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Helmetless, 2 students killed
in accident
Chandigarh, January 19 The youths, 19-year-old Paras Sharma and 18-year-old Matul Chauhan (riding pillion), were on a CBZ bike (CH03-M-9855). The duo, who were accompanied by another bike with their two friends, took a round till Hotel Taj at 12.45 am. As they reached the light point and took a turn, their bike rammed into the footpath. So great was the impact of the accident that Paras was flown in the air for sometime before he fell on the road some 50 metre ahead, his head crushed into pieces. The other victim, Matul, was also dragged to a distance with the bike. While Paras died on the spot, Matul was rushed to the Sector 16 hospital from where he was rushed to the PGI. He was declared brought dead at the PGI. Their friends Salil and Prashant, who were with them on the other bike, were a little distance behind and witnessed the accident.
Two-wheeler deaths
According to police data, 80 persons driving two-wheelers had been killed last year and 282 injured, mostly women, with a majority of them not wearing helmets. The fatal accident, once again, sends a strong message to the people to wear ISI mark helmets for their safety, a police official said. Both victims were first year B.Com students of S.D College in the city and were the only sons of their parents. Paras Sharma, hailing from Solan, has been studying in the city. His father is a chartered accountant (CA) at Solan. Matul Chauhan has been a national level badminton player and hails from Shimla. His father Kabir Chauhan is a badminton coach with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Shimla. He also has a younger sister. The shell-shocked relatives and friends were inconsolable as they came to the Sector 16 Hospital to take away the body after the post- mortem was conducted. The father of Paras Sharma, on his way from Solan to Chandigarh, fainted on the way and was taken back. The father of Matul Chauhan burst into tears at the Sector 16 hospital and was uncontrollable.
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Red tapism hits elevated road to Panchkula
Chandigarh, January 19 Even the UT Administrator, Gen SF Rodrigues (retd), has expressed concern over the delay in implementation of the project.
The new bridge on the existing Chandigarh-Panchkula road was inaugurated by a former Administrator, Lieut Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), in 2001. Since then the UT engineering department
has not bothered to remove a road divider which still exists on the old side of the bridge. Earlier, the divider used to bifurcate
the two-way flow of traffic. But with the opening of the new bridge, the divider adds to the confusion for the motorists
moving from Panchkula to Chandigarh. Initially, the project was to take off during the current financial year. The public money being spent on the project should not go waste like it has happened in the past. “By the time the project takes off, the volume of vehicular traffic will increase manifold”, observed a retired technocrat. The project, conceived during the tenure of the previous chief engineer V.K. Bhardwaj, has been pending for the past over two years. The Administration had drafted the Rs 173-crore project for an elevated highway starting from Transport Chowk, adjoining the Grain Market with the entry point to Sector 7, Panchkula. The issue gains importance in the context of frequent traffic jams between Chandigarh and Panchkula. Under the proposed planning, the elevated highway will come up over the existing road. The four-lane road will have a dual carriage way. “Unlike Mohali, where the city traffic can enter from more than half a dozen different points, Panchkula has only one major entry point from the city. The roads are choked on traffic, particularly during the office hours.”
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Residents up in arms
Tribune Reporters
Mohali, January 19 The general secretary of the association Manjit Singh Chauhan said a resolution had been passed against the shifting of the complex to Sanetta. “DACs are set up in urban centres. Have you ever heard a DAC being set up in a village? Everyone will be going out of the city into a village, 18 kilometers away, to get their problems heard?” said Chauhan. Alleging that the deputy commissioner, SAS Nagar, was unnecessarily pushing the Sanetta case, Chauhan added that the story behind the choice of site was different. “If a final decision regarding the shifting of the site is taken we would protest strongly against it and take the entire towns with us,” said Chauhan who is also the deputy mayor, Chandigarh. “The original site is in Phase VIII. Why has that site been dumped? For what reasons? Even the foundation stone had been laid,” pointed out Chauhan. Members of the Phase IV Residents Welfare Association and the House Owners Welfare Association , Phase I, earlier today strongly opposed the establishment of the district administrative complex at Sanetta. Sources added that the shifting of the DAC to the village had not found favour even with the judges serving at the judicial complex here. Hundreds of those coming to the court for various litigations would have to travel this distance to reach courts.
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Problem in Punjab, Haryana serious: Study
Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 19 The study, conducted by Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM) in collaboration with UNAIDS and AIIMS had further shown that most of the injecting drug users in Punjab and Haryana were using pharmaceutical preparations often mixed with sedatives. In an exclusive interview to The Tribune on the eve of all-India release of the study on January 21, Rajesh Kumar of SPYM said the situation in northern states was alarming. “We have been saying for long that the problem in Punjab and Haryana is deep and serious. But we had nothing to support our claims. This study, for the first time, provides scientific proof of the problem and lists vulnerable groups and services available to them,” Kumar says. Based on respondent driven sampling (RDS), a new methodology, the study relies on a vast sample - around 300 IDUs per district at the chosen sites in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) had long been saying that in India, IDUs account for 2.2 percent of HIV transmissions. But the SPYM study suggests that the numbers affected by injecting drug use may be higher. “The idea behind the study was to fill the existing gaps in information available on IDUs in northern states. The culture of denial about the problem needs to be challenged. The problem in north is that the cross-border supply of illegal drugs was banned, but the demand for drugs had not been controlled. Resultantly, addicts had taken to “legal” drugs easily available on chemist shops. A greater danger was being posed by a new category of drugs called stimulants,” Kumar said. Stimulants are more dangerous than depressants (pharmaceutical preparations) as their withdrawal is very serious. “The incidence of dependence on stimulants is rising in India. This category of drugs is very dangerous because we yet don’t know much about them. Rehabilitation of stimulant dependents is also a challenge as strategies are not yet known,” Kumar said. As for the IDU study in Punjab and Haryana, SPYM offered incentives to those who came for interviews. “That was part of RDS. Peers, who induced addicts to come forward for interviews were given incentives in the form of T-shirts etc. Addicts, who turned up then became peers themselves and got “peer” incentives. They in turn urged other addicts to get sampled. The chain kept growing,” Kumar said, adding that SPYM used the services of Dr B.M. Tripathi and Dr Atul Ambekar from AIIMS to study health and behaviour related indicators pertaining to addicts. To be released at a state-level function in Panjab University on January 21, the study is very significant in terms of its scope. It profiles IDUs in Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh, lists the type of drugs they are using and why, maps their needle-sharing practices and HIV risk, studies their health-seeking behaviour besides pointing out deficiencies in rehabilitation services available to them. 30 NGOs partnered with SPYM in this project.
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‘Pending cases cause overcrowded jails’
Chandigarh, January 19 Blaming the large number of cases pending in courts for overcrowded jails Aulakh disclosed that while the capacity of the jails in the state was 11,000 inmates the actual number of inmates in the jails was 16,000.
Speaking on delay in filing reports, Ishwar Singh, DIG Ludhiana averred that the facilities in the state needed up-gradation. Citing an example he said, “Various psychological test like the polygraphy test or brain mapping test cannot be held in Ludhiana. One such test is to be carried out on those arrested in the Ludhiana blast case. But it is done only in Bangalore so the case is now held up for another six months till the test is conducted leading to delay in investigation.” There are many lacunas in the system itself, he said. “If we send a sample to the forensic laboratory, the concerned person carries out the test and then destroys the sample. Second opinion cannot be taken in the case as the sample is destroyed.”
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Meet on foeticide reduced to ‘sarkari’ show
Chandigarh, January 19 Even the master banner designed for the show carried pictures mainly of Congress leaders, central and local. Among these were Indira and Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Kumari Selja, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Rajana Patil (chairperson, Central Social Welfare Board) and Lalit Joshi (chairperson, CSWB). The only exception was Mother Teresa’s picture, and one more. The meet began one and a half hours behind schedule, with Ranjana Patil, Kumari Selja and Pawan Bansal, both union ministers of state, coming in late. In their absence, scores of young girls - some barefooted and barely clad for the cold winter morning - waited in line to welcome guests. They wore sarees and no sweaters. Inside the Bhargava auditorium, which can seat only 1,200 people, the rush was unprecedented. Thousands of women and children, associated with NGOs funded by the CSWB, had gathered at the PGI on the call of their bosses. But they had no place to sit. “We have been up since 7 am. We couldn’t even leave behind children as their schools are closed today. But where to sit?” asked Rama, one of the visitors. Many had to stand from 10 am to 3 pm, while others squatted on floors around the hall. There were at least 1,700 people in the hall today. As the gathering watched the show, laced with cultural performances, politicians spoke of female foeticide and the need to combat it. Selja listed out schemes adopted under the “leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh” to tackle the problem; Bansal hoped the people would begin the fight against foeticide from their homes, while Patil called for a ban on sex determination. Lalit Joshi listed efforts the CSWB was making to fight the problem. “We have launched a drive to hold 50 awareness camps for women across Chandigarh,” she said. Earlier, she presented phulkaris to women guests, including Selja and Patil; male dignitaries got shawls. And as this happened, the compere urged women and children to clap while poor women sitting in the rush lusted at expensive gifts being doled out in the name of “female foeticide”. Even among the 500 patient trolleys Patil gifted to the PGI today, the majority were those donated by NGOs funded by CSWB.
Ex-councillor collapses, stable
Around 11 am when the organizers were still waiting for the chief guest to arrive, K.S Raju, former MCC councillor, present in the gathering, collapsed. He was shifted to the PGI emergency by director Dr K.K. Talwar and GMCH-32 director-principal Dr Raj Bahadur in a private car before the ambulance could arrive. He is still in CCU, but stable.
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Update skills to tackle white-collar crimes: Expert
Chandigarh, January 19 He was addressing an orientation course on white-collar and cyber crimes at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Sector 36 here. As many as 40 police officials attended the orientation course. Highlighting the need of detective forensics in white-collar crimes for bringing culprits to the book, Aggarwal commended the efforts made by the Government Examiner of Questioned Documents (GEQD) lab in organising the course for the investigation officers. N.C. Sood of GEQD gave the background of the laboratory of GEQD at Shimla - one unit of which is now at Chandigarh. It is the second oldest in the world next only to Scotland yard. While mentioning the details of the cases handled by the laboratory, he said GEQD unit had dealt with 2,500 cases catering to white-collar crimes in a period of six months. M.C Joshi, assistant government examiner, delivered a lecture on ‘counterfeiting and forensic appraisal of Indian Bank notes’.
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Marriage causes traffic jam
Chandigarh, January 19 Among those trapped in the chaos were patients, bus passengers, even the convoy of Haryana Chief Minister and other VIPs aboard red-beaconed vehicles. With the local police nowhere on the scene, commuters had to eventually abandon their vehicles to regulate traffic, which did not move until precious two hours had been wasted. The Tribune office was late night flooded with calls from the stranded passengers who did not know where to look for help. Baldev Kumar, one of the thousands of inconvenienced passengers, told The Tribune: “Hundreds of cars have been mindlessly parked outside AKM resorts because of which the traffic flow has been disrupted. We have been standing on one spot for over one and a half hour. The police is nowhere to be seen.” The jam, other passengers said, started when a truck plying along the route hit a wrongly parked car outside AKM resorts. The car owner reportedly wrested papers of the truck and did not let the truck driver leave. The truck blocked the highway and behind it the entire traffic sequence was jammed. Most of the commuters along the route had no idea how to contact the local police for help. Their cells could only connect to 100 - the Chandigarh police control room number. As always, lack of inter-region telelinks for SOS services led to a harrowing
experience for the commuters. When contacted, the local police station personnel said they had not received any calls from any site of a traffic jam. They however said they will take stock of the situation.
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Shopkeepers protest against HUDA, observe bandh
Panchkula, January 19 Moreover, many of them were not issued any receipt of the goods that were confiscated, the shopkeepers alleged. The HUDA officials, with dozens of policemen, reached the market yesterday evening and took away the goods displayed in the corridors. President of the Market Welfare Committee B.B. Kochhar, flaying the action of HUDA, said though the market committee was not against clearing of encroachments, but the HUDA officials should ensure that no damages were caused to the confiscated goods. The shopkeepers cannot be treated like criminals by using police force, he said. “Creating panic among the shopkeepers as well as visitors by deploying heavy police force at the market during the anti-encroachment drive cannot be ignored by the committee,” said
Kochchar. However, HUDA officials could not be contacted.
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Letters
Shifting of buses running from the Sector 17 ISBT to that of Sector 43 is definitely a good step. It will lessen the rush of traffic in Sector 17 and other adjoining sectors. But all this was done in haste. People had to face a lot of inconvenience, as they were not properly informed about the change. All required facilities should have been provided before shifting the buses. Moreover, the administration should have informed the people through media to avoid unnecessary harassment to the commuters.
G.K. Chopra,
Chandigarh
Readers are invited to write to us. Send your mail, in not more than 200 words, at news@tribuneindia.com or, write in, at: Letters, Chandigarh Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh – 160 030
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PU Notes Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 19 Deepak Hooda said some places on the campus did not have proper lighting arrangements, which had been brought to the DSW’s notice and fast action regarding such irregularities had been sought for. Placement Mindcrest, a Pune-based renowned LPO company having business in the US and European countries, visited the department of laws for campus placement. The company selected eight students from the department and offered a salary package of Rs 2.2 lakh and above and assured that it would offer employment to the department students in the next session also. Meeting Under the special membership drive launched by Rahul Gandhi, a meeting of NSUI activists was held at Panjab University today. Nitin Goyal, president,
NSUI, Chandigarh, chaired the meeting. A.K. Pandey, who has been deputed as in charge of the drive at Chandigarh, also attended the meeting. Students from various colleges and university departments were present. It was announced that Amarpreet Singh Mann had been appointed as the president of the PU campus unit of the
NSUI. Mann is a student of the first year of the Punjabi department. Biotech fest The two-day Biotech Fest-2008 being held at Panjab University concluded yesterday. The first session commenced with Prof R.C. Sobti extending a warm welcome to the distinguished scientists. He gave the audience a glimpse of the impact and quality of the research done by Dr Sandip Basu, who was presented with the Prof B.K. Bachhawat Memorial Lecture Award. Prof Rajesh Kochhar, professor of pharmaceutical heritage,
NIPER, Mohali, was presented with the Professor R.C. Gupta Endowment History of Science Lecture Award. Prof Subhash Chand, department of bio-chemical engineering and biotechnology, IIT-Delhi, spoke on “Nutraceuticals based on enzyme catalysis”. The day also witnessed the inauguration of the Chandigarh chapter of NASI by Prof V.P. Kamboj, former director,
CDRI, Lucknow.
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Summer camps for city students in Canada
Chandigarh, January 19 Amar
Manchanda, principal director of AIMS Global Education, said the camps had been made possible in coordination with few a educational institutions of Canada. “The idea of designing the summer camps for Indian schoolchildren cropped up in my mind during my last trip to attend the CEC-Network Agent Fair-2007
at Canada.” The first batch for three-week summer camp will leave in the first week of June. The camps will be organised in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Calgary. The fee for the camp will be approximately $3,000, excluding air ticket. The fee will cover charges for study, board and lodging, three meals, airport pick-up and drop facility and extra-curricular activities. One teacher will accompany a group of 15 students on the complimentary basis. There will be creative learning and computer classes for students. The students will also get a chance to develop friendly relationships with the native students. A variety of games and visits to various strategic places and adjoining tourist attractions will be organised during the camps. The students will have the option to join clubs and undertake activities spanning a variety of interest fields. “It will prove to be an efficacious event as students would learn about new cultures. This would not only help them gain knowledge but would also enrich them as persons. As the participants are minors, a written permission from parents will be required,” said project director Zinnia
Manchanda. Registration will start registration from February 1 through schools or parents directly. Interested parents can contact AIMS Global Education head office in Sector 10 as well as the branch offices in Panchkula, Mohali, Ludhiana, Balachaur and Nangal for more details and submission of registration forms.
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Cultural Fest: Morinda Girls emerge winner
Tribune News Service
Ropar, January 19 Panchkula GROUP SONG CONTEST: As many as seven teams from the city schools participated in the Rajdeep memorial annual group song competition held at the Satluj Public school hall under the aegis of Saraswati Kala Sangam here today. Satluj Public School lifted the Rajdeep running trophy while Doon Public School and Jainendra Public School shared the second position. Bhavan Vidyalya and Hansraj Public School stood third. Later, the artistes of Haryana Kala Parishad staged a social play 'Laadli'. Written and directed by well-known thespian Kamlesh Sharma, the play brought into focus social evils like female foeticide, dowry and illiteracy among women. Mohali PAINTING CONTEST: A painting competition was organised at Anees School, Sector 69 here, in association with Kotak Bank. Komalpreet, Sumee, Simranjit, Shreya, Navedita and Savreet were adjudged winners. ANNUAL DAY: Students and staff of Sri Hemkunt Public School, Sector 71, celebrated the school annual day and birthday of Sri Guru Gobind Singh on the school premises. The function started with the path of Sri Sukhmani Sahib. Tiny tots of nursery and KG classes recited Gurbani and shabad. Students of primary classes recited poems on the life of the Sikh Gurus. Prizes were distributed for academic performance. SEMINAR: A seminar on ‘HR Initiatives for New Challenges’ was held today at Dr. I.T. Business School, Banur, presided over by J.R. Kundal, IAS, commissioner, finance (appeals). Director of the institute Prof P.P. Arya emphasised on skill development, training processes and integration of employees with the organisation.
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Day 2: Bands rock PU campus
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 19 In the later half of the day, seven teams participated in the competition of street plays on social issues like depletion of water resources, female foeticide and dowry. ‘Talk-Jock’ was the next event wherein participants had to script a show, anchor it and handle hypothetical audiences’ phone calls on traffic jams. “Rock Night” was the attraction of the evening. Rock bands like “Wasted Soul”, “Harmonic Friction”, “Seraphim”, “Shell Shocked” and “G.O.D” enthralled the audience. The bands played various genres of music-metal, alternate rock, classics, old school types, heavy and trash metal.
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400 students honoured
Chandigarh, January 19 Quiz:
Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Sector 21, won the quiz contest on vector-borne diseases yesterday. The contest was organised by the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme and IDSP unit, Chandigarh, at the auditorium of Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh. GMSSS-16 and 8 won the second and third prizes, respectively.
— TNS
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Consumer Courts Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 19 The petitioner, Surinder Kaur, is proprietor of Dalip Enterprises, Ambala City. Surinder has been running confectionery business for the past many years. The petitioner pointed out that she had been keeping goods inside the shop. The shop had been insured since 1991. In 1996, the petitioner got the goods insured kept in the premises for Rs 6 lakh. She stated that on the night of March 29, 1996, the shop caught fire. The insurance firm stated that the estimation of loss was not supported by any purchase of bills. The commission, headed by Justice K.C. Gupta, observed: “It was not possible for the complainant to produce all bills of purchase because these were destroyed in the fire. However, she had produced balance sheet statements of three years of the value of the stocks which are to the tune of more than Rs 6 lakh for the year ending in March 1995.”
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10,000 traffic challans disposed of at Lok Adalat
Chandigarh, January 19 The District and Sessions Judge, Kewal Krishan Garg, stated that 10,000 traffic challans were disposed of. A fine of Rs 2,62,200 was imposed in all the challans. The proceedings of the Lok Adalat were observed by Justice Pramod Kohli. The member secretary, R.K. Sharma, said any person intending to get his dispute settled at the pre-litigative stage may approach the SLSA. He added that anybody with an annual income less than Rs 50,000 was entitled to free legal aid. Lok Adalats were also held for the purpose of settling disputes pertaining to the outstanding dues of the banks at the pre-litigative stage.
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The previous feasibility study for the Rs 173 crore project has been found to be inadequate by the Ministry of Urban Development under the Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. The ministry has asked for a more detailed project report. The project is being taken up on a priority and frequent meetings are being held with the officials concerned in the ministry, claimed a senior official.
Furthermore, he stated that of the total number of inmates 70 per cent were under trials. The congestion in jails had led to various malpractices with the recent altercation at the Jalandhar jail being an
example.