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Hike in Rail Fares
Chandigarh, January 9 While many commuters feel that there is no justification in the hike in fares as the services provided by the Railways are not up to the mark, there are some who think that after this hike, their may be some improvement the services, especially the quality of food served on trains.
After the announcement of the hike in the fares, there is likely to be an increase of Rs 26 in the fare of the Shatabdi from Chandigarh to New Delhi. Railway officials said the fresh fares were yet to be calculated by the division as the service tax was not included in the fare announced by the minister. Travel from the city to New Delhi by the third Kalka Shatabdi, which will run from January 14, will be expensive. For the executive class, commuters will have to shell out around Rs 1,106, while for the chair car, the fare will be around Rs 539 instead of Rs 1,080 and Rs 513 before January 21. Travel by the morning Kalka Shatabdi will be cheaper. The fare for the executive class is likely to be Rs 986, while for the chair car it is expected to be Rs 476. The journey will be costlier for long-route commuters as a hike of Rs 90 to Rs 100 is likely for the sleeper class from Chandigarh to Central
Mumbai.
Mixed response from residents
— Siddharth Sanwaria, Sector 21 resident
— Dr Amrit Bolaria, ex-nominated councillor, MC
— MPS Chawla, chairman, Chandigarh Citizen’s Council
— Sachin Sharma, chairman, Youth Innovative Society
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jyoti murder case
According to the police, during his hiding, a high-profile political leader from Punjab had given shelter to Chaudhary near Kharar in his "second house". The MLA was in the house on the night before his surrender. “Chaudhary, who is generally clean shaven, disguised as a Sikh and grew a long beard for the purpose. He also wore a turban in a bid to befool the police,” said a senior Panchkula police official on condition of anonymity. The newly elected MLA from the Doon constituency in Himachal, Chaudhary, who was wanted in the Jyoti murder case, had surrendered before the Panchkula court yesterday. Chaudhary surrendered on the day he was to take oath of office in Dharamsala in Himachal. Jyoti (24) was found murdered on November 22 near Sector 21, Panchkula. The victim, who hailed from Hoshiarpur, was reportedly in touch with the MLA. The postmortem had revealed that the girl had recently undergone
an abortion.
Sleepless night for MLA
The MLA had a sleepless night in the CIA cell on Tuesday. The man, who was fond of delicacies, is reportedly having "dal-roti" in the lock-up.
Search on for accomplices
Police teams are searching for the MLA's accomplices at the same leader’s house near Kharar, where the MLA was hiding. The police is looking for Gurmeet, Dharampal and
Paramjeet.
MLA's brother held
Madan Lal Chaudhary, brother of the Doon MLA, was arrested by the Baddi police late on Wednesday evening. Madan was booked recently under Section 216 (harbouring a criminal) by the Baddi police. The Panchkula police has already
arrested Harbhajan Chaudhary, another brother of the MLA, under the same section
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Senior Dy Mayor fails to show up at office
On January 1, when she was elected as the Senior Deputy Mayor, she had entered her office to occupy the Senior Deputy Mayor’s chair. Thereafter, she has not turned
up at the office. BJP councillor Arun Sood, who is also the in charge of the party affairs in the MC, how could the Congress and the nominated councillors, who voted for Rana Kashmiri Devi, justify her candidature for the post. He alleged that she never raised any question during House meetings last year and now she was not coming to her office. It was a complete mockery of a democratic system, he said. During the past 12 meetings of the civic body, she did not raise even a single question. She was also a member of sub-committees on women empowerment, environment, city beautification and electricity last year, but hardly attended meetings of the sub-committees. Rana Kashmiri Devi said she was not well and could not visit her office. She said tomorrow she would visit the MC office to attend a meeting with officials. Defending Kashmiri Devi, city Mayor Subhash Chawla said according to the MC Act, the Senior Deputy Mayor functioned only in the absence of the Mayor. It was not mandatory for her to come to the MC office regularly, he said.
Deputy
Mayor meeting visitors
While Congress leaders are maintaining that it was not mandatory for the Senior Deputy Mayor to attend her office in the MC, Deputy Mayor Satish Kainth is meeting visitors daily and hearing their grievances.
Fund not utilised
From the ward development fund of Rs 40 lakh for 2012, Rana Kashmiri Devi, who represents ward number 14, had utilised only Rs 3.41
lakh.
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Panchkula lad scores 100 percentile in CAT
Chandigarh, January 9 At 3 am today, candidates sat in front of their computers to see the results on the Internet. The results have left thousands of students in the region disappointed, while these have brought cheer to some.
The tricity results are the best in a decade sice more than 25 students have scored more than 99 percentile. Another student to have done well in the examination is Abhinav Gupta, a student of PEC, who has secured 99.97 percentile. The only son of his parents, Abhinav said, "I have worked hard for this examination and in a way, I feel relieved after the result. Having seen my fair share of tough times in life, this comes as a big relief. I am looking forward to a great future now." As far as the calls are concerened, only the IIM, Kozikhode, has come out with its list of preliminary first-stage calls. The other IIMs are expected to declare their lists within 48 hours. CAT is the gateway to entry into 13 IIMs and more than 100 colleges across the country. Like last year, this time also, the IITs and the FMS, Delhi, are considering the CAT score for admissions. University Business School, Panjab University, is one of the prominent colleges to accept the CAT score and its cut-off is expected to be around 90 percentile.
Ropar IIT student
Anshul Garg, a Panchkula resident and student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar, who was tutored in Chandigarh, figures among the 10 toppers across the country, who have scored 100 percentile
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Woman 'gangraped' in auto at P’kula
Panchkula, January 9 The local police has downplayed the issue, saying that it was not a big matter. Despite the fact that the victim submitted her complaint in the morning, the police did not bother to get her medical examination conducted. “The woman alleged that she was coming to Panchkula to meet someone and had asked for an auto-rickshaw from the Zirakpur bus stand. She said besides the driver, there were three men in the auto-rickshaw, who took her to an isolated place near Sector 20, Panchkula, where they gangraped her,” said a police official. The woman said she had earlier refused to sit in the auto, but the driver assured her that the other men would be dropped at a short distance. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Parul Kush said, “The matter has come to our notice and we are verifying the facts given by the victim." Station House Officer of the Sector 20 police station Surinder Kumar said he was not aware about the issue.
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Power cut spells chaos at ISBT-43
Chandigarh, January 9 Chaos prevailed at the ISBT in the afternoon as the people, who had come to book tickets for the Volvo or train service at the railway counters, left disappointed even after waiting in queues for more than an hour. The officials at counters had no knowledge when the electricity supply to the bus stand would be restored. Sakshi Sharma, a resident of Sector 50, who had come for railway reservation, complained that because of the irresponsible attitude of the authorities in not paying the power dues in time, the public was suffering. She said yesterday also when she came to book a ticket, but the officials at the counter told her that the system server was down so she should come tomorrow. Today also, she was unable to book a ticket, which was a sheer harassment of the public, she added. Sources in the CTU revealed that owing to the delay in the release of the budget, the CTU had failed to pay its electricity dues amounting to Rs 22 lakh for the past four months. Officials, pleading anonymity, said a number of communications had been made to the higher authorities for the past two months for a timely release of the budget, but all in vain. The BSNL had already disconnected the outgoing service on all the telephone lines at the ISBT because of the delay in the payment of phone bills. However, the incoming service has been provided to the CTU staff on a temporary basis since December 17. The officials at the bus stand have been forced to use their mobile phones in case of an emergency. During a visit to the bus stand today, it was found that all the computer-related work had come to a grinding halt and the commuters were running helter-skelter to get information about the resumption of booking services. Meanwhile, CTU Director TPS Phookla said the UT Finance Department had assured his department that the budget would be released soon. He said as soon as the budget was released, the dues of the electricity department would be cleared. After hours of communication, the CTU officials were able to convince the UT Electricity Department that payments against its pending bills would be released at the earliest. The department restored electricity supply to the bus stand, which was disconnected at 12:30 pm, at 6 pm. Meanwhile, no machine work could be carried out at the CTU workshop, which is situated adjoining to the bus stand, during the power cut. The records of the CTU show that since the ISBT was shifted to Sector 43 from Sector 17 in 2006, this is for the first time that power supply to the ISBT has been disconnected by the UT Electricity Department.
Mounting ISBt bills Department Dues Electricity Rs 22 lakh (4
months) BSNL Rs 5,000 (2 months)
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Overcrowding at PGI: Patients forced to sit on floor
Chandigarh, January 9 Also, a number of patients are forced to sit on the iron rods outside the special clinics since the broken chairs, which were removed from the row of chairs, have not been replaced with new ones. Kartar Singh (name changed), a 60-year-old patient from Bathinda, said: “I have been visiting the PGI for my check-up for the last six months. I come here every month. Rarely could I find a chair to sit here.” More than 1,000 patients visit the OPDs everyday. The seating arrangement at the OPDs (iron chairs) consumes more space but accommodates fewer patients. Also, a number of patients lie down on the row of chairs. An official from engineering department of the PGI said: “Until a few years ago, there were wooden benches all around the waiting areas. The earlier system was much better in terms of accommodating patients. Even sick patients could lie down on those benches comfortably.” Spokesperson for the PGI Manju Wadwalkar said a seating arrangement is already in place at the OPDs but the number of patients has been on the rise for a long time. The capacity of the waiting area cannot be expanded beyond a limit. The patient crowd remains equally high at the emergency wing. On an average, it receives 300 per cent more patients than its capacity of 100 beds. Flooded with an abnormally high number of indoor patients and an equal number of attendants, the emergency wing is in dire need of expansion. The inflow of patients in the OPDs at the PGI has gone up to 18,49,015 annually. While the Advanced Trauma Centre has been set up to ease the patient load at the emergency, the situation continues to be the same. Having a total capacity of 1,900 beds, the institute has been catering to more than 3,000 indoor patients in addition to per day arrival of 500 or 600 patients at the emergency wing and the
OPDs.
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'Yum Leela' staged in city
Chandigarh, January 9 The play started with the story of an "elephant" that was killed by a politician and after his death, he reached the "yamlok". Hearing the empathetic story of the elephant, Yamraaj intended to meet such politician and subsequently a politician named "Daata" was brought to Yam Lok. Elephant then requested to visit heaven and hell. Despite Chitragupta's denial, Yamraaj granted his wish by giving him a ring. During his journey, he met Narad Muni and managed to extract the stamp of Vishnu Lok following which he made fake documents that contained the order to replace the existing Yamraaj with the corrupt politician "Daata". As the control came in the hands of corrupt politician, he transferred all the bad souls to the heaven and disturbed the
peace and purity of good souls. Knowing this, lord Vishnu immediately replaced the Yamraaj and summoned elephant to his court. The play reached its main highlight when elephant argued with Lord Vishnu saying that while the lord had handled the whole situation in yamlok; who would replace the number of corrupt people controlling the entire system in the world.
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Over 1.30 lakh children to get polio drops in Mohali
Mohali, January 9 He directed officials of the Health Department to get cooperation from political, religious and social organisations, apart from leaders and panchayat members. He said 1,080 teams had been formed, which would cover more than 2.55 lakh houses in the district. As many as 510 booths would be set up apart from 50 transit booths at various locations. As many as 131 supervisors had been deployed for the work. Thind asked senior medical officers to ensure that no child was missed out during the campaign. Meetings should be organised at the block level so that the message of the national campaign reached everyone. The ADC asked district education officers to hold meetings with the heads of various schools and make them aware of the campaign so that when those on duty go to the schools to administer polio drops, they face no problems.
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Isolation ward for swine flu patients at Mohali hospital
Mohali, January 9 Dr Rajiv Bhalla, SMO in charge of the hospital, said the isolation ward was set up after getting directions from civil surgeon Neelam Bharadwaj. He said six beds had been up for swine flu patients and a separate BP apparatus and thermometer had been supplied apart from face masks and gloves. All requirements as per the protocol had been completed. The civil surgeon said two persons suffering from H1NI fever were detected in the district. One was from Zirakpur while the other one was from Banur. Both of them were admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh. One of them died later. Dr Bharadwaj said one suspected case of swine flu was reported from Fortis Hospital here. Required tests were being carried out for the confirmation. The patient was from outside Mohali district.
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Guidelines for street hawkers framed
Chandigarh, January 9 Besides, vendors/hawkers shall not operate on the roadside, cycle tracks, footpaths, roundabouts, in front of markets and other public places where they can cause traffic hazard and cleanliness problems, unless specified in their licences. The vendors selling food items shall have to maintain cleanliness, sanitation and obtain a Food Safety Licence and NOC from the Health Department, as the case may be, under the Pure Food Act. A senior official of the UT Administration said that "Bylaws for Regulation of Hawkers in Chandigarh 1961" are still operational in the city but it was required to make some amendments. As Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill 2012 is under consideration of the Centre, the UT Administration framed these guidelines today. Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had issued directions to the UT Administration and the Municipal Corporation in this regard.
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PNB pensioners meet minister
Office-bearers of the Punjab National Bank Retired Employees Association met Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and handed him a representation seeking dearness allowance at 100 per cent of the rate, instead of existing 75 per cent to the workers who retired before November 1, 2002. The former employees are entitled to full benefit under the pay revision settlement of May 1, 2005. The full benefit was being paid
to other employees, said association president OP Ummat, who led the delegation to the minister at his house here. The minister agreed to take up the matter with the appropriate authority at the centre.
Office-bearers elected
Elections of the Resident Welfare Association, Sector 45-C, Chandigarh, held at the Community Centre, Sector 45. Rajat Malhotra was elected as president
of the association. Kamal Sharma was elected as senior vice-president, Suchpreet Kaur as vice-president, Vishal Sharma as general secretary, OP Mehta as cashier and Mukesh Sangar as press secretary.
General body meet held
The first general body meeting of the Resident Welfare Association (regd), CHB, Modern Complex Flats, Mani Majra, was held on Tuesday at the local Community Centre, since its inception four months ago. The meeting was attended by nearly 80 members. In the meeting, which was presided over by its president Babu Lal IAS (retd), an awareness drive was launched by residents. General Secretary SC Luthra read out an appeal containing “Dos & Don'ts” which included avoiding wastage of water, throwing of garbage, easing out pets, keeping a vigilant eye over strangers and suspicious looking persons and avoiding reckless car parking. Patron Amrit Dhingra
outlined the aims and objectives of this CHB Modern Complex Flats Residents Welfare Association (regd).
PU teacher awarded
Dr MC Sidhu, an Assistant Professor in the Botany Department, Panjab University, Chandigarh, has received the Young Scientist Award - 2012 in Botany. The award was presented to him during the International Conference on “Biotechnology; A Rendezvous
with Basic Sciences for Global Prosperity (BTBS-2012)” organised recently
by the Society for Plant Research at National Agriculture Science Centre, Complex New Delhi. Dr Sidhu presented his paper on “Traditional Plant-based Medicines as an Alternative Remedies for HumanHealth”. The awardee’s research interest includes floristic evaluation,
chromosome analysis and traditional medicinal plants.
Expo Mart
CP Paul, general secretary, Indian Printing Packaging and Allied Machinery Manufactures’ Association (IPAMA), said Indian printing industry was one of the largest in the world and growing at a rate of 10-15 per cent annually. The major hub of this industry was Northern India i.e. Punjab, Haryana, Jammu, NCR and Uttar Pradesh. Paul was addressing the media in connection with Expo Mart, which is scheduled to be held from February 23 to February 28 at Greater Noida.
Body donated
The Department of Anatomy, PGIMER, on Wednesday received the body
of Daljit Singh, a resident of Kela Raipur, Ludhiana, in Punjab. The department admires the family for donating the body
MOHALI SCAN Faculty development workshop conducted
A two-day faculty development workshop was conducted at Rayat Bahra College of Law, Mohali Campus, on the theme “Teaching Learning Evaluation Process”. Prof (Dr) MS Bains, Director-Principal, Rayat Bahra College of Law, Mohali Campus, introduced the theme of the workshop and elaborated on the important steps to effective teaching learning process - assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation and documentation. The presidential address was
given by Prof Nishtha Jaswal, chairperson, Department of Laws, Panjab University, Chandigarh. While reflecting on various aspects of teaching learning process,
she motivated the faculty members to become great teachers. She also made various practicable suggestions to improvise the teaching learning process.
Recruitment drive
A campus placement and recruitment drive was held on the campus of
the Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology, Dera Bassi (Punjab). Representatives from BOSCH visited the campus for the selection of students. The drive was specially conducted for the students of electronics and communication, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering.
— TNS
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PU bends rules for production house
Chandigarh, January 9 A DJ system and speakers were also allowed in the campus for the event. The star cast of ‘Sadi Love Story’ visited the university for the promotion of their movie which is all set for release in theatres on January 11. The event was organised with the assistance of Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC). PU authorities had recently framed a policy that a single-day shoot will cost Rs 25,000, which would be preferably allowed on non-working days to ensure that studies are not disrupted. The university had also decided that the production houses would also be charged the service tax. Interestingly, the committee that had framed the policy for shooting and promotional events on the campus had also decided that the permission for such events should be sought at least 10 days before the event; however, the permission for the event was given to PUCSC just a day earlier. In their permission for the event, the PUCSC members had stated that the movie stars in the wake of Delhi gang rape incident would also sensitise the youths about the crime against woman, however, during the promotion the stars forgot to mention the incident. The stars marketed their movie by distributing t-shirts bearing the name of movie among the students. Dinesh Talwar, a senior syndicate member, said: “If the production house has used the premises of university whether for few hours only then the university should have charged them. If we start allowing such promotional events free of cost on campus then the university which is an educational institute will turn into a favourite destination for production houses to promote their movies and music albums.” Vice-Chancellor Arun Grover said, “The office of Dean Student Welfare (DSW) will comment on the issue.” Dean Student Welfare (DSW) AS Ahluwalia said the permission to hold the event was given by the Vice-Chancellor to the student council. “I will check the purpose for which the student council sought the permission and if some commercial activity has taken place then the student council will be asked to pay the amount,” said DSW.
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‘Smart work’ behind my success, says CAT achiever Anshul Garg
Chandigarh, January 9 He said, “I believe that we should focus on quality rather than quantity
and study with full concentration.” Revealing the mantra of success, Anshul said, “Hard work is not enough but smart work is the key to success. The result is not a surprise to me as I was expecting that I will score well.” The young lad who is looking forward to join Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, believes that engineering and management is interlinked. Son of a businessman, Anshul, wants to be a successful entrepreneur as he wants to start his own company. Anshul who has remained meritorious throughout his career did his Class XII from Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, Chandigarh, and scored 87 per cent marks. He attributes his success more to his mother who, according to him, helped him a lot. Shyam Lata Garg, Anshul’s mother, said: “It’s the second time that Anshul has made me proud. First time was when he got admission in IIT.” For the second consecutive year that a student of IIT Ropar has scored 100 percentile. Earlier, in CAT 2011 Sri Ram Prasad Pemmasani scored 100 percentile. about the topper
Anshul remained meritorious throughout his student life. He studied at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, Chandigarh, and scored 87 per cent marks in class XII.
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CAT: It’s advantage girls, non-engineers
Chandigarh, January 9 An important change in the admission policies of few IIMs has been the diversity factor. By virtue of this, non-engineers and girls would be given additional weightage along with their CAT scores. One such girl, who has done the city proud, is Arshia Verma, a student of UIET. She has secured 99.73 percentile. Sharing her sentiments, Arshia said, “It is truly an overwhelming day. I was confident of doing well and the results have vindicated my expectations. I am ecstatic and looking forward to the next stage of the process.” Aruti Ishrish, Ankita, and Tania have also topped amongst the girl students having scored 99.94, 99.8 and 99.46 percentile, respectively. According to Hirdesh Madan, head, north, Bulls Eye, “This year a lot of girls have scored good percentiles. This is the best chance for girls to gain admission into the IIMs as a special diversity factor has been introduced by 7 of IIMs for the purpose of admission. In general, the results this year have been better than the last year.” Gurmeet Sethi, centre head, PT Chandigarh, said: “One good thing about the results in this region is that final year students without any work experience have been performing exceedingly well over the years.” These results are the stepping stone for admission into IIMs. With the declaration of results, the first stage of the admission process has come to an end. This will be followed by the 2nd process, which consists of group discussions, personal interviews and essay writing. The second stage of the admission process will be conducted from January to March and other criteria for admission include academic performance and work experience.
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City emerges as a CAT training hub
Chandigarh, January 9 Chandigarh is the destination for the students from different parts of the region, including the neighboring cities of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, aspiring to crack CAT to study in premier MBA institutes. According to Hirdesh Madan, head, north, Bulls Eye, said Chandigarh has the largest number of students appearing in CAT after Delhi. “The students from far-flung areas of Jammu and Kashmir and even Rajasthan come to study here,” said Madan. He said, “Chandigarh is probably among the cities that have largest number of freshers appearing in CAT.” Gurmeet Sethi, centre head, PT Chandigarh, said: “The quality of tutors and the competition among the MBA aspirants is better in Chandigarh following which the students who are already studying in the city colleges and even students from neighboring states prefer to join coaching in Chandigarh.” “The quality of coaching is better here following which students from Jalandar, Ludhiana and Amritsar also come to Chandigarh for coaching,” said Sethi.
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Every time, why should the public bear the burden of the losses, which the Railways suffers due to its faulty policy. Rather than increasing the fare, the minister should impose cuts on the hefty expenditure on officials of the Railways for their
luxury
I am glad that finally the Railway Ministry has woken up after a decade to hike the rail fares for providing better facilities to the public. Funds are required to provide world-class facilities at railway stations and for the safety to commuters, which I hope will now
available
The irony is that the public is paying hefty amounts in the name of service tax, but in return it does not
get quality services. Commuters will not mind the hike in case better services are provided
to them
This minimal hike gives hope for youngsters like me as more job opportunities will be available in the coming
years in the Railways as the authorities will recruit more staff and invest on the improvement of the services.
Panchkula, January 9
Chandigarh, January 9