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Panchkula residents sweat it out Panchkula, July 27 Though the scheduled power cut from 6 am to 12 noon was not imposed today, electricity played hide and seek throughout the day. The power cuts were imposed almost throughout the day from 6 am, for half hour intervals, except from 9.30 to 12 noon when the power was completely switched off. The compulsory holiday on industrial units was also partial, as was the ban on closing all commercial establishments in the market places after 8 pm. The street lights remained off till 9 in the evening, and were then switched on. Most of the government offices based in the township showed compliance of the order passed by the Haryana Power Utilities, banning the use of air conditioners in the offices. Shakti Bhavan, which houses the offices of Haryana Power Utilities led by example by ensuring that no ACs were switched on. The adjoining building of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), too, showed compliance of the orders. Air conditioners in most offices of the Mini Secretariat were off throughout the day, barring the registration branch in the SDM office. Meanwhile, the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) today announced a one hour relief for the township so that the water supply was not affected. From Wednesday, the power cut will be imposed from 7 am to 12 noon, and from 5 pm to 7 pm in the evening. The only industry in the town having an electricity load of over one mega watt, BEL Factory, too has been given relief and they have been allowed the use of 5 per cent of the supply so that the demand for drinking water in the factory was not affected. |
MLA’s bodyguards rough
up students Chandigarh, July 27 A number of students of the college gathered together when the policemen came to the college. When students protested against the “overreaction” by the MLA’s bodyguards, Mr Sharma came to the college himself and sought to find out what had happened. When male classmates of his daughter convinced him that it was merely some confusion over introductions among students, Mr Sharma expressed regret over the incident in front of the students, the Principal said. Mr Sharma was apologetic about the incident. The students were allegedly beaten up with riffle buts by the policemen. Mr Braham Prakash said both the MLA and Gunjan started expressing regrets over the incident and virtually came to tears when Gunjan’s classmates clarified their position. Vikas had an accident while he was trying to escape the bodyguards of the MLA when he ran into a car. The Principal said the incident spread panic among students, adding that there was no complaint of ragging. The police also reached the spot but no complaint was registered by both parties. The incident reportedly took place in the canteen of the college. When contacted, Mr Sharma denied that his bodyguards had roughed up anybody in the college. He said his daughter took admission in the college this year and had been complaining about harassment for sometime, “I happened to be in the city today and today also she complained”. Mr Sharma said he himself went to the college and asked her classmates to adjust with her. Else she would either drop out or leave the college. Mr Sharma said the students and the Principal of the college had a meeting today and everything had been settled amicably. |
Non-model schools’ standard to be raised Chandigarh, July 27 Not only will the infrastructure be improved in all non-model schools, even in computer education these schools are being given preference this year. The UT Administrator, Justice O.P. Verma (retd), today gave directions to the Education Department to make concerted efforts to bring the education level as well as infrastructure in non-model schools on a par with that of model schools to bridge the gap between the two. The Administrator said talented, hardworking and motivated teachers should be posted to non-model schools, who could work with a missionary zeal to raise the standard of these schools. Expressing concern over the poor maintenance in certain non-model schools in the city, Justice Verma said the Education Department should also depute “visionary and hardworking” Principals to non-model schools. The Engineering Department is also being directed to focus its efforts on upgrading the infrastructure in these schools and their proper maintenance. The Chief Engineer has been asked to clear the wild growth in the Sector 31 school and prepare a plan for the completion of a boundary wall of that school. |
Mother appeals to Kalam to expedite her son’s return from Pak Chandigarh, July 27 In a letter written to the President, Chhotto Kaur, a resident of Kot Bhai near Muktsar, has stated that she feared to imagine the plight of her son, L/Nk Jagseer Singh, who went missing on September 17, 1999. He was undertaking de-mining operations in the Kargil Sector when he was captured by Pakistani troops. His whereabouts since then were unknown till he wrote to his family from the Hadiala Central Jail in Rawalpindi in June, telling them of his plight. Another jawan from his unit, Mohammad Arif, was also captured along with him. Their unit, 108 Engineer Regiment, declared them as deserters and withheld all benefits to the families which shattered them. "The tragedy is not that Jagseer is a POW or that he may have suffered because all this was in the line of duty, but the fact that he was declared a deserter and criminal charges were initiated against him by the Army by filing a police case," Chhotto Kaur told media persons here today. She said that on account of this, the family had been coping with the social stigma as well as domestic problems for the past five years. "The police raided our house on innumerable occasions and humiliated us," she said. Jagseer's father died soon after his son went missing. Jagseer's wife left the family, leaving behind a three month daughter for Jagseer's 56-year old mother to raise as best as she could. The girl, Kuldeep Kaur who is now five-year-old and was present here along with her grandmother, expressed her eagerness to meet her father, of whom she has only heard about or seen in old photographs. In his letter, Jagseer had asked his family to meet senior officials and the local MLA so that the process of his repatriation could be hastened. He had also written that a large number of Kashmiris and Punjabis were being held in Pakistani jails and conditions were quite bad. The MLA from Gidderbaha, Mr Manpreet Badal, who was accompanying the family, said that he was trying to seek an appointment with the President as well as the Defence Minister and External Affairs Minister to ensure that the POWs were repatriated as soon as possible. He feared that the matter, if not pursued vigorously, it could be months or perhaps even years before the POWs were released. Jagseer's maternal uncle Kulwant Singh as well as younger brother Jagmeet, who were also present, said that the Army authorities had visited them once and they had released about Rs 50,000 to the family. |
Two-wheeler drivers find parking in Sector 34 dicey Chandigarh, July 27 A parking lot in front of the Allahabad Bank branch in the sector has been proving a trap of sorts for the owners of two-wheelers. Most affected are those who come from outside the Union Territory for work in various important offices, including the Regional Passport Office, BSNL, banks and educational institutions, located in the sector. They complain that the police has put up confusing boards in the parking lots that do not convey the instructions clearly. There are certain areas specified within the lots in which one is not supposed to park. However, this does not become clear to a first-time visitor to the area. The “No parking” boards fail to specify the area in which parking is prohibited, says Mr Rajiv Walia, a bank employee. He also alleges that the home guard jawans and traffic police personnel at the site, instead of cautioning the drivers before they park in a no-parking zone, tow away their vehicles later. Mr Varinder Singh Ahluwalia, a Sector 44 resident who visited a bank on Friday morning, found his scooter missing from the parking lot in the afternoon. After searching for his scooter for a while, he finally discovered that it had been taken away by the traffic police. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Mr Ahluwalia said he was fined Rs 200 for “wrong parking”. He added that the signboard there did not mentioned where the parking was prohibited. Moreover, the police personnel on duty did not stop him when he was parking his scooter there, he claimed. Vehicles from these parking lots are towed away to a space behind Piccadilly Cinema. An owner can get his impounded vehicle released only in the evening as the officials authorities are available at the site only after 3 pm. When contacted, Mr Jaspal Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic), said he would direct the person in charge of the area to look into the matter tomorrow and solve the problem at the earliest. “The Chandigarh traffic police is meant to care for the public and not to harass them,” he added. ![]() |
Pandemonium marks MC meeting Chandigarh, July 27 While all agenda items were left untouched, the issue of paid parking, hanging fire for three months and causing a loss of lakhs to the Municipal Corporation, was postponed for another month in a meeting where the Opposition staged a walkout, raising slogans of “shame, shame”. The meeting began on a noisy note, with councillors of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Ms Kamla Sharma and Mr Gian Chand Gupta, raising the issue of Congress councillor Bajraj Singh, who “was being allowed to go scot-free” despite having accepted a bribe of Rs 2,000 from a building contractor. Once the Opposition got going, there was no stopping them as they jumped from one contentious issue to another, not letting the proceedings to begin, and, in the end, the meeting proved to be an exercise in futility. The Mayor, Ms Kamlesh, assured the House that everybody would be allowed to speak on the matter after the agenda items were over, urging the councillors to get on with the agenda. However, as soon as the minutes of the last meeting came up for confirmation, the Opposition disagreed with whatever was recorded. Right from the Mayor’s quota of 10 per cent in the recently approved housing scheme for Mani Majra to challenging the statement, as recorded in the minutes, that Mr Gian Chand Gupta had turned down the responsibility of managing the affairs of the community centre in his ward, the items took up almost two hours. Finally, it was decided that the Mayor’s quota would be put on hold till the video recording of the last meeting was screened to confirm whether or not it was passed by a majority. For the community centres, at the suggestion of Ms Amar Kulwant Singh, it was decided that the matter would be referred to the Art and Culture Committee for framing a policy within 15 days to deal with their management. This was followed by question hour, where a Congress councillor, Ms Lalit Joshi, said she was not satisfied with the responses to her queries about encroachments in the green belt and road berms in industrial areas. A lot of dust was raised on the issue, with Ms Joshi and other councillors alleging that they were being misguided with wrong information before the officials finally admitted that a survey was in progress and the actual position would be known only after it was completed. Mr Subhash Chawla demanded information about why 50 safai karamcharis, to be recruited last month, were not taken despite being interviewed for the same. The Commissioner, Mr M.P. Singh, explained that since sanitation levels were “reasonably okay” in the city and on account of financial crunch, he had decided new people were not needed. He, however, denied that there were pulls and pressures for recruitment. Done with this, the Mayor decided that the agenda ought to be taken up first to discuss important issues which needed time. Hardly had she said this that the Opposition led by Chandigarh Vikas Manch councillor, Mr Vijay Singh Rana, raised their voices against the decision. He had sought information about whether the Mohalla Sudhar Committee, Ram Darbar, the Mayor’s ward and being run by her husband, was a registered one. The reply was there was no record of the same, quoting which the councillors demanded to know how the MC had been making payments to this committee for the last one-and-a-half years. The Opposition, including councillors of the CVM, the BJP and the SAD, staged a walkout while raising slogans against the Congress. They returned after lunch, rejuvenated. The ruckus continued and nothing was audible in the din that followed, prompting the mayor to call in the marshalls to lead the Opposition councillors out of the House. This, too, added to the confusion and the councillors came into the well of the House. Amidst the confusion, Ms K. Atmaram, suddenly fell ill and fell down from her seat. As every councillor rushed to her, the item in question was forgotten and the search for the ambulance began. However, after with a while, a few sips of water, Ms Atmaram was back on her feet and was led out of the House. The Mayor returned only to adjourn the meeting.
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Markets remain open defying orders Mohali, July 27 A visit to various markets showed the usual rush of customers and shopkeepers were busy carrying out their business in violation of the orders. It is learnt that some shops in Phases I and VII closed around 7.30 pm though in other areas the markets functioned as usual. Some shopkeepers agreed that the power shortage was a genuine problem but nobody was ready to take the first step to close down his shop. Mr D.N. Singla, president, Market Welfare Association, Phase II, said they had only read in newspapers that markets would close at 6 pm but no orders in this regard had been received from any quarters so far. He said there was no problem in closing the shop if the orders were implemented in uniformity throughout the town. Another shopkeeper of Phase II, Mr Rajan Munjal, said the problem of power shortage was genuine but the way out was not proper. He said when customers came out for shopping in the evening, it saved power as they switched off the power in their houses. Mr Iqbal Singh, president, Phase V Market Association, said some officials of the PSEB had visited the market in the evening and said power was not to be used after 6 pm, though shopkeepers could use inverters and generator sets to run their establishments. A shopkeeper of Phase III B 2 said a shop inspector had asked shopkeepers in the area to close their establishment after 6 pm from tomorrow. Mr V.K. Mahajan, Additional Superintending Engineer, told The Tribune that the government had issued a notification under which all shops in the state were to close at 6 pm and the PSEB was following that notification. He said a warning had been given to shopkeepers in the town on the first day today and strict implementation of the notification would be done from tomorrow. He said it was difficult for the PSEB authorities to inform every shopkeeper in this regard. He said if from tomorrow any shopkeeper was found making use of power after 6 pm his connection would be cut for two days.
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MC office to remain in rented building Mohali, July 27 The council had an agreement with the owners of the building (SCF 58, Phase VII) on July 1, 2002 for a period of two years which expired last month. Till June the owners were paid a monthly rent of Rs 37,450 per month. According to the old agreement, rent was to be hiked by 7 per cent after the expiry of two years. As such a new agreement with the owners would have to be done for a period of two years. According to another proposal, a new agreement would have to be done for the buildings (SCF 55-56) in which council offices were housed as the building had been sold by the owners. The new owners were ready to give the building on rent according to old terms of the agreement. |
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Encroachments removed Mohali, July 27 In the presence of Duty Magistrate and heavy police force, officials of the Agriculture Department took back the control of 33 kanal of encroached land worth lakhs of rupees by ploughing the land. |
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Jhuggis removed Panchkula, July 27 |
Labourer held on rape charge Mohali, July 27 The accused lived in a rented house in Madanpura Village and worked as a daily wageearner According to the SHO Phase VIII, Mr Jagjit Singh he was arrested from his house in the village by the police this morning. The accused informed the police that he was working in house number 616, Phase VI and carrying out repair work there. According to the police, the victim, was lured into the house by Rahul. Rahul promised to get her a job in the house. He then took her upstairs and allegedly raped her. The police has booked Rahul under sections 363, 366, 376 of the IPC.
Clarification Based on a briefing by the local police, the place where the alleged rape took place was inadvertently mentioned as house number 516 Phase VI in these columns yesterday. The incident, took place in house number 616, Phase VI. |
Cash, goods worth Rs 25,000 stolen Panchkula, July 27 The burglary came to light this morning, when the family of Mr R.K. Gupta returned home after three days. While Mr R.K. Gupta is posted in Jind, his younger son, Sumit stays here. He had reportedly gone to Gurgaon to receive his elder brother, who flew in from the USA. On returning home, the family found the house ransacked and cash worth Rs 15,000, silver utensils, gold ornaments, camera and four watches stolen. The miscreants had reportedly made their entry through the front of the house. While the lock on the main gate was intact, they broke the bolt of the main door and forced their entry into the house. All rooms in the house were thoroughly searched, including the almirahs, bed boxes and trunks. Said a shocked Mr Gupta: “The burglars had a good time in our house and must have worked at leisure. They had a feast with the sweets lying in the fridge and cold drink from the refrigerator, and we found the left overs on the table.” The family informed the police when they discovered the burglary and an FIR was later registered. |
Child hit by car, dies Chandigarh, July 27 The police arrested the driver of the car, Mr Harjinder Singh, of Mohali and bailed him out later.
TNS |
2 arrested for carrying weapons Panchkula, July 27 8 remanded Eight members of a gang, who were arrested by the CIA Branch on July 24, were produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Gulab Singh, today. The accused — Kewal, Sanjeev, Gurcharan, Harpreet, Kuldeep, Gurwinder, Amit and Parminder — were produced in the court after a two-day police remand. The police had arrested them while they were allegedly planning to commit a robbery in Sector 4. The police pleaded that the remand be extended as they suspected their involvement in other heinous crimes. The judge sent them to one-day police remand. |
Valuables worth 70,000 stolen Mohali, July 27 They scaled the rear wall of the house and entered the through a first-floor door after climbing over a tin roof in the backyard. Ms Jaswinder Kaur told the police that she returned home at 1pm and found the house door locked from inside. She called her brother who entered the house and found it ransacked. |
Liquor seized; 1 held Chandigarh, July 27 The woman who allegedly committed suicide before a train yesterday has been identified as Saroj Bala, wife of Mr Mangal Dass of Sector 41-B, Chandigarh. The family members told the police she was under depression depressed because of illness since long. |
Power bill payment machine trial a success Mohali, July 27 According to Mr V.K. Mahajan, Senior Executive Engineer here, the machine has been used by over 500 power consumers since yesterday. The automatic machine is successfully accepting both cheques and cash. The consumers are given a receipt in return. This facility will be available round the clock at a later stage but for now it is available only for a limited number of hours. Every transaction made through the machine during the trial is being monitored by the machine manufacturing company’s engineers. The first BPM was installed at the Mohali circle office as part of a pilot project last month. The machine looks like an ATM machine and also functions essentially the same way. The consumer feeds in his account number, given on the bill. The machine displays the bill amount on the screen. If the payment is to be made in cash (rounded off to the closest zero), the consumer slips currency notes of specific denominations into the machine through a slot. The machine recognises the notes and when the full payment is received, a receipt is issued. The machine also accepts cheques and issues a receipt through a separate window. The interactive machine works on touch-screen technology and the consumer is directed through the whole transaction. Consumers will have the option of interacting with the machine in English, Hindi or Punjabi. Tata Infotech, a Bangalore-based company, was asked to install one machine on a trial basis, following the success of which the board would buy more machines. Initially, only 10 such machines, costing the board Rs 5-10 lakh each, will be installed in various cities in Punjab. ![]() |
LIC conference Chandigarh, July 27 Managers and marketing officials from north zone comprising Punjab, Haryana, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi and Rajasthan attended the conference. |
BIS interactive session from today Mohali, July 27 About 15 officers from the bureau will participate in the programme. This will provide a good opportunity to entrepreneurs to know about the services rendered by the bureau and to interact with its officers. In the changing industrial scenario in the wake of globalisation, the WTO regime, etc, the need to lay emphasis on quality management is of paramount importance for an industry to face the ever-growing competition in the domestic as well as the global market. “The MIA has set a target that all its members should acquire ISO certification by 2005,’’ said Mr Gurmeet Singh, president of the association, here today. |
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