The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Bail pleas of NIT ragging accused rejected
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 18
The bail applications of the NIT students allegedly involved in ragging Amit Kumar were rejected by the District Court here today. Amit had committed suicide last week after possible harassment by his seniors.

The District and Sessions Judge, Justice S.P.S. Mahal, said since the matter was serious in nature, the bail pleas could not be accepted till investigations into the case reached a mature stage.

Mr R.S. Gill, District Attorney, said the court had taken a serious note of the case and stated that since the victim was compelled to commit suicide due to apparent ragging, bail could not be granted.

The three lawyers representing the accused pleaded for the bail saying the future of the boys was at stake. The lawyer of one of the accused students Rahul said that since the victim’s suicide note did not mention the name of his client, a second year student, he should be granted bail.

Meanwhile, Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) authorities has sent a complaint against an army officer Major D. Nath to the Chief of Army Staff, General J. J. Singh and the district police authorities here.

Also, the GRP, investigating the case, has written to the NIT authorities asking them to furnish names of the staff who were responsible for ensuring that ragging did not happen in the campus.

Accusing Major Nath of threatening the staff of the institute, the officials said he had come to the NIT campus along with the father of deceased Amit Kumar, Mr. Triveni Sahai and involved in an altercation with the staff.

Handwriting records of Amit Kumar were sent to the forensic lab in Chandigarh today for examination. Confirming this, Mr Tulsi Ram, SP, GRP, said the report, on which investigations lay heavily, was likely to come in a week’s time.

Trouble is also brewing in another front. Three office bearers of NIT Staff Union— Mr Jatinder Singh, President, Mr Balkar Singh, Vice-President and Mr Paramjit Singh, cashier have been served notices for violating the institute’s code of conduct.

The union members have been asked to explain why they gave derogatory remarks against the institute to a vernacular daily, which violated clause 6 of the conduct rules of the institute. The rule says that no employee can utter anything critical about the institute—neither anonymously nor in his own name.

Meanwhile, the campaign against ragging picked up further pace today with the non-teaching staff of the NIT staging a protest against the alleged ragging on the campus and held the administration responsible for the shameful episode. In a representation to the President of India, the union alleged that the present administration was not giving due attention to curb the menace in the campus.

The incident has expectedly gained political colours. The Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Students Federation of India (SFI) and the National Students Union of India have also submitted memorandums condemning the ragging episode and declared to launch campaigns.

L&T to stall work on medical college project?
Anruadha Shukla
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 18
The state government’s apathy is taking its toll on the ambitious Shaheed Beant Singh Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) project here. In the absence of funds, the contractor—Larsen and Toubro Ltd may stop all construction work and wait till the state government makes the required financial clearances.

The medical college, named after the late Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, is hanging fire despite directions from the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh himself for its speedy completion. The company has not even taken part in the tender floated for the construction of a residential colony and hostels in the campus. The project still awaits funds for the completion of a false ceiling and some other interior works.

Meanwhile, Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC), executing the case, is not willing to comment.

The drying of funds has also delayed the academic session of the institute.

The Engineering, Construction and Contracts (ECC) division of the company is said to be incurring heavy overhead expense for staying on the campus.

Mr K.S. Para, Additional Director, PHSC said the Corporation was executing the project but he did not know much about the details.

Sources say the Chief Minister, while chairing a meeting of the Building and Works Committee, had directed the PHSC to finish the project by October 15.

While company officials are tightlipped on the issue, there is also a hushed silence on the site.

The site, which once had up to 2000 labourers, has been left with around 200 contract workers , added sources. The contractors have not even taken any electricity supply from the Punjab State Electricity Board and the power is being derived from the company’s own generators.

The 150-crore project now requires a further funding of Rs six to seven crore for winding up all pending jobs including floor finishing, final touch up of the building and other important fixtures like fire-fighting equipment and fire alarm. No tender has yet been floated for the furniture and other requirements of the institute.

Started during the Akali regime, the hospital is to have 500 beds. It is spread over an area of 100 acres. There were sugarcane farms on the site earlier, which were removed to pave way for the project. Work began in October 2000.

Though the company finished the project in 2004 itself, the work on heat ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) fittings was delayed. Finally, Blue Star bagged the tender quoting Rs 20 crore. It is now busy fitting ducts.

This is also cited as one of the reasons for stalling work by the ECC Division of Larsen and Toubro.

Tender for the construction of the residential colony and hostels were floated in April last year but failed on technical grounds as only two companies were quoted instead of three.

Efforts on to stop migration of avian flu
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

‘Poultry is safe’
Mr D.S. Bains, Secretary, Animal Husbandry Department, Punjab, said all samples of poultry taken from various places to test for the suspected virus had proved negative till now. “Since the virus cannot survive in temperatures exceeding 150 celsius, properly cooked chicken and boiled eggs cannot lead to any kind of infection. There is no threat to the business of poultry farmers. They need not panic.”

Jalandhar, October 18
With the threat of avian flu spreading fast and thousands of migratory birds from affected countries entering the region in a month’s time, officials at the state Animal Husbandry have sounded an alert and asked the Wildlife and the Wetland Conservation Departments to conduct surveillance of diseases, especially in the neighbouring wetlands of Harike and Kanjli.

The Animal Husbandry Department has also decided to hold joint training programmes for the entire staff. A conference in this regard is likely to be held at the Circuit House here tomorrow. From the Department—both Union and the state, Ms Nita Chowdhary, Joint Secretary (Government of India), Mr D.S. Bains, Secretary, (Punjab), and Dr B.S. Sidhu, Director, (Punjab) are expected to participate in the programme. Mr Gurbaz Singh, Chief Conservator of Forests, and Dr D.R. Sharma, Dean, College of Veterinary Sciences, Punjab Agricultural University will also be present.

The top officials were likely to discuss issues pertaining to the precautionary measures for checking the spread of avian flu, informed Dr H.S. Sandha, Joint Director, Animal Husbandry and in-charge, Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar.

The Department officials reveal that three species of birds could be the carriers of the deadly flu— the bar-headed goose, grey and black-headed gull and great cormorants. As many as 8,000 to 10,000 such geese were likely to visit Harike and nearly 100 to 150 geese might fly towards Ropar, said officials.

The department said it had already dispatched big, coloured pictures of the birds to different stations and told staff members to raise an alarm in case they found any dead birds. As a precautionary measure, the staff is being told not to directly touch the dead birds as the infection spreads through contact. “They have been asked to wear gloves and cover their eyes before picking the birds and putting them into polythene bags. They must also send the samples to nearby laboratories,” an official said.

Hunger strike against VAT
Tribune News Service

Phagwara, October 18
A large number of manufacturers, traders and exporters of diesel engines and its spare parts today observed a daylong hunger strike in front of the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner’s office here in protest against the inordinate delay in issuing of notification on reducing VAT from 12.5 per cent to 4 per cent on the items.

The protesters, led by Mr Sudesh Sharma, President, Federation of Phagwara Small Industries, alleged that despite repeated assurances from the members of the high-powered VAT Committee of Ministers and bureaucrats including the Punjab Finance Minister Mr Surinder Singla, nothing had been done in this regard.

Residents resent hefty water bills
Tribune News Service

Phagwara, October 18
Resenting against the hefty water and sewerage bills after the recent hike in rates by the state government, residents here have urged the Nagar Council for a roll back.

A delegation of residents, led by President of the local BJP unit Mr Tejasvi Bhardwaj met the Phagwara Nagar Council President Malkiat Singh Ragbotra. He said bills with new rates had been sent on the instructions from the state government. He further disclosed that domestic users would be charged on marla basis of their residential area and shopkeepers would have to pay on commercial basis.

The BJP activists also decided to constitute an action committee for calling on the Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Local Bodies Minister for apprising them of the hardships being faced by the people of Phagwara owing to the hike in the rates of drinking water and sewerage.

Clara sets beauty academy in city
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 18
Beauty Academy Clara International of Malaysia, which has 150 centres worldwide including ten in India, has set up its regional office and an Aesthetic and Beauty Academy in the city.

Chief Operation Officer, Clara International, Woo Wee Yong said here that the city would also have the company’s beauty saloon by the next year.

Though the Academy would train professionals as per the international standards set by Clara, the curriculum had been Indianised after holding consultations with the beauty experts of the region, he said.

The make-up part of the curriculum has been developed as per Indian standards, he added.

Bhagat Singh’s crown

Jalandhar, October 18
The nephew of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, Mr Jagmohan Singh today demanded that the crown of his uncle be made available for public viewing.

Speaking at a press conference here today, Mr Jagmohan Singh said the crown should be displayed during the forthcoming 14th Gadri Baba Mela scheduled from October 26 to 30. — TNS

IT raid on two jewelry shops
Tribune News Service

Kapurthala, October 18
Income Tax officials today raided two jewelry shops at the Sadar Bazar here.

As soon as the IT teamreached the shops in the morning, the owners fled the spot leaving their shops open. The officials, who were on the spot till the evening, termed the raid as a survey.

Woman killed in accident

Jalandhar, October 18
A woman was killed today when the scooter driven by her husband was hit by a Tata Sumo on the GT Road here, police said. The incident occurred near the old Sabzi Mandi in the Maksoodan area.

The lady, identified as Surjit Kaur, succumbed to her injuries on the spot while her husband, Mangat Ram, was seriously hurt. The erring driver was beaten up by angry mob. — TNS