The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Affiliation norms for girls’ engg colleges eased Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 31 With the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) relaxing its norms for grant of affiliation to girls’ engineering colleges, Punjab Technical University has got applications for the approval of four colleges in the state from the next session. The four applicants have already received letters of intent from the council, though their inspections and other formalities are pending. “While any co-educational engineering college has to have a minimum area of 10 acres, the land requirement for a girl college is just the half,” the university authorities said, adding that the girls’ college owners could also enjoyed the benefit of paying only half the security than that of the co-educational colleges. Since the existing colleges have found the option too lucrative, especially with a number of girls taking to the non-medical stream in plus two, two Kharar-based colleges - Doaba College and Rayat and Bahra College - are also in the queue for setting up girls’ colleges near their campuses. If all these applicants get approval, these will increase the number of the engineering colleges to 47. In addition, there are 15 other applications for co-education colleges in Punjab and even if half of these get cleared, the number is expected to go up to 55. Last year only four colleges had got the approval. The PTU authorities said the number of candidates trying for the seat through CET was also simultaneously going to be up by more than 4,000 this year. “Last time, we had 19,585 applicants, now we expect it to be close to 24,000. The exact number will be known in a day as today is the last day for receiving the forms,” said dean examination, PTU, Dr N.P. Singh. Dean academics, Dr V.K. Arora opines, “While the student to seat ratio last year was 1:1.7, this time it would be close to 1:2, clearly implying a greater competition among students for the seat.” He said the existing number of total engineering college seats was 15,515 of which 11,137 would be filled by counselling and the remaining would be covered by the management’s discretionary quota of 33 per cent. Nearly 1,500 pharmacy seats would also be filled through counselling, he added. The seats of the Lovely Institute of Technology would also not be filled through CET this time since these will be filled by Lovely Professional University on its own.
	Keeping Tabs Maintain proper record of visitors, cyber cafe owners told Dharmendra Joshi Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 31 The district police has asked cyber cafe owners to maintain a record of the visitors to check the activities of unwanted elements. SP City I SK Kalia issued these directions to the cyber cafe owners in a meeting held at Police Lines here on Saturday. The meeting was held as a part of the ongoing series of meetings with different sections of the society in the wake of the recent spurt in militant activities in different parts of the country, especially since the recent blasts in Jaipur. Talking to The Tribune soon after the meeting, Kalia said cyber cafe owners were asked to be alert against the possible activities of militants or unwanted persons. “Cyber cafe owners are asked to make entries in a register, of all the visitors who use internet in their shops,” The SP said. “A picture of such visitors should also be taken from the web camera installed in the cafes to preserve their identity.” Kalia said the cyber cafe owners had also been asked to get identity cards of the visitors. A copy of the identity card, PAN card, Voter I-card or driving license should be taken from the concerned person for his or her identification, he added. The SP further asked them to note down the concerned person’s mobile number and his or her other related details. Further directing the cyber cafe owners to install close circuit television (CCTV) cameras at their premises, Kalia asked them to keep an eye on visitors to see for what purpose they were using the internet. “In case, internet is used for anti-national purposes at a cyber cafe, the owner of that cyber cafe will be held equally responsible if he or she fails to establish the visitor’s identity,” He added. Kalia said the cyber cafe owners were also asked to remove private cabins wherever they were as it had come to his notice that several persons, especially adolescents, log on to porn sites while sitting in private cabins of cyber cafes. The district police asked the cyber cafe owners to adopt these steps within a week. DSP City I Mukhwinder Singh was also present on the occasion. On this occasion, the SP City I reiterated that residents of the city should also contact the concerned police station for the verification of the antecedents of their tenants and domestic servants in order to avoid any untoward incident. In case of emergency, the general public may contact the concerned SHO or call the police control room at (9915716200), Kalia added.
	Hostility of SAD factions comes to fore Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, May 31 The hostility between the two factions of the district unit of the SAD has started coming to the fore. District acting president at a press meeting, while retaliating against the reported statement of local SAD MLA Jatinder Singh Kariha, in a section of the Press, on Thursday said he had become an eyesore for the MLA because he had demanded an inquiry into the illegal transfer of 66 kanal and 15 marla land of Dilawarpur gram panchayat in the name of the MLA allegedly by tampering the revenue records in connivance with revenue officials. He demanded the cancellation of the allegedly illegal transfer of the panchayat land and initiating of legal action against the persons concerned. Rural development and panchayats director had handed over the inquiry to the vigilance department, said Jai Singh while showing copies of the related documents to mediapersons. “Besides, he does not need a certificate of loyalty to the SAD from Kariha, who has himself been a political turncoat,” said Jai Singh while citing examples that in 1986 Kariha sided with then Punjab Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala over the issue of sending a police force into Darbar Sahib, in the 1989 Lok Sabha poll he sided with the SAD (A)-BSP nominee, in 1991 he contested the assembly poll as the SAD (A) nominee. In 1997 and 2000 he contested the assembly poll on the ticket of the SAD, but when in 2002 he was denied the party ticket, he revolted against the party high command and supported another SAD rebel contesting as an Independent. Jatinder Singh Kariha, when contacted, termed the allegations of grabbing the panchayat land as baseless. The land was legally transferred in his name and the question of tampering with the revenue record did not arise. About the allegation of changing sides, the MLA said in a democratic set-up, it was for the party president to see as to whom the ticket was to be allotted and the voters to see whom they wanted as their representative.
	Hate Crime Woman held for plotting mother-in-law’s murder Ravinder Sood Hoshiarpur, May 31 With the arrest of three persons, including two women, the police claims to have solved a blind murder and robbery case wherein an old woman was found killed at her residence on May 21. Deceased Harpreet Kaur was allegedly strangled by her daughter-in-law Balwinder Kaur, latter’s sister Parminder Kaur and Parminder’s paramour Manpreet Singh. SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said Harpreet was found dead at her residence on May 21 and the killers had decamped with valuables, including deceased’s mobile phone and jewellery. The SSP said, “During investigations, we came to know that on May 20 Parminder, along with her daughter Amanpreet, visited her sister’s house to enquire about Balwinder’s husband Rajinder’s health, who was admitted to a de-addiction centre.” On the same day, around 5 pm Parminder and her daughter were seen with two persons in a restaurant at Shimla Pahari. The SSP said after getting the call details of the phones of both the sisters, the persons were identified as Manpreet Singh and Amrinder Singh, both of Malout. During enquiry Manpreet was found to have a criminal record and was wanted in a number of cases, including an attempt to murder. The police nabbed Manpreet who confessed his involvement in the Harpreet murder case. He revealed that he had illicit relations with widow Parminder for the past two-and-a-half years. The SSP said, “The police was searching for Manpreet to arrest him and he needed money to get bail. Parminder was aware of it and offered him Rs 2 lakh if he murdered Harpreet.” On May 20, Parminder and Balwinder called Manpreet, who reached Hoshiarpur along with Amrinder, and hatched a plan to eliminate Harpreet. On the same night, Balwinder added 18 intoxicant pills in a glass of milk and gave it to her mother-in-law. The deceased fell unconscious and all the accused strangled her with a kerchief. The accused took away gold ornaments, Rs 75,000 and the deceased’s mobile phone. They also broke the door bolt to mislead the police, the SSP added. Balwinder and Parminder were interrogated and they confessed their crime. “Balwinder said she had strained relations with her mother-in-law, so she along with her sister conspired to kill Harpreet,” said the SSP, adding that raids were being conducted to nab Amrinder Singh.
	High-tension wires claim boy’s life Jalandhar, May 31 A teenage student was electrocuted by high-tension wires in the Santokhpura locality in the city. According to eyewitnesses, Navdeep was electrocuted on Friday evening when he went to the rooftop of his tutor's house. He was pulled by high-tension wires passing over the house. In an attempt to save Navdeep, his tutor Pinky also sustained burn injuries. Pinky was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. Area councillor Hans Raj Rana told The Tribune that he had already requested the PSEB authorities to make arrangements to shift the high-tension wires passing above a number of houses in the locality. He had made a written request just a week back but to no avail, he added. Meanwhile, residents of the area demanded action against the erring PSEB officials. — TNS
	Dismiss Raje govt, Prez urged Hoshiarpur, May 31 Supporting the demands of theagitating Gujjars in Rajasthan, president of the Christians Front, Punjab, Lawrance Chaudhary, blamed the BJP government there for the death of 42 persons who had been agitating to get reservation for their community. Demanding a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for the kin of the deceased and Rs 5 lakh each for the injured, Chaudhary, in a press release here this afternoon, condemned Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for backing out from her promise of providing reservation to the Gujjar community. Chaudhary urged the President of India to dismiss the Rajasthan government for its failure in handling the Gujjar issue due to which the current situation had arisen. He also urged the Union government to intervene for settling the issue.Meanwhile, activists of the Gujjar community, led by their leader Garib Dass, staged a dharna and blocked traffic for more than an hour at Binewal, 60 km from here, today to support the demands of the agitating Gujjar community. Before dispersing, they burnt the effigy of Vasundhara Raje. — OC