Chandigarh, June 20
Even as hundreds of people from the tricity are still stuck in the flood-hit Uttarakhand, a family of 12 members from Sector 40 here managed to return home safely from Hemkund Sahib yesterday. With tension still visible on their faces, they recounted their horror tales.

Narrating their ordeal, Harpeet Singh, one of the family members, said his family literally watched in horror the cloudburst near Gobind Ghat, 18 km from Hemkund Sahib, that washed away a hotel and a parking area, including cars and motor bikes.

“Our family, including children and women, were in constant danger as we experienced landslides, saw bridges collapsing and bodies of victims as we travelled back home,” he said.

His brother Bawa said right from the day they embarked on their journey from Chandigarh on June 12, heavy rain had marred their trip.

“After reaching Joshi Math at about 4 pm on June 13, we started our journey towards Badrinath, but heavy rain forced us to return. We then left for Gobind Ghat, the base camp for the Hemkund Sahib journey on foot,” he said.

He said the situation at Gobind Ghat was equally worrisome with the lone gurdwara there flooded with people. After staying for the night at a private hotel, the family began the journey for Hemkund Sahib via Gobind Dham on the morning of June 14. While returning the next day, floods led to the collapse of the only bridge connecting Hemkund Sahib and Gobind Dham. Later, two bridges between Gobind Dham and Gobind Ghat also collapsed, leaving hundreds of people stranded.

“While the family was fortunate to have come back to Gobind Ghat before the bridges collapsed, hundreds of people were not lucky enough. While rescue work was on, continuous rain was creating a lot of problem, said Bawa.

Harpreet said the return journey from Gobind Ghat to Chandigarh, too, was full of danger and it took them three days to reach home.

“En route, we found that floods had snapped the road connectivity to Karan Prayag as well as Rudra Prayag. We took an alternative route to Pauri Garwal, but the whole family was in constant fear as the road was very narrow. “We finally took shelter at Kotdwar for a day and from there we reached Haridwar and finally reached home via Dehradun, said Harpreet.

Naina, another family member, said she was horrified to see so many bodies on the way.

“We feel we have had a second birth. At one time, we had given up all hope as we saw the floods wreaking havoc all over, but we survived due to God’s grace,” she said.

Chandigarh, June 20
After spending three horrifying days in the rain-hit Kuppa in Kinnaur, where AK Goyal, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Ministry of Environment, had gone to inspect hydro projects along with his family, the Goyals have decided never to visit this area in the state along with their children again. They were left in the lurch after the only road connecting Kuppa with the outside world was washed away. The family has returned safely to its house in Sector 46 here.

The officer’s wife, Anupama, said during these three days, they saw death and devastation from close quarters. Heavy rain triggered landslides, snapping the only road connectivity with the outside world, she said. Families stuck in the rain-hit area kept chanting God’s name, hoping for help to arrive soon.

“We were lucky to have been evacuated. The inspection of four hydro projects had to be cancelled after disaster struck the area,” he said.

While the Goyal family has heaved a sigh of relief after being evacuated from Kinnaur, there are several families wich are still stuck there and struggling to get back home.

Shortage of food and water added to the woes of these families. Those who have returned home shudder at the very thought of visiting the area again. They are also a worried lot since their vehicles are still stuck there.

Sukhdeep, who had gone to Raksham in Kinnaur along with her one-year-old daughter Shanya, had to stay without food, drinking water, electricity for two days. “God has rescued me and my family,” she said. Sukhdeep and several other tourists were evacuated in an Air Force helicopter from the area.

Chandigarh, June 20
An official car belonging to a judge of the UT Labour Court “went on the rampage” this evening in Sector 11 and rammed into a stationary car, which further hit two cars, damaging these.

The judge was not in the vehicle, having a red beacon atop, at the time of the accident. The car was being driven at a speed of over 100 km per hour. The accident occurred near the Sector 11/16 roundabout.

The police reached the spot and booked the Judge’s driver, Bhupinder, in a case of rash and negligent driving under Sections 279 and 337 of the IPC. The driver told the police that he suffered an epilepsy attack and lost control of the car.

Chandigarh, June 20
The incidents of chain and mobile snatching are increasing at a fast pace in the city with bike-borne miscreants causing a scare among residents. According to the police statistics, more than 200 incidents of snatching are reported in the city every year and less than 50 percent of these are solved.

Since 2008, the city has witnessed a spurt in such incidents and 1,041 cases have been reported in the last five years. Of them the police has been able to solve only 484 cases.

This year, 90 incidents of chain and mobile phosnatchings have already been reported and only 24 of these are solved, reveal police statistics.

While the UT police, which has arrested a number of gangs of snatchers, they soon get bail and take to the crime again. As many as 25 snatchers are on the repeat offenders' list of the UT police and have been arrested from time to time for their involvement in the cases of snatching.

Most snatchers are addicted to drugs and take to the crime to make a fast buck.

The UT police seems helpless in deterring these snatchers as they easily get bail.

Police sources said in spite of having so many pending cases against them, snatchers have been released on bail.

Last month, the Crime Branch of the UT police arrested a snatcher, Sahil Kaushal, who did his MBA from Canada and has been arrested four times by the UT police in the last two years. While he was arrested in snatching cases in the past, he also perpetrated a burglary after getting released from the jail.

Most of the snatchers arrested by the police are aged between 20 and 30 years.

Chandigarh, June 20
The Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) has decided to slap a penalty on Tata Motors Ltd in connection with a low-floor bus catching fire on June 5. Around 20 passengers in the CTU low-floor bus had a miraculous escape when its engine, located on the rear side, caught fire near Sector 51 in Chandigarh.

Chandigarh, June 20
As the Congress and the BJP entered in a secret pact to share chairmanship in various sub-committees, only one councillor in each committee filed nomination today. Now, there will be no need to hold elections for the chairmanship of these sub-committees.

The nine sub-committees on sanitation, environment and city beautification, electricity, fire and emergency services, apni mandi and day market, women empowerment, enforcement, slum/colonies and village development and arts/culture and sports were notified by the Chandigarh Administration.

From the BJP, Rajesh Kumar Gupta filed his nomination for the electricity committee, Davesh Moudgil for the enforcement committee and Desraj Gupta filed his nomination for the apni mandi committee.

From the Congress, Harphool Chander Kalyan filed his nomination for the sanitation committee, Sheela Phool Singh for the slum, colonies and village development committee and Gurbax Rawat filed her nomination papers for the art, culture and sports committee. However, there was no nomination filed for the chairmanship of the women's empowerment committee.

Nominated councillor MP Kohli filed nomination for the fire and emergency services committee. 

Mohali, June 20
Most of the work on the 12.34 acre air-conditioned, modern fruit and vegetable market coming up here at a cost of Rs 43.34 crore has been completed.

Giving this information to the mediapersons here today, chairman of the Mandi Board, Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, said at present, 80 per cent of the works on this market complex had been completed. The construction work would be over by November 30.

Steel sheds were being constructed over on an area of 1.83 lakh sq ft. There would be 34 wholesale shops and 95 retail shops in the market. All the shops would be air-conditioned.

He said the market would also have 234 stalls where farmers could sell their produce directly to buyers.

The facilities at the market would include a "raen basera" where farmers could stay overnight, the Internet, a post office, a dispensary, a canteen and a police post.

Lakhowal further said the new office building of the Mandi Board was being built on 2.12 acres, adjacent to the new market. It would cost of Rs 45.45 crore.

As much as 60 per cent of the work on the six-storeyed building had been completed and it would be over by November 30.

Chandigarh, June 20
The recent letter sent by the District Education Office to all the government schools inviting applications from teachers for their transfer cases under the UT transfer policy-2012 seems just an eyewash.

The letter was dispatched at a time when the schools are off for summer vacations and moreover most of the teachers are out on station leave.

That is the reason the department did not get much response from the schools on their transfer cases. The last date for filing applications was June 20.

Many in the department feel that the letter was just a mere formality by the department. "The teachers' transfer policy is literally gathering dust in the UT and the recent letter to schools has again failed to touch the core issue," said a official.

Last year, the teachers' transfer policy, approved by Education Secretary VK Singh, laid down the specific guidelines for the transfer of the teaching staff in the government schools here. The school heads were to be transferred after five years of stay and teachers after 10 years of stay.

But even as hundreds of the teachers are overstaying in schools, the Education Department has yet not initiated any transfer process against those working beyond this prescribed period.

A school Principal said owing to their high-level links, teachers have managed to stay for a longer period in the schools here. "This letter was deliberately sent to get the dismissal response so that their close ones remain protected," he said.

It is learnt that the UT District Education Office has not even kept any data of the total number of government teachers continuously working in government schools for 10 years and above.

Many in the city are demanding a proper implementation of the policy.

Swarn Singh Kamboj, president of the UT Cadre Educational Employees Union, said if the department was serious about the transfer policy, it should prepare a list of those overstaying in schools and start their transfer process. "The letter asking for transfer cases in the middle of the school vacations was just an eyewash and showed the intention of the Education Department on this issue," he said.

A school head said in central services, employees were being transferred after three years. Here teachers even don't want to travel to 3 km for their job, he said. There are several cases in the department who managed to come to their original school after their transfer. But, nobody does anything, he said.

Chandigarh, June 20
Comedy play “Doctor Ulta Pulta”, an adaptation of Moliere’s comedy play “Mock Doctor”, was staged at the Tagore Theatre today. Adapted and directed by Shyam Juneja, the play revolved around Mangal, a wood cutter, who was projected as a famous and expert doctor by his nagging wife.

Santa and Banta, who were on the lookout for a good doctor who can treat the daughter of their sarpanch from dumbness, managed to find Mangal through his wife.

His wife told Santa and Banta that unless Mangal was beaten severely he would not admit that he was a doctor. Santa and Banta beat him severely and took him to the sarpanch's house.

On the other hand, the sarpanch’s daughter, Preeto, was acting as dumb as she did not want to marry the boy selected by her father. Preeto was in love with Deepa, her childhood friend. Deepa, in order to have an access to the sarpanch's house, requested Mangal to appoint him as his compounder, which Mangal obliged.

The situations developed during the play like the transformation of Mangal to a doctor and his nonsense treatments became funny that tickled the funny bone of the audience time and again.

Chandigarh, June 20
Two plays, “Ik Vichari Maa” and “Gau Mukha Sher Mukha”, were staged on the third day of the ongoing Punjabi Theatre Festival at Government College, Sector 46.

Directed by Raman Dhillon, the play, “Ik Vichari Maa”, unfolded the trauma faced by women during Partition in 1947. A Muslim woman was kidnapped by a Sikh man, who later married her and they were blessed with a baby boy. A mother's tragedy came in picture when during the rehabilitation, the police came to send her back to Pakistan and the family on the other hand wanted to keep the boy with them.

Another play, “Gau Mukha Sher Mukha”, directed by Vinod Kumar, was a satirical comedy about property dealers.

Chandigarh, June 20
The UT Administration has decided to provide online around 100 important services like birth certificate, bus pass, death certificate and senior citizen certificate.

At a meeting of the State Apex Committee, chaired by UT Adviser KK Sharma, key e-governance projects under E-District and State Service Delivery Gateway were discussed in detail. The Department of Information Technology is the nodal agency and would look after the implementation of these major projects, which are expected to improve the quality of life of the residents of Chandigarh.

These two projects would provide more than 100 public services, which would be delivered to the citizens of Chandigarh in electronic form. The projects are budgeted at around Rs 12 crore and would be funded under the National e-Governance Plan of the Centre. The projects were conceptualised by the IT Department earlier this year and approved in principle by the Centre.

Sharma said under these projects all the associated departments would be provided with the desired IT infrastructure. The e-forms on the Internet will enable citizens to submit their applications electronically on the state portal, which would in turn transmit these electronic applications to the corresponding departments where the officials would process them electronically. After a citizen has received an SMS from the department concerned, he would download the applied certificate digitally signed by the authority of the department. The public services in their electronic form would go live in a phased manner and efforts would be put in to launch the first set of high volume e-services by 2013, he added. 

Chandigarh, June 20
Defying the common perception that osteoporosis (thinning of bones) is more common in urban women due to their sedentary lifestyle and minimal exposure to sunlight (vitamin D), the women outreach programme of the PGI, under which several women in city have been screened over an year, has found osteoporosis more common in rural women.

Under the Asha-Jyoti Project, involving free-of-cost screening of three most common problems in women, breast cancer, cervical cancer and osteoporosis, more than 1,000 women have been screened in and around the city in the last one year on a mobile screening unit (a van equipped with these facilities).

Among the 1,282 women, who went in for DEXA scanning for osteoporosis, overall 54 per cent were detected with either osteoporosis or osteopenia. Either osteoporosis or osteopenia was detected in 50 per cent of women who came from urban areas.

These rural women included those living in the periphery areas and working as labourers or domestic helps.

Among 1,850 women screened for breast cancer, two were diagnosed with breast cancer.

The Asha Jyoti van, which was primarily stationed at the polyclinic in Sector 45 thrice a week, and conducted numerous special camps in villages in the remaining days, screened 1,850 women.

Of these, 1,692 screenings (until 15 April, 2013) were analysed and from mammography examinations, out of the nine women who had suspicious lesions, two were diagnosed with breast cancer.

“While reaching out to the women in the periphery areas, we found that many women were afraid that if diagnosed with cancer, their relatives and neighbours would get to know of it. To win their confidence, we ensure that their records and reports remain confidential,” said Dr Niranjan Khandelwal, Department of Radiodiagnosis, PGI.

These included 800 women from the targeted population of Sector 45 and the rest from different camps that Asha Jyoti had conducted for the past one year.

One of the diagnosed patients opted for treatment in Delhi and the second is being followed up at the PGI.

As many as 1,261 women were screened for cervical cancer. Of them 121 had lesions. Of them, 48 were followed up for pap/cervical biopsy and none of them had any cancerous lesion.

Mohali, June 20
The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) today took possession of about 50 acres of agricultural land from farmers for the construction of the 15-storeyed Purab Premium Apartments in Sector 88 here.

The operation to clear the land started in the morning and took the GMADA team almost the entire day to get possession of the land.

It is learnt that two JCB machines and two tractors were pressed into service to level the area. The GMADA team was headed by a senior engineering wing official and accompanied by two assistant engineers, Sukhpal Singh and Harjeet Singh, apart from other staff members. The security staff of GMADA were also deployed during the operation.

No resentment or opposition by farmers was witnessed during the operation, said the officials. While parts of the land were cultivated by farmers, some stretches were lying vacant. Fodder crop, bajra and various vegetables had been grown by them on some part of the acquired land. By the evening, the crops were ploughed through by the GMADA team and the levelled land was handed over to the contractor.

Sources said work on the project had got delayed as some dispute over compensation had arisen with farmers, which had finally been settled. There had also been a delay in the issuing of letters of intent to the farmers concerned.

By the evening, the contractor had started constructing his office in the area. The company is likely to begin the project at the earliest.

As many as 1,620 apartments are to be constructed to start with on a piece of land measuring about 36 acres.

The authority had launched a 4,500 multi-storeyed flats scheme last year. Priced between Rs 37 lakh and Rs 69 lakh, the 15-storeyed flats were categorised into one bedroom, two bedroom and three-bedroom apartments. However, the scheme on the whole had not evoked the expected response as it was not considered “investor-friendly”.

Chandigarh, June 20
Selections for the posts of Assistant Professor in the English Department of DAV College, Sector 10, have come under the Panjab University’s scanner after one of the candidates made a complaint against the selection committee alleging unfair deduction of API score during the interviews. The university has started an inquiry into the complaint.

Varun Gulati, one of the candidates who had appeared for the interviews held at the DAV Managing Committee office in New Delhi on May 22 for the post, has sent a complaint to the Chancellor of PU, university authorities, UT Director Higher Education, President, DAV College Managing Committee, and principal of DAV College.

Gulati said as far as the guidelines and directions issued by Panjab University and the UGC are concerned, his API score was 49.5, perhaps among the top scorers. However, he alleged that during his interview, the selection committee scaled down his score to 30.5 by deducting 8 marks of teaching experience and 11 marks for research publications and forced him to sign on the revised API.

DAV College principal BC Josan said experts in the selection committee were not convinced with the experience certificate and the research publications furnished by the candidate, following which he was not given marks for both.

The candidate said the teaching experience certificates he furnished during the interview were of UGC-recognised colleges, which clearly stated that he worked as lecturer/assistant professor for eight academic sessions, fulfilling the criteria of serving at least six months continuously.

“Also, my seven research papers (claiming 11 marks) are published in “Language in India”, which is an international online monthly research journal from 2001. However, they have been ignored by the selection committee,” he said.

The candidate in his complaint had demanded that a committee should be constituted that would recheck his experience certificates and research papers in order to grant him the deserved score and revise the API score list before the appointment letters to the selected candidates are issued.

PU authorities, while reacting to the complaint, have summoned the records of all candidates who appeared for the interviews before the selection committee.

“The records will be scrutinised, and on finding any irregularity in the selections, the university will not approve the candidate selected for the post,” said a PU official.

Chandigarh, June 20
In a bid to ensure peace on the Panjab University campus, the Dean Student Welfare (DSW) today convened a meeting with student leaders of all parties asking them to maintain harmony and peace.

During the meeting chaired by DSW AS Ahluwalia, the student leaders were asked to restrain themselves from pasting their posters on the posters of opposition parties. PU officials asked them to paste the posters on the boards allotted to each party.

DSP (Central) Ashish Kapoor, who was also a part of the meeting, asked the student leaders to report to the police for any such incident of defacement or pasting posters on the posters of other parties.

Officials said the police would register cases under the Defacement Act for defacing the university.

“The student leaders have also been asked to restrain from involving outsiders in the campus activities, failing which actions will be taken against the party,” the officials said.

The meeting was held in the wake of the recent attack on the PUSU leader outside the gate number 1 of Panjab University.

The university also decided to allow the student parties to hold help desks near the PU post office from June 24 to July 7.

PU officials said only 10 students, who would be having identity cards issued by the university, would be allowed to sit at the help desks between 9 am and 5 pm.

Chandigarh, June 20
Waiting for their stipends for the past two months, research scholars of Panjab University have failed to get any response from the university authorities. The research scholars today held a protest outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office after he refused to meet them to discuss the inordinate delay in the payment of UGC fellowships.

One of the PhD students said the research scholars had been facing hardships since April 2013 due to the non-payment of fellowships. “The fellowship for March was released on May 31, but it has been pending for April and May. The fellowship for June will get due in another 10 days,” said a student.

The research scholars said on Wednesday, the students had sought an appointment with the Vice-Chancellor for today. However, he refused to meet us. “We arrived at 10.30 am and kept waiting outside the gate of the VC’s office till 1 pm,” the students said.

Later, a two-member committee of the Dean University Instruction (DUI) and the Finance Development Officer (FDO) was constituted, which decided to release the fellowship of one month.

The research scholars said those who got enrolled to the PhD programme after leaving their jobs were the worst hit, as scholarships were the only source to fund their research and meet various expenses.

“While the university boasts of encouraging the research on the campus, when it comes to assisting the students in getting the stipend on time for carrying out the research, it fails to react,” a student said.

In a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor, the research scholars have demanded the immediate release of pending scholarships and simplify the procedures for contingency grants.

The research scholars also demanded that the list of their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts should be sent to the UGC so that they receive their scholarships directly under its Direct Transfer Scheme.

Chandigarh, June 20
Panjab University has decided to re-conduct the examinations of paper I, II and III of MSc (chemistry), fourth semester. The decision has been taken after the exams were held prior to the date sheet at SGGS Khalsa College, Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur.

PU officials said the university had decided to constitute a committee to investigate the entire incident. A committee was being constituted, which would be asked to submit the report in a time-bound manner. The papers conducted earlier had been cancelled.

As many as 210 students had appeared for all MSc (chemistry) fourth-semester examinations, who will now have to reappear for the examinations.

According to PU officials on May 1, initially a date sheet for the PG courses was uploaded on the university website. Owing to some clashes of dates, a new date sheet was uploaded and duly declared. The college did not use the due date sheet, which was declared. Rather, it used the first date sheet and conducted the examinations as per that schedule.

“As a consequence, MSc (chemistry) fourth-semester examinations, which were to be conducted on May 22, May 27 and June 4, were conducted on May 21, May 25 and June 3 in that college,” the officials said.

The officials said the incident was detected when the sealed packets of answer sheets were opened in the Secrecy Branch on June 3.

They said the committee would also investigate why the college conducted the examinations as per the first uploaded date sheet and why it did not conduct the examinations as per the due date sheet.

The examinations would be conducted as per the new date sheet. Chemistry paper I, paper II and paper III would now be conducted on July 2, July 5 and July 8.

Chandigarh, June 20
Admission to Class XI is set to witness a tough competition as 15,500 students are in the fray against the 12,700 seats for various streams in government senior secondary schools here.

As per information, science and commerce are a favourite among the students. As the last date for submitting the forms was over today, 2,385 forms were submitted at GMSSS-10, 2,696 at GMSSS-46, 3,368 at GMSSS, Mani Majra, and 2,039 at GMSSS-20.

Viney R. Sood, Deputy District Education Officer, said around 15,500 students had applied for admission to Class XI. The forms would be screened soon, and a common merit list would be released on June 28.

According to her, after the common merit, which will be uploaded on the department’s website, the students would have a chance to report to the department any mistake in their academic whereabouts.

Even as the department would release the school-wise and stream-wise list on July 1, everyone has there fingers crossed since there is a tough competition due to the limited number of seats. Their cut-off is slated to increase since the number of 10 CGPA students in the tricity has massively increased.

Chandigarh, June 20
Members of the Panjab University Students’ Union (PUSU) today staged a protest outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office over their demands. PUSU leader Yadwinder Singh said PU students who got a compartment and cleared it after completing their degrees, were shown as private candidates on their certificates.

“How can the university term a regular student a private candidate just because he cleared the compartment after completing the degree,” the PUSU leader said.

The members demanded that the university should change the unjustified rules so that the students don’t suffer. PU officials have assured the students of looking into their demand.

Chandigarh, June 20
Panjab University has invited applications for admission to two-year MSc-level course in Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering. To join this premier self-financed course at PU, students can submit the duly filled forms in the office of the Centre for Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering at the Pharmacy Extension Block, PU, till July 3.

This MSc course will have 15 seats. Admission will be based on the entrance test. Students, who have passed their BSc Medical Sciences, Life Sciences, Basic Medical Science with 50 per cent marks, are eligible to apply for this course, which is considered as one of the cutting-edge courses in the field of regenerative medicine.

“This field has opened new vistas and career options for students both in academia and industry,” officials said.

Chandigarh, June 20
Girl students of Panjab University-affiliated colleges have bagged top 10 positions in BA-III and BSc-III results declared by the university. Sonia Sehgal of Gobindgarh Public College, Alour (Khanna), has topped the BA final-year examination of the PU.

Diljott Kaurr of Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh, and Gurmeet Kaur of DM College, Moga, grabbed the second and third positions, respectively, in BA-III.

Mohini of SD College for Women, Moga, Shivali, Radhika Gupta and Aanchal Bhalaik of MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36, Chandigarh, Rajni Bala of LR DAV College, Jagraon (Ludhiana), Amandeep Kaur of Dev Samaj College for Women, Ferozepur City, Lovpreet Kaur of Gopichand Arya Mahila College, Abohar and Jasminder Kaur of Government College for Girls, Ludhiana, bagged fourth to 10th positions, respectively.

In BSc-III, Bharti of Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh, has topped the PU. Rupinder Kaur of Dev Samaj College for Women, Ferozepur City, and Jaspreet Kaur of Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh, have grabbed the second and third positions, respectively.