Chandigarh, January 22
With former Lok Sabha speaker and home minister Shivraj Vishwanath Patil becoming the first politician to be sworn in as the Punjab Governor-cum-UT administrator in almost two decades, the political who's who in the region thronged the Punjab Raj Bhavan to greet the new incumbent.

While the local unit of the Congress party, which had not been seeing eye to eye with outgoing Governor SF Rodrigues, was well represented by its senior leaders, including its president BB Bahl and Chandigarh Mayor Anu Chatrath, party leaders from the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal made a beeline to the city to welcome Patil.

The newly elected president of the city BJP unit, Sanjay Tandon, was among those who attended the ceremony along with municipal corporation councilors and office-bearers of various trade and industrial organisations.

Given Patil's political stature, information & broadcasting minister Ambika Soni specially came from New Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Madhu Bansal, wife of parliamentary affairs & water resources minister and Chandigarh MP Pawan Bansal, who is reportedly abroad, represented her husband.

Several senior Punjab Congress leaders, including its president Mohinder Singh Kaypee and leader of the opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal besides several MPs and MLAs, graced the occasion.

The Haryana Congress was represented by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and several senior ministers and office bearers. Even Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Thakur Kaul was seen at the gathering.

“Working with a politician as the UT administrator naturally provides a “comfort level” to elected representatives, particularly the MC councilors”, a senior Congress leader remarked, trying to give a rationale for the presence of scores of political bigwigs. “As a former home minister, Patil is acquainted with the background of most of the city’s projects, including the ‘mega’ ones. That should stand the new incumbent in good stead while taking decision as the UT administrator”, the leader hoped.

“The municipal corporation looks forward to the guidance and patronage of a statesman like Patil in putting Chandigarh in the league of the country’s leading cities”, said Chatrath.

Meanwhile, Rodrigues and First Lady Jean Rodrigues were given a warm sendoff today at the Raj Bhavan by, besides Badal, Punjab assembly speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon and senior police and administrative officials. Last night the former administrator was given a farewell by officials of the Chandigarh administration.

Mohali, January 22
With the Punjab & Haryana High Court granting an interim stay on acquisition of land from Sector 74 to Desumajra for mixed use, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority’s ambitious project has hit a roadblock.

The authority intends to acquiring 200 acres of land for the project in Desumajra, Ballomajra and Bairaley villages along an upcoming 200 feet wide road that is proposed to connect Kharar (via Desumajra village) with the Patiala road at Chatt village.

The stay was granted after the area’s resident welfare association moved the court stating GMADA was acquiring land on which the RWA’s structures were standing. The authority has already issued notices under sections 4 & 6 of the Land Acquisition Act to acquire the land.

Negotiations have been going on for several months between the landowners, who have been protesting against the move, and GMADA on the terms and conditions of acquiring the land for mixed use.

However, the landowners want to retain their lands and registered their protest against the proposed acquisition at the GMADA office a few days ago.

It may be mentioned the district land fixation committee has been deferring the issue of fixing the compensation for the land to be acquired. Kharar MLA Balbir Sidhu stated the government had been “fooling” the landowners who he said had no objection to the land being acquired for a road at “realistic prices.”

“However, the 200 feet-wide stretch planned to be acquired for mixed use on both sides of the road is not acceptable to them”, Sidhu added. He cited the high registry rates in Ballomajra, Mauli Baidwan and Desumajra while demanding a higher compensation rates for the land.

Chandigarh, January 22
Confusion prevailed throughout the day over the questioning of SPS Rathore by the CBI in the Ruchika case here today. The CBI in its notice to Rathore had asked him to join investigation by January 22.

Rathore, however, did not turn up at the camp office of the CBI. Though it could not be confirmed if Rathore had contacted the CBI on phone or through some emissary.

The CBI had set up a camp office in Sector 18 to conduct investigations into the case and three FIRs registered by her father and brother last month.

Media personnel kept waiting at the CBI camp as well as the residence of Rathore in Sector 6, Panchkula, expecting that he would turn up to record his statement with the CBI. Rathore, who left his home twice in his car, however, did not turn up at the CBI office.

Chandigarh, January 22
The CBI today conducted surprise checks at fair-price shops across the city.The DIG of the CBI, Mahesh Aggarwal, said a surprise check had also been conducted at the office of the food and supplies department in Sector 17 and some records had been seized from there too.

The sleuths had found certain incriminating documents which would be scrutinised to find out the irregularities.

The CBI had received a complaint that food items meant for public distribution were been sold in the open market, depriving the poor of subsided foodgrain.

The CBI teams seized records from PDS shops located in Colony No 5, Palsora, Kajeheri and Sector 25 and the UT food and supplies office.

A cane-crusher unit along the Chunni-Landran road in Kharar. This year jaggery is more expensive than sugar. Tribune photo: Vicky Gharu

Despite the anomalies, no one seems to be complaining about the business which starts around Dashera in October and continues till March. Apart from the Chunni-Landran road, similar units dot the Ropar-Morinda road and nearby areas. The units at Chunni-Landran boast of customers from Chandigarh, Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala.

Chandigarh, January 22
The proposal for setting up of a fire academy by the Chandigarh municipal corporation will once again be tabled in the house during its meeting scheduled for January 29.

A corporation committee had earlier rejected the proposal on the grounds that the project was not feasible for the city and had recurring expenditure.

This will be the first meeting of the house under new MC Mayor Anu Chatrath.

The three-member committee constituted under MC Additional Commissioner PK Sharma with two other members — station fire officer M L Sharma and fire and emergency services sub committee chairman Arshad Khan — had stated in their report that the proposal for setting up of a fire academy in the city was not economically feasible.

It was also pointed out by the committee that the project would involve a recurring expenditure of crores of rupees on faculty and infrastructure, which will be difficult for the corporation to bear annually.

The report mentioned the visit of the team to the Delhi Fire Academy, which had a six-storey building on four acres of land.

The expenditure involved in the project was around Rs 4 crore, excluding the cost of land, vehicles, equipment with staff and trainer strength of 62.

The committee members pointed out that the Delhi fire service had around 2200 employees, whereas, the strength of the Chandigarh fire and emergency services was just 220.

Also, there were 50 fire stations in Delhi, while Chandigarh had only seven fire stations.

Keeping in view these facts, it was not feasible to go ahead with the project in the city. The report also mentioned that the local fire department was already imparting intensive training to their personnel engaged in fire-fighting activities.

The committee was constituted by former mayor Kamlesh after her visit to Vadodara, Gujarat, and had asked the officials to look into its feasibility in the city.

Strangely, the currently Mayor was tabling the agenda for discussion in the house when the earlier committee had clearly stated in its report that the academy was not required as per the exiting staff and infrastructure in the city.

Other agendas expected to be tabled in the house include estimates of mahila bhawan, setting up of two community centres at Mani Majra and re-allotment of sanitation contract to private contractors. 

Chandigarh, January 22
When it comes to dilly-dallying over a complaint, the Chandigarh Police even ignores the recommendation of the UT law department.

A city resident has accused the local police of sitting over his complaint for over one-and-half months while ignoring the legal opinion recommending registration of a criminal case a month ago.

Talking to the TNS, complainant Bharat Bhushan Aggarwal, director Jai Mata Food Limited, Phase II, Industrial Area, said on October 15, 2007 he had lodged a complaint of fraud with the UT police regarding deceitful transfer of his 10 lakh shares worth Rs 1 crore of face value by a Sangrur resident.

“Since then, the police has used every possible way to delay the issue and made me run from pillar to post. Initially, they refused to entertain my complaint saying no cognizable offence was made out during the probe. The complaint was sent for a legal opinion on my insistence and then they admitted that the complaint was fit for registration of case,” said Aggarwal.

However, the police, adamant on not proceeding on his complaint, found another way to delay the matter.

It allegedly cited the jurisdiction hindrance and sent the complaint to the Sangrur and Jalandhar police. Aggarwal was, however, not informed about the status of his complaint during the period.

“It was only when I got a call from the Sangrur police that I came to know that my complaint had long been forwarded to the Punjab Police,” alleged Aggarwal.

Apprehending an unfair probe into the matter, Aggarwal took up the issue with the UT Home Secretary-cum-chief vigilance officer seeking transfer of his complaint to the vigilance department or the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The Home Secretary referred the matter to the legal remembrance-cum-director of prosecution, which recommended registration of case of cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy on November 25, last year.

Acting on the recommendations, the Home Secretary directed the UT police to register a case on December 8. Since then, there has been no word from the police, alleged Aggarwal.

Inspector Prem Chand maintained that the Sangrur police had filed the complaint. A team was sent to get the complaint but the Sangrur police refused to hand over the same asking the UT Police to get the same through the Director General of Police, Punjab, and the channel was being followed.

Chandigarh, January 22
Human trials for the imported vaccine against swine flu or influenza A (H1N1), which will pave the way for its use in India, are likely to be conducted at the PGI in the coming week.

Assistant Professor Binod Patro of community medicine department and in-charge of the project has said the human trials of the H1N1 vaccine will start soon after getting approval from ethical committee.

“The project is under review and will get approval within a few days,” says Dr Patro.

The trials are necessary to determine if the vaccine, tried and tested in foreign countries, will be safe for use on Indians, he says.

According to experts, even if the vaccine is found to be safe, those receiving it will continue to be assessed for a period of six weeks to check for side effects that may even include serious conditions like the Guillian-Barri Syndrome (GBS), a rare disease, in which the body damages its own nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis.

Doctors at the PGI say while vaccine trials usually take years, in view of swine flu’s pandemic situation, companies have been allowed to cut short the time.

Experts point out that no vaccines is completely safe in all cases. People allergic to eggs, for example, cannot use flu vaccines because eggs are involved in the manufacturing process.

Meanwhile, India’s indigenous H1N1 vaccine is expected to be available by April 15 and may cost between Rs 80 and Rs 100.

Cadila Healthcare has already started trials of a live, inactivated vaccine.

Three other companies working on an indigenous vaccine — Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech International and Panacea Biotec— have also got permission to test the vaccines developed by them.

The experts say if the testing proves that the Indian vaccines are safe and effective, they will become available around the latter half of April.

The Indian vaccine industry is well developed and indigenous H1N1 vaccines can be expected to be of high standard, he points out.

Chandigarh, January 22
To streamline the functioning of the Municipal Corporation’s road wing, Mayor Anu Chatrath has instructed Chief Engineer SK Bansal to formulate a uniform policy. This was decided at a meeting chaired by Chatrath with councillors from ward Nos 11 to 15 and officials recently. She expressed surprise that the three divisions of the road wing followed different norms for similar work, due to which there was no coordination between them.

She also directed the horticulture department to focus on southern sectors as most were being neglected in terms of development of parks and green belts. Fixing August as deadline, she asked the department to develop two green belts in Sector 51 and one in Sector 56. A few councillors pointed out that they were not satisfied with the work undertaken by contractors in their respective areas. She asked the officials to avoid taking services of such contractors.

Chandigarh, January 22
In a bid to revamp the infrastructure of about 110 government schools the UT administration has earmarked Rs114.4 million (Rs11.44 crore) under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) scheme.

As per the plans, Rs 320.91lakh will be spent on the Government High School, Rehabilitation Colony, Mauli Jagran, while a total of Rs 118.33 lakh will be used for building two new floors in GPS, Sector 23. Similarly, an amount Rs 241.55 lakh has been kept aside for building additional classrooms in Government High school,Vikas Nagar, Mauli Jagran, and Rs 206.44 lakh for the construction of 3 rd floor of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 26 (Timber Market).

As much as Rs 257. 20 lakh will be spent on the construction of Government High School, pocket No 4 and 5 Mani Majra.

“These funds will be spent on the further development of schools with special emphasis on those schools which are located on the outskirts of Chandigarh. During the recent surprise visits by special teams, we decided to undertake the construction and further development of school buildings. All funds provided will be used for the upgradation and maintenance of present facilities and on introducing additional amenities within the school premises. The idea is to make available quality education to our students in a healthy ambience,” Home Secretary Ram Niwas said. 

Chandigarh, January 22
Career Weavers Consultants Pvt. Ltd., a city based human capital management organisation, conducted The Grand Employment Fair 2010 at Hotel Piccadilly, Sector 22 today.

The unique Mega Hospitality, Aviation & BPO Employment Fair saw more than 2,000 candidates, both fresher and experienced candidates, vying for jobs in the corporates like Indigo Airlines, ITC Maratha-Mumbai, ITC Grand Central-Mumbai, Genpact, Aegon Religare, Oberoi Delhi, IBM Daksh, Spice & CCD etc.

“We are very pleased to bring the second edition of the unique Mega Hospitality, Aviation & BPO Employment Fair to the City Beautiful. Like last year, we have seen excellent participation both from the candidates and the corporates.

Once again, our fest has become the calendar marquee event where the top companies search for the top candidates from the city and vicinity. We are committed to the continuation of the fair as an anticipated annual fixture,” said, Gurpreet Singh, head, recruitment, Career Weavers.At the end of the day over 25 candidates had been placed with The Oberoi - while Livewell recruited 71 and 28 are going to CCD.

Chandigarh, January 22
Sub-inspectors Amanjot Singh and Baljinder Singh were promoted as inspectors by the Chandigarh police yesterday.

The police said Amanjot Singh had been promoted as inspector under the own-rank payment category while Baljinder Singh had been promoted as inspector (wireless/technician). Similarly, ASI Ramesh Kumar had been promoted as SI (wireless section) and Constable Ramesh Kumar had been promoted as Head Constable (ORP). 

Chandigarh, January 22
The Department of Psychology, DAV College, Sector 10, organised a workshop on stress management for the faculty and students of the college here today.

The workshop was conducted by Col Gursewak Singh, a consultant, on stress management and a specialist in marital counselling and a qualified gemologist.

Principal (Dr) BC Josan welcomed the guests. Singh highlighted the competitions in the contemporary world to help the audience understand the dynamics of the process of stress.

The presentation was divided in three segments. The first segment of the presentation dealt with the concept of stress and stress-related diseases called the lifestyle disorders.

The second segment highlighted the psychological approach to manage stress in everyday life. He focused on the five steps mind-body technique of cosmic meditation, which utilises strengthening of human aura and is based on the ancient vedic philosophy and modern theories of cosmic energy.

In the third segment Singh promoted the PEG therapy, which illustrates the role of personality analysis and personality development in understanding stress among individuals and help them with emotional counselling and gemology. The workshop concluded with productive interactive session with the students and faculty.

Chandigarh, January 22
The postgraduate department of commerce, Government College, Sector 46, organised an inter-college multi-media presentation competition on e-business for the postgraduate students here today. Dr JK Sehgal, head of the department, welcomed the guests and judges. He apprised students of new trends in business. Dr JS Raghu presided over the competition.

Around 12 participants from various colleges presented multi-media presentations on different aspects of e-business like electronic payment systems, electronic data interchange, supply chain management, electronic fund transfer and current issues in e-business. Dr Pradeep Walia, BCA department, GCG-11, and Prabhkirtan Singh, senior consultant, ICFE, were the judges.

Students claiming the first, second and third places were given cash prizes of Rs 500, Rs 400 and Rs 300, respectively.