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Pre-poll Fury SOPU, PUSU activists clash; 3 injured Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 2 What started out as a heated exchange of words between student activists from both unions, soon developed into fisticuffs and abuses. The fight resulted in a PUSU activist, Tejpal Cheema, getting seriously injured and being rushed to the General Hospital, Sector 16. SOPU activists also brought in two students, Nitin Rathee and Ankush, who had allegedly been injured by PUSU activists in a scuffle. Allegations and counter-allegations are being filed by both unions with each blaming the other for starting the fight. What made matters worse was that the police refused to intervene in the matter. Eyewitnesses say when the PCR vehicle stationed there was approached for help, the police personnel refused. They said they were not there to get into these fights. When questioned, the police, however, refuted the allegations, blaming the university security for not helping the students. Just before the scuffle, SOPU activists, led by the president, Harpreet Singh Multani, staged a protest at the Students’ Centre to draw the attention of the authorities to the issue of the high hostel rent. Multani submitted a memorandum to the DSW, Prof Naval Kishore, in this regard. The DSW promised to look into the matter and the protest broke off, only to be followed a short while later by a scuffle. The police took notice of it and the SHO of the Sector 11 police station, Inspector Ramesh Chand, said late in the evening that they were recording the statement of both parties and while Rathee and Ankush had suffered minor injuries, the medical report of Cheema was still awaited. Meanwhile, several students who witnessed the fight were of the opinion that the only way to ensure safe and injury-free elections were to implement the Lyngdoh committee recommendations. The SHO of Sector 11 police station said a cross-case had been registered against both parties. Ajay Pal, Navjot and Sharanjit of PUSU and Dalvir Singh Goldy and Gurpreet Maan of SOPU were still absconding. The police is conducting raids to arrest them. |
Bonnet ride,
filmy style
Chandigarh, August 2 According to an eyewitness, the incident took place at around 1 pm when the traffic constable signalled a Tata Safari (Pb-32-G-0032) coming from Sector 20 to stop as its driver was using a mobile phone. The vehicle also had dark films on the windows. Instead of stopping the vehicle, he speeded it up. The constable came in front of the vehicle in order to stop it, but he was hit by the vehicle. The constable landed on the bonnet and caught hold of the wipers. The driver did not stop even then, instead he began to drive in a zigzag manner to make him loosen his hold. The driver even managed to negotiate a busy roundabout on Madhya Marg with the cop still on the bonnet. When the vehicle reached Khalsa College, Sector 26, it rammed into a stationary vehicle. It was then that the constable fell off the vehicle and the driver sped away. The police failed to trace the vehicle till late in the night. A case of attempt to murder, kidnapping and obstructing a government servant from discharging his duty has been registered against the unidentified driver. |
Nursing asst molests girl, suspended
Chandigarh, August 2 According to information, the victim had lost her father some time ago and was admitted to the JCO family ward for treatment for a kidney ailment. The matter came to light when the victim told a doctor about the incident. He in turn apprised senior officers. A written complaint was later submitted to the hospital authorities in this regard. A spokesperson for Western Command said the Army had taken a very serious view of the incident and a court of inquiry had been ordered. Appropriate action would be initiated once the investigations were complete and the court of inquiry submitted its findings, he added. |
Tahar divides Bar
Chandigarh, August 2 The proceedings were progressing peacefully but took a U-turn when Harvinder Singh Baidwan rued the alleged humiliation heaped upon him in Justice Uma Nath Singh’s court and said the judge spared no one and was specially rude to juniors. What ruffled many feathers was his advice to “shun sycophancy and step up the tempo of the struggle, which only a few members of the Bar were capable of”. This infuriated senior member of the Bar, G.K. Chatrath, who took his comment as an oblique assault
on him, resulting in a melee of sorts. Things got serious with supporters from both sides hurling allegations on one another. Some young lawyers were heard asking “which senior lawyer came to juniors’ rescue when they were being humiliated?” Chatrath had thanked Chief Justice Vijender Jain for his positive approach and had asked the Bar to act with reason and not passion alone, lest they go astray. Bar association’s senior executive member S.D. Sharma and general secretary Onkar Singh Batalvi tried to dispel the impression of the junior-senior divide and stressed on the need to stand united. Another row erupted when the association president, Anmol Rattan Sidhu, proposed to constitute an 11-member committee to decide the future course of action. As he was announcing the names, Anupam Gupta and some other lawyers shot down his proposal and asked what was the need for such a committee when an executive committee already existed. Amid loud protests, Sidhu finally gave it up and it was decided that the previous resolution of the association seeking the transfer of the judge and the boycott of his court would stand. Earlier in the meeting, Anupam Gupta spoke about the need to wake up the Bench to the urgency of the situation. He lamented that though there were many ways to withdraw work from Justice Uma Nath Singh, no action was being taken. “Let us take a huge delegation and seek an appointment with the Chief Justice of India. We should tell him how we had been bullied and terrorised,” he said. H.S. Gill, too, blasted the unreasonable order by the judge. J.S. Toor spoke on the lunacy Act and told the gathering that the Act had been repealed. As such, there existed no mental asylums in the country but only psychiatric hospitals. He said Article 330, CrPC, stipulated that before deciding upon insanity, a person should be subjected to examination by a district medical officer. There are differences between junior and senior lawyers over the course of action to be followed in the Tahar case. |
e-revolution conference begins at tech park
Chandigarh, August 2 This was said by Gen S.F.Rodrigues, Governor of Punjab and UT administrator, while addressing the e-Revolution 2007 conference which commenced here today. General Rodrigues underlined the potential of 65,000 IT professional jobs with three times more opportunities of subsidiary jobs. He said the park had grown as a global project and a major attraction for MNCs as "we have always adopted a transparent approach, strictly adhering to the procedures and processes as per rule of law and laid down time limit." "There are vast opportunities of growth and employment in this sector and we have to upgrade the knowledge and competence of our people through the tools of IT and education for meeting the requirements", he added. Srinath Batni, director and group head (Worldwide Customer Delivery), Infosys Technology, said knowledge was the growth driver in today's world and contributing immensely to the GDP of economies even without investing proportionately more into the infrastructures. Neerja Verma, ex-senior vice-president of RMSI, underlined the need for building appropriate eco-system within the organisation which could help the human resources to grow. This requires collaboration of all stake holders which included the businesses, the academia and the
society. Meenal Jadhav, vice-president of Grow Talent, said the capacity building was the greatest challenge for every organisation. D.P. Singh, VP (Strategic, HR) I M Daksh, explaining the management of people in a cross-cultural global workplace, said it required consistent and constant training of workforce to create a system of shared values. Partap Agarwal, co-founder, IDS Infotech,
chairing the session on the potential of the web mentioned how a knitting factory in Mohali is delivering customised T-shirts to people around the globe just through the online business, and one could track the train timings on the net, besides the community networks, virtual universities, and virtual offices that are happening on the web world.
Representation to Nasscom chief
Chandigarh: The Chandigarh Sanjha Morcha, a body of the land owners who are protesting against the acquisition of their land for the IT Park, today gave a representation to chairman of Nasscom Lakshmi Narayanan here today. The Nasscom chief was in the city to attend a two-day IT conclave here. In the representation, the morcha has said the development was at the cost of the livelihood and homes of people, who have no other source of subsistence except their land. The representation was handed over to the Nasscom chief by Jyoti Subramanian, secretary of the Sanjha Morcha.
— TNS |
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Major trouble Vijay Mohan Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 2 Sources in Army Headquarters reveal that charges against him include contacting the Ethiopian girls without due authority and taking them to his official residence, possessing arms and ammunition without a licence and without authority and several weapons and conducting an anti-narcotics operation without authority and without co-opting civil police. The summary of evidence (SOE), a precursor to a possible trial by the general court martial, is in the process of being recorded at the Rajputana Rifles Regimental Centre in Delhi. The final decision to convene a trial will depend on the review of the SOE A court of inquiry presided by Col Inderjit Singh, commanding officer of an infantry battalion, had held the officer blameworthy of his acts of omission and commission, following which the Army initiated the disciplinary action. The incident had occurred in March, when the officer was officiating as the commanding officer of an intelligence unit based at the Army headquarters. The Army had maintained that the girls, identified as Samravit Bekele and Rahel Girma, were part of a secret operation and had been picked up by the MI for questioning in a drug smuggling case. In their statements to the police the girls, according to documents pertaining to the case, had denied any kind of abuse and said that they had been only questioned. Being foreigners, they were not compelled to undergo medical tests. Though their passports were valid till 2011, their visas to visit India had expired. According to the Army, anti-narcotic operations by the MI are not unprecedented and these were undertaken to cultivate sources for garnering information. MI officers claim that several successful operations claimed by the police have been because of inputs by them. The sources said the officer had maintained that a member of a Delhi University students’ organisation had introduced him to the girls. Thereafter, while conducting the operation they met another person, who had given him a packet which he later found contained arms and ammunition. The weapons listed in documents include two pistols, about 150 rounds of different types of ammunition, a grenade and a detonator. |
Shopkeepers given ultimatum to remove encroachments
Panchkula, August 2 The grace period was given after a delegation of the market association, at a meeting with estate officer S.P. Arora, sought time to convince the shopkeepers to clear encroachments in the marketplace. Sources said they assured the EO that they would cooperate with the enforcement staff and allow the removal of items of those shopkeepers who did not pay heed to their appeal. Yesterday, the enforcement staff had to return empty-handed in an anti-encroachment drive in the Sector 7 market. Though the staff had issued a warning to the shopkeepers to remove all their items from the corridors, the shopkeepers joined hands to prevent the staff from taking away fridges and racks of chips stacked in the corridors. The shopkeepers had alleged that the staff was taking away items in corridors without issuing proper receipts for the same. After yesterday’s attempt to remove encroachments failed, it was finally resolved that a second round of talks would be held between the estate officer and the association to work out a way. |
Cops taken for a ride
Chandigarh, August 2 The complainant, Dinesh Kumar of Sector 22, a friend of the girl, however, later told the police that he misunderstood the incident as kidnapping and does not want to pursue the matter any more. The police said it all started when it received a call at 10:50 am that a girl was kidnapped from Sector 36 garden by two Maruti Alto car-borne youths. The police sprang into action, and teams were rushed in various parts of the city to trace the car. After about 30 minutes, the police tracked the car near the Civil Secretariat and brought the girl along with her “kidnappers” to the Sector 36 police station. The girl has been identified as Lavina of Ambala, who works in a company in Sector 35, where Dinesh also works. Her alleged kidnappers have been identified as Kamalpreet Singh of Ram Nagar, Ambala, and Parveen Kumar. The police also seized two expired identity cards issued by Ambala-based newspapers from Lavina and Kamalpreet. A police officer said, when asked to lodge a complaint, Dinesh started backtracking and said he misunderstood the incident as he got disturbed seeing the girl with another boy. The police called families of both parties, which amicably resolved the matter. Dinesh told the police that he wanted to marry the girl. The SHO of the Sector 36 police station inspector Ishwar Singh Mann said a daily diary report had been recorded in this matter as both parties resolved the issue amicably. Lavina’s mother told the police that Kamalpreet was known to their family. Lavina also said she had gone with Kamalpreet on her own. |
Recall safai sewaks, says mazdoor union
Mohali , August 2 The union leaders pointed out that the work of the council was being adversely affected because of shortage of staff. The civic body was taking care of sanitation work in a part of the industrial area, while in the rest of the town sanitation, work has been given on contract. Jagbir Singh, president of the union, said there were a total of 140 safai sewaks on the rolls of the civic body out of which, 60 were allegedly working at the offices and residences of senior government officials and even at the residences of council officials. He demanded that if it was not possible to call back all such safai sewaks, more employees should be recruited to fill the gap. The union leaders have given a list of the safai sewaks working unauthorisedly at other places to executive officer of the council
J.S. Thind. Giving details, they said five persons were working at the office of the deputy commissioner and two at his residence. One person was made to work at the office of the SSP, while another was working at the residence of a senior official of the vigilance department. As many as nine safai sewaks were working in the office of the director, local government, Punjab. Safai sewaks of the council were also working on the court premises, the office of the vigilance department in Phase VII and the residence of a former SDM. Some safai sewaks were being asked to do the work of drivers, while eight were working at the office of the municipal council in Sector 68. Union leaders said safai sewaks should not be made to work at the office of the civic body, but only in the areas assigned to them. When contacted, Thind, said all these employees had been working at other places before he had
joined here. MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu demanded that all safai sewaks working unauthorisedly at other places should be called back as the work of sanitation in the town was being adversely affected. He said he would discuss the matter at the next meeting of the civic body. |
Inculcate good traffic sense: DGP
Mohali, August 2 More than 200 students, from various schools in Mohali and Chandigarh participated in the declamation contest and a poster making competition. Addressing students the DGP said generating awareness in the young minds about traffic rules and good driving was the only way accidents on the roads could be reduced. He also interacted with the students and appreciated their efforts. Senior Superintendent of Police, S.A.S.Nagar, Ranbir singh Khatra, said the contest had been organised to create traffic awareness among general public, particularly young students. The winners incliude: Jasreen Kaur, Rahul, Simran Dhanoa, Manpreet Kaur, Tamanjot Baidwan, Rahul Sehdev, Hargobind Singh, Debzyani Bera, Supneet and Supant. |
25 acres earmarked for nurseries
Chandigarh, August 2 Though the final outcome of the proposal is not known, the issue has been discussed at the highest level. A demand of the nursery owners to be rehabilitated on 35 acres of land in Manimajra has not found favour with the administration. Ashutosh Jagga of Phulwari nursery said the city had been conceptualised as a green city and a clean city. Even in metros, nurseries were located in urban areas. “If the administration can come up with schemes to cater to the needs of the housing and trade, arising out of influx of migrants and local population, it can come up with a scheme for the nurseries too”, said a florist. A senior official said it was difficult to rehabilitate the nurseries in Manimajra as the land had been planned for further expansion of the IT park. Possession of the land vacated from the nurseries had been given to the Municipal Corporation, which has already done planning of the area. The possession of the land was taken after the nursery owners lost battle in the Supreme Court. After the orders of the apex court, the owners of the nurseries have given a representation to the UT administrator, Gen S F Rodrigues (retd) seeking rehabilitation of their nurseries. |
Experts allay fears on IT returns date
Chandigarh, August 2 Since the ITRs were filed for the financial year 2007-08, the persons, who pay advance tax through the tax deducted at source (TDS), can file the returns by the end of the current financial year, Lal Bahadur Gupta, president of the Income Tax Bar Association, said here today. The last date of filing the returns had generated a lot of interest among public with income tax officials and tax consultants interpreting the provisions of the Income Tax Act in their own ways. However, the Act makes it clear that the in case of the unaudited returns, where the TDS provision was in operation, it could be filed by March 31,2008. The government and private sector employees and small businessmen come under the category of persons filing the "unaudited returns". |
ISBT mess: minister meets Rodrigues
Chandigarh, August 2 He informed the administrator that toilets at the ISBT were clogged and unauthorised persons were charging money from passengers for using the toilets. |
Demand to hike wages
Chandigarh, August 2 Raghunath Singh, general secretary of CITU, and Bant Brar, general secretary of AITUC, accused the previous Congress government and the present SAD-BJP government of succumbing to the pressure of capitalists in not
implementing the revised wages which had become due in January, 2006. — TNS |
Vehicle maintenance &
safety-1
The safety of your vehicle depends much on your understanding of the meanings of all warning displays on the instrument panel. Don’t ignore warning lights or signs of faults developing WARNING LIGHTS Warning lights for brakes, parking brakes, fluid level and battery charge should light up and then go off again when the vehicle moves off. If they don’t then there is a fault that needs to be checked by a mechanic. * * * If warning lights for oil or water temperature comes on while driving have the vehicle checked immediately and urgently. * * * If the charge warning light illuminates while driving it may mean that the battery is no longer being charged as required. Check it soon as this could lead to battery discharge and loss of all electrical systems. |
Park in a mess
I am a resident of Sector 28-A. I want to bring to your notice the fact that the park in front of my house (park No. 2) is in deplorable condition. It is not maintained and full of sticks and stones. The weeds have not been removed, there are glass pieces on the ground and the grass is uncut. There are pieces of paper lying around. In short, the place is filthy. To make matters worse, the park is being used as a car-parking space. Several cars are parked here. As a result, the children of our locality do not have a place to play in the evenings. Such basic facilities should not be denied us. I request the municipal council to take notice of this situation and do the needful. Karam Cheema, Chandigarh Readers are invited to write to us. Send your mail, in not more than 200 words, at news@tribuneindia.com or, write in, at: Letters, Chandigarh Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh – 160 030 |
Man booked for assaulting security guards
Panchkula, August 2 In his complaint to the police, Raj Mohan Singh said he was on duty on the intervening night of July 31 and August 1. While he and another guard Mukesh were on a round of the society, the third guard, Ajay, said that a person in a car (CH 03 Z 8168) was trying to enter the society forcibly. On reaching there, they found that the car driver, later identified as Atul, was accompanied by another man. Both were in inebriated conditions and were frantically knocking at the door of a house in P-Block of the society. Mohan said when he tried to find out who they wanted to meet, a fight ensued. “They picked up a flower pot and hit me,” he said. The complainant added that after the scuffle, the duo threatened him, maintaining that they were “big men”. Later, the two tried to escape in their car as the security guards tried to stop them. This again ended up in a scuffle. Here, too, some flower pots were broken by the accused. They even threatened the guard with dire consequences if they said a word about the incident to anybody. Meanwhile, one of the guards called up the president and the secretary of the society, who immediately arrived on the scene. The guard, in his complaint, maintained that on seeing the two men, they asked the guards to let them go since they were “big people”, after which the men drove away. Mohan added that Atul, along with another man, came to his residence yesterday afternoon and again threatened him, asking him to keep his mouth shut. He said that he had to muster up a lot of courage to come and register his complaint with the police. Meanwhile, police officials said based on the registration number of the vehicle, they traced Atul. Investigations would be conducted and his statement recorded to ascertain who had accompanied him to the society. Atul has been booked under Sections 452, 323, 506, 427 of the IPC for trespass, mischief causing damage, criminal intimidation, threatening the security guard and voluntarily causing hurt. |
240 cases of IMFL seized
Zirakpur, August 2 The team of excise officials, led by SAS Nagar excise inspector Harjot Singh Bedi, recovered over 240 cases of Indian-made foreign liquor from a truck that was headed towards Faridabad from Chandigarh. Bedi said the driver, Narinder Kumar, was stopped at a naka in Zirakpur and arrested. The liquor was recovered from a secret cabin made inside the truck. He added that the driver had been routinely smuggling liquor. Bedi said R.J.S. Brar, ETO excise, SAS Nagar, had supervised the operation based on a tip-off. |
Traffic cop held for graft, suspended
Chandigarh, August 2 A spokesman of the traffic police said a special naka was set up on Uttar Marg near Kaimbwala turn for checking drunken driving and other violations from 10 pm to 1 am. During the checking Baljit Singh stopped a Toyota Corolla car (DL-3C-AJ-2082) driven by Sheesh Pal of Moti Lal Nehru Complex, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, for the violation of high beam and not wearing seat belt. Baljit Singh reportedly demanded money from Sheesh Pal to let him go and the deal was settled for Rs 200. Thereafter, Sheesh Pal reported the matter to the in charge of the naka party, following which the in charge recorded statements of both parties. The currency notes were recovered from his possession. Baljit Singh has been placed under suspension and an inquiry has also been initiated against him.
— TNS |
Man stabbed by kin, hurt
Chandigarh, August 2 The police said the victim Jasdev Singh suffered stab injury in his thigh and was rushed to Sector 16 Government Multi-speciality Hospital, where his condition was stated to be stable. The police has registered a case against the brother-in-law of victim’s brother, Dalip Singh and arrested him. A police officer said Dalip’s sister Vijaylaxmi was not in good terms with Jasdev and his wife Meena. She went to her parents and came back with her brother last night. There an altercation broke out between them leading to stabbing of Jasdev.
Vehicles stolen
Rajinder Singh of Sector 12 reported that his Maruti car (CHF-301) was stolen from PGI on Wednesday. In another incident, Rakesh Kumar Sood of Sector 20 lodged a complaint with the police alleging that his Yamaha motorcycle (CH-01-Y-5320) was stolen form Sector 22 on July 27. Two separate cases of thefts have been registered.
Theft
B. R Banga of Sector 22 reported that car stereo was stolen from his from his car (PB-16-0001) which was parked in front of his house on August 1. A case has been registered. |
Software export awards presented
Chandigarh, August 2 In the ITES sector, Dell International Services (I) Pvt Ltd and Excel Callnet Pvt Ltd have been selected from the multinational and SME sectors, respectively. This year STPI also selected six companies, two each from Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh, for Fast Tracker Awards for their exports performance. From Punjab, the Award for Software Development has been bagged by Tech Tier IT Solutions. Lambodra Info Tech Pvt Ltd got the award in ITES category.
— TNS |
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