Panchkula, August 24
Four days after the cholera outbreak in Budhanpur village of the district, two persons reportedly died with symptoms of the disease. While the health authorities denied any such death due to cholera, the cause of death of one of the deceased, a labourer Shishpal (40) at GMCH, Chandigarh, is cited because of loose motion and dehydration followed by acute gastroenteritis, which led to the renal failure of the deceased. Incidentally, both deaths were reported from the village.

The second victim, Malkit (22), died yesterday evening following a fit of vomiting. It happened despite the fact that the district health authorities were claiming that the situation was under control and all patients had been discharged after they were treated successfully.

Last year also, five died in the town following the outbreak of cholera in monsoon.

Panchkula DC Pankaj Yadav said an inquiry would be conducted into the cause of deaths.

It was on the night of August 20 when 10 persons reached General Hospital with diarrohoeal symptoms from Budhanpur following which the health authorities ordered to stop the drinking water supply to the locality and deputed its teams in the village.

The number of patients, however, reached up to 25 by Saturday. Two samples of the patients, sent to the PGI, confirmed that the patients were suffering from cholera.

Health officials blamed that the drinking water pipelines were leaking from many places in the village and water was accumulated over them which led to the seepage of dirty water into the drinking water pipes, leading to the outbreak of cholera in the village.

On the other hand, Huda officials denied it.

A visit to the village on Saturday by TNS whowever revealed that the situation was far worse than what it was being portrayed. A majority of the members, including children, were lying ill in the houses of the locality. The village was surrounded by heaps of garbage and ponds of stagnating water even as it was the third day of the outbreak and the authorties had just forgot to clear the area.

Chandigarh, August 24
Serious irregularities have been found in the accounts pertaining to the trekking and tours expenditure of government schools, organised by the office of UT District Education Officer, claimed the recipient of an RTI application.

UT Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar today directed the DPI (S) to examine the case after receiving a complaint in this regard.

In the accounts, which total nearly Rs 3 lakh, major glitches have been found wherein the receipts of expenditure made on holidays have been put in the official records during the trekking series to Kasauli in April 2008.

Similar discrepancies have been found in the tour to Dalhousie in June 2008, in which accounts of purchase of sports equipment contain anomalies. These details were provided to V.B. Khanna, a local resident, in response to the RTI application filed by him.

During the Chandigarh-Kasauli trekking series, organised by the DEO office, expenditure on meals, juices, fruits and flowers has been done on the Baisakhi holiday (13th April 2008) and even on a Sunday. In addition, all receipts have been prepared by officials on tour duty themselves.

In another blatant violation of rules, Rs 31,000 have been paid as donation amount to a temple, from the tour expenses in June 2008.

Additionally, Rs 16,600 was paid as taxi fare, rent of accommodation etc to some selected officials of the education department. But the same amount was shown received by only one person of the department in violation of rules since no one is eligible for such facilities.

Meanwhile, even in the purchase of sports equipment and certificates, in the Dalhousie- Khajjair tour, certain inconsistencies were found. “Initially thousand certificates had been printed and subsequently 500 more were ordered within two months. The first lot of those thousand certificates was never used, as the trip did not even have those many students,” said Khanna.

“The skipping rope was purchased for Rs 18, 876 initially and again for Rs 10, 000 within a span of two months for the second time without any justification. The prices at which they were purchased both times differ,” he added.

Hoping for a fair inquiry in the matter, having filed a complaint to the acting Education Secretary, Khanna also expressed his apprehensions in the matter. “Since the records in the DEO office could be tampered with, we hope the administration conducts a fair inquiry,” he said.

Dappar (Lalru), August 24
Travelling on the Chandigarh-Ambala stretch of the national highway is going to cost more from September 1. The commuters will have to pay Rs 5 more at the Dappar toll plaza while covering one-way distance on the national highway.

At present, a toll fee of Rs 112 is charged to travel on the Chandigarh-Delhi section, which would be Rs 117 after August 31. A few months ago, the toll was Rs 104.

While the toll plaza operator, GMR, has been swift in increasing the Dappar toll, it has failed to maintain the road section at the abandoned Derabassi toll plaza. Despite being handed over to the Derabassi section two months ago, no maintenance on the stretch has been done. The road surface has withered away and the streetlights are not functional.

As the union government is “turning a blind eye” to malpractices of the toll plaza operators, the hapless commuters are at the receiving end. The vehicle owners are paying more than the national toll fee fixed by the Central government, claimed V.K. Arora, secretary of the National Highways Users Association (NHUA).

“It is shocking. First the toll plaza is removed at Dera Bassi and then the toll is again increased at the Dappar toll plaza. It is giving and withdrawing a concession to the commuters,” said Himanshu Sharma, a resident of Dappar.

Chandigarh, August 24
The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation today issued a warning to Jaypee Group, which is managing the Garbage Processing Plant at Dadumajra, to immediately stop burning refuge derived fuel (RDF), as it is against the norms of the pollution control board.

However, in the observation report submitted to the Chandigarh administration, experts of the Chandigarh Pollution Control Board stated that a foul smell pervaded the plant due to increase in moisture in the garbage.

A senior official of the corporation revealed that as per the norms of the pollution control board, RDF could be burnt only in the cement plants as they had arrangements to burn it on a high-degree temperature, due to which no foul smell engulfed the area around the site. Whereas with the technique which is used in the garbage plant set up in the city, such waste cannot be burned.

Sources in the corporation revealed that the company is burning the RDF in the plant as the garbage they were receiving these days had a high percentage of moisture and to avoid much use of the dryer, they preferred to burn it to save electricity. MC Commissioner Dr Roshan Sunkaria said he had raised the issue of burning of the RDF in the garbage plants at a recent meet

Continued on page 6

Panchkula, August 24
In Panchkula, one can go scot-free after cutting a full-fledged tree and depositing a meagre amount as penalty with the horticulture department of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). Surprisingly, even the wood is not demanded from the accused.

This has happened in the case of Punjab Inspector General of Police Mohd Mustafa and his MLA wife Razia Sultan on whose instance four Chakrasia trees, aged 15 to 18 years, were cut last week.

Horticulture department officials after filing an application for registering an FIR against them have withdrawn the complaint.

Horticulture department superintending engineer Hardip Malik today said the complaint was withdrawn after a sum of Rs 2,375 was deposited by them as 
penalty.

Interestingly, the department neither recovered the cut-off trees nor it charged any money for its wood. The trees were ornamental and its wood had no value, he added.

Chandigarh, August 24
Prideasia at the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP) continues to be in the news.

After unsuccessfully trying to "wriggle out" of the project, Parsvnath now wants the "rescheduling" of the payment from the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) with whom it launched the Rs 4,100-crore project under public-private partnership.

Official sources said Parsvnath adviser PK Jain recently met senior officials of the CHB, including chairman Mohanjeet Singh. Jain reportedly sought the "rescheduling" of the outstanding payment amounting to over Rs 300 crore for the project. Earlier, Parsvnath had demanded the revision of the terms and conditions of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the CHB, including allotment of land on pro-rata basis.

However, there is apparently no clause in the MoU for amendments in the terms and conditions of the agreements, including "rescheduling" of the payment. The UT had already sent the matter to the UT senior standing counsel for legal advice.

Parsvanth had been defaulting on over Rs 300 crore to the CHB for a long time. Parsvnath's plea of altering the conditions were based on the fact that the CHB had delayed the handing over of "encumbrance-free" land to it. Besides, there had been delay in the approval of layout plan of the project by the UT Administration, resulting in the delay in the construction of the high-priced dwelling unit, it was contended.

The developer had already deposited Rs 517 crore against the total bid amount of Rs 821 crore. As per the agreement, the CHB was to be paid an amount of 30 per cent of the total amount from the sale of the residential property with the total earnings being to the tune of Rs 1,600 crore. A major portion of this amount was to be utilised by the board for the ambitious project of slum rehabilitation of the Chandigarh Administration.

With the project running into rough weather, investors had been demanding the refund of their deposited amounts. The coming of the project under the scanner of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for alleged irregularities in the allotment of the land for the controversial mega projects, has also put a question mark of the future of the project.axUT officials, however, claimed that any decision on the project would be taken subject to the CVC clearance and according to the terms and conditions of the MoU.

Chandigarh, August 24
The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has quashed the decision of the UT police against an ASI, accused of graft charges, despite a clearance given by the inquiry officer.

The applicant, Fateh Singh had alleged that inquiry officer had cleared him of charges but the SP (traffic) had allegedly forced him into admitting that he took a bribe of Rs 150 from a truck driver for not issuing him a challan for over speeding.

The matter dates back to June 10, 2004, when the then ASI Fateh Singh was on traffic naka and was charged for taking Rs 150 from a truck driver. The SP (traffic) himself was present on the spot, who ordered for a departmental inquiry against him.

After the departmental inquiry, the inquiry officer gave him a clean chit but the then SP (traffic), who himself was disciplinary authority, disagreeing with the inquiry report, issued him a show-cause notice on March 3, 2005. As a punishment, ASI’s three increments were also stopped through an order on May 12, 2005.

Fateh filed an appeal, before higher authorities, against the orders, which were rejected. He then filed a revision petition before Home Secretary, which was also dismissed.

He had then moved the CAT and held that the chargesheet was not supported by a list of witnesses of evidences to prove the charges.

CAT bench has remanded the case back to the disciplinary authority to record the reasons for disagreeing with findings recorded by the inquiry officer and issued fresh show-cause notice to Fateh stating the reasons for disagreement.

Chandigarh, August 24
A two-day medical camp for children in the age group of 6 to 14 from government, private and government-aided schools in the city, who are suffering from orthopaedic handicap and hearing impairment, commenced at Government Multi-Speciality Hospital, Sector 16, here today.

On day one, as many as 105 schoolchildren were examined by specialists. Out of these, 61 children were found to be suffering from ortho handicaps, 31 had hearing problems and 14 were visually impaired.

“The needy children were given 18 hearing aids, 11 calipers, 12 tri-cycles, eight crutches, one blind stick and three wheel-chairs free of cost at the camp. Eight cases of ortho have been recommended for surgery and three cases for physiotherapy by specialists,” said Dr MS Bains, director, UT health and family welfare services.

The camp has been organised by the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan of the UT education department in collaboration with the directorate, health services, (school health), Chandigarh, and the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO), a Government of India undertaking, Kanpur.

An official of the ALIMCO said ortho appliances were given to those children whose parents’ monthly income did not exceed Rs 6,500. For those whose parents’ income was more than Rs 6,500 per month, the cost will be borne both by the parents and the education department, an official said. 

Chandigarh, August 24
Even as the UT Administration has showered praise on the city police for “its professional approach and adoption of modern investigative techniques”, figures speak otherwise.

The statistics available with the police reveal a huge gap between the percentage of number of cases ending in acquittals and conviction. During the first six months, there is an increase of 28 per cent in acquittals this year against the corresponding period last year, while the number of convictions has seen a marginal increase of just 3.97 per cent.

Citing figures the police said from January 1 to June 30 this year, 732 cases ended in convictions and 585 in acquittals against 704 convictions and 457 acquittals in the corresponding period last year. During this period, the police also arrested 84 proclaimed offenders (POs) and disposed of 2,299 cases, in which 732 criminals were convicted.

The increase in the number of acquittals reflects poorly on the investigative skills and professionalism on part of the UT Police, which is fast going on modernisation spree.

Contrary to the startling facts, the administration said the use of latest technology paid “rich dividends” in cracking cases and tracking down the criminals. “Not only there has been definite improvement in the number of cases cracked and proclaimed offender arrested, the conviction rate has gone up, resulting in more criminals being lodged behind the bars. The end-result is improved law and order situation in City Beautiful,” the administration stated in a press release.

The figures have shown that the police functioning had improved a little as far as the arrest of POs was concerned over the years. In 2008, the police nabbed 159 POs compared to 144 in 2007. Similarly, in 2008, as many as 1,555 criminals were convicted against 1,459 in 2007 and 4,460 cases were disposed of in 2008 against 3,599 in 2007.

While showcasing its achievements in the past, the police cited the sensational rape case of a German tourist and cracking the theft of 49 passports leading to the unearthing of a national-level scandal. However, the top officials avoided mentioning the unsolved blind murder cases of Sham Mall owner Amarjit Singh Khurana and Santosh Kumari of Sector 42, which rocked the city. The list of unsolved cases included murder of inspector Kashmir Singh and the recent robbery of Rs 5 lakh in Sector 35.

UT SSP S. S. Srivastava said the police had taken a lot of steps such as installation of CCTV cameras in police stations, GPS system for PCR vehicles, computer lab, setting up of a fingerprint bureau, cyber crime cell, community policing and feedback mechanism.

Chandigarh, August 24
While Chandigarh Industrial Tourism Corporation Limited (CITCO) may cheer about Hotel Shivalikview to come up well even during the times of global recession, it has reasons to worry about the revenue loss at Transit Lounge. Surprisingly, its employees have a role in it. Incidentally, the budget accommodation on the Sector-17 ISBT premises directly comes under the governance of Hotel Shivalikview only.

In the absence of proper vigil and stern action against the erring staff by CITCO management, practice of accommodating guests in an unauthorised manner without making any entry into the guests’ register at the lounge is rampant.

The staff is also into the practice of offering space on “discounted rates”, unauthorisedly and pocketing money straightway. According to officials of CITCO, against the daily-expected sale of Rs 10,000, the lounge was registering around Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000, which was inadequate to meet even its operating expense. It includes salaries of its regular as well as contractual staff, their perks and other maintenance expenditure of the lounge, which amounts to over Rs 3 lakh per month.

Questions are also being raised about the authenticity of the travellers stayed at the Transit Lounge, located on the premises of a sensitive place like ISBT-17, whose antecedents cannot be verified in the absence of any records.

Nevertheless, as per complaint filed by a guest, Vishal Goswami, who approached Transit Lounge on August 10, person-on-duty Anil Pandey charged him Rs 100 for two night stay in the dormitory. Neither any receipt was given to him nor any entry of his arrival was registered in the records.

Defying all allegations, Anil Pandey said it was a conspiracy against him and he never attempted to pocket the stay charges from the guests.

Though the matter was brought to the notice of the management, apparently due to the careless attitude of the management, no action was taken.

In fact about 10 days later, same employee along with another staff members was found to be iniquitous towards their duties. Ironically, lounge in charge Parveen Goswami complained to CITCO management that these practices were resultant of the revenue loss and immediate measures should be adopted to curb it.

Though both issues have been brought to the notice of the management of CITCO and written complaints have been filed by the guests as well as official concerned against the erring employees, it is learnt that the matter is still being brushed aside by the management.

Chandigarh, August 23
Three days after an inmate of Panjab University hostel no 2, Neha, filed a complaint of a missing laptop, it was found abandoned in her hostel corridor last night. While the complainant is relieved, the varsity officials and police are adamant on finding the culprit.

“This issue was blown like anything in lieu of upcoming student elections, where we were accused as inefficient, so now we will see to it that the police nabs the culprit,” said DSW Naval Kishore.

“Before this also, in one more case, the laptop was under the stairs, so it might be some mischievous element rather than a thief, but we will get to the core of the issue. Though the finger prints on the laptop were not clear it will be thoroughly questioning the suspects for any lead,” added Sukhbir Rana, SHO of the Sector 11 police station.

The laptop that was reportedly stolen from her room while she was away led to a huge drama as Neha not only accused Panjab University of sheer indifference but also the cops of misbehaving with her in alleged “inebriated” state while investigating the matter on the night of theft.

While SP Madhur Verma marked an immediate enquiry in to the allegations of misbehaviour, the SHO outrightly denied any cop being drunk.

On the other hand, the issue gained political momentum with the NSUI group protesting against the fact that the warden and the DSW (W) did not come to the hostel even after repeated calls.

Mohali, August 24
Dr Vasanta Muthuswamy, former senior deputy director general, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, inaugurated a five-day workshop on “Clinical trial protocol writing” at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) here.

Delivering the inaugural address, Dr Muthuswamy said the clinical research had become a big business enterprise all over the world especially in India. This gives the opportunity to various institutes and schools to come up with weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly certificate course to train the manpower in the field of clinical trials.

Around 100 participants are participating in the workshop.

Talking about the clinical trial protocol writing, she said it was necessary that the clinical trial investigator should write a good protocol with authentic information for further acceptance of the clinical trial conducted.

NIPER director, Prof P Ramarao in his address, said over the last few years, the number of new chemical entities for drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had declined. 

Chandigarh, August 24
Despite the alien cultures influencing our traditional arts, the Haryanvi folk theatre commonly called “saang” retains its vitality and vigour in its pristine form even today as evidenced by record audience at Tagore theatre to watch the opening folk play “Anangpal” here today.

Three more saangs, Neelo-Chaman, Chandna and Roop Basant will be staged on ensuing days in the four-day saang fest organised by information and public relations department, Haryana.

Structured in centuries-old royal ambience and culture, the saang “Anangpal” delves to show how the human relationships loose to the greed and selfish motifs.

Director Sham Lal Sangi said he had staged over 1,000 shows of the saang in Haryana, the border areas of UP and Rajastahan to the packed houses. It has the elements of folklore, drama, music, dance, comedy and art of story telling in Haryanvi dialect, he added.

Earlier, project director Bhal Singh Balhara and RS Verma, DPR (UT), felicitated chief guest Gian Chand Gupta, who honoured the artistes.

Saang “Neelo-Chaman” will be staged tomorrow.

Panchkula, August 24
Following the exit of former Deputy Chief Minister and local MLA Chander Mohan from political scenario in a bid to reach the state assembly, the local Congress leaders have decided to oppose any move to field an outsider from the Panchkula constituency during forthcoming Assembly elections.

In a press conference held here Rajinder Kakkar, Congress president in the city, along with others, including Usha Sharma, district vice-president SS Goyal, Tarun Bhandari, national coordinator of Youth Congress jointly announced that any such move would be boycotted by local leaders and the party would work in unison for the winning of candidate in case the local party worker was fielded by the high command.

All senior local Congress leaders were present at the meeting and passed a resolution that they wanted only local leader from Panchkula seat.

Kakkar said they would oppose any outsider candidate from Panchkula constituency. “We expect that the party high command should respect our sentiments,” he added.

SK Nayyar, president of senior citizens, said an outsider candidate was involved in wiping out the old cadre of party to make way for his loyalists from his old constituency or native place. He also works half-heartedly for his new constituency and majority of his time is spent in his old constituency among his old loyalists, he said.

The fielding of local party worker would encourage the locals to work for the party, said Tarun Bhandari.

The division among the local Congress, however, was visible as former president of Mucnipal Council Ravider Rawal and district president of party Om Parkash did not attend the conference.

This is with reference to the article “Tit for tat” by Raveen Thukral published in Chandigarh Tribune on August 17.

Hats off to the writer for converting the event into a learning exercise. Integrity of a person cannot be gauged by his richness or by being a good actor. Take the case of Sanjay Dutt in the Arms Act, Salman Khan in the wildlife case, etc.

Laws are made for the security of the nation, which in turn are for the safety of the human beings. Everyone irrespective of ones position or status should be respected and should learn to respect each other. I feel otherwise that Shahrukh Khan has lowered the image of the country by raising the issue in such a fashion.

Chandigarh, August 24
Defying the rules of the education department of a common dress code in the government schools, GGMSSS-18 new principal mandated a new dress code for students in the school.

While the rules clearly state that the school principal can make white dress mandatory only on a particular day in a week, there seems to be no check on such “self-made” rules in certain schools by the education department.

Just like any other government school in the city, girls at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 18, had a common dress code till last month, but it was changed after new principal Nirupama Krishan joined the school and white dress was made compulsory for students three days a week, i.e., Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

While parents condemned the idea, students seemed to be happy with the change, “We look unique in this dress and it makes us look different from students of other schools,” said a girl of class XII.

“White dress gets dirty soon. We are not happy with the change,” said another girl.

On being contacted the principal defended herself saying that girls looked better in white dress. She said, “We are not doing anything against the rules. It ensures that they wash their clothes regularly.”

When asked why isn’t the same pattern being followed in other schools, she said, “ Our school is a role model in this regard.”

According to the education department officials, a school principal can enjoy autonomy to a certain limit in deciding the dress code.

It seems that the officials are unaware of the violation of its own rules in certain schools.

“It is the discretion of the school principal to make white dress compulsory on any one day in a week. In most of the government schools, the preferred day is Saturday for white dress,” said UT District Education Officer (DEO) Chanchal Singh.

Chandigarh, August 24
The incident of two school students, who were caught during school hours collecting money on the pretext of donation from a city-based doctor in Sector 44 today, has raised concerns over the rising cases of students on “bunk” from city schools.

The two students, who claimed to be from Government Model High School, Sector 20-D, showed a pamphlet of “Global Cancer Foundation” at Dr Khullar’s clinic this morning, saying they had been sent by the school authorities to collect donations.

The boys identified themselves as Amit and Ravi ( both names changed), students of class VII of GMHS, Sector 20-D.

When the doctor asked them to show receipts of the donation amount, the students were unable to produce the same. “The students told me that they had been marked present by the school today and were sent out to collect donations for the foundation by the Principal,” said Dr Khullar.

However, when the school authorities were contacted, it was discovered that the Principal was out of town and no such directions had been given to any student. “We do not encourage any such activity in school at all,” said a school official.

Members of the Global Cancer Foundation said they had never visited the school at all, although they do conduct activities in schools in the city.

A school official added that the school boundary wall was almost non-existent, and it gave students a chance to jump out.

When the Tribune team further investigated the matter, it was found that the boys had lied about their class and one of them belonged to class 9th of the same school, while the other was his friend who worked in a Sector 22 hotel.

On being contacted, the Vice-Principal checked the attendance registers and found that the student was absent for the past three days.

Interestingly, when the student’s younger brother was called, who is also in the same school, he told that his brother had dressed in the uniform this morning and had left for school, but never reached and was probably on a “bunk”.

This is not an isolated incident of students “bunking” school often. The matter has raised concern over the growing incidents of students strolling in public parks, city markets and even Sukhna Lake in uniform during schools hours. 

Mohali, August 24
Manav Mangal Smart School, Mohali, was declared first in the region in the CBSE Science Exhibition held at Green Land Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana, under the category “Harnessing Energy”.

The project prepared was an electricity-producing gym with a treadmill and cycle on which members of a family could exercise. The project, Lite to Light, was a working model and it was shown that electricity up to 250 watts could be produced during a single workout for 30 minutes per day by one member of a family. 

Therefore, if two members worked out for 30 minutes each for one year, they could produce electricity up to 182.5 Kw which could suffice the average monthly consumption of a family which was 150 Kw to 180 Kw. The project, which would now be part of the national-level science exhibition to be organised by the CBSE in September/October, was appreciated for its simplicity, low-cost and its future usage. The students who worked and presented the project were Siddharth Chauhan and Harkiran Kaur Wraich.