Mohali, August 30
Those seeking the services of masseuses beware! Next time when you call up to respond to an enticing ad that says “female masseur available” make sure you do not walk into a trap laid by goons to fleece you.

On Sunday night a Jalandhar-based resident was almost snared when he called up for a masseuse. The woman who responded to the call directed the man to wait near a school in Phase X. No sooner had a girl sat in the customer’s car, two people (including one in police uniform) arrived at the scene and began quizzing the customer and reportedly threatened to “book him under Immoral Trafficking Act”.

Keeping his presence of mind, the customer managed to escape from the scene. The thugs reportedly chased the victim’s car but were intercepted at a ‘naka’ (checkpost) near Franco Hotel as the police was already monitoring their movements for the past few days.

Swinging in to action, the police’s CIA wing found that the girl and the uniformed person were part of a gang involved in fleecing unsuspecting people on the pretext of arranging female masseurs for them. During the past two months the gang is reported to have robbed at least four people of lakhs of rupees. The victims, who were mostly wealthy men, were often told to withdraw money from ATMs or hand over the cash in their possession.

The girls were sent along with the clients to the place of choice of the latter. Vanita used to coordinate on phone and send girls to the callers. For three hours in the company of a masseuse a customer was asked to shell out Rs 3,000 and, half of this amount used to be pocketed by Vanita.

Mohali SP (detective) Varinder Pal said following a tipoff the CIA wing nabbed a girl, Ruby, and her accomplice, Gurmit Singh at a checkpost near Franco Hotel. The police was on the lookout for Vanita alias Tania, who was “supplying” the girls, and Faqir Chand, who used to threaten the customers while posing as a cop.

Unconfirmed reports said Chand was indeed a cop posted in the wireless section of the Punjab police in Patiala. No police official, however, confirmed Chand was indeed a cop.

Since none of the victims, fearing social stigma, had filed any formal complaint, the police was trying to ascertain their identities.

On a complaint lodged by ASI Ajaib Singh, a case under sections 384 (punishment of extortion), 389 (putting a person in fear of accusation of offence in order to commit extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC has been registered at the Phase 1 police station.

It has been stated that Vanita, a resident of Phase X, was running a massage business with the help of some girls. Their modus operandi was to lure the customer and send them along with the girl with Chand then appearing and threatening the customers to extract money from them.

Both Ruby and Gurmit were remanded to two-day police custody. The other two suspects are absconding.

Chandigarh, August 30
Hundreds of patients suffering from various complications had to return from the medical outpatient department at PGI without receiving any treatment today after they learnt new registrations had been restricted to 200. No prior intimation about the step was given to the public or to staff members.

Many of those turned back, who had come from far off places in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, had been referred by local hospitals to PGI.

A PGI spokesperson, however, said the number of new patient registrations had been restricted to “streamline the process” at the overcrowded OPD. About 400 patients arrive at the OPD every day with the number much higher on Mondays as it is closed on Sundays.

It was last Monday only that a few patients had a tiff with the doctors at the OPD over long waiting hours. The doctors protested over the “attitude” of visitors and suspended work for an hour.

Earlier, the PGI director, citing the overcrowding at the hospital, had urged residents of neighboring states to avoid visiting PGI if they could get treatment for their ailments in their respective places.

Today morning the staff deputed at the OPD counters were issued instructions to register only the first 200 patients arriving there. While 200 patients had taken slips for registration from the reception counter by 9 am over 200 patients reaching the hospital after this time were asked to go back. The registration hours for OPDs at PGI are stated to be between 8 am and 11 am.

When contacted the spokesperson said PGI had been trying to provide treatment of international standards to the patients reaching here. “Restricting the number to a certain limit according to the capacity of hospital was a step in this direction. There was no restriction on the number of patients at other OPDs,” she added.

Meanwhile, sources said a meeting of the PGI council has been called tomorrow to discuss the issue. The institute’s faculty is of the opinion that it was imperative to restrict the number of patients to maintain the high standard of treatment as well as till the hospital’s capacity and number of doctors were increased, the sources said.

Chandigarh, August 30
UT Chief Engineer Surinder Pall is now director (commercial) of the newly formed Powercom. While rumours have been doing the rounds for the past few weeks about the Chief Engineer being repatriated to his parent state and joining Powercom, his file has been pending with UT Adviser Pradip Mehra for long.

With his exit, the race for the new Chief Engineer has begun with the names of SK Jaitley, at present Superintending Engineer with the engineering department, and GS Rosha, holding the charge of Chief Engineer, Chandigarh Housing Board, doing the rounds.

The names of SK Jain, regular Chief Engineer of the CHB, who is on deputation with the Delhi government, and SS Bidda, Chief Engineer (MC) are also floating.

While SK Jain has sought extension for two years, GS Rosha is facing a pending CBI penalty, wherein it had recommended a major penalty against him for allegedly committing irregularities while appointing a Junior Engineer during his tenure as superintending hospital engineer, PGI.

He was on deputation to the PGI from 2000 to 2003. He was given charge as Chief Engineer just a day after he was chargesheeted by the CHB in August 2009.

Surinder Pall was given current duty charge as Chief Engineer for the CHB while being an SE and later he got a regular promotion in Punjab, which was his parent state. It was then that the Punjab government wrote to the UT Administration to either promote him as regular Chief Engineer of the UT or send him back to Punjab.

His appointment as UT Chief Engineer triggered resentment among UT officials who alleged that his appointment was a violation of the Supreme Court ruling in a case filed by former Chief Engineer VK Bhardwaj and former MC Chief Engineer KB Sharma. Surinder Pall had even foregone his promotion as the Chief Engineer (PSEB) to remain here.

Chandigarh, August 30
A lovelorn youth today allegedly stabbed a 24-year-old Dubai-based NRI in full public view at Sector 22 here this morning, claiming that the latter was going around with his ex-girlfriend.

The accused identified as 30-year-old Rakesh Sharma, a resident of Pushpak Colony in Sector 49, was nabbed by onlookers and handed over to the police.

The victim, 24-year-old Rajiv Thapar, who is a resident of Phase X, Mohali, suffered a cut on the side of his head. He was rushed to the Sector 16 Government Multi Speciality Hospital, from where he was later discharged.

Rakesh hails from Kotkapura in Punjab and works as a market executive with a private bank in Sector 9. The police said the incident occurred around 11.30 am when both came across each other. Rajiv was walking with the woman at the time of the incident. Rakesh got infuriated and asked Rajiv if he was from Mohali. When he nodded, Rakesh pulled out a knife and charged at him. Rajiv ducked, but sustained a cut on the head.

The SHO of the Sector 17 police station, Inspector Jaswinder Singh, said the medical examination of Rajiv confirmed that he had suffered a 4-cm cut, beside minor injuries. A case of causing hurt and criminal intimidation under Sections 324 and 506, IPC, has been registered against the accused.

Chandigarh, August 30
Even as the Chandigarh police is yet to register a case on a complaint lodged by the State Bank of India regarding suspected incidents of ATM card cloning, complaints continue to pour in with the police.

This time, Milap Chand Kuhiral, a resident of Sector 38, has alleged that he has lost Rs 49,700 to ATM fraudsters.

He has lodged a complaint at the Sector 39 as well as the Sector 38 branch of State Bank of Patiala.

Kuhiral told the police that he had withdrawn Rs 6,000 from the Sector-37 ATM of the SBI on August 17.

Two days later, he checked his balance and found the entire account empty.

On Friday, the SBI had lodged a complaint at the public window of the UT police headquarters in Sector 9.

DSP (crime) Satbir Singh said no case had been registered on the complaint so far and the matter was being looked into.

Panchkula, August 30
In view of a swine flu case reported from Sector 4 of the city, the district administration has issued an advisory to all hospitals, dispensaries and educational institutes throughout the district.

Deputy Commissioner Ashima Brar, while issuing the directive, has instructed the hospitals, including the private clinics in the district, to immediately report to the district health authorities if a patient is suffering from high-grade fever and chest congestion.

Civil surgeon Rakesh Chaudhary said a rapid response team consisting of health officials, including paediatrician, physicist, pathologist and lab technician, had been formed to keep a tab on the virus besides providing quick medical aid to the patients. He said if any patient is found to be positive he would immediately be shifted to isolation ward. He said medicines would also be provided to the nearest contacts of the relatives as a precautionary measure.

Chaudhary said the main symptoms of the swine flu were high-grade fever, vomiting and respiratory problems. He said he has issued necessary instructions to all dispensaries in the city and primary health centres in the district that if such symptoms were found in any person he or she should be referred to General Hospital, Sector 6, without any delay. He said masks and gloves had also been issued to the medical staff to check the spread of the virus.

The civil surgeon said as school-going children were a soft target, the health authorities had also issued an advisory to schools and colleges across the district. He said they had also urged the teachers to create awareness among the students during morning prayers about preventive measures.

He said there was no need to panic and added that, “Though it is contagious, it is curable. The need is to spread awareness among people about precautions.”

Zirakpur, August 30
All efforts of Zirakpur municipal council have gone futile as despite of widening of busy Baltana link road, tractor trolley and trucks loaded with construction material remains stranded on both sides of the road causing inconvenience to commuters, especially school goers. To make the matters worse, the suppliers simply throw the stone-dust along the road.

In November last year, municipal council president NK Sharma had held the meeting with the suppliers of the construction material during which he had given 15 days time to construction material suppliers for removing their vehicles loaded with sand, bricks and other construction material from the Baltana link road. He also told them to put only sample material at their shops. But nothing has been implemented yet.

Residents alleged that they had submitted their complaints many time but the municipal council failed to take any action against the encroachers. They rued that it seemed that MC authorities have turned a blind eye on this violation and were making false promises to them. They said the council had spent lakhs of rupees to widen roads, but it was still encroached by trolleys and trucks.

A visit to the area revealed that a large number of trolleys loaded with stone-dust, bricks and other construction material were parked on the roadside.

Ramesh Kumar, a resident of Ward No. 12, said the suppliers had thrown the stone-dust on the roadside which caused trouble to the motorists. Another resident of the area said the traffic police should be deployed on the site to check violations.

Talking to The Tribune, MC president and District Planning Chairman NK Sharma stated that the matter was in his knowledge. “We will hold a meeting on Wednesday regarding this issue and strict action would be taken against the violators,” Sharma added.

Mohali, August 30
Travelling between Mohali and Chandigarh is becoming a nightmare for road users. Barring a few roads, potholes have surfaced on many link roads that take a major volume of traffic moving between the two cities. Hundreds of commuters use the roads to commute between their place of work and residence.

Due to lack of coordination between the Chandigarh and Mohali administrations, several stretches of road on the inter-state border have been turned into no man’s land. Neither Chandigarh administration owns the responsibility of repairing the road nor does the Mohali municipal corporation. Due to zigzag boundary running between the two cities, both pass the buck on each other.

In a majority of cases, a number of vertical and horizontal road links between the two cities had developed potholes. In most of the cases, half of the damaged road lies in Chandigarh and the remaining lies in Mohali.

The road separating Sectors 52 and 61 is in a terrible state. Even before rains, travelling on the road section was a headache for the motorists. Phool Raj, the local councillor of the Mohali municipal council, said the MC had been repairing its part from time to time. He said he would take up the matter with his Chandigarh counterpart. This particular road section is maintained by Chandigarh municipal corporation.

He pointed out that Chandigarh municipal corporation had been neglecting the Southern part of the city, adjoining Mohali. “Even the slums had been located on the border close to the residential areas of Mohali. Criminals find a safe haven in slums of Chandigarh,” he said.

Similarly is the case of the road separating Sector 52 and 53, which connects to Phase III-A of Mohali. A particular point that is on the borderline between the two cities has potholes. Another road from Palsora village to Phase I of Mohali also has potholes. RP Sharma, Mohali councillor of Phase VI, said he had taken the matter with his Chandigarh counterpart, Manjeet Singh Chauhan and some part had been repaired.

The problem is not restricted to old sectors. The inner sector road between Sector 49 and Phase XI of Mohali is also in a miserable condition. In a stretch of about 500 metres, which runs along Sector 49, no development agency has bothered to repair the potholes. 

Chandigarh, August 30
A few months after his induction into the BJP, a bigger role is being planned for union minister Harmohan Dhawan in the party. While the BJP leadership denies that any important role is being given to the former minister who joined the party in the teeth of stiff opposition from a section of the party, indications are that the veteran leader could be a rallying point for various factions in the party.

Today’s breakfast meeting of the former union minister and the party’s Punjab affairs in charge Yashwant Sinha at Dhawan’s residence, where the party’s top Punjab and Chandigarh top brass was also present, has to been seen in this context.

Though Dhawan’s close personal relations with Sinha are well-known, this is the second time that a BJP senior leader had come to Dhawan’s house. Nitin Gadkari also made a point to visit Dhawan during his recent visit to Chandigarh.

It is known that there are simmering differences between former MP Satya Pal Jain and party president Sanjay Tandon. In this scenario, Dhawan could be rallying point for the two factions in the run-up to the elections of the municipal corporation next year, a senior leader informed. Due to Dhawan’s grassroots politics, the party would have to rely on him in the run-up to the electoral battle. Dhawan’s supporters had to be accommodated in the BJP and they combined with the “original” BJP vote bank could play a decisive role in the corporation elections.

Recently, there was a discussion among the party fora that Dhawan should be given the responsibility of party councillors’ liaison with the media given his rapport with the Press. However, nothing official came out of the discussion.

Party insiders said there was nothing wrong in entrusting a bigger role for him in the party as he was “a respected leader”. However, the only worrying point for the party could be that Dhawan could “monopolise” the mileage in the Press, given his flamboyant style of functioning, the insiders added.

Chandigarh, August 30
Delivering contaminated sweets to a Punjab Civil Services official proved costly for a famous sweets shop of Sector 34 when a team of officers led by Additional Deputy Commissioner Capt PS Shergill conducted a raid on the shop here today.

Food inspectors Satbir Singh, Rajeev Khaneja, Sukhwinder Singh and Bharat Kanojia were part of the raiding team.

The complainant, GMADA estate officer Balbir Singh, a resident of Mohali, had alleged that 21 boxes of “ladoos” that he had purchased from M/s Maa Durga Sweets were found infected with fungus.

He took the boxes containing infected sweets to the shop where these were inspected by the team.

Other sweets lying in the shop were also found infected with fungus and unfit for human consumption.

The team took two samples of fungus-infected “motichur ladoos” and “dilbahaar” sweet and sent these to the lab for testing. The shop was later issued a challan.

Nearly 60 kg sweets were destroyed under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, as these were found unfit for human consumption.

The team also inspected a Chinese food eatery nearby and found the preparation of fast food being done under unhygienic conditions.

Vegetables and noodles kept under unhygienic conditions were destroyed on the spot.

Balbir Singh said the sweets were meant for the ring ceremony of his daughter on Sunday. He said he had placed an order for 21 boxes of sweets on Saturday.

The sweets were delivered to him packed with fancy wrappers yesterday for the function and he gifted these to his relatives.

Some of the packets were lying with him, he added.

When his relatives informed him about the fungus on the sweets, he opened a box kept with him and found fungus on the sweets as well.

He then went to the shop with the boxes and informed the authorities, he said.

Mohali, August 30
The stalemate between the government and private hospitals over the decision of providing free medicare to patients from BPL families in multi-speciality hospitals continues even as the office of the civil surgeon here awaits government directions and the consent of private hospital to send poor patients to avail the best facilities.

The former managing director of the Punjab health systems corporation-cum-secretary (health), Dr Roshan Sankaria had directed authorities concerned nearly three years ago to draw up a suitable mechanism for making referral of the OPD and indoor patients linked to BPL families to private super-speciality hospitals.

However, no outcome in this regard has been seen so far even though many meetings were held by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) and officials of the health department to discuss the issue apart from corresponding with those concerned in writing.

When asked why patients linked to BPL families were not being referred to private super speciality hospitals for free medicare, Dr PK Shridhar, civil surgeon, said how could he do that when he had not received any orders from the higher authorities in this regard so far. Nor had the private hospitals given their consent.

He said he was not aware about the facilities available in each hospital. Letters written to eight such hospitals requesting them to reveal the facilities available, so that patients from BPL families could be referred for free medicare, failed to yield any response. Even the meetings called by his office to discuss the issue were not attended by authorities concerned of most of the hospitals, he added.

It is learnt that as per the decision taken at the meeting held under the chairmanship of Dr Sankaria, 10 per cent of the outdoor patients were to be provided consultation, available diagnostic services and medicines free of cost by private super speciality hospitals.

For the indoor patients the free treatment was to cover consultation, available diagnostic facilities, bed charges, operation charges, visiting charges of the specialist, diet, available consumables (excluding implants) and follow up.

The referral was to be made in a centralised way by the civil surgeon, Mohali, on the recommendation of senior medical officers of government hospitals. The civil surgeon was asked to give priority to BPL patients of the town, followed by those from the Mohali district and then to patients coming from other districts.

GMADA had asked private hospitals to give free medicare to poor patients because land had been allotted to them at concessional rates. However, four hospitals had refused to oblige claiming that they were allotted land at a hefty premium rather than at concessional rate. They had further said that the condition added later by GMADA was unjustified and contrary to the terms governing the allotment of the land.

Chandigarh, August 30
Blending the spiritual, physical, metaphysical concepts and connotations, noted classical Kathak nritya maestro Dr Samira Koser crafted a magical dance drama titled “Sankalp -The Commitment” which was staged at Moti Ram Arya School auditorium here today. Conceptualised, choreographed and directed by Dr Samira Koser, the ballet was her humble salutation and celebration of the “World Peace”. Around 45 dancer disciples of Dr Samira in the age group of 4-40 years from Pracheen Kala Kendra participated in the production.

The programme commenced with a welcome song by MRA School students and a “Ganesh Vandana” by Ambika and Pavan before accomplished dancers of Pracheen Kala Kendra took the centrestage to reveal the magic of ballet Sankalp with brilliance.

Through the shadow art show, chiaroscuro and background music effects, a devout “Soul” is made to descend from heaven to enjoy the blissful bounties of mother earth like mountains, rivers, sun, clouds, rain, sea, wild animals, trees, plantation and festivities.

The ballet was painstakingly rehearsed to ensure a measure of group symmetry. Dancers used different dance movements with verve receiving applause from the audience. Live musical support by Vinod Sood, Mehmood Khan and Dr Samira on pedant augmented the show.

PK Sharma DPI (Schools) was the chief guest.

K Atma Ram, Sajal Koser, secretary of the kendra, Shakuntala Mahajan, director, Saroj Savat, principal, Moti Ram Arya School, graced the function. Students were awarded certificates of participation.

Chandigarh, August 30
Dipping interest and lack of issues have failed to dampen the pomp and show of college nominations, with candidates filing their papers amidst huge fan following and loud slogans.

As expected, the most buzzing campus today was DAV College, Sector 10, where amidst the ongoing speculations of cancellation of election, 12 candidates filed their nominations. What have made the nominations unique this time is the fact that Nikita Budhiraj, a member of the Student Organisation of Panjab University, has filed her nomination for the posts of college president and vice-president.

“The party chose her as student politics is no more boys’ sole arena. She is deserving and if selected will give a new direction to student welfare in college,” claimed Narender Pal Singh, president, SOPU, DAV College, Sector 10.

In SD College, a total of five nominations have been received so far, while the number stands at four in Post Graduate Government Co-ed College, Sector 11, and in Khalsa Co-ed College, Sector 26.

Dev Samaj College has got a whooping four nominations, while MCM DAV College has got three to be followed by Post Graduate Girls College, Sector 11, with two nominations.

Presidential candidates 

DAV College

Harpreet Singh Grewal

Karnik

Manish Tayal

Mayank Malik

Nikita Budhiraj

Prince Garg

Ruku Verma

Sahil Anant

Sehaj Pal Singh -PUSU

Vikas

Viktej Singh

Visharad Kuneja

SD College

Ankush Tandon

Anmol Tandon

Manoj Kaushal

Prabjot Singh

Ritesh Bhatnagar

PGGC-11

Nitin Mehta

Manpreet Singh

Pradeep

Dharnmveer Yadav

Khalsa College-26

Kiranjeet Kaur

Manveer Singh

Sanjay Singh

Satvinder Singh

Dev Samaj

Neha Gambhir

Prableen Kaur

Geetanjli

Manpreet Virk

MCM DAV

Divya

Sujata

Harsimarat Kaur

GCG-11

Aanchla

Namrta

Chandigarh, August 30
The presidential candidates of the two major Panjab University student groups both come from the University Institute of Engineering & Technology (UIET) this time, turning the varsity’s south campus into the principal centre of campaigning activity.

Gurwinder Singh Vir Aulakh of the PUSU-INSO alliance and Mohit Taneja of SOPU are standing for the president’s post in this year’s elections. Lobbyists of the two student organisations were seen campaigning fervently on the campus along with their supporters today.

UIET, which has a strength of nearly 2,500 students, was abuzz with activity with members of both groups going from one classroom to another to deliver peppy speeches highlighting their election agenda interspersed with humour and mudslinging.

“UIET students are divided over whether to back PUSU or SOPU. An equal numbers of supporters were found canvassing for both parties today. However, during the past two years the institute has been a stronghold of SOPU,” said a third-year UIET student.

“As most UIET boys are putting up in hostel number 4 and most SOPU supporters also reside in that hostel, the students have been inclined towards backing SOPU. But this year the PUSU-INSO alliance appears to be working hard and the voting trend could turn either ways,” added another student.

Even as the two presidential candidates have been named keeping in view the strength UIET students, some other student leaders beg to differ on the issue. “September 1, 2 and 3 are crucial dates for UIET since representatives of a company will be visiting the institute on those days. We’ve taken that in consideration and not fielded a candidate from there,” said NSUI state president Randeep Singh Khaira.

Presidential candidates

PUSU-INSO alliance: Gurwinder Vir Singh Aulakh, UIET

SOPU: Mohit (‘Monty’) Taneja, UIET

PU south campus, Sec 25

UIET

No of students: 2,445

Expected voter turnout: Over 1,000

HS Judge Dental College

No of students: 500

Expected voter turnout: Over 200

Chandigarh, August 30
For the first time in the history of Panjab University Student Council election, supporters of student organisation have adopted a “multi-lingual” strategy to design canvassing material.

Punjabi and Urdu have been used generously by student organisations to design stickers for their T-shirts and jeans. Girls on the campus could be seen scripting names of their parties in languages other than English.

Use of these stickers is common at the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET). While certain students wore stickers written in Punjabi language on their sleeves, others flaunted these on their foreheads and arms.

“We are proud of being part of the state that has a rich culture. We prefer wearing stickers of our party in Punjabi rather than stickers with names written in English. This also makes us stand out of the crowd, since other parties have their stickers in the same language,” said Mehak, an engineering student.

Aping the Panjab University Students Union’s move, other parties followed suit and prepared similar stickers for campaigning.

The multi-lingual stickers managed to attract voters during a massive campaigning drive on the PU south campus today, students could be seen borrowing these from party supporters during canvassing.

“Bright coloured stickers worn by supporters of both PUSU and SOPU were a great attraction. We borrowed stickers from supporters of the party and wore these throughout the day,” said another student of UIET. 

Chandigarh, August 30
Personal remarks on student leaders through caricatures today sparked off a fresh controversy on Panjab University campus.

These posters were being distributed in various departments and were being publicised by an anonymous party named “neutral students organisation”. The remarks were against a student leader of the Panjab University Students Union (PUSU).

The caricature highlighted the cake scandal, where a PUSU leader was found delivering a cake in the girls’ hostel and consequently the security persons were dismissed from duty.

A few posters showed his picture and mentioned “from doctor to don”, “cake celebration-job culmination”, “PUSU ki dadagiri” mentioning names of some other leaders as well.

Others showed girls in the hostels saying “yar maza aa gya” after receiving the cake. Another one depicted security persons saying “hey ram galti kiski, saza kisko!”.

Even as the posters mentioned the name of ‘neutral students organisation’ (NSO), which is a non-existent identity on the campus, talks are rife that rival party-Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) plotted the scheme of distributing these posters against the PUSU leader.

Senior administrative functionaries of PU stated that they had been informed about the situation and they were destroying the posters.

“We are getting all posters destroyed and we will probe the case. No violation of the election code of conduct would be tolerated on the campus,” said a PU official. SOPU members could not be contacted for their comments throughout the day.

Chandigarh, August 30
In sync with the recent trends of the Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) election, not a single female contestant has been fielded for the post of president this year by major student organisations.

Presidential candidates of most of the student organisations on the campus were finalised today. Despite this, confusion prevailed on the campus throughout the day with regard to alliances and names of other panel members. The Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU), the incumbent party, which won the elections last year with a substantial margin, did not disclose its deal till late evening. Although there were rumours of its negotiations with the ABVP and SOI for an alliance, sources claimed that a consensus could be reached on the names of vice-president and general secretary.

Meanwhile, an alliance between the Indian National Students’ Organisation (INSO) and Panjab University Students Union (PUSU) panicked other parties, who were heading for an alliance to gain support. INSO members were spotted saying in their speeches that they did not support SOPU this year due to its inefficiency. SOPU candidates, on the other hand, narrated a long list of achievements. 

PUSU-INSO: President- Gurwinder Singh Aulakh (UIET)

Panel members- Vibha Sethi (Botany), Dharmender Lathwal (BMS)

SOPU: President- Manoj Aneja (UIET), panel undecided

ABVP: Tentative panel members- Jagdish Prasad Jat (UICET), Manoj (history), Vikas Sharma (Sanskrit), Amanpreet Singh (law)

NSUI: President-Rajesh Punia (UBS)

General Secretary- Pawan (Sanskrit) 

Nominations day today
Participation of students from departments like bio-medical sciences, botany, Dental college and more prominently UIET has replaced the conventional practice of nominating student council representatives from the department of laws and University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS). Nominations were filed today and the department officials looked into objections against the candidates, following which the DSW office released a final list.

Contestants

Nominations for president -10

Vice-president-13

General secretary-10

Joint secretary-8

Academic loss

Election fever affected academic work in most departments at Panjab University. With the election date nearing, partial attendance was recorded in classes. Due to equal participation of science and professional courses’ students this year, the poll effect could be witnessed in all departments equally. 

PU voters list

Total number of voters on campus in 2010 poll- 12,600

Total number of booths- 151

Number of department representatives (DR)- 108

Unopposed DR selection-33

Number of departments to host DR election-24

UT police on campus

Naval Kishore, returning officer (RO) for the Panjab University Campus Students Council election and Dean student Welfare (DSW), PU, was today provided security by the UT police as a part of the election protocol. Despite attempts by the UT police to keep a tab on outsiders on the PU campus, university officials, including wardens and squads of teachers, are conducting the raids on the campus at odd hours. 

Chandigarh, August 30
In a newfound strategy by Panjab University student leaders, original marksheets and degrees were displayed during a campaign at the HS Judge Dental College on the south campus today.

To counter allegations of the rival party and nullify their contention of having failed in certain subjects, supporters of Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) showed their degrees to students of the dental college. Supporters of the student organisation said the degrees were also showed in a bid to prove themselves as a serious party that did not believe in violence.

In what has triggered a fresh trend on the campus among student organisations, student leaders are now openly sharing their academic credits with voters. They are found publicising their “good marks” in all degrees and subjects starting from Class X to the postgraduation level.

In one such session today, SOPU leader Amit Bhatia showed his Class X, XII marksheets to students and read out the score. “I have been a topper throughout my academic career. I was even ranked in toppers during my graduation course and then later scored 94 percentile in CAT exam and got admission in UIAMS,” said Amit, while addressing the dental students.

Chandigarh, August 30
With only a single nomination being filed at the Government College, Sector 46, Ravinder Singh of the Student Organisation of India (SOI) was declared campus council president amid controversy.

The police assured us, but today, in its presence, members of the SOI blocked the way to the nomination room and did not allow us to file papers. Neither the college staff, nor the police did anything to stop this breach of democracy at the college.”

The police officials accepted the SFI raising doubts, but denied any unwarranted incident taking place at the college today.

Elated SOI members dismissed the allegation. Party leader Sunny asserted, “If this was the case, why did he not approach the principal? How can anybody imagine all police personnel and the college staff turning a blind eye to such an incident if it happened?”

Meanwhile, Meetinder Singh was elected general secretary and Manveer Singh joint secretary of the Khalsa Co-Ed College, Sector 26, unanimously.

‘Not convincing’

I got to know about the complaint from the SDM. The boy neither approached any college authority, nor me. According to the principal, he had no nomination form in his possession. We are looking into his allegations, which do not seem to be convincing, prima facie.

— Ajoy Sharma, DHE

Chandigarh, August 30
A scuffle was reported between Panjab University Students Union (PUSU) and Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) outside the department of laws, Panjab University, today.

According to university sources, a party supporter deliberately pushed another student. Both are contesting for the post of department representatives in the same department.

Another incident of violence was reported outside the BA, BEd department on the campus today. Timely intervention of the university security personnel averted the clash.

Chandigarh, August 30
High drama prevailed at the Sector 26 police station today when over 20 members of the Student Federation of India protested against the “biased behaviour” of the police.

The party members had come to the police station to lodge a complaint against members of the Khalsa Student Union for thrashing their president Balkaar Singh last night. However, when the police officials said they would do so only after conducting preliminary investigation, the party members started raising slogans against the police “inaction”.

“I was standing outside the college with one of the party members Dilbaag Singh last night, when two cars came and stopped in front of us. Around 12 boys who belonged to the Khalsa Union got down and attacked us with sticks and sharp-edged weapons. When I informed the police about the incident, it asked me to come to the police station next morning and file a complaint. But later it denied to lodge an FIR,” claimed Balkaar Singh.

The police officials, meanwhile justified themselves saying, “A few days ago similar feud had occurred. We just want to make sure that it is not a blame game. We will analyse the CCTV footage and then decide on further course of action. The enquiry is on in the matter.”