Chandigarh, September 18
A 16-year old girl died while her mother was injured after an unidentified vehicle hit their scooter last night at the railway light point.

Garima Gulati, the victim

According to the police, the victim, Garima Gulati, a Class XI commerce student at Guru Gobind Singh School, Sector 26, and her mother Rajni Gulati, residents of Modern Housing Complex, Mani Majra, were on their way to the railway station when the accident took place. Rajni was driving the scooter while Garima was riding pillion. Police sources said the duo had to catch a late night train to Sonepat.

They were coming from the IT Park side and were crossing the railway light point when a vehicle hit the scooter and sped away. Passersby informed the police following which both victims were taken to the hospital.

While Garima was declared brought dead at the PGI, her mother is under treatment. Her condition is stated to be stable.

The police have registered a case at the Mani Majra police station and have started investigation into the case.

The sources said the police were scrutinising the footage of the CCTV cameras installed at the light point to get clues.

Chandigarh, September 18
In order to facilitate bidders applying for the school winter uniform, the Education Department has removed the clause of laboratory testing of samples before applying for the tenders.

According to the new norms, only those who qualify for the final bid and get the tender for the winter uniform will have to get the laboratory testing of the uniform done.

Department officials said earlier all suppliers who used to apply for the bidding had to get the laboratory testing of the samples done before doing so. However, the new move had eased the financial burden on the bidders. Instead, the task of getting the uniform tested had been given to the schools, which would now have to get the testing of the samples done on their own expenses.

An official said on condition of anonymity, “The change in the norms has come as a shock as neither the bidders nor the schools had objected to the previous norms. According to the new guidelines, every school would now have to shell out between Rs 7,000 and Rs 8,000 to get three samples tested.”

The department has issued a centralised advertisement for 95 schools inviting tenders for navy blue stitched school uniform. The last date for suppliers to submit their bids is September 27.

The suppliers have been asked to submit their bids from September 25 to September 27 at Girls Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 18.

DPI (S) Kamlesh Kumar said, “The change has been made for streamlining and simplifying the process to facilitate bidders and ensure that the uniform is supplied on time.”

Chandigarh, September 18
Two days after Makhan Singh, a 40-year-old guest house owner, was murdered in Khuda Alisher, the police claim to have solved the case with the arrest of three accused.

The accused, Jarmal Singh, alias Jamma (22), Kuldeep Singh, alias Kaga (23) and Jatinder Singh (24), all residents of Khuda Alisher, were arrested at a nakka near the Sector 11/12/14/15 roundabout.

Makhan Singh was murdered near his guest house on September 16. DSP (Central) Ashish Kapoor said they had information that the accused were coming in a black SUV bearing a temporary number following which a naka was laid and the accused arrested.

The DSP said during interrogation, the accused stated that Jarmal had old enmity with the victim’s family. In 2003, Jarmal’s uncle Avtar Singh, alias Tari, was murdered and Makhan Singh was one of the accused in that case, but he was acquitted by the court.

Jarmal Singh hatched a conspiracy with his friends Kuldeep Singh and Jatinder Singh to take revenge for his uncle’s murder from Makhan Singh.

Acting on their plan, they attacked Makhan Singh with axes and sticks and fled from the spot.

Chandigarh, September 18
Four motorcycle-borne miscreants looted a bag containing Rs 10 lakh from an employee of a private company in Sector 52 late this evening. The victim, Dharampal, claimed that the miscreants came on two Hero Honda motorcycles and two of them were wearing police uniform.

“They intercepted my car at Sector 52 and snatched a bag containing Rs 10 lakh,” said Dharampal.

According to the victim, the incident occurred at around 8.30 pm. “After snatching the bag, theyy sped towards Kajheri,” said the victim.

Dharampal said he was taking the amount from Mohali to his company office at the Industrial Area, Phase I, here.

According to a senior police official, they were verifying the facts and the complainant’s statement. “Certain loopholes in the statement are evident. We will register a case in this regard after an investigation,” said the police official at the Sector 36 police station, under which the area falls.

A case in this connection was yet to be registered till the filing of this report.

Chandigarh, September 18
After a controversy over the renewal of lease of various clubs in the city, the UT Administration has now decided to sign short-term lease pacts of three years with the clubs.

At present, the matter related to the renewal of the lease of the Chandigarh Golf Club is pending before the court. The UT Administration is also in the process of renewing the lease of the Chandigarh Club.

A senior official said earlier the UT had signed long-term lease pacts of 10 to 20 years with some clubs, but it had now decided to sign short-term lease pacts with the clubs. After resolving the lease controversy with the clubs, the UT would now sign lease agreements for three years only, he said.

The official said with the short-term lease, the UT would be able to make changes in the terms and conditions of the lease agreement depending on the situation after every three years.

At present, the UT Finance Department and the Deputy Commissioner’s office have taken up the matter of finalising the revised lease deeds of the clubs.

Mohali, September 18
A two-day-old baby girl was saved by a good Samaritan, who took her to the Civil Hospital at Kurali after finding her abandoned in bushes near a dhaba at Channalo village near Kurali this morning.

After treatment, the infant was taken to the Kurali-based Prabh Asra, a shelter for the homeless.

Shamsher Singh, who runs Prabh Asra, said the abandoned infant was noticed by Rajdeep Singh, a resident of Kurali, at around 7.50 am.

“He immediately called us and we requested him to take the infant to the hospital,” said Shamsher Singh, adding that he, along with his team, also reached the hospital to take care of the infant.

After a medical examination, doctors at the hospital said the baby appeared to be around two days old.

Appreciating Rajdeep Singh’s efforts, Shamsher Singh said, “Had he not rescued the infant on time, her life could have been at risk.”

Chandigarh, September 18
Directives issued by the UT finance Secretary to the UT Taxation Department to examine the issue of illegal charging of value added tax and service tax on the entire bill amount by hotels and restaurants is giving anxious moments to officials.

A city-based social activist, Ajay jagga, had raised the issue of applicability of VAT and service tax under the Finance Act, 1994. He had stated that the government of India, through an amendment of the Service tax Rules, 2006, had fixed that the service component in the bill of restaurants was 40 per cent, which meant the goods component was of 60 per cent.

The taxation officials on examining the issue are learnt to have found that going by the amendments made in the service tax rules, the UT could lose up to Rs 10-crore revenue if the VAT was charged on the 60 per cent of the bill charged on the goods component.

Though the officials have to communicate back to the Finance Secretary, it is learnt that the UT might stick to the present system of charging VAT on 100 per cent bill amount. At present, the UT charges VAT on the full value of the restaurant bill, which means there is double taxation on the 40 per cent of the component of the bill of a restaurant. As a result of the improper application of VAT, excess tax is being charged from every customer/consumer.

Raising the issue with the Member of Parliament, Kirron Kher, Ajay jagga, said, “The Chandigarh Administration is getting “unjustly enriched” due to the non-clarity regarding the laws on taxation of foods/beverages being served in restaurants. The matter is pertaining to the value added tax under the PVAT Act (as applicable to UT, Chandigarh), 2005, and the service tax under the Finance Act, 1994, and the Service Tax (determination of value) Rules, 2006. The improper application of state taxes is causing 5 per cent penalty or loss or overcharging to every customer/consumer of a restaurant of any kind.

Chandigarh, September 18
In surprise checks conducted at the CTU depot in the Industrial Area by officiating Director (transport), SK Setia, and Additional Transport Secretary Rajiv Tewari, six persons were placed under suspension. The suspended employees who were found drinking while on duty are Ashwani kumar, Mohan singh, Hare Ram, Krishan Chand and Mohan Lal.

Earlier in the day, the Director inspected long-route buses while posing as passengers. While at Depot No.1, four employees were found drinking in the cash branch in the evening, two persons were found missing from duty at the depot earlier in the day. Later in the evening, the Director found certain officials at the Sector-43 ISBT drinking. The director has been conducting surprise checks in different offices of the CTU over the past two days.

Panchkula, September 18
The electioneering in the district has gained momentum with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) fielding their candidates for ensuing Vidhan Sabha elections.

While the INLD fielded Kulbhushan Goyal, a builder, from Panchkula and sitting MLA Pradeep Chaudhary from Kalka, former Chandigarh Mayor Gian Chand Gupta, who is said to be close to Prime Minister Narinder Modi, is BJP’s choice for Panchkula Assembly seat.

The district has two Assembly constituencies, namely Panchkula and Kalka.

The Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have not declared their candidates so far.

The HJC may field former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan from Panchkula though he remained out of political scene for over six years after the Fiza Mohammad episode.

The HJC district president Shashi Sharma, however, could be the second choice of the party if Mohan shifts to his stronghold constituency of Kalka.

After inauguration of the party’s election office in Barwala, Gupta addressed a public rally and assured area residents of a permanent solution to fly menace if they voted him to power.

Gupta, along with his supporters and senior party leaders, including BJP state vice-president Banto Kataria, the party’s district president Vishal Seth, Shyam Lal Bansal and BB Singhal, reached Barwala in an open jeep.

Gupta said, “We are not in the favour of destroying the poultry farms, but have advised the owners to take remedial measures against the menace.”

Gupta alleged that the ruling Congress and its local MLA did not meet the expectations of Barwala residents, who had been facing endless problems, including lack of potable water and bad roads.

Later, he carried out a door-to-door campaign in the Sector 7 market here on Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, Shiromani Akalai Dal (SAD) leader and Dera Bassi MLA NK Sharma held a meeting with workers and supporters of the INLD candidate, Kulbhushan Goyal, at his election office in Sector 5 here today.

Chandigarh, September 18
To cater to the extra rush of passengers during the festival season, the Northern Railway has decided to run weekly special trains.

The Chandigarh-Varanasi Chandigarh Weekly Express (train number 04912/04911), and theNangaldam- Lucknow-Nangaldam Weekly Express (train number 04924/04923) will be introduced during the festival season.

The Chandigarh-Varanasi Weekly Express special train (train number 04912) will depart from Chandigarh on every Thursday from September 25 to November 27. There will 10 trips of the special train. On every Thursday, the train will ply from Chandigarh at 11.15 pm and reach Varanasi at 5.30 pm next day. In the return journey, the Varanasi- Chandigarh Weekly special train (train number 04911) will depart from Varanasi on every Friday from September 26 to November 28 at 8.40 pm and will reach Chandigarh at 2.30 pm the next day.

The train will comprises one First AC, one AC 2 tier, two AC 3 tier, eight sleeper class, four general class and two second class-cum luggage van coaches. The special train will stop at Ambala Cantt, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Lucknow and Sultanpur stations enroute in both directions.

From September 22 to November 24, another train, the Nangaldam-Lucknow Weekly Express special train (train number 04924) will depart from Nangaldam at 11.45 pm on every Monday to reach Chandigarh at 2:20 am and finally reach Lucknow at 2.10 pm the next day. There will be 10 trips of this special weekly train. In the return journey, the Lucknow- Nangaldam Weekly Express special train (train number 04923) will depart from Lucknow at 6.25 pm on every Tuesday and reach Chandigarh at 6:5 am from September 23 to November 25 to reach Nangaldam at 8.50 am the next day.

The train comprises one AC 2 tier, one AC 3 tier, three sleeper class, six general class and two second class-cum luggage van coaches. The special train will stop at Roop Nagar, Chandigarh, Ambala Cantt, Jagadhari, Saharanpur, Moradabad and Bareilly stations enroute in both directions.

Panchkula, September 18
Resentment prevails among the local BJP leaders as the party mulls to field former cricketer Chetan Sharma from the Kalka Assembly constituency.

BJP sources said Latika Sharma, a senior BJP leader, Varinder Rana, who unsuccessfully contested Assembly elections on BJP ticket from Kalka in 2009, Virander Singh Bhau, Rajesh Gaur, Vijay Kalia and Sachin Sharma are in the race for the party ticket from the Kalka constituency.

The BJP leaders, including Bhau, have demanded that the party should give ticket to a local candidate who is well-aware of local problems instead of an ‘outsider’.

Bhau, a descendant of a royal family of Ramgarh, said only a candidate from the area could bring results.

Listing his achievements, Bhau claimed to have constructed 64 ‘jeep-able’ roads in the Morni area during his tenure as the chairman of Zila Parishad. He claimed that the cost of construction was reduced to Rs 50,000 per km against Rs 1.5 lakh per km (shown by the government).

He said 56 per cent of the voters in the constituency hailed from rural areas and would prefer a candidate from rural area. He added 39 per cent of the electorate was from Raipur Rani area, which would play a major role in deciding the fate of the candidate.

Sham Lal Bansal, who was denied ticket from Panchkula, is also interested in contesting the Kalka seat.

Chandigarh, September 18
In a special anti-encroachment drive conducted by the enforcement wing of the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, encroachments from various city markets were removed today and 200 violators challaned.

During the course of the drive, the enforcement team removed encroachments from Sector 19 Palika Bazar, Sadar Bazar and Shastri Market and the outer area of Sector 22, Chandigarh.

During the drive, racks, garments, gas cylinder, bags, belts, and purses were seized.

Chandigarh, September 18
A delegation of the Housing Societies Residents Welfare Federation (HSRWF), Chandigarh, today met municipal officials over the issue of inflated water bills served to residents of the housing societies due to the failure on the part of societies from Sectors 48 to 51 to take completion certificate from the Estate Office.

In the absence of completion certificates, the municipal morporation has served hundreds of residents of the cooperative housing societies with inflated water bills. Over 5,000 flat owners in around 90 societies have been affected.

The consumers of these societies who have failed to procure the required permission have been served a bill of around Rs 950 for two months, which is almost double the bill they used to get earlier.Pardeep Bhardwaj, senior vice-president of HSRWF, said they met the Superintending Engineer (SE) Public Health, RC Diwan, over the issue demanding that all the residents were bearing the burnt of the inflated water bills. “The building violations have been made by a few individuals following which the entire society has to suffer as the societies have been denied completion certificate by the Estate Office”, he stated.

Chandigarh, September 18
The Union Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has called a joint meeting of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh over the regional planning and unplanned development in the UT’s periphery. The meeting will be held in New Delhi on September 19.

Sources said the meeting would be chaired by the Secretary, MoUD, and would be attended by senior officers of the two states and the UT. Earlier, it was decided to constitute a Chandigarh Region Planning Board for a coordinated and joint development of the tricity but the plan was dropped after Haryana objected to it. Thereafter, it was decided that a co-ordination committee would be formed, which would be more powerful and effective than the proposed board.

Chandigarh, September 18
The Chandigarh Beopar Mandal sent 500 blankets and 15 quintal of rice to flood-torn Jammu and Kashmir.

The consignment sent today was a part of relief supplies worth Rs 3 lakh announced in the annual general meeting of the traders’ body held last week.

Meanwhile, Ninette Vas Sharma, vice-president of Indian Red Cross Society, UT Chandigarh, flagged off vehicles carrying relief material to flood victims. The consignment included 20,000 water bottles, 500 blankets and seven boxes of medicines collected by various organisations in the tricity. The relief material will be delivered at the CRPF Airport, Kashmir.

Chandigarh, September 18
Be it kitchenware, decorative items, or fashion accessories, you name it and it’s there, at the ongoing Thailand Trade Show. The interesting part about the show is that 90 per cent of the exhibitors from Thailand are women. Women thronged the venue making the show a great success.

Chandigarh, September 18
The tale of “Oliver Twist”, which has been one of the greatest hard-knock lives in literature, was brought alive by students of Yadavindra Public School, Mohali. They staged “Oliver Twist”, a musical play, at Tagore Theatre here today. The play was enacted by 75 students, complemented by a melodious choir. The story of the play revolved around “Oliver”, who lost his mother at birth, toils in the workhouse and falls in with thieves. He is sold, shot, kidnapped, marked for murder and the victim of cruel justice and bad medicine. The highlight of the play was power-packed performances of the students and the music. Despite the grim aspects, the “Oliver Twist” provided a rousing entertainment. Charles Dickens classic throb infused with freshness won thunderous applauses from the audience.

The play portrayed how desperate Oliver runs away to London where he meets Artful Dodger, who introduces him to Fagin and his gang of thieves. As the play unfolded, the audience found itself captivated by the twists and turns young Oliver’s life took. The play portrayed how an abused child triumphs.

The show stealer remained the protagonist Oliver’s character played by Sitanshu Kaloti, who provided a steady and strong centre to the sprawling drama. His act was supported with understated grace, even when the story took shocking turns. The music composed and orchestrated by Sumali Devgan brought the show alive. — TNS

Mohali, September 18
“To assess the performance of all Members of Parliament (MPs), their report card should be prepared after every three months and made public,” said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann here today.

Mann, satirist-cum-politician, who was in the town to support the ongoing protest of ETT (TET pass) teachers, said comments of people of the area should be sought on every MP’s constituency to check whether the public was satisfy with his/her performance.

Mann claimed that he had already started posting his report card on social networking sites. Talking to mediapersons, Mann also asked Badal senior to call it a day due to his ripening age.

“Our Chief Minister is the most expensive as far as wages are concerned. He (Parkash Singh Badal) has been getting Rs 12 lakh as pay, which is the highest among all chief ministers of the country. Besides, crores of rupees are being spent on Badal family’s security and their ‘love for air travel’,” said Mann.

Chandigarh, September 18
Panjab University is planning to start MSc (nanoscience) on the recommendation of the faculty of science.

Keeping in view the poor response to MTech (nanoscience and nanotechnology), which is offered by the Centre for Nanoscience Technology, the course has been redesigned by the university.

The issue will be tabled in the Syndicate, scheduled to be held on September 26, for its final approval.

As per the records of the department, the authorities are considering redesigning the course as no admission has been made for the 2014-15 session.

Sources said during a meeting of the faculty of science, the matter was raised. It was observed that as there was less scope for placement in the MTech (nanoscience and technology), the course should be redesigned as per the requirement of the present day needs.

Records revealed that earlier also this proposal was mooted in the Syndicate but it was revert for reconsideration to the faculty of science.

The Syndicate will also discuss the long-pending issue of the permission to students of Shri Dhanwantri Ayurvedic College of the 2012-13 batch to appear for examination by Panjab University. The final decision will be taken in this meeting, which affects around 200 students of this batch.

The revised budget proposal of the Board of Finance will also be tabled in this meeting. The pending proposal of the revision of guest house rates will also be finalised in the meeting.

Mohali, September 18
Dr Ambedkar Joint Action Committee of Scheduled Caste (DAJACSC) MBBS Aspirants and Thinkers will hold a peaceful dharna in Kharar tomorrow against usurpation of MBBS seats for SC candidates and given to the General Category violating the Reservation Policy and Constitutional Provisions. Kirpal Singh, chairman of DAJACSC, said the SC community was sore over this decision and recent counselling done by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences.

“As stated by the Punjab Government, these seats could not be filled from the SC category students as sufficient number of students could not qualify the AIPMT. In the past, the admissions were made by relaxing the marks. In the AIPMT out of the 29 states, only nine states and out of the seven UTs, only Chandigarh participated. Thus, medical aspirants of 20 states and six UTs did not appear in the exam,” said Kirpal. He said under pressure from Punjab state dental colleges, the state government made a clever move and conducted a retest for these BDS courses, letting aside the result of the AIPMT. “If this modification is permissible then why a combined test for both MBBS and BDS seats was conducted to fill the vacant SC seats in the MBBS course. It is a deliberate step to adversely affect the interest of the SC students of Punjab origin,” claimed Kirpal.

“The purpose of our dharna is to press our demand to the Akali-BJP government to review the decision and order re-counselling and relaxation of marks to the SC category,” he added. — TNS

Chandigarh, September 18
World Bamboo Day was observed at Panjab University with a national seminar-cum-workshop on bamboo. It began at the Department of Botany here today.

The two-day national seminar-cum-workshop is being organised on the topic “bamboo as wood and food for the 21st Century”.

Prof AK Bhandari, PU Dean University Instructions and Registrar, was the chief guest. Prof AS Ahluwalia, chairperson, Department of Botany, chaired the session.

Prof Bhandari appreciated the involvement of NABARD and the Punjab Forest Department, Mohali.

He said such events could play a role in encouraging the practical use of the research being conducted in the university.

Charchil Kumar (IFS), conservator of forest, Shivalik circle, Department of Forest, Punjab, made a presentation.

Charchil gave information about the forest cover of India and mentioned that 80 per cent of the world bamboo resources were in India, China and Myanmar. In the Indian context, about 66 per cent of the bamboo resources come from North-East India.

BK Tripathy, AGM, NABARD, Haryana, addressed the delegates on the topic “development of bamboo sector”. He talked about the corporate mission of NABARD as a major creditor in developmental projects, including research and development, microfinance, watershed development, rural infrastructure development and rural innovation fund.

Chandigarh, September 18
The Independent School Association (ISA) organised a mathematics excellence workshop at Vivek High School today. Around 120 teachers from various schools of the tricity attended the workshop.

Association members said the initiative was taken to create a common platform for knowledge sharing and participative approach, which would ultimately lead the schools to understand the new-age learning methodologies.

Speaking on the occasion, HS Mammick, president, Independent School Association, said: “We intend to hold monthly workshops on specific subjects by different speakers, which will enable sharing of global best practices in innovative teaching and learning processes ultimately helping us enhance our teaching skills. We will also be calling speakers from various parts of the region to share their mastery on specific subjects.”

Earlier, the first session of the series was conducted by Amarbir Singh Sidhu, director and principal, Saupin’s School, and Inderbir Kaur who apprised the participants on the new-age learning methodologies and techniques of mathematics subject focusing on elements for successful mathematics classroom and activities to integrate the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE).

Amarbir said: “Students and teachers develop mathematical anxiety in the school since it is usually taught as a subject where the student is either right or wrong. Since teachers have to respond to the diverse learning styles of students, it becomes critical for them to equip themselves with a large and diverse collection of strategies”.

“Our endeavour is to make this important subject less complex,” he said.