Mohali, December 18
An 11-month-old child, identified as Kuldeep, died here today as the staff of the Mohali civil hospital allegedly failed to give him timely treatment. He was suffering from gastroenteritis.

Kuldeep’s parents kept on shuttling between private doctors and the civil hospital to save him, but finally broke down when a doctor at the hospital told them in the afternoon that the child was brought dead.

The child’s grandfather Som Bir said that Kuldeep had started vomiting and passing stools yesterday and was taken to a private doctor.

Seeing that his condition did not improve, the child was brought to the civil hospital at around 1 am.

However, the staff nurse on duty allegedly told Som Bir to take the child away as there was no doctor in the hospital at that time.

He said that he brought the child again to the hospital at around 7 am and the doctor examined him and prescribed some medicines.

However, the doctor allegedly refused to admit the child to the hospital. Not satisfied, Som Bir again took the child to a private doctor.

But this time the doctor told him to take the child back to the civil hospital. The doctors at the civil hospital, however, declared the child brought dead.

Father of the child Prem Shankar was inconsolable. He alleged that had the staff of the hospital provided timely treatment, he would not have lost his child.

Kuldeep was the only child of Shankar who lives in the Balmiki Colony at Badmajra. His wife had conceived after undergoing treatment at the PGI and later her uterus was removed.

Dr Paramjit Singh, who was on emergency duty at the civil hospital last night, said that the child was not brought to the hospital at 1 am as claimed by his grandfather. He said that the nurse on duty could not have sent back the child.

He said the child was brought to the hospital at around 7 am and was given oral dehydration solution.

The child’s family was advised to consult a paediatrician when the OPD started functioning at 9 am, he added.

Defending the doctor, SMO Dr H.S. Sarang said that Dr Paramjit Singh examined 16 patients during the emergency duty.

“Why would he have not examined the child?” he questioned. The SMO, however, said that he would order an inquiry into the case.

Chandigarh, December 18
In what is being seen as a breach in the Punjab and Haryana High Court security, three youngsters, including a girl, in a Hyundai I-10 car broke the security cordon last evening despite the presence of armed guards.

The youngsters, who later claimed that they had swayed into the highly secured area inadvertently, were chased around for quite some time before their vehicle (CH-04-E-7868) was intercepted and surrounded by gun-totting cops. They were later handed over to the police.

According to eyewitnesses, a flutter was created in the High Court area when the youngsters drove at a high speed.

They were zipping around there before the security personnel noticed them and signalled them to stop.

The youngsters, frightened at the sight of armed security guards, preferred to speed away from there. Seeing this, the alert security guard, apprehensive of something “worst in store”, swung into action and chased the car.

“The youngster kept on driving in the area. Sensing trouble, the guards trained their guns at the car. At this, the youngsters, who appeared to be teenagers, stopped their car and they were handed over to the police,” said an eyewitness.

SHO of the Sector 3 police station Har Sahai Sharma said the youngsters had been identified as Sahil, Parteek and their sister Kiran.

They are residents of Sector 44 and Sahil’s father is Brigadier Ashok Kumar. The police contacted their family and informed them about the incident.

The youngsters were teenagers and told the police that they used to come to the open ground near high court to play cricket.

They just drove into the area during a joyride and were not aware of the heightened security in the area due to the recent terrorist attacks in the country.

The SHO said the car driver was challaned for not obeying the orders of a policeman on duty.

He added that there is a possibility of rain in the next two days, which would led to the decrease in the day and night temperatures.

Chandigarh, December 18
When it comes to sex, young and middle-aged Chandigarhians seem to be becoming adventurous. While the data collected by the State AIDS Control Society (SACS) reveals an increasing trend in pre and extramarital affairs in the city, unprotected sex continues to be on the rise in the city despite massive government-sponsored “safe sex” campaigns.

Confirming this trend, SACS deputy director (blood safety) Dr Suvir Saxena said it was surprising that despite government spending crores on “safe sex” campaigns, even the educated class was practising unsafe sex.

“87 per cent (204) of the total 235 AIDS cases reported in the city were due to unprotected sex,” he said, adding that this figured matched the national figure.

He said that HIV transmission among ID users is about 4 per cent as compared to 1 per cent due to blood transfusion. Hereditary transmission accounts for 2 per cent of such cases, he said.

For many youngsters, safe sex means only no pregnancy guarantee. Amrita Shah (name changed) a 25-year-old architect admits that safe sex means no pregnancy.

“You really don’t think a guy who is educated and smart and from your background can be infected with HIV,” she said.

A city doctor said that there has been a significant rise in the number of sexually transmitted infection (STI) cases among affluent class youngsters in the past few years. They attribute this to “lack of safe sex among the youth.”

SACS officials say they register at least one case of AIDS (among the youth) every four month. “Ten years back, most of them had HIV due to infected blood transfusions. Now, 87 per cent of the cases are due to unsafe sex,” said an official.

“One has to introduce sex education at a pre-puberty level for youngsters. Only then can we impress upon them the importance of using a condom and practising safe sex,” said Saxena.

Mohali, December 18
Residents living in Phases IX, X and XI be prepared for another bout of arguments with cops over route diversions around the PCA stadium in wake of the test match beginning tomorrow.

Though police has stated that the traffic would be diverted from 7 am to 7 pm only, residents believe that the restrictions generally go beyond the given time.

Citing security reasons, the Mohali police has drawn up a map, indicating the roads blocked and diverted routes.

Giving details, an official said road passing in front of stadium and other links to the stadium from Chandigarh have been closed for general traffic. Beyond the closed points, only permitted vehicles would be allowed.

Traffic coming from Phase VIII would be diverted towards NIPER so that commuters can continue their journey to the southern sectors.

Similarly, the traffic coming from Phase X and XI has been diverted towards two roads, one passing through Phase X and XI and another passing on the outer rim of Phase XI.

The traffic coming from Sector 50 of Chandigarh would be diverted towards Phase X. Signboards have been put at various points to guide the visitors. Meanwhile, the area around the stadium has been turned into a fortress.

The inner and outer parts of the stadium have been converted in six sectors each. Each sector would be under supervision of a DSP rank officer. At least 18 nakas are being set up at entry and exit routes to the stadium.

Residents have to bear the burnt every time there is match at the PCA stadium. Since the area around the stadium is fully developed and the vehicular and human population is increasing, there is need to create a world-class sports village in one of the new sectors of Mohali. The sports village should have all the games and adequate parking should be provided.

Mohali, December 18
Indian media approached top Mohali police officials, who were on security check, including Jatinder Singh Aulakh, SSP, Mohali, and Varinder Pal, SP city, with a compliant against the biased treatment with them here today at PCA stadium.

In a complaint to the police, the media alleged, that though they had the valid accreditation cards issued by the PCA, still they were not permitted to enter the playground while their counterpart, English media, who have come from the UK, were allowed for the same.

Yesterday too discrimination was witnessed between the two media when a contingents of ‘local media’ were refused to have an interview with England skipper Kevin Pietersen, as he was busy with the UK media.

Complaining to the police officials, a correspondent from electronic media, said, “Do you see who has a white skin and let him or her enter the ground?”

Surprisingly one of the police officials asked the correspondent, “What will you do there?” The media replied, “What is the English media doing there. They are just basking in the sun?”

Jatinder Singh Aulakh, SSP, Mohali, said, “This is upto the PCA officials to decide and following the compliant we have fixed up their meeting with the PCA officials on the matter.”

Mohali, December 18
The five-day Test match between India and England, beginning December 19 at the PCA stadium, Mohali, has brought back the agony that residents of Phases IX, X and XI face each time an international match is played at the stadium.

“As movement of vehicles is restricted on most roads adjoining the stadium, we are forced to use alternative roads that are full of potholes. Neither the municipal corporation nor GMADA officials are bothered to repair the road behind Phases X and XI,” said G.S. Chabra, a resident of Phase X.

In a letter written to the chief engineer, GMADA, and PCA and MC authorities, residents in a joint representation have pointed out that residents of Phases 10 and 11, Sectors 67, 68 and Industrial Area face trauma due to deplorable condition of the V3 road dividing Sector 49 and Phase 10.

The problem compounds when the traffic is diverted to this road during international matches. At least eight 3-foot-wide sections of road are missing across this half-a-mile road.

These have not been repaired properly, as a result of which the crust used for repairs has disintegrated, resulting in formation of deep potholes.

Besides, there are smaller potholes on the road that need immediate repair. At one section (adjacent to gurdwara), asphalt has entirely disappeared.

To top it all, debris has been dumped on this damaged portion, making it even more risky for drivers.

A few persons have already met with accidents resulting in physical injury and damage to their vehicles while crossing this stretch.

Residents of house Nos. 1118 to 1125, Phase 10, pooled their own resources and got a patch repaired after the last cricket international match was played at the stadium, said T.S. Tir, a resident of Phase X. However, the repair could not last long and potholes resurfaced.

Chandigarh, December 18
The state legal services authorities of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh are all set to do what they have never done before — bring rival sides face to face for adjudicating over 2.5 lakh cases in one go.

For the purpose, two-day mega lok adalats, “Samadhan-2008”, are all set to be inaugurated across the region on December 20.

The adalats, once successful in achieving the target, will reduce the workload on the subordinate judiciary by one-fourth

 In all, estimated 10 lakh cases are pending in the subordinate courts of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh.

The initiative has been taken by Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur. He is also the chairman of Punjab State Legal Services Authority.

Justice Mehtab Singh Gill of the Punjab and Haryana High Court is the executive chairman of the authority.

The matters proposed to be taken up include bounce cheque cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, motor accident claim cases, compoundable criminal offences and matrimonial disputes under the Hindu Marriage Act.

The lok adalats will also take up matters pertaining to petty offences under special enactments, protection of women from domestic violence, cases relating to road accidents not involving deaths, petitions under Section 18 and 19 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, petitions for custody of children, civil suit for recovery of money or possession of immovable property, along with suit for injunction and rent cases, besides civil and criminal cases relating to electricity.

The mega lok adalats will be inaugurated at Gurgaon judicial court complex by Justice D.K. Jain of the Supreme Court on December 20.

Justice H.S. Bedi and Justice G.S. Singhvi of the Apex Court will be the guests of honour. Chief Justice Thakur will also preside over the inaugural function.

Giving details, a Punjab government spokesman said as many as 1,83,914 cases are purposed to be taken up during the mega lok adalats from 14 districts of Punjab.

Out of the total, over 1, 31,998 cases are expected to be disposed of. Already, 75,328 cases have been decided in pre-lok adalats held across the state.

Chandigarh, December 18
Might is right, this saying holds true for those business houses which have not only encroached upon the land in front of their offices but also reserved the free-parking space for their use.

A classic example of this can be seen at Sector-9 C market, where business houses like Grewal Eye Institute, Chitkara Corporate office, Surya Pharmaceuticals and others are housed.

According to sources, a few of these have put roadblocks in front of their offices thereby reserving the area for parking their own vehicles.

Many of them, including Chitkara, have prominently displayed notices like “parking reserved for Chitkara vehicles only” on their walls. A few of them have even encroached upon the backyard of their buildings.

This not only puts visitors to lot of inconvenience but there have been instances of manhandling by guards posted outside these establishments.

Sidharth Sanwaria, standing UT counsel, who was one of victims, had lodged a complaint with the police in this regard recently.

“Encroaching upon the passage like this shows that our society is still ruled by the powerful. If this is not stopped at the earliest, encroachments would continue unabated,” he added.

After his complaint the cops had got the encroachments removed but the situation is now back to the square one.

Similar incidents have also been reported by others wherein the guards stopped them from parking their vehicles in the space meant for free parking on the pretext that it was meant for “sahib’s car.”

Ramesh, a Sector-36 resident, who frequents this market, said“ Even I have lodged a complaint about this with the municipal officials once but I was told that they can’t be of any help as it was law and order problem.”

However, T.P.S. Phoolka said: “ I will enquire about this from the junior engineer concerned and get the needful done.”

Chandigarh, December 18
Though the Panjab University authorities are ahead of others in installing CCTV cameras on the campus for ensuring fool-proof security, but their low resolution has failed to serve the purpose of security personnel.

In order to keep round the clock checking on all sensitive locations of the campus, which includes all gates and Student Centre, high-resolution zoom was installed.

But interestingly, all camera’s which installed at gate no 1 and 3 and two at Student Center are non-functional.

Sources in the university stated that the aim of installing these cameras was to apprehend the culprits as the number of cases of student clashes at Student Center and department of laws, in which outsiders were involved, had increased.

The authorities had specially installed cameras at Student Center and all three gates of the university. But after the heavy rainfall this season, zoom system of cameras installed at Student Center and even at gate number 1 and 3 were not functional.

The sources stated that as the security personnel wanted to monitor the Student Center thoroughly, so they had got installed zoom cameras there, rather than fixed cameras, but due to their non-functioning for a long time, their whole effort has gone in vain.

The sources added that it was strange, why no action had been taken against the company, which had installed these cameras.

As many as 65 cameras have been installed by a private contractor for the security on the campus.

The areas where CCTV cameras had been installed include all gates, administrative block, vice-chancellor’s office, law department, Student Center, SBI fee counter, Aruna Chandra hall and the library.

Chief security officer of the university Vijya Pal Singh stated that action would be initiated against the company if it did not replace the cameras and make them fully functional at the earliest.

Chandigarh, December 18
The local police has proved that honesty is the best policy even in the modern times. A team led by Lakhbir Singh, in charge of the lake police post, showed its honesty after returning a bag containing Rs 35,000 cash, three-tola gold bangle, a gold ring, a pair of gold earrings and some documents.

A team comprising of SI Lakhbir Singh, SI Rajpal Singh, H.C. Balram Singh Rana and constable Hari Om posted at the lake police post received the information about the bag laying on a bench in an unidentified condition.

The police said that Navdeep Singh, a resident of Karnal, visited lake with his wife and sister at 10 am and forgot his bag on a bench at lake.

“After receiving the information of the bag, we took it in our possession. When we returned to the police post, the owner of the bag was present there to file a report of the missing bag. A DDR was registered and we returned the bag after conducting proper investigation,” Lakhbir said.

Earlier also the cops posted at the lake have been awarded for returning cash to Columbian tourists.

ASP (Central) Madhur Verma said, “They have done their duty well and we are proud of them. Earlier also they have been awarded by IG S.K. Jain for their honesty.”

Mohali, December 18
An inquiry into a disputed shamlat land at Sekhan Majra village here has revealed that it was indeed a common village land and a common passage to the village existed in revenue records.

The deputy commissioner, Mohali, had marked a probe into the status of the land following a recent death of a youth in firing by armed men.

Certain persons of the village, claiming it to be a private land, have brought the armed men to take forcible possession of the land.

Following the probe by the block development panchayat officer (BDPO), revenue officials have been asked to free the land from the possession of encroachers.

Deputy commissioner Rahul Bhandhari told the Tribune that the concerned officers had been asked to demarcate the entire shamlat land of the village.

Being in close proximity to the upcoming international airport and being located in the area of Mohali master plan, the land prices have increased manifold.

It may be mentioned that there are several cases in Mohali district wherein serious land and order problem has arisen due to dispute or illegal possession of the shamlat land by land mafia.

The district administration has detected serious anomalies in the division and subsequent sale of around 2,000 acres of the shamlat deh (village common land) in different villages.

Meanwhile, villagers of Sekhanmajra village today met the deputy commissioner demanding an action against the sarpanch and panch of the village for supporting the encroachers of the common village land. The DC assured of timely action against the guilty persons.

Mohali, December 18
Members of the joint forum for rising retirement age have urged the state government to fill 1.35 lakh posts lying vacant in various government departments or increase the retirement age from 58 to 60 years.

Swinder Singh Lakhowal, forum’s convener, said this while addressing a press conference here today.

Uma Kant Tiwari, forum’s president, said employees were retiring but no fresh recruitments were being done thereby leading to the staff shortage.

This has not only increased the employees’ workload, if this trend continues there would soon be not a single employee in the government offices to attend to public.

They demanded that the state government should adopt the Central government’s pattern, which had fixed the retirement age at 60. Nearly 70 per cent of the states had adopted this pattern.

Mohali, December 18
The deposits of banks in the district have registered a 25 per cent increase and the advances have risen to the extent of 20 per cent.

The figures were disclosed during the district-level consultative committee convened by Punjab National Bank.

The meeting was chaired by deputy commissioner Rahul Bhandhari. Chairing the meeting, the DC said banks and government department should focus more on financing weaker sections of society.

Opening of old-age pension accounts was also stressed. The banks have distributed Rs 387 crore during the second quarter out of which Rs 310.37 crore was under the priority sector. Rs 161 crore was spent under agricultural advances and Rs 103 crore as crop loans to the farmers.

SK Mohia, deputy general manager of Punjab National Bank, Ludhiana circle, said financing of agricultural advances should be the thrust areas.

Malkiat Sandhu, chief lead district manager, Mohali, assured the administration that banks would participate in poverty elevation programme.

She requested the banks to take advantage of lok adalats for settlement and recovery of advances.

Chandigarh, December 18
Charu Talwar, HOD, psychology, GGDSD College, Sector 32, has been selected for a collaborative research project with the coveted University of Pennsylvania.

The university has the first exclusive centre for research in positive psychology which is currently the most upcoming field in the subject.

The research work would be conducted in collaboration with Dr Paul Rozin, senior professor in the university.

The research project would be an extension of her current ongoing doctoral work on eastern concepts of ‘Asakti’ and ‘Anasakti’ drawn from Bhagavad Gita and their relationships with western concepts of happiness and wellbeing.

She would be working on this project for a year at the psychology department of University of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, USA.

Chandigarh, December 18
A two-day national conference on wireless and optical communication, WOC-2008, was inaugurated today at Punjab Engineering College.

The conference is being organised by PEC (DU), Chandigarh under the banner of IEEE, Chandigarh subsection.

Dr Sandeep Sancheti, director, National Institute of Technology, Surathkal was the chief guest and Chandra Mohan, chairman, BOG PEC (DU), presided over the inaugural function.

The chief guest, Sancheti, wished success for the conference and talked about emerging technologies in the field of wireless communication in his inaugural speech.

Chandigarh, December 18
A two-day conference of the North West Indian Sociological Association (NWISA) began today in the ICSSR Complex of Panjab University in which nearly 60 delegates from the universities of all states of north-west India are taking part.

They are deliberating on dimensions and forms of social exclusion and uneven development in India, particularly in the northwest. Prof Paramjit Singh Judge, director, centre for the study of social exclusion and inclusive policy, GNDU Amritsar, was the chief guest on the occasion.

In his keynote address, Prof Singh said the concept of social exclusion had travelled to India from the West where it gained currency to mitigate racial, ethnic and other identity oriented discriminations.

Though the state is doing its own bit to get rid of the stigma of social discriminations but without the active intervention of civil society, not much could be achieved, said Prof Singh.

NWISA president Prof. B K Nagla, MD University, Rohtak, in his presidential address, highlighted the danger of both social and economic exclusion whereby tribals were employed as bonded labour in Punjab and Haryana agriculture.

Dr Vishav Raksha, associate professor, University of Jammu in her study on the scavengers in Jammu, brought out that how even today the practice of removing night soil on head by Dalit women was in vogue, much against the tall claims of the government that it no more existed.

Chandigarh, December 18
The Chandigarh administration has sanctioned a cash reward for recipients of the Territorial Army (TA) decorations and medals.

The cash reward for the TA decoration to the TA officers will be Rs 2,500 and Rs 1,500 for the Territorial Army medal for the JCOs and other ranks.

The reward would be given to those who are permanent residents of UT, Chandigarh, and has not availed this benefit as such from any other state/UT.

Chandigarh, December 18
A meeting of the extended committee of Panjab University will be convened on December 24 to discuss the decision to transfer the work of evaluation of first-year examination by colleges itself rather than the university.

At a recent senate meeting, the issue was taken up once again with a request to the extended committee to work out the module so as to how the proposal could be executed at the best in colleges.

The senators suggested that as it was a long-pending proposal, the members of the committee should be increased for better prospective on this matter.

In response to this demand, R.C. Sobti, Vice-Chancellor, PU, said the members of the committee should be increased to 24 and should be asked to take up this matter on priority basis.

He said the committee should finalise this matter at the earliest so as to implement it from the next academic session.

He stated that this decision would help in reducing the burden on the examination and evaluation departments of the university.

Sources in the university revealed that the committee held a meeting earlier in which all college principals opposed the proposal.

They raised an objection that this system would create confusion among university and college authorities, as the university compiled final result in the last year.

When contacted, G.K. Chatrath, chairman of the committee, stated that in the ensuing meeting the agenda would be as to how feasible this system would be for the colleges.