IT Chandigarh

Chandigarh, June 5: A cycle rally organised on the occasion of World Environment Day proved costly for Justice Rajesh Bindal as he landed in the PGI today after falling off his bicycle.

The incident took place this evening around 4:50 pm near Sector 16-17 light point when the Judge picked up a child on roller skates and made him sit on his cycle. However, the child’s leg got stuck in the front wheel of the cycle and both of them fell.

They were taken to PGI where the Judge was kept under observation. Bindal underwent a minor surgery with a stitch on his upper lip. He has been alloted a private room at PGI and will be under observation till tomorrow. The child had received bruises.

A cycle rally was organised to mark World Environment Day by Judges and advocates of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The rally was organised by members of Asia Pacific Jurists Association (APJA) in association with Yuvsatta, an NGO.

Around 100 advocates of High Court led by Justice K S Grewal, Justice Surinder Singh Saron, Justice Surya Kant Sharma, Justice Rajesh Bindal pedaled from Open Hand monument to he Sector 16 cricket stadium crossing many sectors on the way in the evening.

Chandigarh, June 5: Residents of Ward No. 8 comprising sectors 37, 38 and 38 (west) are not happy with the poor response of officials concerned towards their grievances.

Non-functional streetlights, lack of proper sanitation facilities, menace of stray dogs and not emptying garbage bins is what annoys them the most.

While shopkeepers in Sector 37 want more parking space, those of the mini market in Sector 38 are particularly annoyed with the garbage piling up in their area.

The area councillor, Rita Sharma said she had recently met Executive Engineer (Electrical ) A K Singla and requested him to rectify the problem of non-functional streetlights. “Despite the assurance of immediate action, till date, many of the lights were still non-functional,” she said.

She also said that Sector 38 (west) under her ward was yet to be transferred to the corporation by the UT Administration, and therefore, even though she wanted to carry development work here, her hands were tied.

Sharma, however, promised that five parks would be developed in Sector 38 (west) from the Member of Parliament Local Area Development funds. These parks will be provided with lights, benches and tracks.

Dr Jagdish Jaggi, president, Resident Welfare Association Sector 37: Dysfunctional streetlights have been troubling the residents here for the last few years. This has led to several cases of chain snatching. And, particularly troublesome are the electric boxes with naked wires dangling from them.

Sohan Lal Sharma, president, Market Welfare Association Sector 37: The Sector 37 market has very little parking space, despite the fact that it is one the busiest markets of the city. Efforts should be made to extend the parking space and beautify the area.

Sanjeev Babbar, president, Market Development Association Sector 37: Streetlights should be provided in the new parking areas. Booths in the markets have naked wires, which should be immediately covered.

Kamlesh Goyal, member of the Ward Committee: Several thefts have been reported from this area due to non-functional streetlights. Particularly vulnerable is the area behind sector 36 and 37. Authorities concerned should rectify the non-functional streetlights with immediate effect.

J N Shastri, secretary, Resident Welfare Association Sector 37: Electricity poles in the middle of park are a threat to human lives, particularly children. They should be shifted to some other place.

Lt Col I S Dhillon, resident, Sector 38 (West): While the inner roads here have been laid again, the outer road is in a poor condition. Potholes have led to stagnating water. Sewerage is also blocked. Slum-dwellers defecating in the open has compounded the problem.

Vinod Sharma, resident, Sector 38 (West): Some of the streetlights, particularly on the outer roads have not been functioning for the last few days, which is causing a lot problem to commuters. There was a proposal to develop the open space facing the outer lane of the sector into a green belt, which has not materialised yet.

Chandigarh, June 5: The city residents’ dream of getting 24-hour water supply is going to become true very soon. The Municipal Corporation (MC) of Chandigarh is soon going to start the project of upgradation of water supply infrastructure for proper monitoring and automation with remote computerised surveillance system in the city. The Corporation has floated tenders for the same after getting the clearance from the Union Ministry of Urban Development.

MC officials said with the introduction of this system, water supply hours in the city will be increased from existing 16-hours per day to 24-hours per day. “This is the first step towards accomplishing the promise of providing 24-hour water supply to the residents,” said the MC officials.

Being initiated under the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the estimates cost of project is around Rs 21.36 crore. A detailed project report prepared by the Municipal Corporation was submitted to the Union Ministry of Urban Development through UT Finance Secretary on April 4, 2006.

Under the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, the civic authorities have planned to provide electromagnetic flow meters, all sluice valves with actuators, depth censors, remote terminal units in all water works besides 200 tubewells in the jurisdiction of the

Corporation.

MC Superintending Engineer (Public Health) S K Aggarwal said as all updated information will be available online, the officials concerned can act swiftly in rectifying problems related to water supply or break down of machinery. “The new system will help in checking water wastage which will in turn help in providing additional water to the residents,” he added.

With the installation of the new system, the possibility of human error during the operation will also be eliminated and there will be reduction in unaccounted water from 3 to 5 per cent, officials added. This will save around Rs 1.66 crore per annum, while through automatic operation of these tubewells, the Corporation plans to save Rs 2.60 crore annually, officials said.

Taj Corridor Case: Governor denies sanction to CBI for prosecution, law officers prevail

NEW DELHI, JUNE 5: Flying in the face of the Central Vigilance Commissioner’s opinion, sought by the Supreme Court, that Mayawati was “directly involved” and should be booked for being “party to the conspiracy” in the Taj corridor case, Uttar Pradesh Governor T V Rajeshwar today denied permission to the CBI for prosecuting her and her former Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui.

This makes it clear that at the end of five years of high-voltage judicial and political drama in this case, it’s the opinion of the UPA Government’s Law Officers, not the investigating officers, that has eventually prevailed.

The decision comes days after Mayawati, after her resounding election victory, said that her support to the UPA was intact.

CBI officials today said that save another intervention from the courts, their case against Mayawati and Siddiqui is virtually over while they would still pursue charges against fromer state Environment Secretary RK Sharma and other accused persons, Rajendra Prasad, Mahendra Sharma and Kamal Radhu.

The Governor based his refusal on the opinion of Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium. In the 25 days he took to give his crucial opinion since he received the file on May 8, the Governor held lengthy consultations with the ASG during his visit to Delhi last month following which Subramanium submitted a 262-page opinion to him. The Governor also called to Lucknow three CBI officers who had stated on file that a strong case was made out against Mayawati.

In fact, today’s decision follows a pattern. Earlier, in 2005, it was only because the opinion of the CBI’s investigating officers clashed with that of S K Sharma, the agency’s Director of Prosecution (a Law Ministry officer) that Director U S Mishra sought the opinion of Attorney General Milon Banerjee. Banerjee said no case was made out against Mayawati and cited the view of the Law Ministry’s Deputy Legal Advisor.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Mishra said that the issue of seeking sanction now needed to be re-examined in view of the Supreme Court judgment in the Parkash Singh Badal case: “After this, it is up to the courts and the CBI to examine whether sanction is required under the Prevention of Corruption Act or not,” he said.

It was after Mishra had sought closure of the Taj Corridor on the basis of the AG’s opinion that the Supreme Court took the step of seeking the opinion of the Central Vigilance Commissioner. The CVC backed the CBI.

The Governor’s 23-page confidential opinion, handed over to the CBI in Lucknow in a sealed cover on Sunday afternoon, was curiously distributed by Mayawati at a press conference in Lucknow. In it, the Governor states that the grant of sanction is “not an idle formality but a serious exercise” and that he found it “extraordinary” that the CBI levelled charges of corruption, conspiracy and forgery against the Chief Minister.

He also criticised the CBI for making out the scam to be worth Rs 175 crore when actually only Rs 17 crore was spent on the Taj corridor project and another Rs 18 crore was released by the Central Government.

Once upon a time CVC said,

As first reported by The Sunday Express on January 22, 2006, the CVC had arrived at the “irresistible inference” that Mayawati was “directly involved” and “party to the (Taj corridor) conspiracy”. Here’s how the CVC built its case against the present CM:

• She was aware that work had begun without Union Cabinet OK

• As environment minister, failed to inquire about project execution

• Work started without proper reports, assessments

• Took no action when state released funds without approval

Chandigarh, June 4: THE country should have a registration council of radiographers and radiological technologists to check mushrooming of ill-equipped X-ray centres.

This and other important issues such as training institutions without infrastructures and non-uniformity in course curriculum of radiographer’s training programme were taken up at a workshop on ‘Quality Assurance of X-Ray Equipment - its Maintenance and Repairs’, at the PGI today.

The workshop is based on a WHO publication ‘X-ray equipment maintenance and repairs’.

Its Australian author Ian McClelland was one of the principle instructors. Other instructors from the Department of Radio-diagnosis, PGI, gave live demonstration of the X-Ray Equipment installed in the PGI.

The four-day workshop was inaugurated by Prof K K Talwar, Director, PGI. S P Agarwal, Head, Radiation Safety Division, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Government of India, was the guest of honour.

“Professional bodies like the Indian Association of Radiological Technologists, International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists (ISRRT) should educate people about radiation safety norms and quality assurance programmes,” Agarwal said. This would help in avoiding unnecessary radiation to patients, their attendants and the staff working in radiation labs, he added.

S C Bansal, general secretary of Indian Association of Radiological Technologists, said radiographers/radiological technologists working in smaller cities should be apprised of latest developments in their field.

Cynthia Cowling, Director Education, ISRRT, along with Ian McClelland, gave practical tips to participants on education and training in diagnostic imaging.

A large number of radiographers, radiological technologists, medical physicists, radiologists and equipment manufacturers from Chandigarh and adjoining states attended the programme.

Chandigarh Moving ahead of their parents’ expectations and suggestions about the selection of the ‘right’ stream, a number of students in schools and colleges in Chandigarh are visiting professional career-counsellors for help.

Most students here are eager to go by a career counsellor’s advice, rather than not trying for something separate from their parents’ suggestions.

Twenty-three-year-old Shweta Kukreja recently did her Bachelor of Science (Biotechnology) degree from a college. But this chirpy science student never found her subject worth taking up as a career.

Instead of looking for suggestions from a friend or her parents, she opted to meet a career counsellor. That one step transformed her life, Shweta admits.

“My parents also really wanted me to go in for these tests. Although, they were very keen that I should go ahead with my science but they were very supportive when I decided to go for career counselling. Thankfully, they understood I was really puzzled,” says Shweta.

Today, there are several institutes that provide career counselling, but the Institute of Personality and Aptitude Testing (IPAT) finds a special mention.

The institute helps youngsters in clearing their confusions and inhibitions about the choice of career. Experts have been counselling youngsters on subject selection, careers and fighting exam anxiety.

“There are many students who start accepting failure at the initial stage of their career. At 17 or 18 years of age, if they fail to get through a competitive exam, the parents view it as a major incident”.

“So what we try to tell the parent’s that it is a very important decision. Experts should be involved while deciding on this particular issue. Ninety per cent of the time we find ourselves convincing why we should opt for such help. The rest of the energy is spent in counselling individuals about their career related problems,” says Rajesh Garg, Director, IPAT, Chandigarh.

Academic and career counselling is best advised for school-goers.

In Chandigarh, there are dozens of schools that have opted for career counselling to help-out teenaged students.

“Many parents and children get a setback when they learn that the dreams they were nurturing for the past 10 to 12 years is different from the stream your child’s personality is actually made for. But if you still push him/her for your choice, the child will only end up another average person. We leave the final decision on their personal decision,” said Namrata Mohan, a behaviour therapist.

MOHALI, India, June 2 (UPI) — A devastating fire has gutted a market in the Indian city of Mohali.

Almost 400 shops were destroyed, the Press Trust of India reported. Because most of the stores in Phase 3 B-1 deal in clothes and textiles, the fire spread quickly, with gas cylinders from food shops helping to fuel it.

The cause of the fire had not been determined late Friday, although officials said it might have been an electrical short circuit in loose wires.

Fire brigades from nearby cities, including Chandigarh, aided in the firefighting effort. A reporter for Chandigarh Newsline said a contributing factor to the devastation was the absence of fire hydrants in the area, which meant fire tenders had to return to the station for refills when they ran out of water.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Ludhiana, June 2: The Sikh clergy on Saturday urged authorities to arrest the chief of the Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS), who has been accused of dishonouring Guru Gobind Singh, the community’s tenth and last spiritual leader.

About 250 representatives from various Sikh religious bodies converged at the Nanaksar Gurdwara, a Sikh shrine in Ludhiana to chalk out their strategy on the standoff between the community and the Dera Sacha Sauda sect.

Clashes between Sikhs and the sect erupted on May 14, a day after an advertisement appeared in local newspapers, showing sect leader Baba Gurmit Ram Raheem dressed up as Guru Gobind Singh.

The Sikhs took offense at it, terming it as ‘blasphemous’. Skirmishes between rival groups flared into mob violence when the Akal Takht — the top body of Sikh clergies –urged the community to boycott the sect.

The sect leader denied any wrongdoing and tendered an apology on May 27, saying he had absolutely no intention to imitate or replicate the Sikh guru. The Sikh clergy however, rejected the apology.

The clergy has asked the Sikhs to continue social boycott of Dera Sacha Sauda followers and asked the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee (SGPC)- a Sikh body managing its shrines — to pursue legal cases against the Dera chief.

On Saturday, the Sikh religious leaders said they would court arrest if Baba Ram Rahim Singh was not arrested by June 18.

“We held a meeting and decided that all the Sikh religious leaders would court arrest at Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh if Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim Singh is not arrested till June 18th, though maintaining peace in the region is our priority,” said Baba Harnam Singh Dhumma, chief of Damdami Taksal, a religious body.

The sect, which has tens of thousands of followers, says it is a social organization that believes in the oneness of god and does not adhere to a particular faith, though its leader wears a turban and has a long beard in the Sikh style.

Sikhs, most of them living in Punjab, Haryana, Jammu region and New Delhi, make up about two percent of India’s 1.1 billion population.