Friday, September 24, 1999
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N E W S Friday, September 24, 1999 |
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Main student leaders
possible 'offenders' CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — Prominent contestants of major organisations in the Panjab University students' body elections tomorrow figure in the list provided by the local police to the area SDM for action in the case of violence. The list includes two presidential candidates, including Dayal Pratap Singh Randhawa of the Students Organisation of Panjab University and Bhupinder Singh "Bhuppi" of the Haryana Students Alliance. The list of preventive arrests in the case of a breach of the peace has been served to more than 25 students, police sources said while talking to the Tribune. Names on the list include those of all organisations, including the SOPU, the PUSU, the NSUI, the ABVP and the SFI. Those on the list have to deposit security and furnish personal bonds which they have to pay in the case of involvement in any such cases. The list does not contain the names of Bhupinder Beniwal and former SOPU chairman who are already on the wanted list of offenders of the local police. Students on the list are required to present themselves before the SDM and argue their case in the event of any allegation by the police.Vijay Kumar, Station House officer, confirmed that a list had been prepared by the area police. Police officials believe that such steps were positive for prevention of violence on the campus. Violence had been reported in election-related functions earlier. The police notice was a definite warning. A similar list was prepared last year. Sources indicate that the list also includes the name of former president of the students council Munish Anand, general secretary Akhil Goyal, president of the local national Students Union of India Harmohinder Singh "Lucky", HSA Chairman Chand Madaan and former general secretary of the PUSU Gurvinder Grewal. Notices have been served under Sections 107 and 150 of the CrPC which were basically preventive arrests. In the case of fear of a breach of the peace these notices are served under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC where they are likely to be immediately arrested. The students who figure in the list of possible "offenders" is not a new step. Sources say that the provision existed even during the last elections. A student pointed out that "what was the power of the notices sent to probable candidates in elections when there were confirmed reports about their participation in anti-academic activities in the university. Even if there were mere allegations why were the cases not decided well within time. Another student questioned the power of the police action by sending notices to students who could still contest the elections and campaign. On the other hand, there was no prior information of such police action to a large section of general students which they demanded should be conveyed to all the students well within time. Other prominent
candidates on the list included Akhil Goyal (SOPU), Ajay
Pal Singh (SOPU), G. Grewal (PUSU), Lakhjit Singh (PUSU),
Mohan Singh (PUSU), Farid Rehman, Dinesh Bhardwaj and
Jagmeet Sidhu, sources added. |
To please mom, he posed as
SP CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — The desire to please his mother and relatives has landed a Delhi resident behind bars. Pardeep Singh Negi was arrested here today for posing as Superintendent of Police (SP) and visiting various police stations to collect information on their functioning. He was so realistic that even officers were hoodwinked into believing that he was an Indian Police Services (IPS) officer. Mr S. K. Singh, IGP, while presenting the accused before mediapersons said, although Pardeep came to the city about two weeks ago he had "posted" himself as SP for the past 11 days. He had been staying at Kapil Hotel in Sector 35 and run up bills for Rs 14,000. Forged documents, worded in poor English, showing him as an IPS officer were seized from his hotel room. The 25-year-old unmarried resident of Mayur Vihar of Delhi claims to have done his Masters in English from Jamia Milia Islamia, besides appearing for the civil services examination. Since his mother wanted him to become an officer, he had been been leading his mother to believe that he had cleared the exams and had been posted as SP in Chandigarh. He had "visited" the Sector 26 police station on September 11, posing as an SP who had been deputed by the IGP to visit the police stations, see their functioning and submit a report. He had reportedly been extended cooperation and even provided with a Gypsy from the police control room (PCR) to visit his mother who had come to meet her daughter living in Sector 28. Pardeep wanted his mother to fully believe that he was an officer and that was the reason why he asked for the vehicle. His mother, after seeing his alight from a police vehicle, was reassured and left for Delhi after a couple of days. Such was his daring that he used the same vehicle to visit the IGP in the police headquarters in Sector 9. Since the IGP was not there, he left for his hotel. In the ensuing days, he paid visits to the Sector 19, Mani Majra and the Sector 22 police posts and interacted with personnel and SHOs. He also stopped the beat staff of Sector 28 and admonished them for not doing their duty and for not coming to pay their regards to him. He even met the President of the Market Welfare Association of Sector 28 to know whether the cops were taking any protection money or not. Mr Singh said they came to know about the sham when a police officer got suspicious and enquired from if he had assigned a new IPS officer any responsibility. When he denied having issued such instructions, a trap was laid for Pardeep and he was arrested. The search of his room led to documents "prepared" by him about the functioning of various officers, including the SSP, SP and others, besides a file containing recommendations about promotions and transfers to be carried out. The notings recovered by the police make for interesting reading. The note on Mr C.S.R. Reddy reads, "While the officer is an intellectual, he remains too busy doing is own things rather than concentrate on police work". Similarly, "SP Baldev Singh is irresponsible and should be posted out of the city" and "Inspector Walia should be promoted as DSP" are among the recommendations made by the "SP". He had also recommended transfers which include "posting SI Rajesh Shukla from PS East to the Bapu Dham police post and shifting SI Yad Ram from the same police station to the traffic police", the IGP added. He was fond of watching thrillers and had asked one of his subordinates, Head Constable Z. A. Khan, to bring Super Cop and Who am I, starring Jackie Chan, besides Badshah and Hello Brother, the latest from Bollywood. A case of cheating and impersonation under Section 419 and 467of the IPC, has been registered at the Police Station East. It may be recalled that
the police had arrested R.I.S. Bhalla on September 3, who
had been going round the city, posing as an IFS officer. |
39 cr excise duty evasion detected CHANDIGARH, Sept 23—Evasion of central excise duty worth Rs 39 crore has been detected by the Chandigarh Commissionerate-I here. According to Mr S.S. Jha, Commissioner, Chandigarh Central Excise Commissionerate-I, the duty evasion cases had been detected against manufacturers of yarn, conduit pipes, iron steel products, auto parts, cement, fabrics and meat products. Mr S.S. Jha said the headquarters Central Excise Preventive Officers checked the factory premises of a manufacturing unit of MS Ingots at Kharar. The factory is working under the compounded levy scheme under which duty is paid by the manufacturer on the basis of the capacity of the furnace. Acting on prior information, the factory was checked at midnight and it was found that party was actually producing ingots with the help of extra crucibles whose capacity was much more than the capacity declared by the party. Records seized from the factory premises revealed that the party had been following this modus operandi for a long time. The duty evaded exceeded Rs 1 crore. However, investigations were on regarding other offences committed by the party. The preventive staff at Ludhiana Division-I detected a case in which the capacity of the crucibles had been increased by reducing the lining on the inner surface of the crucibles. The duty evaded in this case, according to Mr Jha, worked out to be Rs 30 lakh. In another case booked by the same staff, the party had declared that it was manufacturing non-alloy steel and was covered under the compounded levy scheme. However, test of samples of finished goods drawn from the factory premises showed that the party was actually producing alloy steel. This had resulted in duty evasion running into lakhs of rupees. In Ludhiana, a manufacturer of auto parts was not entering the production in the statutory records. The duty evasion detected in this case was about Rs 10 lakh. In another case booked by the headquarters preventive staff, it was found that a manufacturer at Mohali manufacturing parts of the railway locomotives for Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, evaded duty to the extent of Rs 49 lakh by undervaluing the parts manufactured by him. Cases of evasion of duty
had been detected in synthetic yarn and other products.
It was detected that several manufacturers of synthetic
yarn were uniformally paying less duty. These
manufacurers were collecting sales tax on synthetic yarn
to the extent which was more than tax paid and deposited
with the State Government under Section 5(1) (a of the
Punjab Sales Tax Act. The Sales tax collected on the
exempted turnover was an extra consideration and subject
to central excise duty. The shortfall in the Central
Excise Duty paid by such manufacturers was to the extent
of Rs 20 lakh. This figure was likely to go up
substantially when the records of all such manufacturers
are checked. The preventive staff headquarters also
detected a case where a manufacuturer of Mink blankets at
Ludhiana was not paying the additional excise duty on the
fabrics out of which such blankets were being
manufactured. the duty evaded in this case was Rs 35
lakh, Mr Jha added. |
Charges traded at open house CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — Allegations on the front of personal misconduct of the opposite student bodies remained central to the open house at Students Centre in Panjab University here today. The total debate remained central to academic concerns of the two student factions — the PUSU-HSA-NSUI and the SOPU-ABVP. The debate started well an hour behind schedule. Even at the venue slogan were raised by wing supporters despite several requests by the stage manager. The stage manager, while introducing the conduct of the function, said clearly that no personal attacks should be made. However, the election agenda of the students' representatives differed. Questioning and cross-questioning of the body when functioning in power period of the student forum concerned remained central to the debate. The slogan-shouting became louder when the two groups of campaigners met at the venue before the debate started. Initiating the debate, the ABVP local president said that the organisation in power should ensure an atmosphere in which all students could express their views freely and without fear. He said the front was above regionalism, and demanded that students should thrive to make Hindi the working language in all departments of the country. Hitesh Kumar, a supporter of the ABVP front, said that the PUSU indulged in unnecessary allegations on other groups. Munish Anand, a former president of the student council, said that the counter group needed to understand the concept of achievements before debating. He highlighted the claims of the work done by the PUSU-HSA-NSUI front for the welfare of the students. Listing the achievements, he said that the front had ensured improvement in the library facilities, provision of the internet facility and comparatively better services in the hostels. Anand said how could the SOPU join the ABVP which was a ''political organisation'' and how could the ABVP meet the SOPU which it called as corrupt. Shivani said she was struck by the ''low'' level of debate. "Corruption, rape and exploitation remained highlights of the debate. "I am totally unfamiliar with these. I don't know what they have done. I only want to provide better facilities to girls in hostels," she added. Prabhsharan Singh, a speaker who was not contesting, said that instead of debating unnecessarily, the students should first identify what were the "causes" they were fighting for. Bhupinder Singh "Bhuppi", presidential candidate of the PUSU front, said that he was not a good speaker but could tell easily what were the causes. He said even if he won he would resign any time in the case of non-performance. He said that students' causes were central to the front and rivals were giving "unnecessary regional" colour to muster votes. Gurvinder Grewal, chairman of the campaign committee for the PUSU, also highlighted various programme of the front in the case of victory. Dayal Pratap Singh
Randhawa said that the alliance with the ABVP had been
formed after exchange of ideas. He said that the blame by
the counter front on his going to Norway was ridiculous
as he was representing the entire student community of
the nation at the international forum. He also
highlighted other areas where the SOPU made efforts for
the student welfare |
Proposal of new billing cycle for
phones CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — A new billing cycle for telephones that will provide for differently timed payment schedules for high- end callers, moderate callers and low intensity callers is being worked out by the local telecom department. At present, the '' loose ends'' of the proposal are being tied up before it is set into motion on an experimental basis by November, sources said. These include feeding new software programmes into the computerised exchanges, seeking clarifications from the Department of Telecommunication regarding the implementation of the project and creating of charging slabs based on the number of calls made by the subscriber. This is being done to wipe out the problem of outstanding dues on high intensity calling lines where callers use more than 1 lakh units every two months, sources said, adding that '' it will speed up the collection of revenue from the subscribers who are high intensity users.'' Under the new proposal callers making more than 1 lakh calls during two months will be asked to make payments on a fortnightly basis. Subscribers making between 10,000 and 1 lakh calls will have to deposit bills on a monthly basis. Bi-monthly bills will be issued to people making between 2,400 and 10,000 calls. Lastly the persons who make less than 2400 calls will be required to deposit their bills every four months. This will reduce the queues for the user at the lowest end, who will have to come once in four months to deposit a bill while helping to mop up revenue quickly from the high end users, opine the telecom authorities. At present, all bills are deposited on a bi-monthly basis. The authorities are more worried at the reaction of the subscriber at the lowest end as their budgets are bound to go haywire due these changes when the bills will come after four instead of two months. besides, the rental will also be doubled. Another problem is of those who will be asked to pay on a fortnightly basis. Some of them may be government departments where the prior sanctions have to be obtained and paperwork has to be carried out for the payment of each bill. Interestingly, a fortnightly billing cycle already exists for the STD PCO operators. Another small glitch in the system needs to be ironed out before it is put to use. So far, there is no provision for the subscriber to know when he crosses over to the next billing cycle or slab. for example, a caller who makes less than 2400 calls will get a bill after four months. Just one call more than 2400 and the bill will automatically be converted into the cycle under which bills are payable after two months. Under such circumstances, the subscriber will not be prepared for the bill as he will be carrying the impression that his bill will come after four months, sources said. The same will be the case for those who will be thinking that they will be in the slab between 2400 calls and 10,000 calls. Once they cross over the 10,000 mark, the bill will come after one month. In the Chandigarh Telecom District, there are about 4,000 subscribers who make more than one lakh calls in each bi-monthly billing cycle. Another 15,000 callers make between 10,000 calls and 1 lakh calls. the Mahanagar Telephone
Nigam Limited (MTNL) that operates in Delhi had removed
these problems of bills on the basis of calculating the
number of calls. They have just three billing cycles.
Users of ISD, STD and local call facility pay their bills
after 15 days, one month and two months, respectively.
This system does not entail the calculation of any calls
and the subscriber is aware when the bill is expected. |
Vote count training on Sept
26 CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — With just 13 days to go for the counting of the votes of the Lok Sabha poll, the local election authorities have scheduled a brief training programme for the election staff is for September 26. there will be 14 tables at each of the five counting centres — GCG, Sector 42, Government College, Sector 46, Government College of Education, Sector 20, Central Polytechnic, Sector 26 and Government College, Sector 11. The electronic voting machines (EVMs) that were stored in heavily guarded strongrooms after polling took place on September 5, will brought out in phases. At each counting centres, 14 machines will be taken out at one time for a simultaneous count. The counting agents of the political parties will be shown the machines, their seals will be broken by the Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) concerned in the presence of the agents and the results will shown to the agents as well as the counting officials. After a few minutes, the same procedure will be repeated to enable the agents, who will be separated by a wire mesh from the polling staff, to see and cross-check the result. The process of paper work and other aspects for each machine are expected to take about 20 minutes. So, the first round in which results from 70 machines spread over the five counting centre is obtained will be over in the first 45 minutes. There will be no break between the rounds. The results are expected by noon. Meanwhile, the police
will depute special reserve forces at the police stations
that day to control any trouble that may brew after the
results are out. |
Myriad shades of love for
Krishna CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — It was with dance and music that members of the Thursday Ladies Club chose to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna. A colourful cultural programme was organised today at the Central Club here. The items presented during the programme mirrored the myriad shades of love for the Lord. Whether it was Yashoda's motherly love reflected even in her anger over her son's naughtiness or Meera's love for Lord Krishna. Radha and Gopis' selfless love was also reflected in the raas leela presentation. Monica as playful and effervescent Krishna and Sonia as Radha won over the audience with their portrayals. Anjali regaled the audience with an impressive rendering of a Meera bhajan while Preeti and Renu Gupta presented dances expressing the gopis' devotion for Krishna. In the end, Krishna,
Radha and gopis Shaina, Param Shergill and others who
presented a foot tapping garba dance. |
4 more detained in murder case PANCHKULA, Sept 23 — The local police has detained four more persons in connection with the murder of Gopal, servant of Justice S.P. Goyal, in Sector 8 here yesterday. The police has also succeeded in establishing the identity of the Nepali woman and tracking her down. Interrogation of the persons detained yesterday had revealed that Gopal was having illicit relations with her. She, too, is being questioned by the police in the matter. However, it has been
brought to their notice that Gopal was simultaneously
having illicit relations with a couple of other women and
the police is on their trail. He was also a regular at
the lottery stalls and tried his luck frequently, besides
being an alcoholic. |
Defying HC directions ZIRAKPUR, Sept 23 — Advertisements and hoardings on private buildings are still on display along national highway No 22 despite the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to remove them. Hoardings, signboards, neon signs and other boards displaying advertisements have reappeared atop private buildings in this town along the national highway within one month of their removal in July. An enforcement team of the Punjab Public Works Department (B&R) had removed 95 hoardings and signboards from Zirakpur to Jharmari village, near Lalru, a stretch of 30 km. The department had served notices on the owners of 14 buildings in Zirakpur town to remove the hoardings but these continue to be there. Mr K.S. Bhinder, Deputy
Executive Engineer, PWD (B&R), said that the a public
interest petition was pending before the High Court
regarding the size of the hoardings and their distance
from the national highways and other roads. The hoardings
would be removed after the court's decision, he added. |
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Phone exchange
not installed Mr Mohinder Singh Hundal, Sarpanch of the village, said that the panchayat had passed a resolution on February 24, 1999, to hand over the commercial centre of the village to the department but even after a gap of seven months, the department had failed to instal the exchange. He said hundreds of the persons were on the waiting list to get new connections and 10 surrounding villages were to be linked with this new exchange. He said the required cable to the village had already been laid. Mr Hundal said the department should act immediately in the matter. Contest
on environment It is for the first time that the Green Olympiad is being held in the city. Earlier, the National Environmental Olympiad had been organised by the TERI in Banagalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi. Eye
camp According to Maj B.R. Anand, President, Lions Club Kharar, Mr Rajinder Singh, Civil Surgeon, Ropar, will inaugurate the camp. New
Congress party office-bearers Meanwhile, the following have been elected office-bearers of the party : Vice-Presidents - Mr D.K. Matto, Mr Barjinder Kumar Pandey and Mr Rajinder Parshad Sharma; General Secretaries - Mr Karamvir Dhingra, Mr Dinesh Pathania and Mr Jagmohan Singh; Organising Secretary - Mr Yaqub Masih; Joint Secretary - Mr Devesh Sharma; Propaganda Secretary - Mr Avtar Singh; and Secretaries - Nr Arun Kumar Mittal, Mr Laxman Dass, Mr Kishori Lal, Mr Ramesh Shastri, Mrs Santosh Sharma, Mrs Sangita Mehta and Mr Tirath Ram Salhotra. Social
worker Vaid dead Mr Vaid was nearly 100 years old. He used to treat poor, downtroden and children with liver and stomach related problems free of cost. Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister, in a condolence to the bereaved family, said that the block had lost a patriot and social servant. Local Congress leaders, including Mr Deepinder Singh Dhillon and Mr Sahibjit Singh, also expressed their sympathy to the family. His body was cremated in the afternoon in his native village. Mr Hans Raj Sharma,
former Finance Minister of Punjab, Mr Jagjit Singh Dalli,
President of the Municipal Council, and other local
leaders were present at the cremation. |
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