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Sukhbir skips date with court
Mohali, October 6 Reason: The top brass of the civil and police administration converged on the district courts to “receive” the Deputy Chief Minister while people kept waiting for them at public offices in the district administrative complex. Though Sukhbir, who is an accused in the vigilance case, while citing his official exigencies did not appear in the court, Deputy Commissioner PS Mand, SDM Raghbir Kaur Khera, DIG (Patiala range) SK Asthana, SSP (Mohali) GPS Bhullar and other senior officials were present at the courts. They left after an hour after it became clear that the leader was not coming. “Presence of police officials from the security angle can be understandable. However, the presence of Deputy Commissioner, SDM, tehsildar and other officials is unwarranted and uncalled for,” said DS Dhaliwal, press secretary of the All-India Lawyers’ Union. Interestingly, no senior official of the civil or police administration was present in the court to receive former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who had appeared before the court yesterday in connection with the Amritsar Improvement Trust case. Let alone harassment faced by litigants and lawyers, the police bandobust also left residents fuming. On the condition of anonymity, a senior Punjab bureaucrat said it amounted to impropriety, as it was not the official function of the Deputy Chief Minister. On the contrary, the presence of district administration officials implied
that it was an official visit of the VIP. All official paraphernalia was in place, raising many an eyebrow. While the top brass left the court premises around 11 am, police personnel remained on
VIP route duty well into the afternoon.
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Gang Rape
Chandigarh, October 6 Sources said the mobile phone number of the prime accused, 22-year-old Pankaj Thakur, led to the arrest of the trio. Pankaj, who had allegedly raped the victim on the pretext of marrying her along with his friends - Sandeep Gupta (24) of Sector 56 and Jaswinder Singh (23) alias Jassi of Sector 44-C, were arrested today. Pankaj, who stays in Sector 40-A, hails from Una in Himachal Pradesh. While Pankaj drives a mini-truck, Sandeep works as a security guard in a private company and Jassi is unemployed. Claiming that the girl had come with them on her own, Pankaj told mediapersons that the girl called them on Sunday night and was drunk. “She made physical relations with Sandeep near a park in Sector 39 before coming to Sector 44-C,” he claimed. She even scaled the wall and entered Jassi’s house in Sector 44-C through the back door,
he added. Things went wrong when she wanted to have more drinks, which they refused, and she threatened to raise an alarm. As Jassi’s parents were sleeping in other room, they took her out of the house and left her near a park in the vicinity
before fleeing on a scooter, said the accused. However, the girl told the police that she was forced to drink liquor by the accused at Jassi’s place. A police official said the victim didn’t had mobile phone but knew the mobile phone number of Pankaj. The police asked the victim to call Pankaj on his number and managed to nab him after tracing his location. Pankaj even asked the victim on phone why did she report the matter to the police. The victim told the police that Pankaj left her with Sandeep at a park in Sector 39, where the latter allegedly raped her. Sandeep then took her to Sector 44-C where again Pankaj and Jassi raped her. After she was left near the park, she boarded an auto-rickshaw for Sector 38 West to an address that Pankaj had given to her. When she reached the posh locality, she found that she was given a wrong address and called the police, the girl said. The police has collected vaginal swabs of the victim and will send them for DNA profiling to match with the samples taken from the accused. The police said Pankaj had earlier been booked in
cases of rioting assault and snatching.
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No bail for Babla
Chandigarh, October 6 A case of alleged irregularities in the allotment of sheds in the local vegetable market was registered against Babla after he had quit the post in August this year. Pronouncing the orders, Justice Rajesh Bindal observed: “In the circumstances, in my opinion, the allegations, which were made by the complainant much prior to the allotments, deserve detailed investigation and the petitioner being at the helm of affairs, being a public servant and an elected representative, is certainly answerable, for which his custodial interrogation would be required. “A public representative has to be a role model. When the courts do not grant bail to other persons, if they are involved in similar offences, there is no question of grant of anticipatory bail to the petitioner for whom the standards would be stricter.” In his detailed order, Justice Bindal asserted: “It is generally said a man may lie, but the circumstances do not. The documents speak for themselves. The submission of the counsel for the petitioner that once the entire record is in the possession of the market committee, there is no need of his custodial interrogation is not having any merit. “The documents will not show as to why the names of the persons, who were allegedly not eligible, were added in the list at the last moment, and also the persons who were eligible were deleted therefrom, and what was the reason for addition or deletion of the names in the list.” During the arguments, it was pointed out by the counsel for the petitioner that the allotment of sheds had been made by a three-member committee, with Jhujjar Singh as the the chairman. But only Babla had been singled out for the registration of the case, which was discriminatory and arbitrary. A non-bailable warrant against the petitioner, returnable on October 16, has already been issued in the case.
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Taxing time for Quark
Chandigarh, October 6 Recently, income tax sleuth swooped on Quark office at Mohali and seized some documents. “A scrutiny of documents revealed that Quark had not deducted tax at source on rent payment, which they were paying to Quark City India Pvt Ltd for the past four years,” said a senior official of the Income tax Department. However, finance officer, Quark, Sumesh Kumar has denied the allegations. When contacted, he admitted that the IT officials had conducted a survey but claimed that nothing was found that violated the rules. “Somebody is mislead the media and there is nothing wrong with the TDS deductions as the same have been made and duly deposited,” he said.
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Police post untraceable
Chandigarh, October 6 Leave apart infrastructure or staff, police officials are looking for space to construct the much-needed police post in the area. The Chandigarh police announced a police post for Sector 49 on Thursday and appointed sub-inspector Dilsher Singh as its in charge. Sources said a senior official had temporarily asked the in charge to camp in a CRPF police post in Colony Number 5 till further arrangements were made. Some officials suggested the erecting of a makeshift structure at some government place in the area, but the top brass turned down the proposal. It entailed encroaching upon government land. The Sector 22 police post had been in the news for being run from a house. The sources added that the police post would be shifted to the site in Sector 49 which had already been earmarked for the construction of a police station. Officials at the Sector 34 police station had been making efforts to take out the building plan of the police station and to look for some open space at the site where they would erect a makeshift structure. Residents of group housing societies of Sectors 48, 49, 50 and 51 had been demanding a separate police station for the area in the wake of rising incidents of crime. These sectors were dotted with colonies, which were a haven for anti-social elements. This was not the first instance of a police post not being given a proper building. The Sector 22 and Mauli Jagran police posts were being run from residential flats and the Sector 61 police post was housed in a booth in the market.
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Sec 63 allottees have reason to cheer
Chandigarh, October 6 Though the CHB is yet receive a formal communication regarding environmental clearance, it is learnt that the ministry has accorded its approval to the project, clearing the decks for the award of the contract for the construction of nearly 2,000 flats. With this, the allottees of 304 three-bedroom flats, 836 two-bedroom flats, 532 one-bedroom flats and flats for economically weaker sections can hope an early draw of lots for the allotment of floors in the mega-project, bordering Mohali. Sources said the board had been toying with the idea of completing the tendering process for construction before the the final draw of lots in the backdrop of the allottees' complaint that the CHB had taken an unduly long time in completing the flats after the draw. In the wake of the reported faulty design of the earlier four-storeyed scheme, the Chandigarh Administration had cleared the layout plan in January this year. A land dispute with Punjab had forced the CHB to increase the floors to six (ground floor plus five storeys) instead of the earlier advertised four to avoid a claustrophobic look. In July last year, UT's Department of Urban Planning had objected to certain serious technical flaws in the scheme and had asked the CHB to submit a fresh layout plan. These included more coverage of the floor area ratio to construct more than the required flats, leaving less space between different blocks and the absence of a green belt. Several openings on the V-3 road were another irritant, as only one opening was allowed under the rules. Thereafter, work on the scheme after the preliminary draw of lots on July 30 last year came to a virtual standstill. Now, the environmental nod for the project should, hopefully, speed up the process of final allotment and construction. The final draw of lots could only happen next year as the tendering process for the allotment of tenders and preparation of a list was a time-consuming process.
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New centre of Tech Mahindra launched
Chandigarh, October 6 The 10-acre facility will focus on providing end-to-end customer service to global telecom service providers. Equipped with world-class facilities and infrastructure, the new centre will cater to both international and domestic clients. The campus will have 3,000 seats and eight training halls. Speaking on the occasion, Vineet Nayyar, vice-chairman, Tech Mahindra, said, “The education system in the country needs a major revamp because certain issues in education are directly in conflict with the viability on ground. Our country got freedom long ago but not in education. Over regulation often kills the purpose of a plan. Let the people who utilise technology on ground decide what contents they needed in education.” Nayyar said, “It is unfortunate that the laboratories in the educational institutions are loaded with apparatus and machines which are not applicable in the industry. If we are planning our country as a knowledge centre, we need to incorporate changes in the education system.” General Rodrigues impressed upon the corporate sector the need to adopt a pro-active approach for empowering people by strengthening an effective linkage with educational institutions to upgrade the quality of education and research in the region. He said the education city being set up with 16 centres of excellence had a major thrust on the objective and the IT industry must come forward to collaborate in this new innovative venture to produce individuals of competence in their specialised area of operation. He said the project had been conceived to cater to the population of 60 million people and serving the whole region covering Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and western parts of UP. General Rodrigues further said the administration had already set up an entrepreneur development centre in the technology park and Tech Mahindra and other IT companies must use its vision and innovative programmes for meeting the challenges of the future.
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Bishnoi offers sops to unemployed
Panchkula, October 6 He said it seemed that public wanted to replace the Congress government. Chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda throughout his tenure, concentrated on the development of only two districts of Rohtak and Jhajjar, said HJC president. Out of 43,000 vacancies filled during the present government in Haryana, 36,700 posts were occupied by residents of these two districts only, he alleged, adding that the major portion of the Central grant for the state was spent on this region. He said the government could not lay a single brick on thousand acres of land that was acquired in the name of SEZ. He added that the state was yet to see any improvement in the electricity supply despite the fact that the Chief Minister was harping upon it since he assumed the office in 2005. Bhajan Lal in his brief address also sought the support for party candidate. Kuldeep Bishnoi said the Congress was boasting off its success by getting 10 per cent polled votes in the Parliamentary elections despite the fact that the HJC was formed just 18 months ago. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in fact had strategically planned the date and venue for Sonia Gandhi at Karnal and Sirsa on October 4 so that public could not turn up at the HJC rally which was to be held at Hisar recently, he alleged. Bishnoi claimed that the strategy of Hooda however boomeranged. He said the HJC took out a successful rally whereas a low turn out was witnessed at the Congress rallies at both places. Claiming to form the government after the elections Bishnoi, however, announced that the job quota would be fixed for every district, while 80 per cent of vacancies in private sector would be reserved for locals only.
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Major fire at Apna Bazar
Mohali, October 6 The fire started in the basement where refined oil and other goods were stored, and soon engulfed the ground floor of the building. A major tragedy was averted as very few customers were present in the showroom when the fire broke out. Employees on duty rushed out of the building as soon as they sensed trouble. Rajinder Prasad, an employee of the store, which is run by Punsup, said he saw smoke come out of the basement area and went to check it out. As soon as he opened the door that led to the basement, flames leapt out and he alarmed the other employees about the fire. Soon everybody rushed out of the building. Fire brigade was informed about the fire and it pressed three fire engines into service to bring the flames under control. Interestingly, due to staff shortage, one fire engine was driven to the scene by fire station officer Avtar Singh, while another was reportedly driven by a driver with the funeral van branch. It was learnt that stocks of pulses and refined oils for the entire district were stored in the basement. Officials were unable to ascertain the exact loss caused by the fire but claimed that it ran into lakhs of rupees. A committee would be formed to assess the loss. It was suspected that the fire was caused by a short-circuit. Apna Bazar reportedly did not have adequate fire-fighting arrangements. While some fire extinguishers were installed in the building, these were not placed appropriately, sources said. Mohali Deputy Commissioner Prabhjot Singh Mand also visited the scene to take stock of the situation. On inquiry into the reason behind the fire, he said Punsup was a semi-government department and would hold an inquiry at its own level. If any help was needed from the administration, it would be provided, he added.
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German belly dancers perform for special children
Chandigarh, October 6 The 14-member troupe is a part of the Happy German Bagpipers group that not only presented a colourful show with Irish, Scottish, Latin, hip-hop and Belly dance but also danced to the beats of Punjabi folk music along with the special students to celebrate Diwali. Lena (19), one of the members of troupe, said it was a great experience for her. She thanked the organisers for inviting them to present the show before these children. She stated that if given proper education using latest technologies, these children could lead a normal and independent life. Falk Paulat, director of the group, said their troupe was from jade - a small place near the North Sea in Germany - and they were a novelty band with a different type of bagpipe music. He said their repertoire from the 50s and 60s as well as Latin America, Arabic, Scottish songs and Rock-n-Roll on the pipes. He said besides Chandigarh they would be perform at Barnala, Kapurthala, Bathinda, Khanna, Ludhiana, and other cities under the Indo-German Friendship-2009 programme. Yadwinder Sidhu, President Society for Peace (Sangrur), said the troupe was in the city under a cultural exchange programme and a function was organised to celebrate Diwali with the special children. He said they had been organising various cultural show for the past four years with 24 shows a year. He said the troupe would also perform at Mohali where Panj Dariya Sabhyacharak Manch is organising a cultural show tomorrow.
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Dance ensemble brings Egyptian folklore to city
Chandigarh, October 6 The folk dance and music programme organised by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) at Tagore Theatre kept the audience enraptured and the language seemed no problem. All the seven dances were rather dramatic representations of themes of folk life in all its manifestations including rituals, social ceremonies, community functions and merry-making, called as the Nubian Art, an outcome of the Egyptian and Sudanese cultures. The programme commenced with a dance titled “Arageed” with young male and female dancers performing to the accompaniment of a Doff, as used by Punjabi folk and Sufi singers. The game dance depicted popular sports while the hilarious El Kaff dance displayed many bhangra beats and actions. After El Souk dance depicting the market scene and more dances the artists really touched the chord in concluding wedding dance. The audience relished the “Menhdi” ceremony, the bridegroom holding a sword and dancers enacting as ‘baraatis’ to the welcome by bride’s family, marriage rituals and celebrations all with close similarity to Indian wedding. The lifeline of the presentation was the immaculate and melodious singing of only singer to the accompaniment of a Doff and Nubian Timbale. Sunita Ishwer anchored the show. Regional officer, ICCR, welcomed chief guest SK Jain, DGP, who honoured the artistes.
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Le Corbusier’s creations come alive
Chandigarh, October 6 Rare pictures of Le Corbusier were displayed at the exhibition. The exhibition was organised by the Foundation Le Corbusier, Paris, France, Centre of Le Corbusier, Zurich, Switzerland, and Canadian Centre for Architecture, Ontario, Canada, in collaboration with the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture, Chandigarh Administration and Archives of Le Corbusier. Coordinator of the centre VN Singh said more than 50 rare pictures of Le Corbusier and former Prime Minister of India Jawahar Lal Nehru had been displayed at the centre. The exhibition would remain open till December 31, Singh added. Singh said pictures of three buildings of the Capitol Complex, including the secretariat and assembly, nine tapestries of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and two assemblies had been displayed at the exhibition. Besides, a picture of the secretariat parking was also displayed.
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Workshop on ‘Bio Manure Programme’
Chandigarh, October 6 Farmers, who attended the workshop, urged the Punjab Agriculture Department to support them for promoting the sale of organic manure, along with certification of organic farming and organic produce. They appealed to the government to set up a district-level laboratory. Director of the youth programme RK Sharma said farmers should be enlightened about the preparation and enrichment of organic manure techniques. Speaking on the occasion SK Sharma, development officer of the commission, said the commission was supporting farmers and rural youths for setting up bio manure production techniques. He added that the national banks were giving loans to farmers. The Union Ministry of Renewable Energy was providing Rs 40,000 as subsidy for setting up bio gas plants for power generation and 50 per cent subsidy for gas bottling units, he added.
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Assembly Polls
Raipur Rani (Panchkula), October 6 A consummate kabaddi player at the university level, Bhau blames Member of Parliament from Ambala and union minister Kumari Selja for the ills plaguing the constituency. “She has done virtually nothing for this segment and has now been largely instrumental in the Congress fielding an outsider from the constituency,” he adds. Cautioning his political adversaries against taking him lightly, he says: “Be wary of me. I will prove my mettle in the political ‘dangal’, because people are with me. And that is ultimately what matters.” Along with Bhau, Satwinder Singh Rana (Congress), Pradeep Chaudhary (INLD), Virender Rana (BJP), Vijay Bansal (BSP), Ram Gopal Mehta (HJC) and an independent Bhagat Singh are in tough contest in this constituency with more than 1.2 lakh voters. A descendant of the royal family of Ramgarh, Bhau keeps his campaign simple and direct. “Meri hajri lay liyo ji,” he says with folded hands to every male, female, elder and child. “Jo aap ke beech rahta hai, apke dukh-dard baanta hai aur jisne aapke liye kaam kiye hain, uss ke saath chalne main hi aapki bhalayee hai,” he tells them in plainspeak. The flavour of village life is all pervasive in his campaign as green fields, livestock, cow dung house flies, village elders smoking hookah, women veiled in ghungat, curious children remain part of his trail. Advancing his argument over his candidature as an Independent candidate, despite being a staunch Congressman, Bhau says: “I have worked relentlessly for people, while I was president of the zila parishad between 2005 and 2007,” adding that an opportunity had come to serve them even better and he would not let it go waste. Bhau, however, does not have any reservations against his party, which denied him the ticket. “I am not against the Congress. Neither have I anything against the Congress candidate personally, but Satwinder Singh Rana should not have contested from here because he does not belong here and has not attachment to the local population. If outsiders are to be accommodated by the party like this, where will people like us go who have worked tirelessly for our folk and stood by them through thick and thin,” he says.
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Permission to yoga camp cancelled
Chandigarh, October 6 Vijay Jaggi, the conductor, said: “Our camp had approximately 3,000 participants. A number of them have come from abroad and had made their reservations for their stay in local hotels. We have been told that the reservation was being cancelled due to the forthcoming national-level crafts mela, which is still a couple of weeks later.” When contacted, Home Secretary Ram Niwas said: “The permission has been cancelled in the wake of heavy bandobast for the forthcoming crafts mela. Moreover, the organisers had not taken permission from the administration. Even Kalagram officials should realise that the spot was not a venue for yoga camps. Kalagram is not scheduled to also allow religious functions. The camp was also being very carelessly handled.”
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Raising day celebrations
Mohali, October 6 Jagtar Singh, president, said the department had been in the service of the services and devoted to the cause of transparency and accountability. The members extended their best wishes to all serving and retired personnel. The association also celebrated International Day for the Elderly. The president said senior citizens were an asset and role model for the younger generation. Pensioners above 80 years were
honoured.
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Mehndi competition
Chandigarh, October 6 The competition was held between junior and senior classes. In the junior category, Kamal bagged the first prize, while Mandeep and Neha won the second prize, respectively. In the senior category, Gurpreet, Jyoti and Seema won the first, second and third prizes, respectively, and Ankita won the consolation prize.
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Chandigarh, October 6 According to sources, the tender estimates have been studied and the city is likely to get its floodlit stadium in the current financial year. An international match was hosted by the stadium in 2007, after a gap of 14 years. — TNS
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Jewellery
Shop Drama Chandigarh, October 6 The original cardholder, Neelkamal, today approached the police after the news was published in the media about the incident claiming that his cards were used to make payments at the jeweller. He told the police that his cards fell in the Sector 22 market on Monday evening. Neelkamal, a resident of Sector 46, works in a software company in Sector 34. The police said Neelkamal had not lodged any formal compliant saying he would take up the matter with the bank first. His two cards, issued by different banks, were used to make payments of Rs 46,000 and Rs 20,000.
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Students recruited to teach slum children
Chandigarh, October 6 A case in point is a group of youngsters, who are presently running the AIE (Alternative Innovative Education Centre) at Government High School, Colony No. 4, to teach slum children. Students from various colleges, including MCM DAV, SGGS-26, GGDSD College and Panjab University have been recruited through a placement drive to join the youth NGO Global Environment Concern (GEC), which, in collaboration with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) of the UT Education department, is running the project. Their USP, as they claim is, the professional manner in which the young minds handle it and the add-on skills that they have acquired in the process. “These students have been carefully selected from across the city colleges, companies and even schools, depending on their skills and passion to work. It has been after months of hard work and team effort that this group of youngsters has been recognised by the UT administration and found capable to run the centre,” said Rahul Gupta, a young professional and the founder of GEC, local chapter. These youngsters have proficiently divided the AIE children into three batches, one in which the slum kids are taught, the second in which those school students are taught who are weak in studies and third in which the “brightest” children are taught to polish their skills, but are economically weak. “Several foreign students have come and worked with our team. Recently a student from Indonesia, was with us who taught slum children, in a better way than all of us. He taught them Hindi in the most proficient manner, and we all were stunned. All these activities have provided us opportunity to learn and grow to become better professionals and human beings,” said Jitender Singh, a core member and student of SGGS College, Sector 26. On being questioned if the youth brigade is thinking of contending for the synergy awards of the UT education department, Rahul chuckles, “Six months from now we will definitely be the strongest contenders for the awards.”
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City girl second in seminar
Chandigarh, October 6 She had represented Chandigarh in the national science seminar, one of the most prestigious seminars, where she was placed second. A civil services aspirant, she was elated at the achievement and owed it to her mother and teacher. “I took up the prelims held in my school,
but it was only after I topped did I get serious about the entire competition. There were
many students at the state level, but I was lucky enough to get chosen to represent Chandigarh”, she said. At least 60 students from all over the country had participated in the seminar, out of which only 10 reached the final. She was planning to join the non-medical stream in class XI, but the civil services attract her
the most. “Science interests me, but unfortunately, there are many good career options in the field. I would rather join the bureaucracy and use my knowledge to serve the people”, she adds. Garima has won a scholarship of Rs 10,000. Her mother is happy at her achievement.
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