Mohali, August 26
Parts of the town have been facing a serious water crisis over the past five days, making life miserable for residents in the sultry weather.

The water shortage has been particularly acute in Phases IX, X , XI, Sectors 70 and 71, Matour and Shahimajra villages and industrial phases I to V.

Of the two waterworks feeding different areas of Mohali, the Sector 57 waterworks is lying totally dry as no supply has been received for five days. Water tankers have been pressed into service to provide some relief to the residents.

A resident of Phase X, Baljit Kaur (75), said, "Life has become tough for us because of the water crisis. I am suffering from a joints problem and my husband, who is 81, is on bed as he is also not well. It is very difficult for me to go and collect water from a tanker. I could not have a bath because of the shortage. My son-in-law came from Chandigarh today to fill water for us," she said.

Gurpal Singh, president of the Residents Welfare Society (MIG Houses), Phase IX, said, "The water crisis has compelled the family to go to its farmhouse on the weekend. Clothes were taken there for washing. If the water shortage persists, we will again have to go to the farmhouse to spend a few days there."

"A hell-like situation prevails in the area because of the acute water crisis," said GS Khaira of Phase X. People living on the first and higher floors were the worst sufferers as it was very difficult for some people to carry water to those levels.

WATER SUPPLY SCHEDULE FROM AUGUST 27-31

Sectors 12, PGI, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21-A, 22-A and B, 25

From 2 am to 7 am Full pressure

From 6 pm to 9 pm Low pressure

Sectors 1 to 12, 19, 20-A and B, 21-B, 26 to 30, Bapu Dham Colony, Industrial Area, Phase I (Plot Nos. 1 to 100), Colony No. 4

From 2 am to 7 am Full pressure

From 6 pm to 9 pm Low pressure

Sectors 31 to 34, 44 to 47, Industrial Area, Phases I and II, Burail, Ram Darbar, Colony No. 5

From 2 am to 6 am Full pressure

Evening No water supply

Sectors 22-C and D, 23, 24, 35 to 43, Dadumajra Colony, Palsora Colony, Butrela, Badehri, Attawa

From 2 am to 6 am Full pressure

From 7. pm to 9 pm Low pressure

Sectors 48 to 53, 61

From 6 am to 8 am Full pressure

From 6 pm to 8 pm Low pressure

Chandigarh, August 26
Continuing with its drive against stray cattle, the municipal corporation today impounded 138 head of cattle. It has decided to lodge police complaints against owners who let their cattle roam on city roads.

A senior MC official said owners kept these cattle in MC villages, which was against the policy. After milking these cattle, they allowed the cattle to roam on city roads. The MC had decided to impound these cattle, identify their owners and lodge police complaints against them, he said.

Chandigarh, August 26
High drama was witnessed in the municipal corporation office today when villagers, whose cattle were impounded by the civic body during the ongoing drive, gheraoed the Mayor's office and even entered his room and raised slogans against him.

The protesters were from Shahpur, Dadu Majra, Hallo Majra, Dhanas and Kajheri villages. They claimed that MC officials entered their houses and cattle sheds, and impounded their domesticated animals. They alleged that some of their cattle died in the process.

Heated arguments were witnessed between the protesters and the Mayor. The police was called to control the protesters.

Interestingly, besides BJP and SAD learders, even Congress men were seen leading the protesters and raised slogans against the Mayor outside his office.

In a bid to pacify the protesters, the Mayor said he would discuss the issue with MC officials to ensure that no injustive took place with the villagers. The MC was against stray cattle, not domesticated cattle, he said.

Panchkula, August 26
Doon MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary has courted another big trouble as the police today readied the report of deleted photographs and "love" messages recovered by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, from Jyoti's mobile phone.

The police has planned to submit the report before the next hearing of the case on September 11. The Panchkula police had suffered a major setback when four out of seven witnesses turned hostile in the last hearing of the case. But now after this report, they are sure of proving Chaudhary guilty.

Photographs of Jyoti joining the celebrations of Chaudhary's daughter have been attached with the report.

"Intimate messages exchanged between the MLA and Jyoti and the photographs on the victim's phone reveal that they were having close relations, which we want to prove in the court to hold him guilty. The retrieved stuff will nail him now," said a police official.

"It seems to be some birthday celebrations," added the official, saying that there are no videos in the phone.

Photos clicked by Jyoti from her mobile phone shows Chaudhary, his daughter (in the middle) and his wife. Several other photographs with a birthday party going on in the background have been attached with the report.

The accused had reportedly deleted all the photographs and messages from Jyoti's mobile phone.

The police is still awaiting the Madhuban CFSL findings on the CCTV footage of the nursing home where Chaudhary and Jyoti had allegedly gone for an abortion.

Chandigarh, August 26
Replying to a protest petition filed by a relative in the four-year-old sensational case of Sham Fashion Mall owner Amarjit Singh Khurana's murder, the CBI has urged the court to dismiss the application of the petitioner and accept the closure report as there was no clue in the case despite its best efforts.

Gagandeep Khurana, the deceased's son, had filed the petition in the court last month after the CBI applied for the closure of the case.

Urging reinvestigation, Gagandeep had accused the Central agency of being "in haste to close the case without carrying out proper investigations".

Amarjit (51) was shot dead in May 2009 outside his house in Sector 35 when he returned from his shop. When the local police failed to crack the case, it was handed over to the CBI in October 2010, following the request of the family to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this regard. When the CBI found no concrete evidence in the case, it applied for the closure of the case in November last year.

Gagandeep, however, challenged it, alleging hat the CBI had investigated the case in a very callous manner.

The CBI, however, in its reply filed in the court today stated that “strenuous and sincere efforts were made during the investigation and a thorough and scientific investigation was conducted in this case. During the course of investigation, numerous witnesses, including family members, servants/maids, neighbours, local residents, shopkeepers, friends, acquaintances, staff of the Sham fashion mall and doctors, were examined,” said the CBI in its reply.

“The antecedents of numerous criminals mentioned in other FIRs were either verified or were examined but no worthwhile clue could be gathered regarding the murder. It is humbly prayed that the application of the applicant may kindly be dismissed and closure report filed by the CBI may be accepted,” urged the CBI.

Panchkula, August 26
In what could nail the stepfather, who raped and murdered his three-year-old daughter, the police would get his DNA test conducted. This decision has been taken to present sufficient evidence before the court.

Sources said the police had found a witness who saw Ekram dump the body.

The child, Heena, a resident of Mauli Jagran, was found raped and murdered behind the Hafed building in Sector 5, Panchkula.

Ekram kept moving around in the city carrying her body on his shoulder in broad daylight for about half an hour to find a suitable place to dump it.

Frustrated over his second wife’s behaviour towards his two daughters from his first wife, Ekram planned the child's murder. He raped the child and then killed her, says the police investigations.

While looking for a suitable place to dump the body, Ekram hired a rickshaw. When the rickshaw-puller asked him what happened to the child, Ekram told him that the child was not well.

After dumping the body, Ahmed returned home, washed his undergarments to destroy evidence and then went to the Mauli Jagran police station to file a missing complaint. 

Chandigarh, August 26
Soon the employees of the UT Administration will receive their salaries in their bank accounts on the basis of the Aadhaar letter through the direct benefit transfer scheme. An official communication has been sent to all the departments to ask their employees to submit their Aadhaar letters in their department or give its details to their banks.

Sources said despite the communication sent to the departments a fortnight ago, the response of the employees is hardly 1 per cent till date, as no deadline has been fixed by the authorities.

The UT Finance Secretary, VK Singh, said the process of introducing the Aadhaar letter for the disbursement of salary to the employees has commenced. He said initially it would be introduced in small departments on a trial basis.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UID) Deputy Director-General Keshni Anand Arora said of Rs 4.6 crore allocated to the UT to develop applications for the Aadhaar letter, the UID has already released Rs 46 lakh as the first instalment.

Employees association vice-president Balwinder Singh said a majority of the field employees had not enrolled them for the Aadhaar letter so far. He said the administration should organise special camps in different offices for Aadhaar enrolment.

Chandigarh, August 26
The tehsil offices in Mohali, Kharar and Dera Bassi are having a tough time as the work here has virtually come to a standstill, following a strike by the Revenue Patwar Union, Mohali, today.

The ‘patwaris’ on protest are demanding the transfer of the tehsildar posted at the Kharar tehsil, after an altercation with one of the patwari’s recently.

They have also given a representation in this connection to the Mohali Deputy Commissioner (DC) Tejinderpal Singh Sidhu.

“The DC told us that he had forwarded our representation to the Financial Commissioner, Revenue, for further action. However, since no action has been taken against the tehsildar, we have now proceeded on an indefinite strike,” said Rajinder Singh, general secretary of the union.

Mohali DC Sidhu said the decision had to be taken by the higher authorities. “I have already forwarded the case to the state government”, said Sidhu adding that the union should not resort to strike on such an issue. 

Chandigarh, August 26
Around Rs 6 crore has been released under the Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) to 18,948 beneficiaries under various central and UT schemes, including pension and scholarship.

As per the record of the Unique Identification Authority of India under the central schemes, which includes scholarship for students from scheduled castes, other backward classes and minorities and merit-cum-means scholarships, pensions under the National Social Assistance Programme and schemes for women and girl child, Rs 2.51 crore has been released to 10,673 beneficiaries. 

The maximum amount has been released under the National Social Assistance Programme of the Central Government which comprises the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS) and the Indira Gandhi National Widows Pension Scheme (IGNWPS). Under the NSAP, an amount of Rs 1.24 crore has been released to 4,743 beneficiaries in the Union Territory of Chandigarh. 

This is followed by the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY), under which Rs 50.72 lakh has been released to 3,742 beneficiaries. Under the pre-matric scholarship for scheduled caste students, 1,266 students have been benefited by transfer of Rs 26.58 lakhs into their accounts through the DBT. Further, Rs 21.54 lakh has been released to 395 scheduled caste students under the post-matric scholarship scheme. Under the social security pension scheme of the UT administration, 8,243 beneficiaries have been able to avail the benefit of the DCT and Rs 3.47 crore has been transferred to their accounts since its inception.

Chandigarh, August 26
Panjab University’s recently introduced centralised WiFi system is proving to be fortune cookie for student unions in run-up to the student council elections.

As more than 5,500 PU students are using the WiFi system, leaders have been banking heavily on YouTube and other video-sharing websites by uploading each and every activity on these websites to woo voters.

Official records reveal that out of nearly 300 Mbps data usage on the WiFi network at the university per day, a majority constitutes access to YouTube and social networking sites.

“We have issued unique user IDs to as many as 5,500 students and they have been extensively using the service. We have blocked some of the URLs to abandon access to objectionable content. But otherwise, we have seen that YouTube is being accessed by students the most for the past couple of days,” said Prof Tankeshwar, head of PU’s Computer Centre.

Right from promotional videos, agendas to press conference footage, these leaders have uploaded everything on YouTube. As the authorities have banned posters, rallies and even open house on the campus, video-sharing, SMSes and social networking sites are emerging as the most popular campaigning modes for the students.

“WiFi has proved to be useful for us as all students have free access to it. We are primarily focusing on recording all our activities to put them on record and share them with voters so that they find authenticity in our work,” said Manoj Lubana, NSUI leader.

Chandigarh, August 26
Representatives of the Panjab University Student Union (PUSU) today staged a protest in front of the Vice-Chancellor’s office over delay in the results of various courses. They said there had been an inconsistent delay in the declaration of results of MA Punjabi and Psychology. The students even gheraoed the VC’s car.

Later, the police had to be called to pacify the protesters. During the protest, the students also had a heated argument with security guards on the campus. — TNS

Chandigarh, August 26
Representatives of the National Student Union of India (NSUI) at GGDSD College, Sector 32, alleged that the authorities misbehaved with them while the former were demonstrating against inflated fee.

NSUI chairman Satnam Singh said: “Our party president, Aman Sharma, was sitting on a hunger strike since afternoon, protesting overcharging of fee by the college. The principal allegedly misbehaved with Aman”.

The students said the authorities had overcharged Rs 5,000 for various courses. “The authorities had told us to call off the strike. As we did not relent, they called the police. We will continue the agitation against the college,” said the party leaders.

Despite repeated attempts, principal Bhushan Kumar Sharma did not answer phone calls.

Chandigarh, August 26
Even as rallies have been strictly banned during the student council elections, representatives of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at Panjab University took out a promotional rally inside the campus today. As many as 20 swanky cars could be seen zooming inside the campus during the rally with huge party stickers pasted on them.

The supporters moved the cars across all departments to woo voters. Posters of the ABVP carrying the pictures of party leaders and workers were visible all over. “This is an important exercise to ensure visibility in front of fresh students in particular,” said one of the participants.

The authorities had imposed a ban on car rallies following brawls reported during such rallies in previous years ahead of the student council elections. The police had recommended to the university that these rallies should be banned to avoid untoward incidents. — TNS

Chandigarh, August 26
The Indian National Students' Organisation (INSO) released its manifesto ahead of elections for the Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC).

Digvijay Singh Chautala, national president of INSO, released the manifesto here at the Student Centre on the campus. Chautala displayed a green band and asked the party leaders to distribute these among students to send across the message of the party.

“This is not just a band. Behind this band is the hidden party’s ideology and hard work we have put in,” he said. He also advocated the need for special buses for PU from the city and its neighbouring places.

Chautala said his party had been fighting for the cause of students and would continue to do so. If students had any problem, they could contact us anytime.

Somvir Singh, president of INSO, said this manifesto was prepared to solve the problems of students.

The date for the elections is yet to be announced officially, but sources said September 4 could be decided as the polling day. 

Chandigarh, August 26
Education Department today formally started mid-day meal kitchens in six government schools, which were running on trial basis for the last one-month.

DPI (s) Upkar Singh inaugurated the mid-day meal kitchen at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 15. Other schools where the kitchens were started: Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 44, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 47, Government Model High School, Sector 42, Government Model High School, Sector 38 and Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 26. At present four centres, Dr Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 42, Chandigarh Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 42, Shivalik View Hotel, Sector 17 and GMSSS, Sector 47 (run by a private contractor), prepare and deliver mid-day meals to all the government schools. But from now on, these schools will prepare their own mid-day meals on the school premises. DPI Upkar Singh said this step of opening separate kitchens on the school premises itself was part of the department’s effort to reduce de-centralisation of the mid-day scheme in Chandigarh.

He said this experiment began last year when Education Department opened separate mid-day meal kitchen at Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Sector 10. After successful operation, the system has now been made operational in six more government schools. He said three more schools, GMSSS, Sector 23, GMSSS-40 and GMSSS-29, would soon have these kitchens. Today the officials of the Education Department tasted the mid-day meal along with the 400 students. Rice, kari and halwa were specially made for the inaugural ceremony. Sourabh Joshi was also present on the occasion along with Saroj Mittal, Deputy Director Sudhir Parashar, AC F&A, Ram Kumar, District Education Officer, Shiv Kumar Deputy DEO and Section Officer Anil Kamboj. — TNS

Chandigarh, August 26
Bihar mid-day meal tragedy seems to have left a scar on the mid-day meal consumption in city government schools. Only 300 students were found taking the mid-day meal in the government Model High School, Mani Majra, during an inspection conducted by UT’s senior official Mahavir Kaushik.

The school authorities told him that their mid-day meal consumption had come down from nearly 450 students to approximately 300 students due to reluctance of the students for mid-day meal after Bihar tragedy.

Mahavir Kaushik advised the school authorities to ask teachers to eat the mid-day meal food along with the students to restore their confidence.

Mahavir said the quality of the food was found satisfactory in this school but the students were reluctant to consume the mid-day meal. He also ate the mid-day food in the school to check its quality.

He also visited Government Model Senior Secondary School, Modern House Complex, and Government Senior Secondary School, Mani Majra.

While the quality of food was found satisfactory in GMSSS-Modern House Complex, the water taps were not working in the schools. He also found that students of four classrooms were sitting on tats due to shortage of benches.

The principal told the officer concerned that they had already submitted the proposal for the benches.

In GSSS-Mani Majra, there was a major shortage of classrooms. On this, the principal said that a proposal for additional rooms has already been approved and the construction work would begin soon.

Mahahvir said that in these three schools, the “aayas” (helpers) were in proper dresses and both the supply and distribution of mid-day meal, rice pulao and yellow dal, today was satisfactory.

He, however, said schoolchildren told him that they did not like bottle gourd and yellow dal as a part of their mid-day meal. “I will send this feedback to the authorities. Although these two dishes are of high nutritive value, we can make some changes in the menu so that the food fancies the taste buds of children,” he said.

Mahavir Kaushik’s inspection was in the wake of Chandigarh appointing 13 senior officials, including HCS/PCS officials of the UT, to regularly visit government schools and inspect the quality of the mid-day meal being served to the children to their level of satisfaction. Every officer has been given eight to ten schools every month and needs to submit the report regularly. The inspection exercise will remain on till March 2014. 

Chandigarh, August 26
Several parents met Dr Atul Sachdeva, head of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, and Adviser to the Administrator KK Sharma and raised the issue of delay in admission process for enhanced 50 MBBS seats.

The parents told Dr Atul Sachdeva that the pending litigation in this matter in the Punjab and Haryana High Court had halted the final admission process of the enhanced MBBS seats, thereby causing a lot of mental harassment to the eligible students who were waiting for admission for nearly a month now.

Ranjit Singh, a parent, said: “As the issue of enhanced seats will come up before the High Court tomorrow, around 20 parents appealed to the local authorities to inform the court about the urgency of the situation and get the final judgment without further delay”.

Another parent said the major problem was that the new session in the college had already begun from August 1.

“The principal of the GMCH-32 today informed us that if the students will not join the MBBS course before August 31, it can affect their admission process,” said Rajinder Mehta, another parent.

He said delay in the selection process of these 50 MBBS seats was causing mental agony to their children. “The parents are eagerly waiting for the hearing on this matter tomorrow. We request the authorities to sort out the matter so that their wards can start their MBBS course,” he said.

“Any further delay in the decision will add more anxiety to the parents and eligible students,” said another parent.