Sharmila

Chandigarh, May 7
Two persons, including a 35-year-old woman and a 22-year-old youth, were killed in separate road accidents in the city today.

Both the victims were riding two-wheelers. The woman was crushed under a CTU bus in Sector 10 and the youth died after being hit by a Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus at the Transport Light point in Sector 26 this evening.

The victim, Sharmila Gupta, a resident of Nayagaon, was riding a Honda Activa scooter when a CTU bus hit her on the slip road near the Home Science College.

The mishap took place at 2.30 pm when the victim, who is a Red Cross Society volunteer, was on her way to Sector 17. She took the slip road on the Sector 10 side from the road separating Sectors 10 and 11 when a CTU bus hit her from the right side. The woman lost balance and fell on the road. Her head was crushed under the wheels of the bus. Her colleague, Pappu, saw her lying in a pool of blood and informed the police. She was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared her brought dead.

The police arrested the driver, identified as Balbir Singh, a resident of Sector 35, in a case of causing death due to negligence under Section 304-A of the IPC. The case was registered at the Sector 3 police station.

Chandigarh, May 7
A five-year-old girl was charred to death while three others received burn injuries in a fire incident at Sanjay Labour Colony, Industrial Area, Phase I, last night.

A total of 15 huts were gutted in the fire. The fire was noticed in one Munna Chaudhary’s hut at 12.45 am. The fire spread to nearby huts in no time.

Munna, his wife and three children were sleeping inside the shanty when the fire broke out. While his five-year-old daughter was charred, four other members of his family sustained burn injuries.

Munna’s neighbour Vinod Paswan said they rushed out of their huts after hearing Munna’s shrieks. “Munna was trying to save his family while other residents also vacated their huts,” he said.

Vinod said they could not save Munna’s daughter Nanki. Munna and his son four-year-old son Surjeet also received burn injuries and were admitted to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, from where Surjeet was referred to the PGI. Police officials said that Munna suffered minor injuries and was discharged from the hospital.

Rajesh, a colony resident whose hut was reduced to ashes, said: “We could not save anything and now we have to reconstruct out hut again for which we require a lot of money,” he said.

The fire department received a call around 12.52 am following which fire tenders from the Industrial Area fire station were rushed to the spot.

A fire official said four fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames. There are over 700 huts in the colony in a cluster leaving a little space to move in case of fire, he said.

Chandigarh, May 7
In an attempt to save his hard-earned money, a 32-year-old resident of the colony, who had earlier escaped the fire at Sanjay Colony, suffered burn injuries after he went back into his hut to locate his savings of Rs 9,300. There were many other residents who were fortunate enough to survive, but lost everything in the fire.

After victim Rajesh Pal Yadav noticed that the hut had caught fire rescued his family, but later realised that his savings was left inside.

Lal Bahadur, a resident of the colony, stated that Rajesh jumped in the fire to locate the box in which he had kept the money. “While tracing the box he suffered burn injuries on one side of the body”, Bahadur said.

Rajesh who suffered burn injuries on hand and neck was discharged after treatment at the government hospital.

The fire incident not only left the residents homeless but also left them penniless as their savings were burnt in the fire.

Dheeraj, another resident, whose hut was burnt, stated that he had recently purchased new clothes for his family and was planning to leave for his native place in Bihar, was burnt in the fire. “Around Rs 1,500 and new clothes worth Rs 3,000 which I had purchased for my family was burnt in the fire”, he said.

Vinod, one of the affected residents, stated that they could not save anything thing. “We don’t have a single penny to buy or cook food”, he added.

Chandigarh, May 7
The result of Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Mains conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was declared today. Those who qualified the JEE Mains will get a chance to appear in the JEE Advanced, scheduled to be held on June 2.

However, the result did not show any all-India or state-wise ranking. The purpose of today’s result was to apprise students of their cut-off score that would make them eligible for the JEE Advanced.

In the general category, students scoring 113 and above will be eligible to appear in the JEE Advanced. For the OBC, SC and ST categories, the cut-off score is 70, 50 and 45, respectively.

From this year onwards, the JEE is being conducted in two parts, JEE Mains, hitherto known as AIEEE, and JEE Advanced, which till last year was IIT-JEE.

The final merit list of the JEE Mains, which is expected in the first week of July, will determine the admission eligibility for BTech and BE courses in the centrally-sponsored universities, including the National Institutes of Technology (NIT), the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) and the deemed universities at state level like PEC in Chandigarh.

The JEE Advanced will release a separate ranking for the admission to the IITs and the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad.

Sanchit Verma, head of a city-based coaching centre, said it was kind of a preliminary result. Those who scored well in the JEE Mains have a fair chance of getting admission to the centrally-sponsored universities. But their admission to the country’s top engineering colleges will depend upon how they score in their Class XII exams.

Policemen deployed at Indradhanush Auditorium seen playing cards

Panchkula, May 7
Panchkula resembled a cantonment on Tuesday with security forces everywhere prior to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s visit.

It would be a tough day for Panchkula residents tomorrow as traffic will be diverted to different routes. Only one route will be open to traffic.

Chandigarh, May 7
BJP activists today held a protest near the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office in Sector 30. Calling the CBI as the Congress Bureau of Investigation, the activists demanded that Mahesh Aggarwal, DIG (CBI), should be transferred immediately, and accused him of giving information about the CBI raid to Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal before The CBI team could reach his nephew Vijay Singla’s house.

The activists also entered into a minor scuffle with the police after two protesters crossed the barricades put up near the CBI office and sat outside the gate of the CBI office raising anti-Congress slogans. Both the protesters were then dragged back by the police force.

BJP state president Sanjay Tandon alleged that Mahesh Aggarwal who is close to Bansal family informed about the CBI raid to them after which Singla’s family managed to leave the house with cash and important documents before the CBI officials could reach their house. “When Singla was arrested at around 7.30 pm why a delay of over two-hours was made before raiding his house in Sector 28?, this needs to be investigated”, Tandon said.

Tandon further stated that Mahesh Aggarwal should not be included in the inquiry of this case and should be transferred immediately. The activists demanded that Bansal should resign as the Railway Minister.

The road from Sector 29-30 light-point to Sector 30-20 light-point was also closed for traffic for about two hours due to the protest leading to the inconvenience to the commuters.

Chandigarh, May 7
Former City MP and All-India in charge of the legal and legislative cell of the BJP, Satya Pal Jain, today alleged that Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal son’s Himachal Pradesh-based pharmaceutical unit manufactured sub-standard medicines.

In a press conference, Jain showed documents of the Standing Committee of Parliament on Health and Family Welfare, which stated that 13 drugs, including one manufactured at Theon Pharmaceutical Limited at Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh, owned by Bansal’s son, did not have permission to sell medicines in many developed countries.

The Standing Committee of Parliament observed, a total of 31 new drugs were approved in the period January 2008 to October 2010, without conducting clinical trials on Indian patients.

Jain also showed list of drugs reported to be of sub-standard quality by the Drugs Control Laboratory, Maharashtra, in February 2011, June 2011, December 2011 and May 2012, which included medicines manufactured by Theon Pharmaceutical Limited.

Giving example, Jain said that a medicine ‘Valuementin dry syrup’ when checked by the authorities, found that the content of clavulanic acid in the sample (when stored) was less (54.11 per cent of the labeled amount) than the Indian Pharmacopoeia 2007 limits as given in the protocol.

In the report, it was also mentioned that in the Merycef-C dry syrup manufactured at Theon Pharmaceutical, the content of clavulanic acid in the sample wass less (13.9 per cent of the labelled amount) than the permissible limits.

Chandigarh, May 7
Few hours after the BJP and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activists staged a protest outside the CBI office, Anurga Thakur, Member Parliament (MP) from the Hamirpur constituency in Himachal Pradesh, held a press conference demanding a high-level inquiry into the property owned by Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, his family and relatives.

Thakur while addressing the media at the BJP office in Sector 33 stated that an inquiry should be conducted on the assets owned by Bansal family and their closed ones. “Pawan Kumar Bansal and his family is worth somewhere between Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 50, 000 crore. The financial records of the companies owned by Bansal and his relatives should also be scrutinised and source of money invested in the companies should be established”, he alleged.

Accusing the UPA government of breaking records in corruption, Thakur stated that the country had been rocked by series of corruption cases in the last few years. “The Common Wealth Games, 2G Spectrum, Colgate Scam and Helicopter Deal are a few of them”, he said.

Thakur who is also the president of BJYM stated that Bansal should resign on moral grounds.

Panchkula, May 7
After summons were issued to Doon MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary’s wife Nidhi to join the investigations, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has also issued summons to Chowdhary’s maternal uncle and another person with whom fixing was being done to get him out of the case.

Chaudhary’s brother, Harbhajan, was found talking to some ‘Joshi ji’ to know if the latter had any approach to some SP or DSP in Panchkula, as the conversation stated. Also, the maternal uncle was found talking to Nidhi as to how to buy Buti Ram.

Earlier, two summons have been issued to his wife. But the latter did not turn up. It was after the conversation of his wife with her maternal uncle was recorded about Chaudhary that Nidhi would be questioned about the case.

Besides, efforts are being made to make Satpal, personal security officer of Doon MLA, Ram Kumar Chaudhary, crucial evidence against the latter in the supplementary challan that has to be filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).

A team has also been sent to Satpal’s village in Punjab to seek his help.

Chaudhary, in his statement to the police, had claimed that he had offered Rs 25 lakh to Satpal to take his charges of murdering Jyoti saying that he had relations with her.

However, Satpal left the job and fled after seeing newspaper reports about the case, as claimed by Chaudhary. Now the police are looking to make Satpal a vital witness in the case.

Chandigarh, May 7
Two buildings were sealed by the UT Estate Office today in Sector 22 for misusing the premises and operating business without any permission from the department.

A team of enforcement inspectors, including Parveen Mittal, and Anil Sharma, along with police personnel and workers sealed SCO number 1,067 and 3027-28 during the drive.

Officials revealed that the owners of both the SCOs had not taken permission to convert the basements to carry out business activities as they were meant for storage. The officials said that in both the premises the owners had sublet the space to the other shopkeepers who were running their business.

While the tenant shopkeepers of SCO-1067 staged a protest against the authorities for sealing their shops without issuing any prior notice to them. One of the shopkeeper, Kuldeep Singh Kashyap, stated that the authorities may have issued notices to the owner of the premises, but no information had been given to them about it.

Panchkula, May 7
A major fire broke out in a garment showroom in Industrial Area, Phase 1, Panchkula. The reason behind the fire is supposedly short circuit.

Aman Garg, owner of the showroom, saw the flames coming out of his shop and informed the fire department. Three fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames.

The fire broke out due to short circuit.

Chandigarh, May 7
For the first time in the ongoing chain hunger strike by the employees of the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), five women employees sat on a day-long protest against the authorities. They demanded implementation of the pension scheme for the CHB employees.

An employee, Gagandeep Kaur, stated that since 2009 the case for implementation of pension scheme in favour of the CHB employees decided by the Chandigarh Housing Board was lying with the Chandigarh Administration for the approval and the Chandigarh administration was unnecessarily delaying it.

Mohali, May 7
The patients and other visitors at Fortis Hospital were in for a big surprise when a flash mob erupted in the OPD and IPD lobbies of the hospital.

The flash mob, comprising 100 employees of Fortis, including doctors, technicians and nurses, was organised to spread a message of environment hygiene and cleanliness. “Flash mobs are in vogue these days and such events are very much effective, said Abhijit Singh, facility director of the hospital. — TNS

Chandigarh, May 7
After finalising the lease amount of Chandigarh Golf Club, the UT Administration has initiated the process to finalise the lease amount of Chandigarh Club. The Administration has issued a letter to Chandigarh Club management to stop commercial activities and marriage functions in the club.

Before finalising the lease money, the Administration has given the club two months time to stop these activities. A senior official of the UT Administration said that they have given two months time because there would have been advance bookings for the functions in the club. Therefore, they want to give enough time to the club management to comply with the directions, he added.

In addition to that the Administration has also asked the club management to remove all kinds of violations from the club premises.

When contacted Chandigarh Club president, Sandeep Sahni, he said they are ready to provide full support to the Administration. Regarding commercial activities, he said the club only holds marriages and functions of the club members and not of any other persons.

He further added that till date, they have not received any kind of communication from the Administration.

The UT Administration has proposed Rs 13 lakh per month as lease amount for Chandigarh Club. At present, the club is paying Rs 1.51 lakh per month as lease amount to the UT Administration.

The Administration had leased out the Sports Centre, Sector 1, to Chandigarh Club in 1957 for Rs 50 a month. Thereafter, on two occasions the lease amount was revised in 1971 and 1982. The club paid a monthly rent of Rs 8,320 till January 1, 1993. The rent was revised in 2,000 to Rs 2.08 lakh per month with retrospective effect from 1993. The club filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the revision of rent. It was assessed again at Rs 1.08 lakh for the period after January 1993. Then in 2005, a new lease was signed after the direction of the high court with rent of Rs 1.08 lakh fixed for five years plus five percent increase every year.

Mohali, May 7
As many as 42 candidates have filed their nominations for 10 zila parishad seats while the number of candidates for 63 block samiti seats is 239.

Earlier, today was the second and final day for filing nominations for the forthcoming elections, scheduled for May 19.

Today, the Mohali district administrative complex, where a total of 28 candidates for different zones of zila parishad seats and 167 candidates (78 from Kharar, 47 from Majri and 42 from Dera Bassi) for block samiti seats reached, along their supporters to file their papers, witnessed a great rush.

Mohali SDM, Lakhmir Singh, was receiving the papers of block samiti candidates while local Additional Deputy Commissioner, Parveen Kumar Thind, was taking the papers of candidates for zila parishad seats.

In support of SAD candidates, senior leaders of the party including Balwant Singh Ramoowalia and Ujjagar Singh Baddali were present. From Congress side, Mohali MLA Balbir Singh Kang and Kharar MLA Jagmohan Singh Kang were seen accompanying their candidates while filing their papers.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, the Mohali Deputy Commissioner, Tajinder Pal Singh, Sidhu said the entire process of filing nomination papers has passed off peacefully. The scrutiny of papers would take place tomorrow and the date of withdrawal is May 9, said the Deputy Commissioner.

The final lists of candidates would be displayed on May 10, added Sidhu.

Chandigarh, May 7
The Municipal Corporation today decided to start the exercise of removing all cattle from villages falling within the MC limits. The MC will form a special team to remove these cattle and during the drive, police protection will also be provided to the team.

The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by the MC Commissioner, Vivek Pratap Singh. Today morning, when the MC team had visited Deep Complex in Hallo Majra to impound cattle, the villagers attacked the MC team. In the attack, an MC employee also sustained injuries.

A senior official of the MC said they would start the drive from Kajheri village and this time they would not release the cattle.

Meanwhile, the MC continues their drive, for catching the cattle, roaming on roads. In the past three days, as many as 51 stray cattle were impounded by the Municipal Corporation from the Municipal limits of Chandigarh. These cattle impounded will not be released, as keeping of animals within the Municipal Limits is not permissible.

The Gaushala committee of the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, today evening inspected the Gaushala at Maloya and held meeting with the officials of Shiri Shridi Sai Seva Samiti.

Banur, May 7
A motorcyclist was killed when his motorcycle collided with another motorcycle on the Banur-Manouli road here on Tuesday.

Chandigarh, May 7
For Abhijit Lavania, city’s topper in the JEE Mains, the challenge is not over yet. This 17-year-old engineering aspirant who scored 331 out of 360 in the JEE Mains wants to get admitted to the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, for which, he says, he is preparing well.

Abhijit, whose father is also an IIT, Delhi, graduate and mother is a psychiatrist at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, said time management and thorough conceptual understanding helped him in scoring well in the JEE Mains.

“I am once again focusing on my basics while preparing for the JEE Advanced,” says Abhijit, adding, “The exam is not that tough. A student just needs to follow a focused approach.”

He is also expecting the Class XII board exam results shortly. Abhijit says he is confident he will score well in those exams as well.

Abhijit says admission to the top engineering colleges is not that easy as it was during his father’s time. “But I am fully prepared to achieve my goals,” he says.

Abhijit is also a part of the five-member team that will represent India at the International Physics Olympiad in Copenhagen, Denmark, from July 7 to 15 this year.

Besides Abhijit, the city also had several other aspirants who scored above 300 in the JEE Mains. Seventeen-year-old Akshit Trehan, who scored 315 marks, said he too was eying for the IITs and was all set for the JEE Advanced.

“Hard work and consistency is the key to get admission to the country’s top engineering colleges,” says Akshit, whose parents are commerce lecturers. He says that for the JEE Advanced, he has been particularly trying to get clarity of the basic concepts and also do better time management. He says his best is yet to come.

Other students from the city who scored well in the JEE Mains include Arnav Kansal (310), Rajat Garg (305) and Gaurav Kumar (304).

Chandigarh, May 7
Rather than simplifying things for the students aspiring to get admitted to premier engineering institutes, the new system of joint entrance examination for admission to undergraduate engineering courses has increased the pressure on students.

The students have to not only perform well in the entrance exams, but put in an equal effort in the Class XII board exams as well. The results of the latter will play a vital role in deciding the fate of these students.

Rajat Garg, who scored well in the JEE Mains, said till the last year students used to sit for a single entrance exam in order to get admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). “It’s a different story now,” he said.

“First we have to perform well in the JEE Mains, and after getting the required cut-off score, we have to appear for the JEE Advanced as well. The story does not end here. Even if we perform well in the second stage, the IITs will check whether we are among the top 20 per cent scorers in our respective board exams for the Class XII,” he said.

Echoing similar sentiments, another student, Jaspal, said now students could not falter in any of these stages. “Since the new system is expected to stay, we will have to learn how to absorb the pressure and at the same time perform consistently if we aim to get admitted to the IITs and other top colleges,” he said.

Several students demanded a relaxation in the condition pertaining to the Class XII results. “The fact that the Class XII marks will be given 40 per cent weightage in the JEE Mains and only 20 per cent scorers in their respective board exams will be eligible to appear for the JEE Advanced, it has increased the pressure on us manifolds,” said another student, Janavi Bhardwaj. She said these conditions needed to be relaxed, since preparing for the entrance exam was in itself a major challenge.

Many students also raised doubts as to how the Central Board of Secondary Education would normalise the Class XII scores of different boards for the purpose of adding 40 per cent weightage in the JEE Main scores. City-based branch head of an engineering coaching institute, Manu Rashtogi said: “Either perform or perish is the rule now. There is competition at every level and students must learn how to handle pressure.”

Chandigarh, May 7
Enjoying the cool breeze from coolers during summers at Panjab University hostels is soon going to become costlier for the hostel residents, as the varsity has planned to increase the monthly charges for installing a cooler from Rs 200 to Rs 300 per month. The university has also proposed to hike the monthly electricity charges from Rs 290 to Rs 350.

The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Dean Student Welfare (DSW) AS Ahluwalia and attended by wardens of all the hostels.

On the proposal made by one of the boys’ hostels’ warden to hike the refundable security amount charged from students during their stay on the campus, the committee decided to hike the hostel and mess security from Rs 2,320 to Rs 4,000. “We decided to hike the security amount as at times students don’t pay the mess dues. The security amount is not enough to recover the pending mess and canteen charges,” said a warden.

Officials said due to the hike in electricity tariff, the charges for keeping a cooler in the hostel and electricity charges have been increased.

PU officials said the proposal will be sent for the Vice-Chancellor’s approval, following which it will be introduced from the coming academic session.

During the meeting, the PU authorities also decided to include information about the ban on keeping a four-wheeler in the hostel in the hostel handbook for the 2013-14 session. “The handbook will clearly mention that parents of students seeking hostel accommodation will have to give an undertaking that their ward won’t keep a four-wheeler in the hostel,” a PU official said.

Banur, May 7
A campus placement drive was organised by the training and placement cell of Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology, Dera Bassi. The drive was conducted by a private firm of Mohali.

It was inaugurated by chairman of the institution. Expert panel and the HR representatives from the company selected the candidates after careful screening and rigorous interview session.

The placement was conducted for the post of software web designer and software developer, respectively. The companies organised the drive for the students of BTech Computer Science and Engineering.