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Undertrial burns cop’s turban
Mohali, November 21 The policeman on escort duty of undertrails was reportedly not allowing the girl to meet Amit. In a fate of rage, Amit asked the policeman, Balwinder Singh, to come close to his cell and pulled off his turban before setting it afire with a matchstick. The undertrail and the girl alleged that policemen have been accepting bribe
to extend favours like allowing personal meeting of undertrails with their relatives and passing eatables and cigarettes to them. Balwinder Singh denied having misbehaved with the girl and claimed that he had taken charge of the escort only today and was not aware about any such illegal practises. Soon after the incident, a large number of onlookers gathered as Amit was taken to a guard room and quizzed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, City-II, DS Mann and the Station House Officer of the Matour police station, Tarlochan Singh. All that while, the girl kept accusing the policemen of harassing relatives of undertrials and demanding bribe to extend favours. On the basis of the statement of an eyewitness, the undertrial and his fiancee were booked under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code for obstructing a government servant from performing duty, hurting religious sentiments, and criminal conspiracy. The DSP said the undertrial was a hardcore criminal and was facing 33 cases of dacoity, robbery and murder at Ludhiana, Mohali and other places in Punjab. At present, he was facing trial in connection with a dacoity at Sohana. Amit reportedly met the girl at a Patiala jail when she was arrested in connection with the arrest of her mother who was booked for the murder of Hari Charan Vashisht, a spiritual leader of Manauli village. Amit would be brought on production warrant from Patiala and the girl would be produced in court tomorrow. No frisking of undertrials
The incident has exposed chinks in security at the lockup. The matchstick used to burn the policeman’s turban was smuggled in with the knowledge of the cops escorting him. To prove his point, Amit repeatedly displayed the matchstick box and a pack of cigarettes. Sources in the police did not rule out the possibility of cops extending favours to undertrails after accepting bribes. The DSP said he would look into the
matter.
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Boy beats up doctor
Chandigarh, November 21 Dr Ashok Kumar posted at the emergency unit was taken aback as the boy charged at him soon after he declared that his mother Karam Jeet Kaur, who had been rushed to the emergency, was already dead. Hearing this, the boy became violent and slapped Dr Ashok Kumar who is physically challenged. He kept thrashing him till the security staff came to the doctor’s rescue. The boy has been handed over to the police. The assault has left doctors horrified. They said security should be spruced up to deal with such emotional outbursts. “This is not the first incident. In the past too, doctors have been thrashed. It’s not our fault if a patient dies or is not well, but we suffer due to the perceived notion of negligence on our part. It is not just an act of emotional outburst, but it undermines the dignity of doctors,” a doctor said.
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One-kanal plot fetches GMADA whopping Rs 4.6 crore
Mohali, November 21 On the first day of the auction, GMADA earned Rs 107.34 crore from the sale of 32 residential plots. Officials attributed the good response to the reduction in reserve price of plots. What surprised many was that a 500 sq yard plot, which was available in the open market for less than Rs 4 crore, was bought by Amarjeet Singh, a liquor contractor and brother of Kharar MLA, for Rs 4.6 crore, taking the reserve price per sq yard to Rs 92,000. On similar lines, a 100 sq yard plot (four marla) in Sector 63 (Phase IX) was sold for a whopping Rs 1.25 crore against a reserve price of Rs 41 lakh. Shalinder Anand, a real estate agent, said the plots were sold higher than their market price. “This means that the average price of the 100 sq yard plot comes to Rs 1.25 lakh per sq yard. It is exorbitant and does not allow genuine buyers to dream of owning a plot,” said an NRI bidder, who did not wish to be quoted. It was pointed out that the clause of 25 per cent payment before allowing the transfer of ownership had been brought in again to help speculators. The Chief Administrator of GMADA, Sarvjit Singh, repeatedly stressed that speculators would be dealt with sternly. Most of the residential plots auctioned were located in a pocket of Sector 71. Another 500 sq yard plot was sold for Rs 4.56 crore while another plot of the same size was sold for Rs 3.91 crore against a reserved price of Rs 2.01 crore. The lowest price fetched by a plot was Rs 3.65 crore. In Sector 56, a six-marla plot was sold for Rs 1.16
crore.
Commercial auction
In the auction of 22 commercial sites, including built-up booths in Sector 70, GMADA earned around
Rs 12 crore. The highest bid was attracted by a booth that went for Rs
45 lakh against a reserved price of Rs 8.33 lakh. The lowest bid was attracted by another booth that went for
Rs 37 lakh.
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GMCH doctor personates as HoD
Chandigarh, November 21 When contacted, the Director-Principal of the hospital, Dr Raj Bahadur, said he was aware of the case and Dr Goel had been warned against using the designation of the HoD. Asked why no action had been initiated against him, Dr Bahadur said the doctor had apologised. And incidentally this isn’t the first time when Dr Goel has courted controversy and has managed to wriggle out unscathed. Charges were framed against him in 2010 for allegedly abetting the suicide of a third semester MBBS student Jaspreet Singh in 2008, but no action was initiated against him. According to insiders, in the absence of a regular head of the community medicine department, Dr Goel has looking after its affairs, but has not been officially appointed as the HoD. However, for quite some time he has been “wrongly” signing documents and orders pertaining to the department as “professor and head”. The Tribune is in the possession of some letters signed by Dr Goel as “professor and head”, dated 2005, 2008 and 2011. Information sought under the RTI states: “There is no regular head of the department of community medicine and Dr NK Goel is only looking after the affairs of the department.” The RTI response by the CPIO categorically mentions that Dr Goel is “not a regular professor and he has been re-designated as professor under the career advancement scheme”. Contrary to Dr Bahadur’s stand, an advocate, RS Bajaj, said Dr Goel was liable of both civil and criminal action. The department should have conducted an inquiry and taken action or even gone in for a criminal complaint of impersonation and cheating. Efforts to contact Dr Goel proved futile.
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mc Elections
Chandigarh, November 21 The Chandigarh Jan Manch party has nominated her name from Ward No. 14, where her son was kidnapped. “Instead of continuing with the blame game of finding the guilty in the series of events in which we lost our son, I would rather enter the system and attempt to make a positive change in governance. I want the response system to be more humane. A child’s kidnapping cannot be compared to routine crime like stealing, snatching or forgery. We need a more humane approach,” Kulwinder Kaur said, her eyes welling up. Khushpreet was kidnapped from outside his residence in Burail on December 21, 2010. His dead body was recovered on January 6, 2011, from near the residence in Mohali. For a woman who had remained confined to her home, Kulwinder Kaur said: “During our days of trial
during the unfortunate incident, I realised that corruption had seeped in as a permanent feature of our democracy. I don’t have any political experience in wooing voters, however, I am well aware about the ground difficulties that a common man faces in getting his grievances redressed. I don’t want to make any claims about taking on political bigwigs. I want to take the issues of a common man to the right forum for arguing their case earnestly.” Taking an initiative in involving the public, the Chandigarh Jan Manch has also announced the names of nine more candidates, including Joginder Kaur Mukherjee, Gurnam Singh Baniwal, Gurpreet Kaur Chauhan, Shyam Sunder Singla, Ranjeet Kaur, Sandeep Paswan, Jatinder Kumar Sawhney, Subhash Sharma and Bal Krishan. A party spokesperson said the names of candidates for the remaining 16 wards would be declared within a few days.
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MC Ward Woes Public utility services Primary schools
In a decade, the UT education department has not been able to renovate the primary school building, which is a shambles for long. Surprisingly, the infrastructure of two of the schools is also in such a bad condition that most part of the classroom ceiling has cracks. There are broken windows panes and some of the classrooms do not have proper blackboards and proper furniture for children. For the past two years, the UT Administration has not taken up this matter seriously and allots some provisional place to the schools. In fact, a number of top officials paid a visit to these schools and promised renovation, but no action had been taken till date. Provision for college
For long, the proposal for a college has also been made by the authorities, but it has been hanging fire and no decision taken on it. Resultantly, students have no option but to get admission in colleges far away. Residents complain that it is not their duty to remind the authorities to get basic education facilities in their area, but the authorities should implement plans on their own.
Installation of streetlights
For three years, an amount of Rs 15 lakh has been allocated by the ward councillor for the installation of streetlights in the ward, but surprisingly, the work has yet to allotted to any contractor by the MC. Due to this, there are no streetlights installed in the whole ward and residents are facing a problem in commuting. Residents allege that the authorities either support bad elements by not installing streetlights in the ward or remind them of the days when the public had to go back home before sunset.
Bad condition of roads
Re-carpeting of roads in a number of areas has been held up by the authorities, due to which the public is not getting the basic service of roads in the ward. Residents complain that the authorities have a pick-and-choose policy as they keep re-carpeting roads which do not need it while roads which have huge potholes waiting for their turn.
Parking problem
Parking has become a major issue for residents of Mani Majra. Interestingly, besides drafting a proposal to resolve the issue, no action has been taken by the authorities till date. In fact, during the previous elections, an assurance had been given by the candidates that the problem would be resolved when they won. The ground reality is that nobody has turned up again till date.
Sanitation services
It seems that the dumping ground at Dadu Majra is not for residents of Mani Majra. The open space, actually proposed for community parking, has been converted into a dumping ground. Tall claims of the authorities that proper arrangements have been made for garbage collection have been exposed in this ward as every nook and corner of the ward is filled with garbage.
Ward development fund: Out of Rs 130 lakh allotted in the past five years, a sum of Rs 146.81 lakh has been spent till March 2011. How techno savvy your councillor is: Till date, he has neither used Facebook to respond to public grievances, nor used his official e-mail ID to resolve the problems of residents of his ward. How many questions he has put in the House in the past one year (2010): He has not tabled even a single question in the General House meetings. Ward number 25, which is one of the entry points to the city, comprises old Mani Majra, Shanti Nagar, Modern Housing Complex and Gobinpura and is in a sorry state of affairs as a majority
of the beautification works are lying pending for long. The re-carpeting of roads, the installation of streetlights, the installation of booster for better water supply and the development of a playground for children are the facilities which are missing in
the ward. Voter Population Old Manimajra: 25,000 Shanti Nagar: 20,000 Modern Housing
Complex: 18,000 Councillor Gurcharan Dass Kala Party: BJP Achievements
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Nothing in place at Ward No. 12
Zirakpur, November 21 Residents said the administration and civic body had totally failed to solve the problem despite repeated requests. Encroachments lead to frequent traffic jams in the area. Some of the encroachments are in form of
boards and hoardings put up along roads. Besides, some of the shopkeepers, too, have encroached upon the land in front of their shops by constructing a concrete pathway. Situation is no better in Vikas Nagar, Prashant Vihar, Amrit Vihar, Gobind Vihar, Kalghidhar and Hem Vihar. Streetlights have been lying defunct at Punjab Modern Complex and Yog Vihar. Encroachments at furniture market cause inconvenience to visitors. Low power voltage at a few residential colonies aggravates woes as the electricity department has failed to install new transformers. Unhygienic conditions prevail along roads in most of the residential colonies. Residents lamented that the main problem in the ward was selling of construction material along roads. Even the suppliers had started selling the material in residential colonies. They have demanded that the market should be shifted to another place or walls be constructed around the market.
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mc poll
Chandigarh, November 21 He said the scrutiny of all nomination papers would be conducted on November 29 the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers would be December 2. He added that all candidates would have to file their nomination papers to the scrutiny officers of their respective wards. Mehta said the counting of votes would be carried out on December 19 at the four counting stations, to be decided by the commission.
Talking about officials on election duty, he said 3,200 employees of various departments had been appointed for the purpose, of which 80 were sector
officers. He also said all candidates would have to submit election expenditure details of Rs 1.75 lakh to commission office a week after the election process was over.
Mehta said 10 wards had more than 20,000 voters, which were wards 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 23, 24 and 25. He said between 20 and 27 polling stations had been constituted for these wards and the time for voting there would be from 8 am to 5:30 pm, which was half an hour extra.
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Poor kids have no place to play
Chandigarh, November 21 The simple reason is that no place has been left where they can play
games like cricket and football. “Where will we go to play,” is the common question of
most of the local children. Since it came into being in 1996, the municipal corporation had started developing all open spaces as greenbelts. Expressing similar sentiments, another teenager, Shivesh
Goel, said he had not played his favourite game, cricket, at a proper ground, for the past three months. “We are forced to play cricket on the road in front of our houses. We know that it is risky, but we are left with no option,” said
Shivesh, living in Sector 19. The state of affairs at the playgrounds in most schools was pathetic. “Who can play at such a ground,” asked 16-year-old Maninder Singh. He pointed to big stones, wild growth and the uneven surface at the ground of a government school in Sector 18. “Most parents do not allow their children to go far to play. Every child cannot
join a sports academy.
We used to gather in any corner of our ‘mohalla’ for gossip.
Now the elderly have started raising objections to it,” he said.
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Vigilance for action against senior assistant
Chandigarh, November 21 It has recommended action against senior assistant Vinod Sharma, in charge of the filling station at the time when more than 18,000 litres of unleaded petrol, worth about Rs 12 lakh, had gone missing from there in four months and-a-half, from April 1 to August 18. In the report, the vigilance cell has mentioned that negligence and mismanagement on the part of Sharma had led to the possible siphoning of petrol. The accounts were not maintained properly as per Indian Oil norms at the station, it has stated in the report, also suggesting that the department recover the losses from the guilty. The report has also recommended the checking of all accounts of the station on a regular basis and a quarterly inspection of the site by senior CITCO officials. At present, the accounts are being checked once a year. CITCO Managing Director DK Tiwari confirmed that the report reached his office. “I have gone through the report and issued directions to initiate the action required against the senior assistant. A charge sheet will be issued,” said Tiwari. He added that he had already issued directions of a regular inspection of accounts of the filling station. “According to other recommendations in the vigilance report, we will also instal diesel generator back-up there,” he added. The accounts of the station had revealed that there had been a loss of 18,067 litres of petrol from April 1 to August 18 this year. A report was published in these columns on September 18. The petrol station supervisor had then attributed the losses to a leak. In his letter dated August 18, Vinod Sharma claimed that petrol was going down a pit, which did not have a lid. Indian Oil officials had inspected the filling station.
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Theatre workshop
Chandigarh, November 21 The 10-day workshop which began on November 12 was aimed to bring about attitudinal change and provided a platform to young girls to discover themselves. About 70 students of Gender Equity and Non - Discrimination Society as well as the women cell of the college participated with great enthusiasm. Dr Joyti Seth, coordinator of the workshop, said that Theatre of Relevance was not merely performance oriented but worked towards comprehensive development of various creative skills like script writing, direction, music score, acting, organising and conducting by the students themselves. College principal Mani Bedi said that the multi- dimensional effect of this workshop on their personality and concentration had been immense as they had become extremely confident and self-reliant, understanding their own identities as productive members of the society. All this goes towards holistic education, which is a part of the mandate of Indian education system. “We have actually witnessed a complete transformation in our students and we feel that this is a wonderful method of attitudinal change” he said.
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LPG dealers call off stir
Panchkula, November 21 On Sunday, LPG dealers went on a strike in protest against the demolition of the boundary walls of two godowns by HUDA. The godowns in the area were set up decades ago and later HUDA had acquired the land and decided to remove the godowns. The dealers were allotted alternative sites on rentals up to Rs 2 lakh per month which was too high, said Nangia. The sites should be allotted on the pattern of Union Territory of
Chandigarh and national capital of Delhi where the rent for such sites was Rs 6,000 only, he claimed.
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Police tightens noose around drunk drivers
Panchkula, November 21 Nearly, 500 persons were issued challans for drunk driving. “Offenders are let off after they deposit Rs 1,000 as fine,” said
Chaudhary. There are two national highways here and many a times reckless or drunk driving leads to road mishaps. However, the police has laid nakas at different points to check the nuisance.
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Workshop by health officials
Mohali, November 21 During the workshop, state nodal officer of the tobacco control cell Dr Rakesh Gupta said in India around 2,200 persons died of various lung diseases every year. Dr SP Surila said the department had issued more than 500 challans so far.
— TNS
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CHANDIGARH SCAN
No afternoon water supply
According to a press note issued here on Monday, there will be no water supply to the entire city and Mohali in the afternoon on Wednesday and there will be low pressure in the evening,. The morning water supply will be
available from 3:30 am to 9:30 am. The shutdown is being effected to carry out repairs of the 1,200-mm mainline for augmentation of supply. There is a leak in the mainline from the Kajauli waterworks to the Sector-39 waterworks at Maduli village, near Morinda. Mohali: Parts of Mohali will get low water pressure, on Tuesday, on account of Chandigarh MC carrying out repairs in the mainline. According to a press note issued by the department of water supply and sanitation, Phases VIII to XI, Sectors 48-C, 70 and 71, Shahi Majra and Matour villages and Phases I to V of Industrial Area will not get water from around noon.
43 cattle impounded
The Municipal Corporation impounded 43 stray cattle in a special drive to check the menace of stray cattle in the past three days from Vikas Nagar, Mauli Jagran, Mani Majra, Sector 47, 48, Colony No.5, Dadu Majra, Maloya, I.T. Park, Kajheri, Colony No.4 and Ram Darbar. Cattle catchers and two trucks of the MC were deployed during the drive.
Conference on sports medicine
Dr EBS Ramanathan was elected as the president, Vice resident- Prof MS Dhillon, secretary - Dr Shweta Shenoy and treasurer - Dr Meenu Dhingra at the general body meeting elections of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Indian Association of Sports Medicine (IASM) hosted by the Department of orthopaedics at PGIMER, Chandigarh. The two-day conference was attended by around 350 national as well as international delegates. The congress was inaugurated by chief guest Milkha Singh and the guests of honour were Dr C Thurairaja and Dr Jaspal Sandhu, president and secretary general of the Asian Federation of Sports Medicine respectively as well as Dr Farasat Hussain, IASM president. Prof MS Dhillon was the organising chairperson.
Sports workshop
Dr Chen from Malaysia led a team of five sports scientists who discussed on various issues. Prof Anton Wicket from Salzburg expounded on rehabilitation methods, and Dr EBS Ramanathan from Muscat discussed knee ligament injuries. There was a panel discussion in which V Singhania, Supreme Court lawyer, spoke on “the Law and Indian Sports”. Dr. C Thurairaja spoke on sexual harassment in athletes. Prof. SS Gill, Vice Chancellor, BFUMS, also shared his thoughts.There were three interactive workshops on anti - doping, team physician course and arthroscopy on the first day which were attended by around 110 delegates. This was the first time that a national doping workshop attended by 45 delegates was hosted in the region. PANCHKULA SCAN
Cultural
extravaganza
The excitement and frolic at Manav Mangal continued for the third and concluding day of the annual day celebrations. Dr RC Mishra (IGP), modernisation, Haryana, was the chief guest on the occasion. The programme commenced with the blessings of the almighty through ‘Ganesh stuti’. Children dressed in bright clothes performed a ‘Western dance’. The tiny tots enchanted everyone with their mesmerising fairy tale ‘Sleeping Beauty’.
MOHALI SCAN Annual event
The Paragon Secondary School celebrated its annual Sports Meet 2011-12 with great enthusiasm. The school pulsated with warmth, grandeur and gaiety weaving an aura to soak everyone in the spirit of sportsmanship. The programme commenced ceremonially with the lighting of a torch and releasing a bunch of tricolor balloons in the air by chief guest NK Sharma, chairman, district planning board, Mohali.
B-School festival
IIPM’s two-day B-School festival “AMAZE” concluded with the rocking performance of punjabi singers Balli Ryar and Vinay Pal Buttar. Both singers made the crowd dance to their tunes. NK Sharma, chairman-district planning board, Mohali, and president Zirakpur Municipal Council was the guest of honour. During the event, students gave mind blowing performances in various events such as “Clash of Titans” (debate), best manager, ad- zap, creative writing, iipm star (solo singing) quizomania (quiz), Mr. and Ms. Amaze (personality contest), choreography, movie making, photography, face painting, rock battle. Students from India ’s top colleges such as Punjab University, Chandigarh, Thapar University, Patiala, PEC, Chandigarh, Punjabi University, Patiala, Khalsa College, Chandigarh, and Government College, Chandigarh, became a part of the festivity. Prizes worth Rs 2 lakh was distributed among various event winners. Ayush and Rupika Gambhir were adjudged Mr. and Miss Amaze.
— TNS
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Datesheet courts new controversy
Chandigarh, November 21 “A majority of the teachers have already informed us about their pre-planned engagements and requesthave begun pouring in for exemption from duties. The matter of rescheduling the vacation was discussed but no decision was taken and now we cannot do much at the last moment but to urge the teachers to cooperate as we don’t want a show down,” said a senior official of the university. Panjab University is holding the semester examination for the postgraduate courses for the first time this year and thus is keeping its fingers crossed for the smooth conduct of exams. However, according to teachers this cannot be a logic to defy sanctity of the academic calendar. “In majority of the courses, exams start on December 8 and end around December 26 while the break is scheduled from December 10 to January 1. Leave aside invigilation when are we suppose to evaluate? From January 1 the new session will commence and we will be bound to take classes so who will check papers and then we will be held responsible for delay in the results. What is the relevance of academic calendar prepared after a lot of brainstorming? Teachers have no objection to cooperate but can we forgo our scheduled engagements at the last moment?” questioned PUTA president Akshay Kumar.
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Gurukul goes online with school admissions
Panchkula, November 21 In fact the experience of frequenting different schools for admission of their wards turns out to be a nightmare for parents specially those who are working couples in a nuclear family. First a form is to be procured for registration and after depositing the registration fee in the banks or the school counter the form has to be submitted on time. At times, long queues in school for registration can be harrowing. Coming to the rescue of such parents for the first time in tricity, The Gurukul has come up with a smart way of on-line registration beginning this year, said Harsimran Kaur, the principal of school. Sitting at home, parents from anywhere in the world can now register their ward with The Gurukul in just a few clicks, she said. On the website of the school after selecting the class and filling the registration form, the parent will be diverted to the Axis Bank payment gateway wherein registration fee can be deposited by using a master or visa debit or credit card. After this, the user will be diverted back to the school website for registration confirmation receipt. The date and time for the parents interaction with the school authorities will also be intimated to the registering parent through automised return mail, added the principal.
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Students excel in literary events
Chandigarh, November 21 Harshita from sacred Heart and Sanskriti from Bhavan Vidyalaya were second and third, respectively, in the story telling contest. Praditi from Mount Carmel won the extempore speech contest while Varun from DAV, Sector 15 and palak from Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula, were second and third, respectively. Rohil from St Kabir, Sanya from Gurukul, Panchkula, and Tanushree from AKSIPS were the top three winners in the calligraphy contest. Manna and Avi from Strawberry Fields World won the general quiz in the juniors section. The team of Harnoor and Kudrat from Carmel Convent was second.
— TNS
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Poetry lovers enjoy a mushaira evening
Chandigarh, November 21 The event, a part of the Communal Harmony Week, was aimed to promote linguistic harmony and the use of different languages like Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu besides (encouraging creative writers and providing a platform for them to showcase their literary potential, disclosed Manju Jaidka, academi chairperson. Veteran litterateur Dr Chander Trikha led the poets with his much applauded poem “Kali nadi ke paar” on terrorism while Nirmal Dutt, secretary general, Punjab Arts Council, won applause for his metaphysical poetry and BD Kalia Hamdam on a nazm on environment. Santosh Dhiman was more cautious and articulate in her couplets like “Zamana perr kuter ne aa rh hai, Parindon kaho parwaaz rakhna. Other poets who regaled the large audience include Jagroop Singh Roop,Manjit Indra, Madhukar Arya, Atulvir Arora, Dr Jagmohan Chopra, Sushil Hasrat besides poets of humour Yoginder Moudgil and Jagjit Sufi. Acclaimed poet and akademy secretary Madhav Kaushik conducted the mushaira with commendable competence. Chief guest KK Sharma lauded the akademi for providing a cultural soul to the city. Varsha Khangwal, director, cultural affairs, also graced the function. Padma Shree KL Zakir also recited his poems.
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Road are in a pitiable condition at a few residential colonies. In some areas, roads are yet to be laid. Heaps of garbage, non-functional streetlights, wild growth along roads and poor sanitation dot the ward. 
“The open spaces have been developed as greenbelts. Playing cricket and football there is out of the question. Now these parks remain occupied by the elderly, who use to raise objections to every action by us,” lamented 15-year-old Rajet
Bector, residing in Sector 28.
When asked why they
did not go to the nearby school ground for the purpose, he said the watchman used to shoo them away from one while a cricket academy was being run at another, where members use to practise in the mornings and evenings.
Another local teenager, Shubham Gupta, said
the authorities should ponder on the problem being faced by children in the absence of playgrounds in the city.