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Booth scam Banks, police refuse to provide transaction details of allottees Rajinder Nagarkoti Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 30 Following the directions of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the UT estate office had written to banks and the UT police to provide details of allottees who were wrongly allotted booths in the Sector 41 Krishna Market. The booth allotment scam came to light in February 2011. In his probe report, former UT Additional Deputy Commissioner PS Shergill named top politicians and senior officials, including MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, former Mayor Pardeep Chhabra, former UT Adviser Pradip Mehra and former Deputy Commissioner RK Rao, in the scam. The police said as the FIR had not been lodged, it could not seek details of financial transactions of the allottees. Similarly, the banks also wrote to the estate office that details of allottees could not be provided as no case had been registered against them. When contacted, assistant estate officer Rahul Gupta said they had their options open. The estate office had submitted the status report to the UT Administration on the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Recently, the UT estate office initiated cancellation proceedings against the defaulters and also sealed a booth. While the allotment of 93 booths was under the scanner, the UT estate office managed to unearth violations in the allotment of 14 booths only. Leader of the opposition in the MC Arun Sood said: “As per the Supreme Court guidelines, the UT Administration can lodge an FIR in the case. But the Administration is showing reluctant onl;y to save influential persons. The probe ordered by the Administration is mere eyewash. We will raise the issue in the MC House.” MHA seeks report In a recent communiqué to the UT Administration, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had sought the status of the inquiry into the scam. The Administration remained at the receiving end for not taking action against influential people indicted in the probe report.
Scam rocked Parliament
The alleged involvement of Bansal in the booth allotment scam had also rocked Parliament in March 2011. The BJP also demanded Bansal’s resignation.
Timeline
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City-Patliputra train from tomorrow
Chandigarh, October 30 The train will depart from Patliputra on October 31 at 11.55 am and will reach Chandigarh at 12.00 noon the next day. On its return journey, the train will depart from Chandigarh on November 1 at 9.30 pm and will reach Patliputra at 8.45 pm the next day. An official spokesperson of the Railways said the train would depart from Patliputra every Wednesday and Sunday. It will leave Chandigarh every Monday and Thursday.Both regular and inaugural run of new train will comprise of two AC II tier, three AC III tier, 10 sleeper class, six general class and two disabled friendly second class-cum-luggage van coaches. The train will have halts at Danapur, Ara, Buxar, Mughalsarai, Varanasi, Sultanpur, Lucknow, Hardoi, Bareilly, Moradabad, Roorkee, Saharanpur and Ambala Cantt.
e-ticketing facility
The UT Administration will start a railway e-ticketing facility at the e-Sampark centre of Sector 7 from Thursday. Secretary, Information Technology, Prerna Puri said the pilot project was being launched by the Administration for
e-ticketing. The facility would be available at other e-Sampark centres soon, Puri said.
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‘Gates’ of success open up for city-born engineer
Chandigarh, October 30 The first Punjabi to grab the top management post in the company, Pall joined Skype in January, 1990, as a software design engineer and cruised ahead with his dedication. "His hard work has paid off," said Pall's father Brigadier Gajinder Singh Pall (retd). A resident of Sector 33, Gajinder said nothing could distract Gurdeep from achieving his goal. "He is an avid reader and keeps me updated on the latest happening," Gajinder said. Gurdeep's mother Tejinder Kaur said he had done the family proud. "He told us about his promotion last Friday before leaving for London from Seattle in the US. Both the sons of Gajinder Singh and Tejinder Kaur have been working with Microsoft for the past 20 years. Tejinder Kaur said, "We keep visiting him. Despite having a busy schedule, he never loses his cool." The family belongs to Lahore. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, is Gurdeep's inspiration. Gurdeep did schooling from Vivek High School, Sector 38, and St John's High School, Sector 26. He then moved to Dehradun where his father was posted. He did engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilan, before moving to the USA where he did masters
Pall was a part of the Windows NT development team, working on the first version of Windows NT 3.1 in 1993 as a software design engineer, all the way through Windows XP in 2001 as general During his work on Windows, he worked on design and implementation of core networking technologies such as PPP, TCP/IP, UPnP, VPNs, routing, Wi-Fi and parts of the operating system. He also coauthored the first VPN protocol in the industry, Point-to-Point Tunnelling Protocol (PPTP), which received the prestigious innovation of the year award from PC Magazine in 1996. He also authored several documents and standards in networking area in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in the mid-1990s. As per Microsoft website, Pall has more than 20 patents (in process or approved) in networking, VoIP and collaboration areas.
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60-yr-old dies in accident
Chandigarh, October 30 The deceased was identified as Karnail Singh. He was on his way to Gurdaspur after meeting his son Gagandeep Singh, who works at a private bank in Sector 9, Chandigarh. Karnail Singh was behind the wheel when he lost control and rammed the vehicle into the roundabout of Grain Market. He was rushed to the PGI where doctors declared him brought dead. He was pulled out of the car with difficulty. The body would be handed over to the family after post-mortem. In a separate accident, three college students had a narrow escape after a Swift car hit a railing on the road separating Sectors 36 and 37 this afternoon. Abhishek, a Sector 49 resident, who was driving the car, said he lost balance while trying to overtake a bike. The mishap occurred near the Attawa roundabout. The injured have been identified as Abhishek, Shreya and
Palak.
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Injuries take sparkle off celebrations
Chandigarh, October 30 Twenty-eight-year-old Manjinder Kaur suffered an eye injury last Diwali while bursting crackers. Fear of losing eyesight kept haunting her for over a month. “My left eye was damaged when I was bursting a cracker. The irritation and pain was unbearable. My bother rushed me to a hospital,” said Manjinder, a Sector 22 resident. Sunil Kumar Bakshi (36), a resident of Dera Bassi, also suffered an injury in his eye while bursting crackers in Manali last year. “I would not say that we should shun crackers. But I have learnt a lesson from the accident. It’s better to wear glasses while bursting crackers,” he said. Dr Sunandan Sood, head, department of ophthalmology, GMCH-32, said: “Of the total cases received during Diwali, 20 per cent are of eye injuries.”
Emergency services
See a doctor immediately
Senior consultant and professor, ophthalmology, Max Hospital, Mohali, Dr Harpreet Kapoor said: “Wash the eye with cold water if the injury is mild. But in most cases, it is recommended to see a doctor.”
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Inflation dips sales this Diwali
Chandigarh, October 30 Sales are down in all segments- be it crockery or electronic products. Rajiv from a gift store in Sector 18 says that due to the price rise, people are limiting their purchase to most essential things. Trend of gifting crockery is not getting first preference. “Inflation is expected to dip their sales by 20-25 per cent this season, he adds. Diwakar Saluja, owner of a gift shop in Sector 11, said that the decrease in consumption level of consumers was to blame. Rise in inflation has made a hole in peoples’ pocket. On the other hand, the prices of various items have increased or are touching the roof. There is an increase in the cost to the tune 10-15 per cent. But shopkeepers are not loosing hope. All the main markets are well decorated and trying to woo the consumers with exciting discounts especially on products that are costly. “Every one is counting on the last two days’ rush, says Sushil Jain, a shopkeeper of Sector 17. The overall mood is still not upbeat. People are making calculative move and giving essential commodities as far as Diwali purchase is concerned. Shopkeepers also blame online shopping for the dip in retail selling in the markets especially in the electronic good section. Rajesh Garg, an owner of a electronic goods shop in Sector 18 says that the trend of online shopping is catching up really fast. They are offering exciting gifts and it is really affecting our retail sale. This trend will amplify only in future, he adds. Meanwhile, the markets are flooded with Chinese goods. This year, Chinese brass and crystal candles, besides a wide range of other products are on sale in the market. The most sought-after Chinese items are fancy crockeries, lights and other decorative items. Besides Chinese goods, wine-related products are also catching the fancy of residents. As far as corporate gifts are concerned, crockery, laptop accessories, wine glasses are getting a lot of attention.
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Rs 1.5-cr financial burden on UT
Chandigarh, October 30 The Chandigarh Administration had issued four circulars between 2007 and 2009 (dated March 13, 2007; Jan 10, 2008, March 5, 2009; and July 30, 2009), enhancing the consolidated salary of the contractual employees of the UT, corresponding with the pay scales of the corresponding posts. Even as the Education Department revised the consolidated salary of the contractual teachers as per the circular dated July 30, 2009, they were not granted the arrears for the earlier three revisions. A few teachers moved CAT for the release of these arrears, last year. The tribunal, through orders dated April 4 and April 13, 2012, ordered the Education Department to pay the arrears on account of the enhanced salary. The department, however, challenged the orders in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The plea was dismissed by a division bench of the court on January 7 this year. Following this, over 250 contractual teachers filed another petition, claiming the arrears. The teachers, finally, managed to get relief last month, with CAT directing the department to pay the pending arrears within a period of two months. An official of the department said the file had already been put up and necessary steps would be taken as per the orders of the administrative tribunal. The pending arrears per teacher are close to Rs 70,000 for junior basic teachers, Rs 80,000 for trained graduate teachers and Rs 90,000 for postgraduate teachers. One of the applicants said the department forced teachers to knock on the court’s door. “We duly submitted a representation to the department for the grant of our arrears, but all of
us were forced to file the petition after the department turned it down,” said the teacher.
Guest teachers demand pay revision
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50 illegal tents removed
Chandigarh, October 30 Officials inspected the market and asked shopkeepers to remove the encroachments on their own. They said if the shopkeepers failed to do so, action would be taken against them. During a raid yesterday, it was found that the shopkeepers had set up firecracker stalls at will. Following which, the officials carried out the anti-encroachment drive. The officials said the drive continued till evening and they inspected internal lanes of the grain market. It was found that the shopkeepers had encroached upon the lanes. They had pitched tents, but the civic body did not challan them. Officials of the Estate Office said they did not have the powers to issue challans to the violators. The market committee also refused to challan the shopkeepers, saying there were no such norms.
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Crackers seized from 5 shops
Chandigarh, October 30 During a raid conducted this evening by the SDM (south) Kashish Mittal, it was found that the shopkeepers had not taken permission from the authorities for selling crackers. The team immediately seized the material of the shopkeepers. Similar raids were conducted in Mani Majra also by the SDM (east) at various shops, in which one shop was found selling crackers without the permission of the authorities. To monitor the sale of crackers in the city, the UT Deputy Commissioner today constituted three teams under the supervision of the SDM east, south and the centre to conduct raids. An official said that the list of licence holders of all the areas had been given to these teams to check the status of the shopkeepers who were selling crackers in their areas. At a meeting held here today, the DC directed the SDMs to start the raids from today in all the markets of the city.
Students say no to crackers this Diwali
Over 2,500 students of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Timber Market, Sector 26, took the pledge “Say no to crackers” this
Diwali. It was organised by Yuvsatta and the Department of Chandigarh Administration
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Three tonnes of sweets destroyed at Daria village
Chandigarh, October 30 The team also seized samples of two sweets at Jai Ma Sweets in the same area. Starting October 15, the department has conducted more than 20 raids in different areas of the city. While samples of sweets were taken at these shops raided over these days, at a few shops, the sweets made under unhygienic conditions were destroyed on the spot. At the beginning of the festive season, the Director, Health Services, and the Deputy Commissioner had issued instructions to all sweetmeat shop owners to maintain hygiene. The violations often include addition of synthetic colour or deviation from standard composition of various ingredients, said an official from the food safety cell.
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Honour killing: Victim’s mother was kept in the dark
Panchkula, October 30 The victim's mother, Zubeida, was unaware of the gory act. She did not know that her husband, minor son, brother-in-law and his son had hatched a conspiracy to kill Tahira. When she asked Shaukeen why he was not letting her meet Tahira, he made up a story and put the blame on Salim. “Zubeida was kept in the dark. Shaukeen had told Salim to kill Tahira as she was not mending her ways,” said a police officer. Shaukeen and his son were arrested after Salim confessed to the crime. They were presented in a local court which sent them to judicial custody. Tahira’s brother had dug up a pit to bury the body of the victim. Tahira was sent to Panchkula from Muzaffarnagar at Uttar Pradesh where her paternal uncle resides.It was learnt that she was going around with her sister's fiancé. The half-burnt body of the girl was found near Tangri River in Barwala. Her paternal uncle confessed to have killed her for honour as she wanted to marry her sister's fiancé. She was smothered with a pillow.
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Snatching: Panchkula police goofs
Panchkula, October 30 The victim, identified as Charanjeet
Kaur, a resident of Sector 21, Panchkula, who works as a cashier with a bank and had the keys of the bank locker, bank IDs, cash, mobile phone and other valuables in the purse when it was snatched by two unidentified miscreants last evening at the bus stop of Sector 21,
Panchkula, after hitting her. Charanjeet went to the local police post in Sector 21 and was made to sit past midnight. “They were not ready to register a case. I wrote the complaint in English and after pursuing hard, the incharge wrote something in Hindi saying that they had investigated the matter and now, I could contact the officials at the Sector 5 police station,” said
Kaur. Charanjeet is residing with her son and when she went to the police station with the bank officials to get a copy of the report she got the shock of her life when a policeman read out that she had lost her purse at the bus stop and that the purse was not snatched by the miscreants. After the incident was brought to the notice of DCP Ashwin
Shenvi, he himself spoke to Charanjeet who told him how her statements were changed and the snatching was shown as a “lost” case. Ten minutes after the victim spoke to
Shenvi, Sub inspector Rajesh Kumari posted at the Sector 5 police station called the victim and said that the statements would be recorded again. Kumari asked the police officials to show the report sent by the incharge of the Sector 21 police post. When Charanjeet asked for a copy of the original report, the police officials refused to give it. The police officials present at the police station then tore the “original” report, the video of which is with Chandigarh Tribune. They then wrote a fresh report
and handed the same to the victim.
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Cheating case: Probe marked
Chandigarh, October 30 UT SSP Naunihal Singh marked an inquiry into the role of the Sector 39 police. The residents have lodged a complaint against N Shan, who hails from Tamil Nadu. The police has failed to arrest the accused despite receiving complaints in the past. Five complainants met the SSP. They said they were not satisfied with the way the police was handling the case. The complainants alleged that the Sector 39 police was rude to them. After listening to the complainants, the UT SSP called DSP (South) Surjit Malik and SHO of the Sector 39 police station Narender Patial to the police headquarters. The SSP then marked a fact-finding inquiry to the DSP to look into the allegations levelled by the residents. The accused offered up to 45 per cent discount on electrical goods and furniture. The residents said the accused had taken advance payment from them. Verbal spat between SHO and complainant
High drama was witnessed at the UT police headquarters in Sector 9 when a complainant and the SHO of the Sector 39 police station, Narender Patial, entered into a verbal spat while their statements were being recorded in a room. The complainant told the inspector that he was rude to them, to which the SHO replied that he would not take nonsense from people. He also flashed his name tag and asked the complainants to note down his name and file a complaint against him. DSP (South) Surjit Malik, who was sitting next to the SHO, tried to stop him, but the inspector walked out.
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Now, surprise checks by MC
Chandigarh, October 30 At the meeting, the members decided that the councillors and MC officials would conduct regular checking of safai karmacharis. The members also discussed that the sanitation system be strengthened by providing all the material required by the safai karmcharis for sweeping. The committee members decided that awareness campaigns in colleges, schools, colonies, markets and sectors would be conducted to educate the inhabitants towards sanitation measures by organising small functions. Earlier, on the basis of the Tribune report, MC Joint Commissioner Rajiv Gupta had also marked an inquiry into the matter. On October 24, Chandigarh Tribune reporters had visited Sectors 18, 19, 21 and 29, and Colony No. 4 to see whether safai karamcharis were performing their duties properly. The team found that 78 per cent of the safai karamcharis were absent. Out of 182 karamcharis in the MC records, only 43 of them were found present.
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4-month-old foetus found in toilet
Panchkula, October 30 Someone had crushed the head of the foetus. A sweeper was unclogging the toilet when he found the foetus and raised the alarm. "An autopsy of the foetus was conducted. We have sent the DNA samples for testing," said a doctor. The police was informed about the incident. No CCTV cameras have been installed on the third floor. The police has been provided with the records of patients admitted to the gynaecology ward of the hospital. — TNS
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Civic officials visit dumping ground
Chandigarh, October 30 Residents met the officials and aired their grievances. The problems plaguing the area were highlighted in these columns. Stink emanating from the site has been an area of concern. Unhygienic conditions have resulted in the spread of diseases. Area councillor Satprakash Aggarwal, said that after listening to the problems of the residents, the officials decided to beautify the boundary wall adjoining the dumping site. MC Joint Commissioner Rajiv Gupta stated that various proposals regarding the beautification of the area were discussed. Eateries raided
The UT Food and Supplies Department today conducted raids on eateries in Janta Market at Sector 27 and Industrial Area, Phase I. Shopkeepers were found misusing LPG cylinders. Twenty shopkeepers failed to produce documents in Sector 27. Officials seized the cylinders and issued a warning before giving these back to the shopkeepers. The shopkeepers showed documents to the officials. Another raid was conducted on a sweetmeat shop in Industrial Area, Phase I. The raids were conducted following the directions of UT Deputy Commissioner M Shayin.
Challans issued
The UT weights and measures department today raided shops at Mani Majra and the Sector 26 grain market. The team led by Mahavir, controller, weights and measures, along with inspector Kamal Sareen, checked weights in various shops and issued four challans. The officials said the weight of boxes was not as per norms at a sweetmeat shop.
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Councillors to wear black badges
Rajinder Nagarkoti Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 30 Councillors of the SAD-BJP today decided to wear black badges. In the pre-house meeting of the BJP-SAD councillors, it was decided that the opposition councillors would wear black badges and would raise slogans against Bansal. Leader of opposition and BJP councillor Arun Sood said Bansal had dented the civic body's image. As members, the councillors had the right to seek reply from Bansal, he stated. They will also seek reply from Bansal on issues related to housing board allottees, slum rehabilitation colonies and house tax on societies. Another BJP councillor said Bansal had no right to enter the MC house. "The CBI, which recently gave a clean chit to Bansal in railgate, is not trustworthy," he stated. In the house meeting, the issue pertaining to the framing of a policy for catching, shifting and releasing stray cattle will be raised by the opposition councillors. In the last house meeting, BJP-SAD councillors had tabled an agenda, but no discussion had taken place.
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Struggle for justice continues
Chandigarh, October 30 He said from last 15 years, he was meeting the UT officials and Bansal, but till date nobody helped him in getting a loan to run his factories. He alleged that politicians and officials have given him assurances earlier as well, but to no avail. When he started to hold a protest today, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Central) Aashish Kapoor along with other police officials reached the spot and assured him that they will look into this matter. Om Prakash was later taken to Sector 3 police station and was asked to come on Wednesday. Parkash said if he would not get justice, he would continue to stage dharnas outside the residences of the other officials as well.
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Dr Ranu seeks protection following death threats
Mohali, October 30 Dr Ranu said despite an FIR being registered in this regard at Punjab State Cyber Crime Cell on September 19, no action had been taken. He said he was receiving threats from International Babar Khalsa through e-mail besides through calls from Amritsar and other areas of Punjab. He alleged he was told not to pursue the case of Sehajdhari voting rights. SSP, Mohali said the threat perception report had already been sent to the higher authorities. Further investigations were on. — TNS
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7 new dengue cases reported in city
Chandigarh, October 30 The dengue virus is attributed as “day-biter” and often breeds in artificial setting of water which may include water stored in vessels, buckets, excess water in flower pots. The mosquito can breed in 10-15ml of water too. The water accumulated in empty tyres left out in the open are also the breeding ground of the dengue virus. Dengue is caused by the bite of an infected mosquito - Aedes aegypti.
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csio foundation day Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 30 Prof Sathyamurthy stressed on the need to observe the nature around us and learn from it. He said the micro-structural analysis of flowers revealed many secrets. He also highlighted the research conducted by him on the purple passion flower besides another study that lead to the discovery of a new flower, named by him as Kasauli Pushpam Sahini flower. Dr Girish Sahni, Director, CSIO, highlighted the aims and goals of the organisation besides its contributions in the field of science and technology. Dr Sahni also presented an overview of the ongoing projects and the future plans of the organisation. He said the lab had traversed a long journey and highlighted the activities being carried out in the concluding phase of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan and the projects being undertaken in the Twelfth Plan.
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Students celebrate suspension of tainted art college teacher
Chandigarh, October 30 Students had been staging protests for the past few months, alleging that Sanjeev Kumar, a sculpture teacher at the college, sexually harassed girls and used derogatory language. As the college authorities failed to take any action against the teacher, the students resumed their protest on Tuesday, locking the college gate, following which the teacher was suspended. The students today gathered on the college premises and danced on the beats of dhol. The students dispersed after the college principal, Manohar Lal, intervened.
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Dhillon elected president
Tribune News Service
Mohali, October 30 Dhillon won the election by a margin of 85 votes. He fetched 716 votes, while his nearest rival, Parwinder Singh Khangura, got 631. The other presidential candidate, Jaswinder Singh Saini, could win only 37 votes. The other elected office-bearers are Ranjit Singh Mann (senior vice-president), Prabhdeep Singh Boparai (vice-president), Paramjit S Pamma (general secretary), Satvir Singh (secretary), Rajinder K Saini (joint secretary), Raj Kumar (finance secretary), Deepak (office secretary), Satnam S Satta (organisation secretary) and Gur Charan Singh Tarmala (press secretary). The executive members include Sarabjit Kaur, Kamaljit Kaur, Sunil, Baljinder Singh, Jasvir Singh, Harminder Singh, Baljinder Singh, Harwinder Singh, Sasi Pal, Sarabjit Singh, Gurnaib Singh and Charanpreet.
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Mom’s Got Talent
Chandigarh, October 30 The event was named “Mom’s Got Talent”. Principal Vandana Saxena encouraged the guests to spend fun-filled time with the children for their overall development. —
TNS
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Chinese students visit Desh Bhagat varsity
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 30 The coordinator of the Chinese delegation was Tulili, an official from the Ministry of External Affairs, China. The objective of the programme, sponsored by CPAFFC, was to strengthen the Sino-Indian ties through educational and cultural collaboration. While welcoming the delegates, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Desh Bhagat University Dr Shalini Gupta said such cultural and leadership exchange programmes dismantled the barriers between different nations, as the youth all over the world faced same challenges, shared same responsibilities and nurtured same aspirations.
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Around 150 guest teachers working in various government schools of the UT Education Department staged a protest at Masjid Ground, Sector 20, on Wednesday. The teachers asked the department to revise their salaries. They said the move had been pending for the past one year.