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It’s freezing cold
Chandigarh, January 24 A sunny day was no respite from bitter cold. The maximum day temperature today was 17.6 degrees whereas yesterday it was 16.4 degrees, the lowest so far. Although the day temperature rose by 1.2 degree, the night temperature, Met officials said, was likely to fall further. Zero degree night temperature has been recorded before thrice in the city- January 28, 1973; December 31, 1973; and January 6 last year. Met officials said the cold wave would continue for a day or two. The ground frost would remain too. The night temperatures touched near-freezing point two days ago, with the mercury plunging to 1.4 degree on the night of January 22. The fall in the night temperature has continued since January 20 when it was 5 degrees. However, it came down to 4 degrees the next day and dipped to 1.6 degree the following day before plummeting to 1. 4 degree on the intervening night of January 22
and 23. Simialr has been the case with day temperature which has been declining since the last three days. The mercury hovering at 17.4 degrees on January
21 fell to 16.4 degrees yesterday.
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Sitting Preity
Accompanied by her boyfriend Nes Wadia of Bombay Dyeing, she was the highest bidder for two teams-Mohali and Jaipur. Shah Rukh Khan also bid for the Mohali team, but won the Kolkata team. The actress will pay $76 million for 10 years for the team. Talking to TNS on the phone from Mumbai, BCCI joint secretary and PCA honorary secretary MP Pandove, who was present during the auction, said:“Zinta was very excited after getting the Mohali team, saying it was her home team. Undoubtedly, every corporate house, which has high stakes in the IPL, would take a lot of interest in building their teams, but being a local girl, Preity will take special care of the Mohali team.” Punjab Ranji coach Gursharan Singh said: “The relationship between cricket and Bollywood is not new. Taking over Mohali’s Twenty20 team by Preity Zinta is welcome. It is natural for any sports lover to favour his home team. Now our own girl Preity will be part of us during the IPL”. Punjab Ranji skipper Pankaj Dharmani said that Preity was his favourite actress. “ So I am very happy with her winning the bid for the team. Her presence and interest in the IPL tournament will add zing to the game. The Wadia group would cater to every need of the game and the team with four foreign cricketers, four national, four Ranji and four under-21 players, said Pandove. The actress has never watched a match at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. Unlike other actors like SRK, Sunil Shetty, Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan, Preity has never made her love for the sport public. “It seems more of a business venture,” said a fan. “The bond between Bollywood and Indian cricket is as old as Sharmila Tagore and Tiger Pataudi. Deepika Padukone, Dhoni and Yuvraj are strengthening the bond. And why not? Cricket and Bollywood run this nation,” said a diehard Zinta fan.
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Youth opens fire near Aroma
Chandigarh, January 24 Immediately after the incident, the police arrested four youths for rioting at a public place and another one for using .32 bore pistol. The incident took place in the crowded market of Sector 22-C, near Aroma Hotel, around 8 pm. Earlier in the evening, the four accused — Amit Goel, Rahul Sharma, Pradeep Gehlawat and Jatinder Singhwani — who live in paying guest (PG) accommodation in the same sector, had an argument with Satbir Singh, proprietor of Ajay Properties, over the parking of their Mitsubishi Lancer car (HR 04 C 0017). Later, the scuffle ended in a compromise. The owner of Ajay Properties left along with his son, Varinder Pal Singh. But after some time when the four youths went to Aroma Hotel, Varinder Pal Singh again had a heated exchange with them. In the melee, the latter fired a shot aimed at the ground.
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Movers & Fakers
Chandigarh, January 24 Implementation of the orders to demolish the towers were pending since last year after the cellular operators concerned sought time. In the meantime, fresh guidelines were issued by the administration on raising mobile towers. R.K. Rao, deputy commissioner, said the operators concerned had been given enough time to remove the towers. Today, the enforcement staff of the estate office and the land acquisition officer demolished the enclosure around the mobile towers after impounding two big generators. The companies engaged in installing and maintaining the towers had to themselves dismantle the towers. In May last, the administration had issued show-cause notices to the cellular operators and on June 22 the DC ordered the demolition of the towers.
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Forgers at ITBP centre flee; held
Panchkula, January 24 B.Murugan and B.Vinagram, both brothers, from Vellore, along with K.Inbasekar, a resident of Thiruvellare in Tamil Nadu, reached here with appointment letters for the post of waterman on September 10 last year. The authorities allowed them to stay at the centre and sent the letters for verification. To the shock of the authorities, the verification report said none had been appointed against he post at the centre. This was not all. It was found all accused had already fled before action could be taken against them. A report was lodged with the police on
Jauary 5 when a police team sent at the addresses provided by the accused arrested the two brothers.
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Summoning of IAS officers
Chandigarh, January 24 The ministry has based its letter on a Supreme Court Judgement which advises the high court not to summon senior IAS officials in court on a regular basis. Referring to the Supreme Court, the letter says “ …. It ( The SC) has decided the power of the high court to summon senior officials of the state governments should be exercised in the very rare and exceptional cases when there are compelling reasons to do so”. The ministry has attached a copy of the relevant judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of State of Gujarat versus Turabali Gulamhussain and Hirani. In this case the Judge of the Gujarat High Court passed an interim order asking Gujarat chief secretary to appear in case on April 4, 2007 as some matter had been delayed by 25 days. The SC decided the matter three months ago in October 2007 and listed expected conduct between the judiciary and the bureaucracy. The ministry that deals with matters relating to IAS officers across the country, has sent the entire judgement to Punjab and also other states, about three weeks ago for “appropriate action”. Officials here confirmed the letter and its contents but say it remains to be seen how and when the matter will be taken up by the government with the high court here. The SC has said “there is no doubt the high court has the power to summon officials, but in our opinion that should be done in very rare and exceptional cases…. such summoning orders should not be passed lightly or as a routine or at the drop of a hat”. Officials in Chandigarh - that is the seat of three governments, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh Administration - have been discussing the letter for two weeks.
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Skin Ailments
Chandigarh, January 24 “Judicious and correct use of steroids can go a long way in the treatment of skins diseases in the children,” Dr Deepak Parikh, president of the Indian Society of Paediatric Dermatologists, said on the sidelines of Dermacon-2008, 36th national conference of Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venereologists and Leprologists being held at the PGI here. In fact, almost all skin diseases involving children, including atopic eczema, vitiligo, atopic dermatitis and psoriasis are treatable with hardly any morality reported, Dr Parikh said. Though there may not be any mortality, yet the fear of physical complications and embarrassment of scratching in front of strangers have spurred the parents to visit the paediatric dermatologists. This coupled with making the children disease free as early as possible was main reason for this specialty gaining ground in the country. With awareness about the children diseases on the increase, paediatric dermatology was the emerging field, Dr A.J. Kanwar, head of the department of dermatology of the PGI, said. Clearing myths about the “steroid phobia”, Dr Kanwar said during the past three decades, paediatric dermatology had emerged as a specialty in its own right.
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15-day waiting for LPG supply
Kerosene on black
market Even as the LPG supply in the region remains low, it is alleged that the black marketing of alternative fuel — kerosene — is being done clandestinely in the city. People from the low income group use kerosene as an alternative fuel. Ravi Prakash
Kansal, president of Merchants Association, Sector 19, alleged that city’s food and civil supplies department had failed to check this practice.
Chandigarh, January 24 Residents of the city and neighbouring townships of Panchkula and Mohali have been waiting for 10 to 15 days to get their regular supply of LPG. Though LPG dealers say they have brought this to the notice of the oil companies, the back-end supply is poor, hence consumers have to suffer. Chanchal Bhatia, a housewife in Zirakpur, complained that it was impossible to make a booking for LPG on the telephone these days, as dealers had stopped taking calls from consumers. “If they do answer the phone, the line is disconnected by the staff as soon as a request for LPG booking is made. Consumers in Baltana are forced to pay an extra Rs 3 per cylinder with delivery boys citing short of change,” she alleged. Officers in regional offices of oil companies here admit that there is a shortage of cooking gas. Officials in the Indian Oil Corporation said the shortage of Indane gas was only because of the shortage of HP and BP LPG supply, leading to a load on Indian Oil. They added that the backlog in supply was of not more than four to five days. Officials in Hindustan Petroleum admitted that there was a shortage in supply because of diversion of domestic gas for commercial use. “On account of massive diversion of cooking gas for commercial use, especially large-scale installation of gas geysers and LPG-run vehicles, and the ongoing marriage season, the company has regulated supply to dealers to avoid diversion,” admitted a top official in the regional office of HPCL. Officials in oil companies say the demand for LPG increases by around 25 per cent in winter, which often leads to a seasonal shortage. Officials said though they had increased the supply of LPG, they were not able to match to the present demand owing to the widespread diversion of domestic gas for commercial purposes. All oil companies said they had now launched a concerted campaign against diversion and hoped to get the results soon.
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Enrollment of councillor as voter not must: MC
Chandigarh, January 24 In the reply submitted by municipal corporation secretary, it was also mentioned that the nomination could also be made from outside Chandigarh. Claiming that the nomination made by the administration were in accordance with law, the reply added that nomination meant appointment of a person for some office or duty. The legislature had not laid down any qualification for a nominated councillor, except that he should be an eminent person. The reply added that the issue of councillors being voters or not was of no consequence. Even otherwise, councillors Neelam Malik and Amrit Bularia were voters and were mentioned in voter list as existing on January 1, 2005. Taking up the matter, a division bench of Punjab and Haryana High, comprising Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, fixed January 28 as the next date of hearing in the matter. The petitioner, Ajay Jagga, had earlier claimed that he had undertaken inspection of the updated voters’ lists and had come to the conclusion that none of the three nominated councillors was enrolled as voter. Even though they were aware of the fact that they were not voters and could not be counclliors, they voted in the mayoral elections on January 1, 2008. As such, penalty should be imposed on the three under the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1976, the petitioner further claimed. Jagga added that directions should also be issued to the Chandigarh administration and other respondents against allowing them to act as nominated councillors in view of the latest information supplied about their voter status by the election department. He added that their nomination as members was bad in law and contrary to provisions of section 12 of Act applicable to Chandigarh.
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R-Day awardees announced
Chandigarh, January 24 Deputy director, department of tourism, Vinod Kalia; public relations officer, department of public relations Vineet Punia; junior scale stenographer, department of public relations, Dinesh Singh; medical officer (dental), Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, Dr R.S. Mann; senior manager, sports department, Naib Singh; cricket coach, sports department, Nagesh Gupta; constables of Chandigarh police Harish Kumar and Gurdev Singh; research officer, social welfare department, Gian Chand; and head mali, engineering department, Devi Prasad have been selected for the award of commendation certificates for meritorious services. President, Parents/ Guardian Society of Children of Government Institute for Mentally Retarded Children, Sector-32, Puja; president, Resident Welfare Association, Narinder Singh; Dr Jagdish Jaggi and Davesh Moudgil have been selected for the award for their social service in their respective fields. A student of class-VII Bhawan Vidalya, Sector 27, Hardeep Singh Dull (skating and athletics), and Dharamvir Singh and Rupinder Singh (hockey) will be awarded for their contribution in sports. Artist Rajiv Mehta and Bhavneet Bhatia, a student of class 7, Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, will be awarded for their contribution in the field of arts. Meenal Gakhar will be awarded for her contribution in academics. The Blood Bank Society, PGI, will be awarded for its social and meritorious services. Another student, Tanya Shreedhar, will also be honoured.
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Shopkeepers continue stir against GMADA
Mohali, January 24 Shopkeepers are protesting against the decision of the authority to cancel allotment of shops to over a hundred shopkeepers whose names figured in the original survey list. Davinder Singh, president of the shopkeepers association, said the protest would continue till their demands are met. “All the 377 names that figured in the original list should be allotted shops. The 106 persons who bought these shops have a right too,” he said. Davinder Singh added that the Punjab chief minister had also replied in the Vidhan Sabha that shopkeepers were being rehabilitated. “We would fight for our rights to the end and if need be disrupt traffic on GT road. The CM and Sukhbir Badal should take cognizance of our protest,” said Davinder. He added that they had applied for information under the Right to Information Act. “We want to know the exact decision that was taken in the executive committee meeting was with regards to the market.” When contacted the chief administrator of GMADA Vivek Pratap Singh said the market association would be giving a memorandum which would be placed before the executive committee for a final decision.
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Crop-breeding strategies can enhance productivity
Chandigarh, January 24 Dr Girish Sahni, director of IMTECH said the last year four of institute's technologies had been appreciated by the national and international bodies. He said an ambience had been created at the institute which allowed its scientists to give their best as reflected in its high-quality research publications. The well-received lecture was presided over by Dr S.K. Basu, former director of the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi.
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Justice Mongia elected association chairman
Chandigarh January 24 He was elected at the association’s meeting held at Government Museum and Arts Gallery auditorium in Sector 10. The meeting, organised for establishing the association’s unit in Chandigarh, was presided over by Kerala’s former Governor-cum-Punjab and Haryana High Court’s former Judge Justice S.S. Kang. He was also the former Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. High Court Chief Justice Vijender Jain inaugurated the meeting. Addressing the gathering, Justice Jain said the association’s local unit was essential for meeting its objectives of implementing the Constitution of India’s provisions in the interest of the common man. Delhi-based president of International Democratic Lawyers Association Jatinder Sharma talked about the increasing importance of public interest litigations. He said these were necessary for providing justice to people without means to contest cases.
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BJP raises high-price issue
Chandigarh, January 24 Joshi pointed that oustees of Sanjay Gatta Colony had been allotted houses meant for economically weaker sections for which the allottees had been asked to pay Rs 1.82 lakh in lump sum before handing over the possession to them. He said it was beyond the capacity of the allottees to pay the money in one go.
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Day 4: Lawyers want criminal cases registered
Panchkula, January 24 President of the association Lalit Gupta said the lawyers would not call off the strike till their demands, including construction of chambers and allotment of provisional site, were not met by the administration. The association postponed its decision to meet the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court and inspecting judge, Panchkula, for tomorrow, said Gupta. It was decided that criminal cases should be filed against all the officials involved in removing the sheds.
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Reduce fares This has reference to the news item “Buses for Punjab to start from ISBT-43”. The commuters of these buses are a harassed lot for now they are being charged an additional fare. It also wastes a lot of time as it takes around 15 minutes to travel from ISBT-17 to ISBT-43 besides causing harassment to the passengers. The Chandigarh administration should reduce the fare or issue standing instructions to stop buses plying the routes in Punjab at both terminuses so that the journey can be made hassle free. Ravi Chander Garg 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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A day of protests at PU
Chandigarh, January 24 Abhishek Puri said he would fulfil all promises made in the manifesto one by one. The students also protested against denial of their entry to the administrative block in the post-lunch session. However, after the protest, the VC allowed the students’ entry to the administrative block in the post-lunch session after showing their IDs. Later in the evening, the ABVP unit of the campus protested at the department of evening studies against unscheduled power-cuts in the department. Led by Deepak Chauhan and Dinesh Thakur, students said due to the unscheduled power cuts for the past couple of days, classes had been disrupted. The dean, students’ welfare, rushed to the spot and announced that the
repair work would be carried out during the coming weekend.
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PU Notes
Chandigarh, January 24 Programme
Students, entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs of this region would be mentored by the IIT Alumni Association, ‘PanIIT’ on January 26. There will be a live telecast of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s address from Hyderabad. The programme is being launched by the Chandigarh chapter simultaneously along with 15 other cities of the country. This is being done in response to a suggestion given by Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to the IIT alumni to ignite the torch of entrepreneurs in India. The objective is to mentor young entrepreneurs so that instead of being job seekers, more job creators emerge. Brij Mohan Gulati, chairman, Chandigarh chapter of PanIIT, said each mentoring session would be of 45 minutes duration. Interviews
The placement cell of the department of psychology invited IMS Learning Resource Company from Mumbai for campus interviews. Fifteen students were shortlisted out of 30 who appeared for the interview.
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From Colleges
Chandigarh, January 24 Best out of waste: ‘Best out of Waste’, a part of the week-long Republic Day celebrations, was organised at Government College of Education, Sector 20, here today. Students made creative items out of the waste material like fused bulbs, tyres, papers, jute, empty bottles, old magazines, CDs, egg shells etc. Seminar: A seminar-cum-exhibition on ‘Diet, lifestyle and you’ was organised by the food and nutrition department of Government Home Science College today. The seminar-cum-exhibition was inaugurated by UT adviser to Administrator Pradip Mehra. The medical director of Fortis, Dr Ashok, addressed the participants and introduced the topic. Eminent speakers such as Dr Jaswant Rai, director, orthopaedics, Fortis Hospital, Dr A.R. Sharma, MD, AP Solvex, Manju Mathur, chief dietitian, GMCH-32, and Meenakshi, a yoga consultant, delivered talks on diet and healthy lifestyle. Nearly 125 participants attended the seminar. Film show: In order to generate awareness among college students, three units of the NSS of GC-11 organised a film show on HIV/AIDS titled “Jaagte Raho” by V.K. Kaushik. More than 200 students viewed the film along with NSS coordinators and faculty members. A healthy interactive session followed the screening of the film. Talk: The sociology department of GGDSD College, Sector 32, organised a talk on “Importance of human rights in contemporary times” on the college premises today. Prof Sherry Sabharwal, chairperson, department of sociology, PU, and Prof P.S. Jaswal, director, Rayat College of Law, Ropar, were the key speakers. While Professor Jaswal spoke on the legal aspects involved in the preservation of human rights, Professor Sabharwal stressed upon the need for social awareness and mass emancipation vis-à-vis human rights. Selected: A team from ‘Sixth Sense Solution Pvt Ltd’ visited Government College, Sector 46, to recruit students from various streams. The selection process consisted of four rounds, including group discussion and personal interviews. Finally, 11 students got selected.
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Now, computers as subject from
Class II
Chandigarh, January 24 He assured to allocate more funds and furniture to the schools and stressed on proper utilisation of the funds.
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Courses on retail launched
Chandigarh, January 24 Arif Shamshad, associate vice-president, NIS Sparta, said the two courses were purely employment-oriented. The courses termed as 'Retail Act' and 'Retail Lead' will be available in all 29 NIS Academies across the country for students and pass-outs of Class XII. Retail Act will be a three-month certificate course whereas Retail Lead will be a six-month programme that will train retail professionals in supervisory capacities like store managers, floor supervisors and team leaders.
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From Schools
Mohali, January 24 R-Day celebrated
The Sherwood Convent School, Phase IV here organised R-Day funtion today in which the principal hoisted the national flag and delivered a speech. Teachers and students also delivered speeches.
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Woman’s Death
Chandigarh, January 24 The commission has asked New India Assurance to pay Rs 12.50 lakh along with an interest of 9 per cent to the complainant. Petitioner Harnek Singh had alleged that his wife Manjit Kaur, 47, a government teacher, was suffering from hypothyroidism and had been on medicines for the last three years. She complained of pain in the abdomen. An ultrasound test showed she had stones in her gall bladder. Dr Gurmit Singh of Preet Clinic advised Manjit transfusion of blood which was arranged from another hospital. Thereafter, she was operated upon by the doctor on July 2004. After a few hours of the operation, Manjit complained of severe pain in the abdomen. She noticed brown fluid coming out of the tube placed in the abdomen, but the doctor took no notice. Manjit’s condition deteriorated so she was shifted to DMCH in Ludhiana where she died on August 11, 2004. The commission headed by K.C. Gupta observed: “The problem was due to collection of abnormal, infected fluid and faecal matter in the abdomen, including the peri hepatic areas.
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Mohali, January 24
