal scored nine points. Parveen of GHS-32 took 4.30 minutes in the middle and Vinay Bhan scored six points. The winners were given Rs 1,200 in cash while the runners-up were awarded Rs 900 in cash by the department.

Fitwell Cup: Godrej Cricket Club and Bombay Cricket Club defeated HondaCity XI by 47 runs and FCC XI by 83 runs, respectively, today in the Fitwell Cup Cricket Tournament being played here at the CRPF grounds.

PEC win: Punjab Engineering College Employees Cricket Club defeated Punjab National Bank team by 12 runs today in the first Inter-Financial Employees Cricket Tournament being played at Panchkula.

Yoga trials: The Chandigarh Yoga Association will hold trials to select the UT yoga team tomorrow at 4.30 pm at Baba Balak Nath Mandir, Sector 29-A, according to Mr O.P. Mallick, Secretary of the association. The trials will be held in the age groups 8 to 11, 11 to 14, 14 to 17, 17 to 21, 21 to 25 for men as well as women as per the rules laid down by the Yoga Federation of India. Only bonafide residents of Chandigarh are allowed to take part in the trials. The selected players will represent the UT in the 24th National Yoga Championships to be held at Davengere in Karnataka later this month.

Sport festival concludes
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Oct 3 — The first three-day Sukhdev Singh Gill Memorial Sport Festival organised by S.S. Gill Memorial Welfare Club ended at Dashera grounds in Phase 8 here today. The Punjab Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh, gave away the prizes to the winners of different contests.

The festival was inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Kulbir Singh Sidhu. During the three-day event, competitions were organised in kabaddi (Punjab and national styles), athletics (22 m, 800m, 500m, shot put and long jump) and tug-of-war.

On the concluding day, a cultural function was also organised.

Need to tackle pollution problem

Today our government seems to be very serious towards environment. Hoardings can be seen at many public places which alert the people to save environment from pollution.

Pollution which is caused by industries and vehicles has become great threat to environment. It is not only the problem of India, but threatens the whole world. Growing population, continuous construction of industries, unauthorised construction of buildings, decrease in the number of forests and growing number of vehicles in the country are the main causes of pollution. Due to pollution, many people have got eye diseases, skin diseases, TB, asthma and many other problems.

Traffic police in Delhi has banned 15 to 20 year-old vehicles to save environment, which is a welcome step. This drive should also be adopted in the rest of the country.

Polythene menace is another problem which pollutes environment. The use of polythene carry bags has already been banned in Delhi, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Polythene bags lying in garbage heaps and blowing here and there have become a common sight at most of the public places, residential colonies, tourist places etc. These are non-biodegradeable, which raises questions regarding their disposability. Polythene chokes sewers and spoil the quality of soil, besides polluting environment. It’s a serious implication for the health of the people as well as for environment.

If people want to save environment, they have to change their attitude. Besides, the government should take immediate steps to save environment. All vehicles should have valid ‘pollution under control certificate’. All industries should be directed to adopt new technology to reduce pollution and action should be taken against those industries having no pollution under control certificate.

People should not throw any material, even polythene, in the open. It can be used for making things of beauty. Polythene can be used for making foot-rests, which are durable, free of cost and can be used at home, especially in the bathrooms and kitchens. Decorative items can be made from polythene. Parents can use it to cover their children’s school books. Polythene can be used in place of cotton for filling purposes, such as in toys, pillows and bed mattresses.

Sunil Kumar Dogra
Chandigarh

Poor voting: Apropos of the item published in Chandigarh Tribune on September 13 under the heading “Poor voting in city disturbing”. It has been suggested that voter should be punished for not casting his vote. It has further been advised to make necessary amendment in the Constitution in this regard.

It is stated that an Indian citizen has full liberty under the Constitution to cast his/her vote provided his/her name stands listed in the voters list. In my view, fall of percentage in voting is not the fault of voters. In fact, the fault lies with the politicians who are hungry for power. One does not choose to sit in the opposition.

For getting power, political parties come forward for alliance even with diametrically opposite units. The politicians are not serious towards the voters. They treat voters as toys and do not adhere to the norms of the Constitution. Instead of penalising voters, candidates should be penalised because he has not paid due respect to the voters on whose vote they are elected MLA, MP and minister.

There is no need to penalise voter and no amendment is needed in the Constitution. Our candidates must be sincere to the country. The expenditure per candidate in General Election comes to Rs 1.3 crore, as per the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning of Jawahar Lal University. This heavy expense is recovered from the poor voter by way of taxes. Then, who should be penalised — a voter or a candidate?

P.N. Gupta
Panchkula

HUDA work: HUDA, Panchkula, has done a good job where roads and parks are concerned and is still continuing with the task as is evident from the construction of many new roads, particularly in Sector 5.

But may I suggest a few things in this regard. First, an expert should survey from time to time the condition and maintenance of roads, particularly where speed breakers of proper dimensions and which are visible from distance are required. The road of Madhya Marg in Panchkula, passing between Sectors 5 & 6, then 7 & 8; 17-18, has a lot of traffic and is accident-prone.

Also there are speed breakers on the road in Sector 6 where the road coming from Laxmi Narain temple meets the road towards the Sector 6 market. This caused a serious accident a few months ago. This needs review.

Harish Khanna
Panchkula

II

I want to draw the attention of HUDA towards the pathetic condition of roads in Sector 12-A, Panchkula, particularly the road in front of house numbers 1125 to 1140.

The road virtually becomes a pond during the rainy season and there is fear among residents that malaria may break out in the sector because of the insanitary conditions prevailing here.

We, therefore, request you to depute some contractor/engineer for necessary carpeting of the road.

R.K.Sood
Panchkula

Access denied: The Government of India has declared 1999-2000 as ‘Visit India Year’. In this year, foreign tourists are to be welcomed heartily and cordially. But we were given an unfriendly welcome by a large number of police personnel and officials of the Punjab Secretariat administration in front of Punjab Secretariat building located in Sector 1, Chandigarh.

We were not allowed to go to the top of the building to have a glimpse of the whole city by a verbal order of Special Secretary, Sectt, Admn, on September 23. Previously, foreign tourists were allowed to go to the top of the Secretariat building.

Whereas the above official banned us from going to the top of the Secretariat building, this very official allows Secretariat employees to hold rallies and demonstrations in the premises, which is banned according to a letter of the Punjab Government Chief Secretary.

Siri Lehnie Nilsen
Tom Hagen
Norway