Chandigarh, November 12
A team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) today visited Burail Jail to interrogate Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora in connection with the bombing of Kanishka aircraft in 1985.

A member of the foreign investigating team and two sleuths of the CBI went to the jail in this regard. Jail sources said the Babbars raised pro-Khalistan slogans before joining investigation. The duo is in jail for the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh. Hawara has been awarded death penalty.

The team interrogated Hawara first. According to sources, both of them cooperated with the team and were interrogated for over four hours.

Sources said while the team was interested in knowing their family background and the history of the Babbar Khalsa International group, the main thrust was on knowing the whereabouts of Sarwan Singh Gill, one of the main conspirators in the bombing of the aircraft.

Former British Columbia resident, Gill was a close associate of Canada-based Babbar Talwinder Singh Parmar who was killed in an encounter in India. Gill, who was also arrested in the Kanishka case, jumped bail in 1996 and is believed to have fled to England.

The Babbars were also asked to furnish details about their joining the group and their links with Canada-based Babbars, the sources said.

The RCMP believes that Hawara and Bheora have associated with Canada-based Babbar activists and quizzing them could help crack the 23-year-old case.

Chandigarh, November 12
Can any government agency hold a draw of lots even before the layout plan of a housing project is approved? The answer may be in the negative, but the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has performed this feat.

In a development that may bring the board’s functioning under a scanner, it recently held the final draw of lots for four-storeyed dwelling units for Sector 63 even though the layout plan of the mega housing project is yet to be cleared by the urban planning department of the administration.

Eyebrows are being raised over the plan which was reportedly prepared by a private agency. It is perhaps for the first time that the plan of the board was still under consideration after the draw.

In July, the project ran into rough weather with the department pointing serious technical flaws in the plan. These included more coverage of the floor area ratio (FAR), inadequate space between blocks, absence of greenbelt and more than one opening on the V-3 road.

Sources said the board submitted a fresh plan, but the delay in its finalisation suggests that the department was not enthused at the “revised” plan.

In the absence of the plan, the construction cannot begin, thereby delaying the completion of the project.

Even as the CHB struggles with the layout plan, there has been no architect with it for the past about two months after the repatriation of Neelam Nauharia to her parent state of Haryana.

Chandigarh, November 12
Close on the heels of a bloody tiff at the PU, two groups clashed at DAV College here today, leaving one student seriously injured. The groups first fought on the college premises and later outside over the alleged issue of eve-teasing.

The fight began in the college canteen after Gokul, a BA final student, allegedly passed lewd remarks to a girl. Enraged, three of his classmates, Shaminder, Gagan and Judo beat him up. The matter did not end here as both groups clashed again in the Sector 11 market where Gokul was badly injured. The police intervened and Gokul lodged a case against Shaminder and his group.

“It was not our fault. They started beating us in the canteen over a trivial disagreement and followed us to the market where they started hitting us again,” one of the complainants said.

According to sources, the matter got worse after more students started taking sides and fought in front of the college gate. Vikas Rathi, students’ president, was also injured.

A student said on the condition of anonymity that the two groups were rivals. “The only thing we did was to turn them out and they continued to settle score,” he said.

B.C. Josan, principal, said he was not aware of the incident. “It happened outside and I think some outsiders were involved in it. It may be some outside political group,” he said.

Chandigarh, November 12
Getting building plans sanctioned from the Estate Office (EO) is set to be hassle-free.

Concerned over the mounting complaints about the delay in the sanctioning of building plans, the city administration has rationalised the procedure for the approval of the building plans, besides fixing time limits.

In a development that may go a long way in streamlining the procedures, the administration has constituted a lower plan approval committee (PAC) and an upper PAC. While the lower PAC will be headed by the EO, the upper PAC will be led by the UT chief architect with UT chief engineer and chief fire officer of the municipal corporation as members.

Official sources said the lower PAC would process the building plans within a period of 30 days, and send it for final approval to the upper PAC which would okay the plans within a week. To give a level-playing field to stakeholders, they had been given a period of 30 days to clear any objections raised by the UT officials in the building plans. The objections would have to be cleared in one go, and not in a piecemeal manner, a senior official informed.

With a view to make sure that the building plans were not altered at the eleventh hour by the parties, the plinth level inspection by the EO officials had been made mandatory.

However, if after 20 days of the clearance of the building plan, no inspection is carried out by the officials, the plan would deemed to have been inspected by the administration. If any building-bylaws’ violations were detected after the construction of the building, the owner, the EO officials concerned and architect would be held responsible and penalised as per the provisions of the law, the official said.

The officials claimed that the new rules would substantially cut down the time taken for the approval of the building plans.

Chanidgarh, November 12
The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) today clarified that the 175 flats were not dropped in Sector 63 because of land dispute with Punjab.

The flats in question have either been allotted under an assured allotment sub-scheme or have been reserved for the discretionary quota for the Chandigarh administration, said the CHB secretary.

The 81 flats have been allotted to applicants under the assured allotment group in which they bid higher than the reserve price of flats in different categories, he added.

He said that another 94 flats would be allotted on the discretion of the Chandigarh administration, leaving 1,801 flats, which were allotted in an open final draw, held on November 10. 

Chandigarh, November 12
In the absence of any stringent policy, the misuse of land use and illegal construction thereon continues unabated near Kishangarh, adjoining IT Park.

Officials say that action is certain but hitch is till the High Court verdict on dispossession of land comes followed by the award announced by the land acquisition officer, Chandigarh administration.

“The High Court verdict on the issue is expected by December 13. Only after that we can announce the award. Till then, we cannot take action against the defaulters. However, action is certain,” said land acquisition officer, Chandigarh administration, Hargunjit Kaur.

Caring two hoots for rules, the Shapoorji Pallonji and Co Limited, which is developing a five-star Hotel Grand in the IT Park, has got his workers settled on an agriculture land which is situated around 2.5 km from the construction site.

The Estate officials confirmed that the rules permit only to occupy the adjoining site for placing the construction material along with the staff till the completion period as granted by the authority.

Again violating the Punjab New Capital (Periphery) Control Act, 1952, the Shapoorji group has raised as many as 105 hutments of mud mortar along with a crèche and 16 toilets on the farmland. This nearly an acre farmland, owned by former sarpanch of Kishangarh village Prem Singh, is situated in Manimajra adjoining the road leading to IT Park in Kishangarh.

A generator set worth over Rs 10 lakh has been installed to facilitate over 200 labours (from UP and Bihar) and water tankers cater to their water needs the whole day.

After The Tribune highlighted the violations in the area, the Estate officials went to inspect the illegal tenements and submitted a detailed violations’ report to the office of the deputy commissioner. However, the officials say action was delayed due to non-provision for instant resumption of an agricultural land.

Terming it an illegal construction and misuse of agriculture land acquisition officer Hargunjit Kaur has recommended in her report to issue notice under Sections IV and VI to the owner of the land. This would follow another notice under Section 16.

The estate officials also confirmed that the assistant general manager of the Shapoorji Pallonji, Rajinder Singh, overall in charge of the Hotel Grand project, agreed that the land for accommodating the labour was taken on rent of Rs 1.44 lakh per annum.

On the other hand, the farmers of the area resented that their land worth over Rs 30 crore had forcefully been acquired for Rs 18.75 lakh per acre. “What’s wrong if we make some money by renting our land till the time we are dispossessed for it,” they argued.

The estate officials, however, maintained that former sarpanch Prem Singh, too, is on the wrong side of law by allowing illegal construction on his land meant for agriculture purpose only and generating income out of it.

Prem Singh has lost most part of his land to IT Park, Phase II (where Parsavnath is developing the elite housing) and would lose the rest to the Phase III for Rs 10 lakh an acre for the land that would be sold for crores by the administration to big companies. 

Chandigarh, November 12
Four months after the purchase of 17 chassis of mini air-conditioned buses by the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU), these are gathering dust at the Industrial Area.

Earlier, the CTU authorities had announced the starting of local AC bus service on city roads and in March had placed the order for the chassis.

In September, the chassis arrived at the workshop but after that no steps have been taken by the authorities to fabricate.

These chassis have been parked out in the open, away from sheds.

Also, no tender has yet been floated by the administration for body fabrication of the chassis.

A CTU employee at the workshop said: “These chassis have been parked here from the past four months and the authorities have apparently forgotten about them.”

It seems, the authorities are least bothered about the commencement of the AC bus service, said another employee.

Sources said the chassis cost around Rs 1.4 crore. However, that money has apparently gone down the drain with the authorities yet to act on the fabrication of 
the chassis.

A CTU union leader said: “A number of policies formulated by the authorities are yet to be implemented.”

CTU director Capt P.S. Shergill was unavailable for comments.

Chandigarh, November 12
Taking a serious note of the “nexus” between the enforcement staff and vendors in the city, Municipal Corporation (MC) authorities have transferred four sub-inspectors of enforcement wing to other departments today.

The decision of transfer sub-inspectors Parveen, Vaid, Ashok Rahi and Mangal Singh was taken by MC commissioner Roshan Sunkaria following several complaints against them. Mandan Lal Sharma, Ranjit Singh, Navi Mahan, Sanjay Rana and Pardeep have replaced the transferred sub-inspectors.

Sources say the decision to shift the inspectors and sub-inspectors is taken every three months on the basis of their performance in removing of encroachment in the city. The MC has also decided to formulate a plan to keep a check on the working of the enforcement staff.

On November 1, The Chandigarh Tribune (Hafta ensures illegal vendors stay put) had highlighted that huge kickbacks, running into lakhs of rupees, were involved in the alleged nexus between the vendors and enforcement agencies.

When contacted, MC commissioner admitted that there was a nexus between the enforcement staff and encroachers in the city. He said the performance of the staff of the enforcement department was being monitored for the last two months as the complaints against a few of them were increasing by the day.

He added that the department head had warned all the four sub-inspectors who have been transferred a number of times.

Chandigarh, November 12
After being disabled while in service, fate struck him another blow when he contacted hepatitis during the amputation of his leg. To cap it, his organisation, the Central Reserve Police Force did not bear the costs of his treatment, for which he had to wage a legal battle, and instead sought to discharge him from service.

Even though the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled that Rakesh Kumar, a constable in the CRPF, be provided medical treatment and that the CRPF should not consider his discharge, his case did not make any headway, forcing him to move an application for contempt of court against his department. The matter is pending before the high court.

Rakesh had met with a road accident in December 2003, which resulted in the amputation of his left leg above the knee. The accident was attributed to departmental service. He was referred to PGI, Chandigarh, for his treatment, where he was diagnosed to be suffering from chronic hepatitis-C, contracted by transfusing infected blood during the amputation.

Specialists at PGI certified the requirement of uninterrupted treatment for 12 months, with the approximate cost of Rs 6 lakh. He requested the CRPF authorities for an advance for his treatment, which was denied on the grounds that medical advance could only be given for serious ailments requiring indoor treatment.

According to the petition, he ran from pillar to post to gather funds from his relatives, withdrawal from all his savings and took treatment, which stretched to one year but was interrupted and due to paucity of funds he could not continue with his treatment. He again sought medical advance, but was rejected despite the fact that another CRPF jawan was given the same for similar treatment.

In March this year, Rakesh was brought before a rehabilitation board and on its recommendation, he was informed that he was being invalided out of service. Although he was still under treatment at PGI, his treatment was stalled as a result. In his petition, he contended that as per standing instructions of the department, it is only after the sick or injured person has received full medical treatment and has later been classified unfit for normal duty, is he to be referred to the departmental rehabilitation board.

He had even represented to the CRPF authorities against his rehabilitation board, but he did not receive any response. He had also applied for grant of Group Personnel Accident Insurance Scheme, which is compulsorily applied to all force personnel and deductions of the premium made directly from the salary of the personnel.

Under the scheme any force member who sustains disability due to accident is entitled to disability benefit under the insurance scheme. Although the petitioner has met with the accident in 2003 still no money under the scheme has been paid to him, the petition claimed.

Chandigarh, November 12
The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), in association with C-DAC, Mohali, will organise the 4th national conference of the Telemedicine Society of India, ‘Telemedicon 08’ at the PGI from November 14 to 16.

Telemedicon08, with the theme, “Telemedicine--Rural and Remote Reach”, will cover various facets of healthcare delivery through technology-based system of telemedicine/tele health for benefiting the population in rural and remote areas.

Addressing mediapersons, Dr S.K. Jindal, chairman of the organising committee, said the conference was aimed to create awareness among the various healthcare providers, doctors and administrators, equipment suppliers, technologists, medical and engineering institutions, etc, about the ways and benefits of adopting the emerging telemedicine technology.

Telemedicon 08 will also discuss the healthcare requirements in SAARC countries, Africa and South East Asia and help to provide better insight for development of telemedicine facility in these countries.

“C-DAC has been pioneering telemedicine programme in the country with about 46 remote district hospitals already connected to six super specialty hospitals in major cities using various connectivities like ISDN, Broadband, VPN,” said J.S. Bhatia, director, C-DAC.

He said the advantage of telemedicine in reaching out to the rural and remote population had been well established through the experience of this present telemedicine network. However, there was a need to provide a common platform to all concerned agencies like communication systems or software and medical equipment providers, super-specialty hospitals, healthcare administrators, various departments of the government, private hospitals and corporate hospitals dealing with healthcare, he added.

He also mentioned about the pioneered project- “E-sanjeevani” in which data can be successfully transferred by using this software. It will also help to exchange ideas, practices and methodology, to effectively implement and use the emerging telemedicine technology.

An exhibition, displaying the latest technology in equipment, software and systems, medical informatics and innovative clinical methods for healthcare, is also planned to be conducted.

Panchkula, November 12
Taking a note of the reports appeared in The Tribune, deputy commissioner of Panchkula Rajinder Kataria with a team of HPCB officials, SDM Ashok Meena, Xen HSPCB and a fire brigade officer visited the premises of Gaurav Industries and M/s Colour Udyog at Industrial Area here today.

Kataria, who reached the Industrial Area in the evening, found that the material was stored in the plots though the machinery of these factories was sealed by the Haryana State Pollution Control Board.

No fire fighting gadgets were found at Gaurav Industry.

The two chemical units did not stop producing inflammable industrial thinner despite being sealed by the pollution control board following a devastating fire that raged one of the units for 17 hours in August this year.

The factories were sealed on August 24 by the HSPCB.

The industry was not issued a ‘no objection certificate’ by the fire brigade officer, Panchkula.

Kataria said he had ordered for inspection of records of both the industries and the departments of sales tax, fire brigade office, pollution control board, inspector (factories), and the central excise department would look into the matter if there were any violations.

Chandigarh, November 12
Sunil Kumar Chopra, claiming to be an eyewitness to the arrest of the sub-inspector Sanjiv Kumar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday, in his complaint lodged with the UT inspector-general of police (IGP) alleged that he was implicated in a rioting case at the behest of the CBI.

He alleged that CBI officials were harassing him by dragging his name in the case even as his name did not find mention in the FIR. In his complaint, Chopra, district president of the INTUC and president of the Residents’ Welfare Association, Sector 18, alleged that the CBI officials had dragged his name in the case only to pressurise him so that he should not become a witness and come out in the public against their alleged design of foisting a case against Sanjiv Kumar.

He maintained that he was at the spot when the some persons in the civil clothes tried to forcibly hand over Rs 50,000 to Sanjiv Kumar by opening his fist. He claimed that Sanjiv demanded no money and was implicated.

Chopra said sensing trouble, the CBI had lodged a complaint with the police against several persons, who resisted them to carry on with their plan. He said the police should probe the matter in an independent manner and review the video to establish whether he played any role in damaging the police post. 

Chandigarh, November 12
The police has slapped rape charges against the five suspects involved in the alleged kidnapping and sexual assault on a 20-year-old German tourist in September.

ASP (central) Madur Verma told The Tribune that the chargesheet would be ready this week. The chargesheet would be submitted in court on Monday. The rape section has been slapped against the accused on the basis of the report submitted by the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory.

The IGP, S.K. Jain, said the police would request the court to finish the trial at a rapid pace. He said the police would also foot the travelling expenses of the victim as per the order of the court. If the court ordered the police to summon the victim, the police would meet her air travel charges from police budget.

Sources in the police said in such cases only travelling expenses were incurred by the police. Lodging and other expenses would be borne by the victim.

Panchkula, November 12
While the body of Kamaljeet Singh, an ITBP jawan, was handed over to the family members after postmortem, the authorities said an inquiry into the incident had been ordered.

The body of Havaldar Kamaljeet (39) of 37 battalion, ITBP, was brought to the General Hospital, Sector 6, after he apparently shot himself at ITBP complex near here yesterday. The family of the deceased was informed that suicide could be one of the reasons behind the death. However, the family did not find this reason to be satisfying.

Harbans Singh, father of Kamaljeet said his son was staying at ITBP complex with his wife and two children. He never complained of anything unpleasant and there was no reason for him to take such an extreme step, he said. 

Chandigarh, November 12
It was the ‘theatre’ for a cause as ‘the company’ and people for animals society teamed to bring another theatrical spectacle “The Suit ” from the invincible thespian, Neelam Man Singh Choudhury at the amphitheatre at Rock Gardens.

Maintaining her tradition of excellence in the realm of theatre arts Neelam has sculpted yet another success story. Away from the stereotyped conventional productions ‘The Suit’, a bilingual and multicultural enterprise has whole spectrum of human emotions, relationships and internal conflicts pitted against external life pressures and all elements of drama touching both the extremes.

The lives of three characters, wife, husband, friend and ‘voh’ find their true reflection in the measured stage movements, musical strains and even the ‘silence’ on the stage. The situations created on stage were potential enough to sustain the inbuilt conflict between the male and female psyche and builds an inevitable climax.

The play enlivened with the immaculate acting spells by film actor, Vansh Bhardwaj, as an over obsessed devout husband, later an anguished soul seeking solace in tormenting his beloved wife, Ramanjit Kaur, for alleged adultery and treachery on him. The suit, left by her illicit partner in bed, becomes the metaphor and taking off point for all the daily discussions. Aesthetically innovative and visually impressive show keeps the audience fully absorbed while the presence of its director is perceptible through out the play, which leaves a lot of curiosity for the imagination. Then actor’s trio Vansh Bhardwaj, Ramnjit and Hitender Kumar were simply superb.

The spectacular theatrical treat, sponsored by the People for Animal society is open to art lovers till November 16 daily at 7 PM with seventy minutes of duration.

Chandigarh, November 12
The Studio Challenge Ensemble staged hindi play ‘Loot’ on the third day of the ongoing Chandigarh fest at the Tagore theatre here today.

The powerful satirical play an adaptation of Joe Norton’s play is directed by Nimma Dandona. The play structured in the alien ambience of London was a dig at the depriving ethical values and relationships which was well received.

The play is a recapitulation of the turn of events spanning only for two hours wherein the looters of a bank are further cheated by the investigating officer, who manages to retain the booty shifting the blame on the protagonist, Macleavy. The action packed thrilling play commences on a sad note as the last remains of Macleavy, wife of the protagonist, awaits burial. Both Herlad and his friend Dennis rob the bank but poor Mackeavy is doomed to hellish punishment. The director plays the clever nurse while Vijay Saxena leads the cast Joy Bhasin, Ishaan, Tarun and Raghav.

Chandigarh, November 12
After getting clean chit from the investigating agency in the fake yoga certificate case against UT police cop Ram Gopal, the police today filed the cancellation report of the FIR registered against the cop on May 29, 2008.

It was stated in the cancellation report that during the course of investigation, a letter from the Italian Yoga Schools’ Federation was received wherein it was mentioned that in 1997, the 6th World Yoga Sports Cup was held in Genoa (Italy) from October 10 to 12. The members of the Indian team, namely Bal Mukand Singh, Ram Gopal and Upender Kumatr Arya, participated in the event.

As per the contents of the letter, in individual category of the said event, Balmukund Singh stood first and was awarded a cup whereas the team from Argentina won the overall championship. The letter further stated that Ram Gopal was a member of winning team and certificate along with gold medal was also awarded to him.

In order to conduct an in depth investigation into the allegations, a questionnaire was sent to the Yoga Acharya Proe Ernesto Bonvini, president of he federation, through e-mail whose reply was received through Indian embassy. In reply, Yoga Acharya Proe Ernesto Bonvini also corroborated the fact that the certificate in question issued by their federation to Ram Gopal was genuine.

The cancellation report will be taken up in the court of the judicial magistrate (first class), Sumit Ghai, on November 14.

In the tricity it is common to find people talking on mobile phones while driving on the busy roads, thus endangering not only their own lives but also others.

This has been contributing in large measures to the swelling cases of accidents. Equally dangerous is listening radio while driving. A similar ban is necessary on this aspect too.

Both the cell phones and radio divert the attention of the drivers plunging them and others in graver risks. Stern action must be taken against the offenders.

Traffic police of should be more vigilant and must take strict action against the offenders so as to prevent accidents. People should also cooperate to avoid mishaps while driving.

Chandigarh, November 12
After increasing incidents of violence on Panjab University campus, the authorities are finally gearing up to avoid any further incidence of violence on campus. After holding an all-party meeting yesterday, the authorities today came out with more ways to deal with specific lapses.

Apart from sorting matters through dialogues, the university plans to motivate students to resolve their differences through talking rather than indulging in violence.

PU authorities are also toying with the idea of setting up a counselling cell for students to resolve their issues. It must be mentioned here that Chandigarh Tribune had first reported that there was a need for such a counselling cell in the university on the lines of other global universities for internal conflict management.

The proposed counselling cell would have a psychologist, a faculty member, and students’ leaders who would counsel the students.

Also, in many incidents, it has been noticed that students indulge in registering cross FIRs. For the purpose, the university authorities have also decided to minimise police intervention on campus. Orientation programmes to create awareness about law and order are also on the cards.

Though the university authorities want to keep away the police from the campus, but given the nature of incidents that have occurred in the recent past, raises doubts.

Chandigarh, November 12
Leaders of All India federation of university and college teachers’ organisations (AIFUCTO) and leaders of teachers’ organisations of Punjab held a meeting at GGDSD College today.

The meeting was hosted by Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union (PCCTU).

Prof Asok Barman, general secretary (AIFUCTO) shared the latest developments in the process of notification and implementation of new UGC pay scales. AIFUCTO has submitted to the MHRD, Government of India and UGC a 17-point charter of demands.

The charter of demands includes payband-4 for selection grade teachers/readers in the universities and colleges, third promotion for college teachers and DPEs/librarians without additional conditions, professor’s posts in under-graduate colleges, and modification in the conditions for the promotion to the post of senior professors in the universities.

AIFUCTO also demanded complete parity between teachers, DPEs and librarians, 100 per cent central Government funding for implementation of the new pay scales by the states. The meeting also discussed the mode agitation to press for immediate acceptance of the demand. The leaders of the organisation decided if the Government of India does not accept the demands and notify the new pay scales immediately, AIFUCTO should organise rallies, march to parliament and indefinite strike from the date to be decided by national executive committee of AIFUCTO.

Chandigarh, November 12
Apparently concerned at the deteriorating infrastructure, the Chandigarh administration is undertaking a “reality check” of the UT government schools.

The home-cum-education secretary Ram Niwas has asked DPI(schools) Samwarthak Singh to conduct a survey of 105 government schools within a week and send a report to him. Education is a priority sector for the administration and an appropriate action with a view to improve the state of the education would be taken on the basis of the report, Ram Niwas said here today.

Sources said the survey would cover the state of the civic amenities, including toilet facilities, and drinking water, need for repairs, requirement for teaching and non-teaching staff and provision of additional rooms for the schools.The school principals would be actively involved in the preparation of the survey report.

Officials highlighted the UT engineering department would be asked to take care of the minor repairs and provisions of basic amenities in the schools. However, for major repairs, provisions of additional rooms and recruitment of more staff the financial requirements would be reflected in the planned outlay of the 2009-10.

In fact, resources at the disposal of the Sarv Sikhsha Abhiyan(SSA) would also be utilised for the betterment of the educational facilities in different parts of the city, including rehabilitation colonies, and the village.

The officials asserted the schools in the colonies and the villages would be marked for special treatment by the education department. With the influx of lakhs of people to the slums and the villages, the educational infrastructure in the city was under strain.

Mohali, November 12
Students from Kundan International School, Sector 46, Chandigarh visited gurdwara Amb Sahib here today to mark the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, which falls tomorrow.