NEIGHBOURHOOD

Punjab College of Law regains affiliation
Tribune News Service

Patiala, July 15
Punjab College of Law, Patiala, has at last got affiliation and has been revived by Punjabi University for LLB (three year) and BA LLB (five year) from this year onwards.

The college will make admissions in law courses from the current year 2008-09. The university has granted affiliation after a satisfactory report of an independent inspection committee.

The college is already approved by the Bar Council of India, New Delhi, and Punjab Government. But it was disaffiliated last year by former vice-chancellor Swarn Singh Boparai due to a dispute between him and the college management on account of demand for extraneous money.

On the complaint of the college management, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau had laid a trap and the then registrar of the university Baldev Singh Sandhu was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh (out of the settled amount of Rs 5 lakh) for continuation of affiliation to the said college. Following this, the affiliation was cancelled despite the fact that the college had been working satisfactorily for the past three academic sessions.

Patiala, July 15
A dharna was held by the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) at the local bus stand here today, leading to a disruption of normal traffic flow.

Members of PRTC Workers Union block the main gate of bus stand after a clash in Patiala on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Rajesh Sachar

Commuters were also put to severe inconvenience as traffic came to a complete standstill on all roads leading to the bus stand. There was a complete chakka jam on the Rajpura road on this hot and humid day.

The dharna was held when an altercation broke out between PRTC workers and those belonging to a private bus company.

According to sources, worker of the private bus company -- Orbit transport -- owned by a leading political family of Punjab, allegedly bashed up a Haryana roadways (Fatehabad depot) driver Amar Singh and conductor Tulsi Dass with rods following an altercation. The area in charge of the private bus company, Jeet Singh, too entered the scuffle.

Sensing that things could get out of hands, a PRTC employee of Chandigarh depot, Surjit Singh, tried to intervene.

However, he, too, was badly beaten up by employees of Orbit transport. This further aggravated things, which led to all employees of PRTC present at the bus stand to stage a three-hour-long dharna at the bus stand. Later, employees of the Orbit transport apologised in the presence of Jasmer Singh, chairman of the PRTC workers union.

On hearing about the dharna, the local police made elaborate arrangements and scores of cops were immediately deployed at the bus stand.

Banur, July 15
Relatives of an accident victim, undergoing treatment at Gyan Sagar Medical College and Hospital, today raised slogans against the hospital authorities after the victim’s death due to alleged negligence of doctors during the operation.

Family members protest the death of Arshid Khan who allegedly died due to negligence of a doctor at Gian Sagar Hospital in Banur. Tribune photo: J.S. Virdi

Arshad Khan (25), a resident of village Chanarthal Kalan in Fatehgarh Sahib, met with an accident in front of the hospital on July 8 and was admitted with a head injury. He was declared dead by the doctors today morning at around 8 am.

The family members of the deceased entered a heated argument with the doctors with accusations of negligence. The police reached the spot and tried to pacify the agitating relatives. The family members gheraoed the doctor who operated Arshad. The doctors present tried to pacify them who continued their protest for nearly an hour. Suresh Khan, brother-in-law of the deceased, said the doctors admitted Arshad after his bike was hit by a bullock cart in front of the hospital on Thursday night, last week.

“He was apparently in a good condition for two days and was even talking to us. However, his condition deteriorated after his skull was operated by the doctors,” he said. Arshad was on his way to a factory at Lalru where he was deployed as an electrician, he revealed.

“We had deposited Rs 71,000, including Rs 3,000 per day charges of ventilator and other expenses. Dissatisfied with the doctors here, we decided to shift Arshad to DMC, Ludhiana. We went to show medical reports of this hospital to doctors at Ludhiana and as soon as we reached near Doraha, we were informed that Arshad had died,” said the relatives.

“We suspect that Arshad died after the operation and the doctors had put him on ventilators,” alleged the relatives.

Medical superintendent in the hospital C.M. Adya, refuting the allegations said that the doctors had tried their best to save the patient.

Chandigarh, July 15
Ajay Yadav of Chandigarh defeated Dhruv Aggarwal of UP by 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the second round of boys’ under-18 category during the AITA Talent Series Tennis Tournament at the CLTA Sports Complex in Sector 10 here today.

Shashank Sharma of Delhi upset top seed Jatinder Singh, a trainee of Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association, by 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in boys’ under-14 singles’ second round.

Third seed Manpreet Chawla of Delhi and fifth seed Armaan Chaudhary of Chandigarh made their exit in boys’ under-18 category. Lucky loser Bramjot Singh of Delhi outpointed Manpreet Chawla in straight sets. In first set, both fought for every point before Bramjot won via tiebreaker at 7-6 (5). Having taken the lead, Bramjot mounted pressure and clinched second set at 6-1 with ease.

After splitting first two sets, unseeded Gurinder Singh of Punjab managed to win decider to upset fifth seed Armaan Chaudhary of Chandigarh. Gurinder won first set at 6-4 but Armaan hit back to take second set at 6-1. In the third and deciding set, the Punjab player wrapped it up at 6-4. Lucky loser Suraj Beniwal of Haryana extended second seed Himanchsu Mali of Delhi to three sets in second round encounter. With consistent display, Himanshu won by 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-1.

Giant killer Ajay Yadav of CLTA maintained his winning spree as he demolished the challenge of lucky loser Dhruv Agarwal of Uttar Pradesh 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Second round contest witnessed exit of third seed Tanya Chadha of Delhi and fourth seed Saranya Ramakrishna of Maharashtra. Qualifier Mehak accounted for ouster of Saranya in straight sets 6-0, 6-1 and unseeded Subh Gulati of Delhi upset teammate Tanya Chadha in three sets 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

Results: Boys Under-14 (2nd Round): Shashank Sharma (Delhi) bt Jatinder Singh (Chd) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, Fatehdeep Singh (Punjab) bt Rahul B.S. (Kar) 6-1, 6-0, Ranjodh Singh bt Utkarsh Khosla (Chd) 6-3, 6-3, Mandeep Singh (Chd) bt Vishnu Prasad (Delhi) 7-5, 6-4, Bhavtaran Singh (Chd) bt Dheeranush Bhatti (Chd) 6-2, 6-1, Trivesh Singh (Delhi) bt Junaid 6-1, 6-2, Nameer (Pakistan) bt Kunal Roy 6-2, 6-1.

Boys Under-18 (2nd Round): Ajay Yadav (Chd) bt Dhruv Aggarwal (UP) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, Tushal Thawanil (Mah) bt Prashu Bardwal (UP) 6-1, 6-4, Bramjot Singh (Delhi) bt Manpreet Chawla (Delhi) 7-6 (5), 6-1, Akshat Joshi (Chd) bt Shikar Nehru (Chd) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, Yash Deshmush (Mah) bt Garry Amor (Chd) 6-2, 4-6, 6-0, Gurvinder Singh (Pb) bt Armaan Chaudhary (Chd) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, Himanshu Mali (Delhi) bt Suraj Beniwal (Har) 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-1.

Girls U-18 (2nd Round): Prabhamrit Sandhu (Chd) bt Amreen Chaudhary (UP) 6-0, 6-2, Subh Gulati (Delhi) bt Tanya Chadha (Delhi) 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, Monica Sant (Guj) bt Prathana Trivedi 6-3, 7-5, Mehak bt Sarnya Ramkrishna (Mah) 6-0, 6-1, Bhavika Wadhawan (Chd) w/o Harnoor Kaur, Nehal Sahni (Del) 2-6,7-6 (4), 7-5.

Girls U-14 (2nd Round): Nehal Sahni (Delhi) bt Nikita Bishnoi (Haryana) 6-1, 7-5, Bhavya Wadhawan (Chd) bt Nimrata Bhullar (Chd) 6-1, 6-2, Charvi Saxena (Chd) bt Vanshika Sawhney (Chd) 6-2, 6-1, Harkirat Bains (Chd) bt Vasundra Raju (Guj) 6-3, 6-1, Hassan Dhanoa (Pb) bt Nimrat Walia (Chd) 6-2, 6-3, Nikita (Chd) bt Vibhuti Khullar (Chd) 6-4, 6-3, Disha Dang (Delhi) bt Subh Gulati (Del) 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-2.

Chandigarh, July 15
The Table Soccer Federation of India today announced its seven-member team, including one official, which will take part in the World Championship Series of Table Soccer to be held in Germany from July 17 to 20.

Announcing the team, TSFI president Balwinder Singh Johal said the team would leave for Germany tonight. TSFI chairman Ravinder Talwar will accompany the team as an official.

Team Members: Pawandeep Singh, Gurwinder Singh, Anitpal Singh, Hardial Singh, Preetinder Singh, Ashish Pathak.

Chandigarh, July 15
The Durga Das Foundation (DDF) launched Durga Das Foundation Cricket Academy today.

Girish Bhanot, former Haryana Ranji Trophy player, conducted trials at Strawberry Fields World School, Sector 26. Around 50 aspiring cricketers falling under various age groups (9-12 years, 12-16 years and 16-19 years) attended the practice session after the trials. As many as 26 players were selected after the trials. Gaurav Yadav, DIG, Punjab police, inaugurated the camp, playing the opening ball.

Chandigarh , July 15
Two state-of-the-art specialised dental clinics were today inaugurated at the Fortis City Centre, Sector 9, here and Fortis Hospital, Phase VIII, Mohali. The multi-speciality dental centres have been set up in partnership with a renowned chain of dental clinics - Axis Dental.

H.S. Mattewal, advocate-general, Punjab, inaugurated the dental centres.

Speaking on the occasion, Shivinder Mohan Singh, CEO and MD of Fortis Healthcare Limited, said, "Chandigarh needed a specialised dental clinic, which would provide all dental modalities as well as diverse dental specialties under one roof. As healthcare providers, it was our duty to bring this facility to the city."

“This is the first time that we are entering into a collaborative venture," says Dr Amit Sachdeva, director, Axis Dental.

The dental centres are the first-of-their-kind in the city and senior specialists from Delhi will be visiting them regularly. The centres are equipped with cutting-edge technology. Along with the specialised treatment modalities being offered, the centres will also assist people in preventive dental care routines and increase awareness in the field of dentistry.

India has recently become a major tourist hub for quality dental care solutions. The Fortis Dental Clinics are expected to give a boost to dental tourism in the city, where international tourists will be able to have a planned vacation along with standardised, customised and effective dental treatment.

Dental treatment is very expensive in most of the European and American countries. Dental treatment is generally not reimbursed by the National Health Schemes of some countries and is way too expensive for most to get a comprehensive treatment plan. A dentist can charge $300 to $400 for a dental filling in the US and Europe whereas it costs only $30 to $40 in India. A root canal is $3,000 in the West but only $150 to $200 in India. Dentures can cost $1,000 overseas but only $300 in India.

Chandigarh, July 15
Competition is pushing the city's only five-star hotel--Mountview--to get bigger and better. In fact, faced with a tough competition from the private sector, the public sector Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation(CITCO) has initiated a major spruce-up plan for its flagship hotel to give it a truly international look.

Under the ambitious plan slated to be completed before the end of the current financial year, the prime commercial property will have new-look exterior facade, more appealing reception/lobby, inviting bar and spacious basement valet parking. As a first step, the management re-opened the renovated round-the-clock coffee shop today.

"The initiative is aimed at facing the tough competition from the private sector and providing world-class facilities to the guests and visitors as per the international benchmarks in the hospitality industry," JS Bir, CITCO managing director, told The Tribune here.

Shedding its laid-back attitude, the Chandigarh Administration-controlled corporation's new mantra is to re-plough its profit for the creation of new facilities at the premier hotel. With an impressive profit of over Rs 11 crore as against its turnover of Rs 25 crore last year, CITCO's over Rs 7 crore plan had been hanging fire for quite some time.

Bir conceded that working in the government set-up had its limitations but with the modernisation plan well under way, the year 2009 should see the hotel in a new avatar.

In fact, sources said the corporation was following the international norms where about 7 per cent and 14 per cent of the total profits are spent on marketing and renovation respectively.

Competition was the buzzword and we have to move with the times, chief general manager Amit Talwar added while promising more surprises for the patrons in the weeks to come.

Chandigarh, July 15
The oldest accredited Punjabi writers’ body, the Kendri Punjabi Lekhak Sabha, has envisaged a concrete plan to elevate Punjabi language, theatre and literature to a spectacular level.

Noted Punjabi poet and sabha president Anup Virk, talking to the Chandigarh Tribune, maintained that any form of literature or performing arts of a region depicted the psyche, deepest desires and dreams of their people. Keeping this in view, the sabha has scheduled holding 12 cultural festivals, including staging of plays, national seminars and panel discussions on diverse themes of socio-cultural relevance in the state. The sabha has teamed up with NZCC and Kendri Punjabi Rangmanch to organise ‘Nat Chetna Carvaan’ beginning from July 17 at Amritsar under the direction of thespian Dr Sahib Singh. The series will conclude with a festival at Chandigarh in 2010, he said.

The sabha will take up the issues of development of Punjab and making Punjabi compulsory in schools and offices as declared by the state government, according to Dr Sarabjit Singh, general secretary of the sabha.

He claimed express participation of its 2,500 Punjabi writer members, 105 literary associations from India and abroad.

Renowned scholars like Ashok Vajpai and Dr Harish Puri will participate in the national seminar on ‘Ghadar Movement’, he said.