Mohali, August 30
Even as officials struggled to complete repairs at the Kajauli waterworks, the rain god again played spoilsport today, creating uncertainty over the date for resuming the water supply to the town and Chandigarh.

Officials on the job at the repair site said if the rain continued, it would not be possible to resume the water supply for at least two more days.

The officials, a harassed and worried lot, have been confronting the onslaught of the weather, including slush, skidding of vehicles, trenches filled up with water and cement that is taking longer to dry. Mud and slush on the kutcha stretch leading to the repair area are proving to be major hurdles.

A vehicle carrying a pump for concrete work, which was to be used for constructing supporting walls, got stuck in slush. A JCB machine had to be called to pull it out. A tempo laden with bricks required for the work also overturned because of the slush.

Construction work was to start at 5 pm today, but heavy rain around 4.30 pm hampered operations for some time. Officials got back on the job when the rain stopped, but the bad weather got the upper hand again, bringing the work to a halt.

RP Gupta, Executive Engineer of the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation, said the entire staff had been concentrating on making Phase III of the Kajauli waterworks functional at the earliest, and as such work on Phase IV was stopped today.

He said a bend to connect the pipelines of Phase III had been installed and a concrete support of 5 metres on either side of it had to be provided. However, heavy rain stopped the officials from carrying out the repair work. Repairs on Phase IV, which was a bigger project, were likely to start after making Phase III functional.

If the heavy rain did not stop, it would not be possible to carry out repair work for the next two days, said Gupta.

Phases IX, X and XI, Sectors 70 and 71, Matour and Shahimajra villages and industrial Phases I to V here have been facing a water shortage. Water in these areas is being provided through tankers. However, some sectors are also being given canal water from the Phase VII water valve point here.

Karam Singh Dhanoa of Sector 70 here said canal water was being supplied for a limited time in the morning and evening and it reached the first-floor level. There was no major problem at present.

Gurpal Singh of Phase IX, who had gone to his farm after the water crisis had gripped parts of Mohali, said water was received at the ground level for about 45 minutes this morning. The situation had improved over the past two days, he said.

Cattle being shifted in a truck to Barsana in UP from Chandigarh. A file photo

Chandigarh, August 30
The staff of the municipal corporation was allegedly slapped, kicked and abused by villagers, who also torched MC trucks in Gurgaon in which cattle were being shifted from Chandigarh to a gaushala at Barsana in Mathura.

Tension gripped the area after the incident in which an MC employee’s arm was fractured, while another one suffered a heart attack.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, an MC employee, who was accompanying the cattle, said, “God saved us; the angered mob was out to kill us. Some of our staff members are still missing and we don’t know where they are as their mobile phones are switched off.”

He said it was around 8.30 am today when suddenly villagers stopped their trucks near Jhajjar. “They started levelling allegations against us that we were cattle smugglers and were hand in glove with the police. We showed them our permission letter, identity cards and even Chandigarh policemen, who were accompanying us, tried to pacify them, but to no avail,” he said.

The employee said even the sarpanch and the local police could not control the villagers, who climbed on the trucks and started thrashing the MC staff. “They slapped, kicked and even hit us with sticks. Some of our staff members were chased away by them,” he said.

Another employee said after the Jhajjar incident, the local police helped the trucks enter the Gurgaon area, but as soon as they entered the Gurgaon area, local residents started shouting and raising slogans. The PCR vehicle of the Jhajjar police left them midway and again the mob started thrashing them. “We were crying for help, but they kept thrashing us. Some local residents then helped us and told us to leave the area immediately,” he said.

Chandigarh, August 30
Supporters of Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) fired gunshots in the Sector 8 market on the intervening night of August 29 and 30 after the watchman stopped them from pasting posters of the party on the walls.

Sources stated that two cars arrived at the inner market of the sector after midnight and started pasting posters on the walls. The watchman Parkash Singh a resident of village Kansal in district Mohali objected to them for pasting the posters. “About seven to eight youths in their early twenties entered into an altercation with the watchman and fled from the spot after firing two rounds in the air”, sources stated.

Police was informed about the incident that arrived at the spot and recorded the statements of the watchman. Two empty shells have also been recovered from the spot.

DSP (Central) Ashish Kapoor said they had identified the accused, who would be arrested soon. “The names of the accused cannot be disclosed right now,” he said.

A case under Section 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage) of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 3 police station.

Sources said SOPU leaders were also questioned regarding the incident.

Chandigarh, August 30
The UT Engineering Department has started carpeting the double-lane Dhanas-Mullanpur road.

Courtesy: Impending visit of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

Officials said apart from carpeting the road, the surrounding area was also being spruced up and saplings were being planted on the roadside.

The PM is scheduled to visit Dhanas on September 14 to handover possession of one-room tenements to 8,448 jhuggi dwellers under the small flat scheme.

Security has also been strengthened in the area. Visitors have to furnish details before entering the complex.

The authorities are also preparing a helipad for the landing of the PM’s chopper near the site of inauguration. For security reasons, the chopper will land in a safe zone, subject to clearance from the National Security Guard.

Mohali, August 30
As many as 138 drugs for cancer treatment are being made available through the Jan Aushadhi store on the premises of the Civil Hospital here by the district health authorities.

These medicines will be provided to cancer patients at subsidised rates. The prices at which these will be made available at the drug store will be nearly 30 per cent to 40 per cent less than the market rates.

Sources said tenders for making the drugs were invited by the Punjab Health Systems Corporation after which a rate contract had been done with stockists in Chandigarh to supply the drugs.

Sources further said that to begin with, the cancer-related drugs would be provided on demand as it would not be possible to store these expensive medicines immediately. Some of the drugs cost around Rs 1 lakh. Civil Surgeon Rajiv Bhalla said the aim of making these drugs available was to help cancer patients.

A list of drugs and their prices will be displayed at the Jan Aushadhi store of the Civil Hospital.

If the district administration permitted, one such list will also be displayed at the Suvidha Kender in the the District Administrative Complex to make the public aware about the availability of such medicines at subsidised rates.

Sources said the efforts of the district administration to run the Jan Aushadhi store round-the-clock are not proving to be a success.

Former Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam had tried to contact pharmacists for running the drug store round-the-clock.

It is learnt that pharmacists were not willing to work at a salary of Rs 7,500 per month.

Sources further said that the pharmacist running the drug store at present had submitted his resignation recently because of the low salary, but his resignation was not accepted by the authorities.

His salary was then raised by Rs 1,000. At a meeting of the Red Cross Society yesterday, Deputy Commissioner Tejinder Pal Singh Sidhu had given his approval for engaging more pharmacists to run the store round-the-clock. It is yet to be seen whether the health officials will succeed in their efforts this time.

The drug store, which is being run by the District Red Cross Society, remains open for only eight hours a day . Though it is proving to be a boon for OPD patients, indoor patients have to go to chemist shops outside the hospital, causing inconvenience to them.

Chandigarh, August 30
Bihari Lal, a resident of Colony No 5, visited the e-Sampark Centre of Sector 43 at 11:45 am to get a duplicate copy of his Aadhaar card today, but was left disappointed as the officer on the counter told him to come again in the evening as the server was not working due to which the printout copy could not be generated. "This is the for second time I visited the centre to get my Aadhaar card. I am a daily wager and if I skip my work regularly, I won't be able to my salary the month end," he said.

He said last week he had visited the centre, but officials denied issuing him the duplicate copy of the Aadhaar card as the server was non-functional.

This is not the only story where a resident had to struggle to get the duplicate copy of their Aadhaar card from the e-Sampark Centre where the UT Administration, along with UIDAI, has set up a special counter to issue duplicate copy of Aadhaar card by charging Rs 2 for each copy.

During a visit to various e-Sampark Centres, it was found that the UID website servers were not working between 11:30 to 12:30 PM. In fact, during the afternoon, the website was not working.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Deputy Director General Keshni Anand Arora accepted that there was a technical problem in the portal of the UIDAI today due to which the server was not responding to the requests at e-Sampark Centres.

An official said many a times this problem had risen between 11am to 4 pm and the residents had to return empty handed without getting the duplicate copy of the card. He said many complaints had been lodged with the authorities a number times, but the situation had not improved.

In February this year, the UT Administration, along with the UIDAI, had set up eight special counters at e-Sampark Centers of Sector 10, 15, 17, 21, 40, 43, Industrial Area Phase-I and Mani Majra to facilitate the residents of the city in downloading e-Aadhaar cards in case of delay. The residents were charged a nominal fee of Rs 2 for a print. At these centres, the residents could also check the status of their e-Aadhaar card rather than visiting the e-Aadhaar office for the same.

Chandigarh, August 30
Thanks to the indifferent attitude of the officials in UT's Home Department and the State Transport Authority (STA), a retired official of the state transport authority is unable to get his pension benefits even after three years of his retirement. A repeated representation to senior UT officials has failed to yield any results.

After running from pillar to post to get his pension benefits, Vinod Sharma sought information under the Right to Information Act (RTI) only to know that the Home Department and the STA were putting the onus one each other in deciding his appeal.

Apart from regularisation of suspension period from December 23, 2004, to December 26, 2004, and grant of ACP after four and nine years of service, he has been demanding the release of his pension and retrial benefits besides GPF payments.

On his representation for regularisation of the service, the case was sent to the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) for seeking legal opinion. Following this, the DOPT had sought certain clarifications in October 2012. However, despite several reminders to the STA by the Home Department, no information has been provided.

For the delay, the first appellate authority under the RTI has directed the official concerned to take action against erring officials.

Inter-departmental communication reveals that certain official in the STA have been misguiding the UT authorities. After repeated complaints, the information has been provided by the STA and was sent to the DOPT.

Panchkula, August 30
The first dengue case of this season was reported late last night after a 32- year-old resident of Panchkula was tested positive. The victim, identified as Vishesh Mangla (name changed) is a resident of Amravati Enclave.

It is the first case from Panchkula and the third in the tricity. The other two cases are from Chandigarh and Mohali. Last year, 115 cases of dengue were reported from Panchkula. However, this time, only one case has tested positive.

There were three suspects from the township out of which this one turned positive. The victim has been asked to get admitted to PGIMER, Chandigarh, at the earliest.

After finding the test positive, the health authorities swung into action and inspected the residential area of the person. Sources said the larva was reportedly at a construction site where the person was working.

The health authorities are regularly getting surveys done in the district. “Clean surroundings during this weather are very important. People should not allow water to accumulate at any cost. They should clean their coolers by the end of July only,” said Dr VK Bansal, a civil surgeon.

He said, “By not clearing the water for long, they are creating unhygienic conditions for themselves following which the dengue mosquito breeds.”

Two cases in Chandigarh

Two suspected cases of dengue were reported this evening at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh. The confirmed reports of the same would be out in a day.

Panchkula, August 30
Following the decision of the Panchkula Municipal Corporation to collect garbage from every house and then to dispose off the same directly at the dumping ground, as many as 200 Safai karamcharis staged a protest at the MC office, Sector 4, here today. The proposal was to take of on September 1 from the ward of councillor CB Goel for which he had hired a tempo. They protested against Goel. They said the move was a threat to their job.

It was after the intervention of Panchkula Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia that the matter was solved. She assured them that they would not be expelled from the job. She decided that the garbage would now be collected by their ‘rehris’ only and they could give it to a tractor-trailer at a common point.

“We asked them if they could dispose off the garbage at the dumping ground, but for them the distance was too much. So, we have decided that our tractor-trailer will be stationed at a common point in Sector 7,” said Ahluwalia. 

Panchkula, August 30
A man, reportedly from a well-off family, was caught stealing an expensive mobile phone from the counter of Gopal Sweets, Sector 8, here.

Despite his face clearly being captured by the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed at the shop, the police has failed to nab him.

According to the police, the victim, Shalini Arora, a resident of Sector 2, had visited the shop to buy sweets.

She was standing at the counter while pay the bill when the man, finding an opportunity, stole her iPhone. A CCTV camera recorded the incident.

Chandigarh, August 30
Month-long celebrations will culminate with Senior Citizens’ Day on October 1. The Chandigarh Police, in association with Chandigarh Senior Citizen Association, has lined up various cultural programmes and events for the month.

While interacting with the media today, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Naunihal Singh, said police personnel and their families will also participate in the events to be organised by senior citizens.

The SSP said on the basis of the performance of the police beat box staff, the senior citizen association will recommend the name of the personnel who will be honoured on October 1.

Zirakpur, August 30
Congress leaders have demanded a proper inquiry in the forest land scam at Peer Muchalla village. Congress MLA Hardyal Singh Kamboj, Congress leader Manpreet Kaur Dolly and Jaspal Singh said nearly 70 acre land of the Forest Department has been transferred on the name of a person with an alleged involvement of officials of the Revenue Department.

They said there was over 440 acre land of the Forest Department in the Peer Muchalla village out of which 70 acre was transferred on the name of Shiv Dyal by changing the record of the Revenue Department. They informed that the scam was done by deleting the pages from revenue record without any registration. The Congress leaders alleged that the scam had taken place with the consent of top political leaders of the ruling party.

They demanded a CBI inquiry in the case and a strict action should be taken against the accused. Forest ranger Harbhajan Singh said they handed over the matter to Deputy Commissioner of Mohali and an inquiry was on in the case. Meanwhile, SDM, Dera Bassi, Inderjeet Kaur Kang said the district revenue officer had inquired about the matter and a report of the same would be received on Saturday and then a next step would be initiated in this regard.

Chandigarh, August 30
City BJP president Sanjay Tandon and Priya Tandon released the Hindi edition of the book "Sunrays for Monday" at the residence of former national president of the BJP, Nitin Gadkari, in Delhi recently.

Chandigarh, August 30
A special meeting to review the promotion of the Hindi language in the Central Government departments of the Northern Railways of the Ambala division was held today.

Chandigarh, August 30
Paying no heed to the Lyngdoh committee recommendations and a ban on class-to-class campaigning, most of the student parties went to classes and gave speeches, violating the norms.

Student leaders of various parties visited the departments with their supporters, disturbing the studies. A student of the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS) said it was surprising that despite the ban, various party supporters reached the department and gave a speech in the class. "The PU authorities should either take some action against the parties or avoid issuing such directions," the student said.

Different party leaders visited the UIET and the BDS Department. The student leaders gave a speech for over 10 minutes in every class. A student of the UIET said the election campaigning had affected their studies and the parties were continuing class-to-class campaigning despite the ban.

Meanwhile, Dean Student Welfare (DSW) Navdeep Goyal said they had not received any complaint from teachers and an action would be taken after receiving the complaint. "We had directed the parties to stop class-to-class campaigning," Goyal said.

One of the teachers said it was the duty of the university security to ensure that class-to-class campaigning did not take place.

Chandigarh, August 30
A total of 13,542 students have the right to vote in the forthcoming Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC) elections. The votes will be polled at 175 polling booths, which will be setup within the departments across the PU campus in Sector 14 and Sector 25.

Panjab University is all set to host the student elections, 2013, with the finalisation of polling booths and the number of voters registered in the campus.

Navdeep Goyal, Dean Students Welfare (DSW), said 13,542 students were eligible to cast their votes in the elections for which the university would get around 15,000 ballot papers published.

“As soon the final list of candidates is announced, the ballot papers will be published,” the DSW said.

At 9.45 am, entry to the departments will be closed. Students willing to cast their votes will have to reach their departments before the scheduled time. Those who get late due to traffic jam will be allowed to enter the department till 10.15 am.

PU officials said the supporters of any party would not be allowed to enter or stand outside the departments.

“Vehicles without stickers will not be allowed to enter the campus. The students are advised to carry their identity cards for verification,” the officials said. — TNS

Chandigarh, August 30
Despite the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to check defacement of property in colleges and around the city, student leaders continue to paste party stickers and posters all over the city.

The students have not even spared the city markets. Visitors in the Sector 32 market, for instance, are greeted with numerous posters of GGDGD College leaders pasted one over another on the pillars.

Support pillars installed in front of the shops for beautification have been defaced with the posters of party leaders. Saying no to defacement on the Panjab University campus and colleges, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the Chandigarh police to take strict action against the violators.

As the issue came up for resumed hearing before the High Court, the Bench was told that the university authorities and principals of colleges had decided to inform the UT Senior Superintendent of Police and the District Magistrate about the cases of defacement. The decision was taken at a meeting held recently.

Taking up the matter, the High Court also directed the colleges to identify and allocate space to students for putting up the publicity material. The Bench was told that most of the colleges had already identified and allocated such spaces.

The court also directed the Municipal Corporation authorities to initiate strict action against those defacing properties in the city. The court was assured that the violators would have to pay for their deeds.

Last week, three students from SGGS College, Sector 26, were booked for defacing public property. A case under the Defacement of Property West Bengal Act, 1976, was registered against NSUI leader Vijay Rikhi, whose posters were pasted on a signboard near the Sector 14/15-24/25 roundabout.

Hardeep Singh Pannu, another NSUI leader, was booked for pasting posters in the Sector 15 booth market. Both the cases have been registered at the Sector 11 police station and investigation has been initiated.

Chandigarh, August 30
Nominations for the Panjab University Campus Students' Council (PUCSC) elections were filed today on the PU campus. A large number of candidates have filed their nominations for all four posts.

The university has received a total of 29 nominations for the post of president, 25 nominations for the post of vice-president, 36 nominations for the post of general secretary and 36 nominations for the post of joint secretary.

The final list of the candidates after withdrawal will be declared on Saturday.

Apart from the four posts of office-bearers, elections for 42 department representatives (DR) out of a total of 109 posts will be held. “While there will be no elections for the post of DR in 26 departments, 41 have been elected unopposed,” officials said.

Chandigarh, August 30
Chaos prevailed at DAV College, Sector 10, as the nomination of one of the SOPU members was cancelled due to severe attendance shortage. The declaration soon led to a ruckus on the campus and the representatives also protested against the authorities.

The nomination of the general secretary of the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) at the college was cancelled as he did not comply with the minimum 75 per cent attendance criteria.

The incident led to a drama on the campus with some of the students blocking the entry of the principal’s car.

Though the drama prevailed for long, the authorities finally agreed to review their decision and allowed him to contest the elections.

"The issue was resolved after the authorities called the presidential candidate and scrutinised the general secretary's attendance. It was found that his attendance was calculated from the day of the beginning of the session. However, he had joined in late," said a SOPU representative.

All colleges in the city held the nomination process today for the student council elections scheduled to be held on September 4.

Nominations were filed in other co-educational colleges also. Women’s colleges, however, took a backseat this time as well, deciding to choose unanimous candidates.

Chandigarh, August 30
The student parties, including the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) and the Panjab University Students Union (PUSU), that for the past over a decade have been dominating in the student elections have been forced to enter alliances to ensure win.

The three major student parties who are projecting their presidential candidates include the SOPU, PUSU and NSUI. All parties are believed to have a larger vote bank. However, to ensure their win, all three parties have decided to enter an alliance with the other parties.

The secondary parties that have decided to enter an alliance with the major parties on the campus include Hindustan Student Association (HSA), National Student Organisation (NSO), Student Organisation of India (SOI), INSO, ABVP, Himachal Pradesh Students Union (HPSU) and an independent group.

The NSUI has already joined hands with the HIMSU that gave its unconditional support to the NSUI.

After several days of negotiation, the SOPU decided to enter an alliance with the SOI, HSA, HPSU and the independent candidates front.

SOPU leader Vikramjit Singh Midukhera said: “To ensure a massive win, we have decided to contest elections in alliance with other parties, the announcement of which will be made on Sunday”.

A former PU leader who has been campaigning for one of the prominent parties said secondary parties with even 50 voters matter a lot in this election to ensure a win.

The PUSU also entered an alliance with the NSO and INSO.

The alliances After several days of negotiation, the SOPU decided to enter an alliance with the SOI, HSA, HPSU and the independent candidates' front. The PUSU also entered an alliance with the NSO and INSO.

Chandigarh, August 30
The Government Teachers Union (GTU), UT, will organise the 4th teachers’ conference tomorrow at Moti Ram Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 27-A, Chandigarh.

VK Singh, Finance cum-Education Secretary; Upkar Singh, DPI (S); and Shakuntla Mahajan, an educationist and director, Moti Ram Arya Model Senior School; will chair the function.

Professor Manjit Singh, Department of Sociology, Panjab University; Dr Paramjit Kaur Tulsi, Department of Education Management; JK Jain of CBSE, New Delhi; and Dr Dipti Gupta, Department of English, PU, Chandigarh; will deliberate on the methodology of school education in the conference.

Teachers of all faculties will participate in the conference and three retired teachers of different education institute will be honoured. The agenda of the seminar is to promote quality education and discuss the role of teacher in the modern-day world. Other issues to be discussed include pending promotions of UT cadre teachers, regularisation of SSA teachers, increase in salary of guest faculty teachers, part-time lecturers, computer instructors, counsellors and readjustment of relieved guest faculty teachers. — TNS