Chandigarh, January 21
Yet another youth wearing a non-ISI mark helmet and trying to take out his mobile phone from his pocket while driving a two-wheeler was killed in an accident today.

With this, the number of fatalities of two-wheelers on city roads this year has reached nine.

Amit Saini (31) was coming from the Sector 20-21 light point side at around 2.15 pm when his motorcycle skidded and rammed into the road berm.

He suffered severe head injury and was rushed to the Sector 16 hospital where he succumbed later. He was working on a contract basis as information assistant in the health department of Haryana. He is survived by his wife and parents. Yesterday only the couple had celebrated their marriage anniversary. According to eyewitnesses, Amit’s left hand was in his pocket when his bike lost balance.

Chandigarh, January 21
The union urban development ministry has sent a recommendation on the proposed transport system in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. Officials of the Chandigarh administration and Punjab and Haryana are studying the details.

The expert committee says the projected transit load and future development needs will require a light rail-based system (not underground or elevated) between two corridors.

The first corridor will be from Sarangpur near the PGI to Maheshpur near Sector 21 in Panchkula on the East-West axis. The second line will be from the Motor Market in Mani Majra to Mohali’s Sector 105, running via the IT Park, and running south along The Tribune.

The ministry says a detailed project report will have to be prepared.The preparation of the report will take nine months and will be monitored by a high-level steering committee.

The light rail is like a metro rail-the only difference is that it runs on the surface. The committee says the report of RITES submitted in November 2007 that suggested seven corridors across the tricity area was not accepted.

The committee has opined that it does not favour the mono rail option as suggested by RITES in August 2006. This, it says, has limited flexibility, limited capacity for a city-wide system and high cost.

This, it argues, will undermine the aesthetic beauty of Chandigarh, particularly its core areas such as Madhya Marg and Himalaya Marg.

Another suggestion is that a city bus service should be operated for the Chandigarh urban complex comprising Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali, preferably under common management. As of now, the buses are run inter-city, making it unattractive for use as public transport.

It may be mentioned that the committee had been harping on a bus system but UT Administrator Gen S.F. Rodrigues (Retd) had shot down the proposal, saying the city needed a rail-based system.

Sources said General Rodrigues even spoke to policy makers in Delhi on the subject.

Finally the committee, after showing reluctance, relented and allowed DPR of two corridors. Sources said the administration will impress upon the Delhi officials for more rail corridors.

The train run on surface will entail several road crossings. How the planners will mange this without flyovers at crossings is to be seen. 

Chandigarh, January 21
Henceforth, nurseries will form part of a “garden centre”. Under the “Licensing of Sites in Chandigarh Garden Centre, 2008”, the administration has come out with a new policy to enable displaced owners of nurseries and government agencies to run business under the new model.

The applicants will have to provide common parking, cafeteria, play facilities for children and related conveniences. All nurseries, either run by different wings of the Chandigarh administration or private persons, are being relocated.

In July last, structures of private nurseries were demolished along the Chandigarh-Panchkula highway in Mani Majra.

The department of urban planning has been asked to identify the sites at different locations. The displaced owners will be allotted alternative sites in proportion to the area acquired by the administration.

The allotment on a monthly licence fee will be through draw of lot.

Chandigarh, January 21
The foundation stone for Night Food Street, on the lines of the Food Street in Lahore, was laid in Sector 14 near the PGI gate mayor by Pardeep Chhabra here today. A second food street was also announced by the mayor.

“The Food Street will come up in Sector 17 too,” he stated. Work on eight food kiosks will be completed in three months. Municipal commissioner R.K. Rao, area councillor Anu Chatrath, , chief engineer S.K. Bansal and other MC officers were also present. The mayor said the size of each food kiosks would be 7’- 6’’X 7’-6”.The total cost of construction would be 14.28 lakh.

Chandigarh, January 21
In the wake of the recent upswing in the injecting drug use (IDU), the HIV infection is staring in the face of the most prosperous region in the country -- Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh -- a survey by the UNAIDS has claimed.

The report of the survey, “size estimation of injecting drug use in Punjab and Haryana”, which was released by Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gen S.F. Rodrigues(retd) here today, painted a sorry state of affairs saying the IDU was no longer confined to the metros and are ringing alarms bells for the health authorities. The report was prepared by the Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM) and AIIMS for the UNAIDS.

In fact, a majority of the IDUs belonged to the age group of 18 to 30 years and were employed, the survey says. The users used pharmaceutical preparations mixed with a variety of sedatives, it added. About 50 to 90 per cent were frequent injectors and about 34 to 94 per cent reported having shared their injecting equipment, giving rise to the fear of HIV infection. It may be recalled that as per the 2006 surveillance data from the NACO, HIV infection among the IDUs was 13 per cent in Punjab and Chandigarh.

Virtually indicting the intervention strategy to check the IDU, the survey said very few respondents received any kind of treatment and no one reported having received any oral substitution treatment.

General Rodrigues termed the situation as alarming, requiring enormous effort, commitment and dedication at the level of NGOs and general public.

The time has come for all of us to work together and find appropriate result-oriented solutions, aiming to tackle the contributory factors identified in the survey, he added.

Dr Denis Broun, UNAIDS country coordinator, India, said creating greater awareness of the high-risk of HIV transmission associated with unsafe IDU practice could be an effective step to deal with the issue. It should be followed by well-designed interventions to contain the risk of HIV transmission, he added.

Dr B.M. Tripathi and Dr Atul Ambekar of AIIMS, New Delhi, who co-authored the survey, said the first-of-its-kind survey could be replicated all over the country to bridge the gap in information on the extent and scale of the IDU.

Dr Vanita Gupta, project director, AIDS Control Society, UT, Chandigarh, T.R. Sarangal, secretary, Health, and project director, AIDS Control Society, Punjab, Dr Zeenat, chairperson of the SPYM, also spoke at the occasion.

Chandigarh, January 21
The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed Nimantran Banquets in Mohali to pay a compensation of Rs 3.2 lakh to a Sector 38 resident for unfair trade practice.

The commission stated: “It is admitted by Nimantran Banquets that the marriage hall was booked for May 6, 2007, in the morning. The opposite party had indulged in unfair trade practice by getting the hall booked for a marriage function and did not make it available at the proper time. The petitioner had got cards printed and later had to get them changed, for which he had to pay extra.”

The petitioner, Hardass Singla, stated that he had to arrange a marriage party for his brother. He got the party arranged in the banquet hall along with the courtyard and dinner for 600 persons had been arranged for.

Singla said he had paid the money for the arrangements to the banquet hall owner. It was averred that on April 22, 2007, the complainant came to know that the banquet hall owner had already booked the hall for a marriage function for the morning of May 6.

He said it was not possible to make arrangements for stalls by the evening. He contacted the hall owner, but he did nothing. The petitioner had to book another banquet hall and got the cards printed again.

Counsel for the banquet hall owner contended that Singla had not taken service from them. Thus, the petitioner was not a consumer. He said the petitioner had been informed.

Panchkula, January 21
Reacting against demolition of their sheds by district administration officials yesterday, lawyers at the district courts here decided to go on an indefinite strike today.

Sixty members of Haryana District Legal Cell of Pradesh Congress Committee, including its president Umesh Kumar Mohar resigned from the cell while Panchkula Bar Association in a resolution decided to issue a show-cause notice to its honorary member Bhupinder Singh Hooda, saying that why his membership was not cancelled when lawyers were being victimised by officials in the government headed by him.

The district administration ordered demolition of 157 sheds belonging to lawyers at the local courts yesterday. Panchkula deputy commissioner Rajinder Kataria said he had acted upon the instructions of Punjab and Haryana High court. He said although lawyers were allotted 113 chambers, many of them were occupying sheds in the names of their juniors. Many others were not even practicing at the local courts, he added.

Today morning after assembling at the court premises lawyers decided to stage a dharna against the alleged high-handedness of the administration, while suspending work for an indefinite period. They also raised slogans against the district administration, in front of the DC office located in the adjoining building of mini-secretariat.

Denying any illegal occupation, president of bar association Lalit Kumar Gupta said lawyers were allotted 113 chambers while there were more than 400 advocates practicing in the court. A total of 236 advocates were affected due to the demolition, he said.

Vice-president of the Bar Association Subhash Sharma said they were allowed by the then deputy commissioner in 1999 to occupy the land for erecting sheds, when the courts were shifted to the present location in Sector 1 from the markets of Sector 8.

He added that the administration also failed to deposit the required amount against the land allotted for the chambers by HUDA, even as the allotment was made two years ago, he alleged.

Panchkula, January 21
The old Ghaggar bridge, near Nadda Sahib Gurdwara, was opened to traffic after repairs this morning.

The repair work was started last month.

The bridge has now been opened to vehicular traffic from both sides. So far, the bridge, across the Ghaggar, on the National Highway-73, had been partially open to traffic.

The route between Panchkula and Barwala had been a bane of commuters ever since the repair work began.

Long traffic jams had become commonplace on the highway even as the authorities allowed traffic headed to Barwala.

The traffic coming from Barwala was diverted to Sector 3 through Sector 23 before it joined the Zirakpur-Parwanoo highway.

The bridge was closed for repairs for the second time within the one year after two of its gap slabs and joint expansions were repaired in December.

National highway Xen B.R. Kapoor said with the repair of four gap slabs, the bridge would not require further repairs for a long time.

Chandigarh, January 21
The Chandigarh administration has designed a special programme to attract and motivate children between 6 and 14 years, who have been deprived of education under the nationwide universal elementary education (UEE) programme.

For, the administration has spotted two contact centres- one in Vikas Nagar, Mauli Jagran, and the other in Sector 52, Kajheri, to reach out to those ‘hard to reach’ children. These centres would be developed as motivational centres.

Secondly, a special night care centre will be set up at the ISBT, Sector 17, for out-of-school children of older age group from scattered locations. The administration is also planning to build up short-stay home-cum-night shelters at the ISBT for these hard-up children.

An official of the administration assured that since such children were very poor and earning for survival was their first priority. Therefore, they would not be asked to stop working in the beginning. “Gradually, efforts would be made to bring in a change in their lifestyle. Our motto would be to introduce them to the civilised world. For their livelihood, they would be trained in various skill-development activities and at the same time, initiative would be taken to rescue the children from their employers.

A senior official of the education department said, “The plan has specially been designed for these disadvantaged children and we are quite flexible in our approach. Any child of even older age group may drop in at these centres. We are in the process of engaging ‘special educators’ and a regular bridge course from six months to one year has been designed to put them into the mainstream of education plan. We would generate earning opportunities within the centres.”

“These children will be free to come to these centres anytime. They can play, enjoy and relax by listening to music, watching movies, playing indoor and outdoor games, trying their hand on computers, glancing through pictorial books,” added the official.

The administration foresees that once these become habitual of coming to these centres, they would gradually be put to take academics and learn the basics of mathematics and languages.

“Slowly their confidence level will improve and it is obvious that a confident child is more likely to aspire for a better life and get mainstreamed in schools. It is a good initiative,” said Madhu Behl, a child counsellor.

A senior official of the education department said special teams would be constituted to identify these underprivileged children. “It is a complex task to identify them as majority of them are homeless. They change their places of stay as their parents frequently shift their working places,” the official added.

Panchkula, January 21
The housing societies here today contended with the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) officials that it is not mandatory for registration of immovable property under their possession according to the Haryana Co-operative Societies Act, 1984.

Pleading their case, the confederation of all group housing societies, Mansa Devi Complex, under the banner of Forum for Common Cause, said as the housing societies were already registered with the registrar, co-operative societies, they were exempted from compulsory registration under the Haryana Apartment Ownership Act, 1983. Moreover, the ownership rests with the society and the member was merely a shareholder, the forum contended.

HUDA chief administrator had accorded a personal hearing to the group in compliance with orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on December 10 on a petition filed by the Forum. The petition had sought directions to authorities concerned against notices issued to members of societies according to which they were asked to execute and register a declaration deed under the Haryana Apartment Ownership Act, 1983, of their flats. Even notification of Haryana Apartment Ownership Act 1983 was published on November 10, 1997, due to which the member of societies were asked to register them under the Act. Hence the notification could not be implemented on retrospective basis. 

Mohali, January 21
Development and maintenance of parks, green belts and open spaces in the town has become a headache for Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), as the Rs 4 crore ambitious plan drawn up in this regard has hit the ground. GMADA has now pinned its hopes on residents by proposing another plan that requires public 
participation.

Earlier, GMADA had planned to beautify and develop 558 parks, including green belts and open spaces in various sectors of the town. Four divisional engineers - two from the civil works branch and two from the public health wing of GMADA - were asked to supervise the work of developing these parks. Tenders for the work were floated by GMADA less than three months ago.

However, the scheme could make no headway as GMADA failed to get a response from contractual agencies due to professional differences between them. Some agencies even made complaints regarding a few tenders received for the work. Inquiries into these complaints are in progress.

Sources said GMADA has now planned to hand over work on these parks to residents’ welfare associations; to be handed over to the Municipal Council later.

The plan was discussed by GMADA officials with representatives of Citizens’ Welfare Federation and Mohali Development, and residents’ welfare association at a meeting held on December 12, 2007. Representatives were told that GMADA intended to transfer parks and green belts having an area of less than one acre to residents’ welfare associations for development and maintenance. GMADA would bear one-time development cost and also pay monthly maintenance charges as per established norms and estimates prepared by the authority.

It was also pointed out that if these parks and green belts are maintained by welfare associations, work would be done according to their satisfaction and a feeling of personal belongingness will be generated.

Further, it was suggested that a core group of each sector be set up, comprising a municipal councillor, representatives of welfare association and residents of houses adjoining the parks as members. Funds could be disbursed to this core group.

According to sources, the proposal of public participation has been approved by the executive committee of GMADA.

Meanwhile, welcoming the new plan, president of Citizens’ Welfare Federation B.S. Tej said the final decision regarding would be taken after holding a meeting with various units of the federation. Later, committees would be formed to undertake the work.

He said GMADA would have to give an undertaking and also make such type of development a permanent feature. Moreover, cooperation from GMADA officials would also be required to make the plan successful, he added.

Chandigarh, January 21
In spite of the plunging stock market, it was buying time for local investors and traders. Along expected lines, investors were rather upbeat about the downfall in share prices and decided that this was the right time to buy.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index today plunged sharply by 1,408.35 points or 7.41 per cent in the biggest-ever single-day fall to close at 17,605.35 on extended selling pressure across the sector, triggered by a global setback.

Nifty tumbled by 8.7 per cent, BSE mid-cap slid by 11.38 per cent and small-cap dipped by 10.27 per cent, registering a record single-day fall.

The day began on a negative note at 18,919.57 from last week’s close of 19,013.70, as the Sensex nosedived by 692 points on heavy profit booking.

It slightly recovered in the afternoon, but soon after the Sensex hit the day’s low at 16,951.50 shedding 2062.20 points, following weak performance in the Asian markets on worries over US economy heading towards recession.

In the past 10 days, the Sensex has plunged 3601.42 points or 16.98 per cent from a record high of 21,206.77 on January 10, 2008.

“It was a long-awaited correction, though unexpected. It is definitely time when one must go in for buying blue chips and hold on to their stocks,” says Arun Sharma, an employee in the private sector.

He says he will wait for another day before he takes the plunge in investing in Reliance Industries, IDBI and Bharti shares.

Supporting his views, V. Kumar, Director, Vikson Commodities/ Finance and Investments, says the time is ripe for new investors to enter the market.

“But one should not be in a hurry to buy shares and instead wait for further correction — which is inevitable,” he advised.

However, not all are happy with today’s fall in share prices. Vikas Ghai rues he has suffered losses on account of the downslide in Sensex. “People who are short-term investors should have sold while the prices were still at the top,” he said.

Driving without helmet is becoming a fashion among youngsters these days. They are not concerned about their safety and ignore the traffic rules quite often. One can easily find the instances of jumping red light, wrong side entry and driving without helmet, especially during the wee hours.

Nothing is precious than life, but youngsters are putting it at stake for fun. Besides penalty, the administration should come up with some strict measures to curb traffic violations.

Kamal Batra, 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

Chandigarh, January 21
Archana Shastri, a professor with the fashion communication department at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi, has been appointed principal of Government College of Arts, Sector 10, with immediate effect.

She has been appointed for a period of two years on deputation or till the post is filled on regular basis through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), New Delhi.

Confirming this, Vivek Atray, director, public relations, Chandigarh administration, and also one of the members of the administration’s selection panel, said, “We were in search of a suitable candidate who could fulfill the norms set by the UPSC. After scrutinising all applications, the selection panel decided to hand over the charge to Archana Shastri.”

“The orders have been dispatched to her to take the charge from Brahm Prakash, who, at present, is officiating the principal's post,” added Atray. Archana, a gold medallist in bachelors of fine arts (painting) from MS University, Baroda, is a professional and practising artist. She has over 19 years of experience in teaching, research and curriculum development as liberal art faculty of the NIIFT to her credit. She also holds administrative experience having served as faculty chairperson for two terms at the NIFT.

Chandigarh, January 21
After a section of media reported the demand of hostel students to have more security for hostel residents and buses for girl residents, the vice-chancellor convened a meeting of a committee, constituted to look into starting bus service for hostellers, on Sunday. The meeting was attended by dean students welfare, chief security officer Prof D.N. Jauhar and Sunny, secretary, PU students’ council.

After deliberating on various issues relating to security on the campus and the need for revamping the security system, it was decided to start a shuttle bus service for girl students from January 21 between university library and girls’ hostels from 6 pm to 9 pm at an interval of 45 minutes.

In addition, it was also decided to put extra lights at strategic points, set up roadblocks at sensitive points and revamp the security system for which a proposal would soon be submitted by the chief security officer.

Chandigarh, January 21
Dr Daljit Singh, professor in the department of chemical engineering and technology, and dean, faculty of engineering and technology, PU, proposed a new model for the IPR while addressing a workshop of chemical engineering teachers from the region. The seminar was organised at the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR), Chandigarh. Dr Singh was delivering his address on “IPRs: Some issues related to chemical and allied industries”.

Daljit Singh, in his power-point presentation, focused on some inequities of the present IPR regime and emphasised that in its present form, the world of IPR and commercialisation of scientific success was largely one-sided and western-dominated and the major beneficiaries were the large corporations with financial, legal and technical clout.

Chandigarh, January 21
Dr Ajit Grover, owner of Lovely Nursing Home in Burail, and his wife Kamlesh Kaur have been convicted by additional district and sessions judge, Raj Shekhar Attri for allegedly carrying out abortion without the consent of the patient.

The quantum of the sentence will be pronounced on January 25.

Dr Ajit Singh Grover and his wife, trained midwife Kamlesh Kaur, were booked in April 2006, on the complaint of one Surinder Singh. The complainant alleged the two carried out abortion on his pregnant wife, Bimlesh, without consent.

As per the prosecution, Surinder’s wife complained of pain in the stomach and was taken to Lovely Nursing Home. The doctor told her she was pregnant and advised her a few tests. Surinder was asked to wait outside while his wife was taken in for treatment, but was operated upon.

The condition of the patient deteriorated during the surgery. Thereafter, the doctor referred her to the General Hospital, Sector 16, where the doctors sent her to the PGI.

The police had booked the accused under Sections 313, 308, 201 and 34 of the IPC and Section 5 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. Dr Grover and Kamlesh are facing trial in a case registered in March 2003 after the death of a woman allegedly due to negligence by them.

Chandigarh, January 21
A local court today granted bail to a former chief engineer of the PWD (B&R), Punjab, and his wife after they compromised with the complainant. The couple was arrested yesterday by the economics offences wing for allegedly cheating the complainant, S.K. Vohra.

The couple had issued a cheque for Rs 30 lakh in favour of Vohra.

As per law, the complainant and respondent can compromise with the consent of the court if a case under Section 420 of the IPC has been registered as it is a compoundable offence.

Vohra said, “This man troubled me for over two years by not returning the money. I met him several times in this regard but nothing was done.” The accused, Gurmail Bhatwa, and his wife Sneh Lata furnished bail bonds of Rs 25,000 each.

Counsel for the complainant said, “In the court the complainant has stated that he has taken the cheque towards the full and final payment and compromise, subject to the encashment of the cheque.”

The counsel for the complainant denied placing any compromise deed on record in the court.

Vohra had complained to the SSP that the accused had sold the second floor of a shop-cum-office in Sector 20 to him. He stated that the couple told him that they were facing some financial problems due to which they were ready to sell the second floor at a lesser price.

The accused made a sale agreement for Rs 48 lakh.

When the possession of the building was not transferred in his name despite the payment of earnest money of Rs 23 lakh, Vohra discovered that the property had been declared resumed by the estate office for building violations and a case was pending in the high court. Vohra demanded his money back, but the couple refused. 

Chandigarh, January 21
Taking up a petition for direction to add the Section of murder to a custodial death case in Panchkula, Justice Rajesh Bindal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice of motion for March 18.

The petition has been filed against the state of Haryana, Panchkula SSP and others by Shinder, widow of Jogi Ram.

She also demanded the arrest of SHO Hari Pal and Hari Pal Walia and Ravinder Kumar for the “murder” of her husband.

Directions for handing over the investigation to the CBI were also sought, along with compensation on account of the custodial death.

Claiming that the accused police personnel were influential, the petitioner said the respondents had picked up her husband on December 8 and framed him in some false cases.

She also alleged that one of the officials demanded Rs 30,000 to release her husband. Being poor, she could only pay Rs 5,000. However, the accused did not release her husband and demanded the remaining money.

On December 17, she was called by the Panchkula DSP and told that her husband had died.

Though an FIR was registered, a case of murder under Section 302 was avoided, the petitioner added.