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Ex-IAF officer shoots himself, in critical condition
Chandigarh, November 10 Singh had retired from the air force about ten years ago. Though no suicide note was recovered from the scene, the police said Singh remained disturbed ever since his only son, Raghujit Singh, committed suicide in Ludhiana about five years back. The latter, who had gone to there to pursue his MD, was reportedly engaged in a matrimonial dispute with his wife, the police added. The cops, who were informed about the incident at around 7:30 am, arrived at the scene shifted the victim to the hospital. They seized the .32 bore revolver, manufactured by the Ordinance Factory, Kanpur, along with one empty and five live cartridges. According to the police, Singh’s wife, Harbans Kaur, told them she was not aware her husband kept a revolver in his possession. The cops said they would find out whether it was a licensed weapon. Harbans, who is running a crèche at their home, told the police Singh prepared breakfast for himself and, after eating it, called her up to complain of pain in his chest. She said she then asked him to visit their daughter-in-law but he refused, after which she went back to her chores. Harbans said after a while she heard a shot but thought it was a cracker exploding. She said she then looked outside the house but did not find anyone there. “When I went to my husband’s room I found him lying on the bed and bleeding from the throat. I then raised an alarm”, she told the police. Harbans said her husband was of a “paranoid nature”. “We were not on good terms and he would cook food for himself and wash his clothes himself. Even if he had to go to the bathroom he would lock his room,” she told the cops. She added her daughter-in-law lived with her eight-year-old son but Singh never allowed her to meet them. DSP (South) Jaswant Singh Khaira ruled out any foul play behind the incident. The SHO of the Sector 34 police station said the bullet was lodged in the victim’s chin area and he was operated upon. Meanwhile, the police has registered a case of attempt to suicide against Singh under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, based on a recorded statement by his wife.
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Spurious surgical items seized from 2 chemists
Chandigarh, November 10 The material is used in brain and heart surgeries and also in hernia surgery. Police sources said acting on a complaint lodged by Pankaj Monga, brand integrity manager of Johnson & Johnson in Mumbai, a team of the crime branch of the Chandigarh Police raided both shops The police said they recovered 25 surgi cells, 20 prolene meshes and 16 sutures from Kumar Brothers in Sector 11. The owner of the shop, Ashwani Kumar Singla, fled while the cops managed to arrest his employee, Varinder Kumar. At Jindal Associates, the police recovered 24 prolene meshes a dozen surgi cells worth about Rs 1.5 lakh. The police arrested the owner of Jindal Associates, Navdeep Jindal. The police has registered two separate cases of cheating and criminal conspiracy under section 420 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code and under section 63 of the Copyrights Act in this connection. Prolene mesh is a tissue that
holds the organ operated upon in hernia surgery while surgi cells helps in coagulation of blood
during the brain and heart surgeries in which the chances of blood loss during the surgery
are higher. Experts said the spurious materials, made of local products like plastic and mosquito nets in case of prolene mesh, are dangerous and have even resulted in death of patients on operation tables. Moreover, these spurious products were not sterilised and are sold using the labels of Johnson & Johnson, the representative of the company told the police.
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Black marketing of PU admission forms
Chandigarh, November 10 Having been exposed earlier these touts had adopted new modus operandi this time. The university employee assisting them was shunting these forms in order to break the pattern of successive form numbers. The plan, as was discovered later, was to hand over the forms to the black marketers during the break time. In the meantime about 15 of these touts split into small groups and conversed with each other frequently. Notably, this form, whose original cost is Rs 1,200, is was being sold to the touts for Rs 1,300 by the PU employee and then reportedly sold at various bookstores and private institutions places in Punjab for Rs 1,800. It all came to light when the Tribune team, consisting of this correspondent and a senior photojournalist, were investigating the case. In another exposure of sub-letting official duty, an outsider was found handling the cash at the same counter in the basement of the PU administrative block during the first half of the day. When this correspondent questioned the PU employee on duty, Sagar, about the other person (identified as Dinesh Rana), the reply was that he was “just a friend, a bank employee” who used to help him with cash. On the contrary, when the bank manager, NK Gupta, was contacted, he said there was no Dinesh in his bank. It was later discovered he was in the software development section and did not handle cash. After an intensive investigation lasting nearly five hours by the Tribune team, when PU registrar SS Bari was informed, the security staff was directed to catch the touts. While some of them managed to escape others were detained in the security cell. Interestingly, the touts were then made to sell the forms, which were recovered from them, at a separate counter as a penalty. Students flocked at the counter to buy them. The incident is the first of its kind in the history of the varsity. One of these touts, who runs a bookstore in Dasua in Punjab, said, “We are authorised booksellers. The university should make the sale of forms legal at all major bookstores giving us 5-10% commission.” Meanwhile, the university authorities claimed the forms were freely available online and the ignorance of the students was to be blamed. “The forms are available at nearly 31 colleges and even downloadable. The fee can be deposited at any SBI counter in the country. The students can access websites like Orkut but why can they not use such a online facility?” questioned PU controller of examinations AK
Bhandari.
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One hurt as PU maths students clash with swords
Chandigarh, November 10 A case of ‘attempt to commit culpable homicide’ under section 308 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 11 police station against the four, all belonging to the SOPU party - Gurinder Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Prabhjot Singh and Rajat. The students are reported to have attacked Jagdeep Singh, a BSc (first year) student of the same department, of the PUSU party, with swords and other sharp edged weapons. Bloodstains were found on the spot and a pink coloured turban abandoned along the parking fencing, when this correspondent and the security staff reached the scene. When Jagdeep was found wounded in the department parking lot, he was rushed to the emergency at GMSH, Sector 16 and later admitted to the PGI. During the late evening hours his condition was said to be critical. The roots of today’s incident have been traced back to November 6 when a clash occurred at a freshers party in the department auditorium. The PU security was called at that time and the matter was dealt with. Meanwhile, the PU administration has sealed the hostels rooms of these students. “It’s a personal fight between the students. They gave me in writing that it was a misunderstanding between them on the day of the freshers party and it would not be repeated. The incident happened just as they left the department,” said department chairperson Prof AK
Bhandari.
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Canadian docs on mission to find ‘cure’ for heart ailments in Indians
Chandigarh, November 10 Vancouver-based Simon Fraser University and Fraser Health is organising a high level conference of researchers, clinicians, policy makers, non-governmental as well as governmental organisations to discuss the growing magnitude of cardiovascular problems among Indo-Canadians and also the heightened number of CVD cases in India. Christened as “Cardiovascular Health 2010”, the three-day conference will be held in Canada on June 21 next. To make the conference a success, a committee called the Canadian-Indo Networking Initiative (CINI) has been formed. The CINI team comprising of the committee’s co-chairmen, Dr Arun Garg, medical director, department of pathology at Royal Columbian Hospital; and Dr Arun Chockalingam, faculty of health sciences at Simon Fraser University, was in the city today and met some senior cardiologists, including Director of PGI, Dr KK Talwar. Talking to The Tribune on the sideline of the meetings, Dr Arun Chockalingam said, “A number of studies have been conducted in Canada among people of Indian origin and they all reconfirm the finding that CVD, including stroke, is the major cause of morbidity and mortality among people of South-Asian origin, both in India and the Indian diasporas globally.” He said the implications for CVDs are far beyond clinical aspects alone. “It involves social, economical, clinical and research aspects and this conference will help find them,” he added. Dr Arun Garg said, “The Government of Canada is committed to forging new ways to develop international collaborative efforts between researchers. But this conference has broader perspective as it will not only discuss the clinical aspects but also the social and economical status.” He said the motive of the conference is to develop goal-oriented outcome to lower cardiac disease, promote health and build sustainable link. Expecting about 150 key decisionmakers from both Canada and India to attend the conference to address the current state of knowledge and research in cardiovascular health, Dr Chockalingam said, “We will meet the members of ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) tomorrow and discuss how to establish a system to develop a sustainable networking between two countries in different aspects of cardiovascular disease prevention - social, clinical, economical and better public health.”
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Canal water supply scheme for Mani Majra opens
Chandigarh, November 10 Addressing a gathering, the Mayor said with this scheme, residents of Manimajra would receive 12-hour uninterrupted water supply. She said this facility would come as a huge respite for the Mani Majra residents, who earlier got water for about six hours. She said potable water was a long-pending demand of the residents of Manimajra and it was the collective efforts of all public and the corporation to make this project completed. S K Bansal, chief engineer, said the canal water scheme was planned for supplying of 5 MGD canal water for Manimajra. The 2.5 MGD for the area falling in the jurisdiction of water works-II, Modern Housing Complex, Manimajra, would be supplied. He said this scheme was approved in three parts in October, 2006, for laying of MS rising main of 760mm/600mm from the grain market chowk to water works-I, Manimajra (via water works-II), having a total length of 5,151metre with the estimated cost of 561.52 lakh, including Rs 97.13 lakh paid to the Railways for carrying out the work under railway track. He said besides this, public toilets had been constructed in different parts of Manimajra and augmentation of the water supply system of Manimajra was being taken up at the cost of Rs 362 lakh. The sewerage system is also being upgraded at the cost of Rs 129 lakh. The channelisation of storm nullah near Shivalik Enclave was being done at the cost of Rs. 175 lakh by constructing the retaining wall and the work had been taken up.
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4 more down with H1N1
Chandigarh, November 10 "Results of four suspected swine flu cases tested positive today. Out of the total positive cases, one is admitted at the PGI and remaining are undergoing treatment at their residence as they have been home quarantined,” UT nodal officer for Swine flu HC Gera said. Over 370 suspected cases have been reported so far in all government hospitals. Both students, who tested positive for swine flu, were of Class VII. This is the sixth case from DAV Public School as four were detected early. However, the school had already been closed for a week after first positive case reported. A 24-year-old nurse, belonging to Mohali, recently developed fever and cough and screened at the hospital yesterday. “She was showing the symptoms of the virus and the PGI later confirmed it,” said Gera. Her condition is stable now and her symptoms are also subsiding. The UT health department has “quarantined” the victim’s family members. Another case reported from Karnal. The victim is a 35-year-old man admitted at the PGI. Meanwhile, four suspected cases of H1N1 influenza was reported at the PGI today. “Throat swab samples have been sent to the PGI for lab tests. The reports will come in a day," said Gera. The suspected cases include two students each from DAV Public School and DPS and one doctor each from the PGI and GMCH-32. Panchkula school closed Meanwhile, six samples were collected from Moti Ram Arya School, Panchkula, today and the school authorities closed schools for a week. The decision was taken after the death of a student of the school yesterday.
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24 PEC students examined
Chandigarh, November 10 The student, Siddharth Ahluwalia, a resident of Malviyanagar, Delhi, and third-year student of PEC, was found positive for swine flu. On the directions of the local nodal officer, handling the swine flu cases, the college authorities had sent the students to the hospital. The authorities have also sealed the patient’s room in the Himalaya boys hostel in PEC. Although the nodal officer stated that the virus was killed in two hours, the room had been sealed for safety purpose. Meanwhile, others students of the hostel had also been cautioned. “Whatever instructions were given to us by the nodal officer, we had been strictly following them. Two students were detained and others, who had complained of mild cold and other ailments, were also sent for checking today along with a doctor,” said Dr. ML Gupta, Dean, Student Welfare, PEC.
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Sec 49 CHB flat allottees rue lack of amenities
Chandigarh, November 10 The allottees alleged that flats given to them had several deficiencies that reflected poorly on the workmanship of the CHB authorities. "It appears that in a hurry to hand over the possession the board has failed to spare a thought for the allottees' plight," Rajesh Gupta, an
allottee, alleged. While the bathroom of one of the flats that was handed over was "half-finished", the other structural deficiencies were also apparent. It may be recalled that recently the allottees had cried foul over a "nonexistent" rain drainage pipe that was later fixed after a lot of protests. Similarly, a toilet pipe was also allegedly not properly fixed. In fact, the possession of the flats appears to have preceded the civic amenities in the complex, which is abuzz with activity in the backdrop of the number of cooperative group housing societies in the sector. Though the water connections have been released by the Chandigarh municipal corporation, the poor quality of fittings in the flats has virtually forced the residents to fetch water from a nearby tubewell, Gupta said. A visit to the area revealed there are hardly any roads worth the name. Despite the fact that nearby cooperative group housing societies have well-laid roads, the CHB seems to be least concerned about the roads though the possession had been given to the allottees. A bumpy ride awaits the visitors and the residents as the roads
are still in the process of being laid. Launched in 2005-06 the self-financing schemes comprising 464 dwellings units - 208 two bedroom and 256 one bedroom flats - have been mired in
controversies since their inception. The inordinate delay in the possession of flats, which was supposed to be given in June 2008, had forced the allottees to move the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum. The forum had also penalised the CHB for deficiency in services. Though the allottees have been urging the CHB to rectify the "technical faults" in the dwelling units yet nothing seems to
have been done by the board authorities.
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48 Squadron
Chandigarh, November 10 During the free fall, IAF’s Akash Ganga Sky Diving team made the pattern of the Tricolour with their coloured chutes and performed aerobatics in the air. This was followed by three AN-32s in an arrowhead formation. Air Officer Commanding 12 Wing Air Cmde SRK Nair was the chief guest during the show. A cultural programme that featured songs by Kalyani Kumar, a piano performance by Arshi and two solo dance performances by Deepa Mohapatra and Chandana was also organised. Other highlights of the programme were a solo break dance by Cpl Vivek Nair and a group dance by children of squadron personnel. This was followed by a “barakhana”, wherein all officers, airmen and civilian employees of the squadron along with their families dined together.
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‘Demedicalising women’s health’ released
Chandigarh, November 10 As the title indicates, the book aims at demedicalisation because there has been a growing uneasiness and restlessness in several sections of the society about the increasing trend of our daily routine being regulated by doctors and medicine. Solution to every problem
is being brought under the purview of medicine, said Manju Wadwalkar, who is also the public relation officer of
the Institute. Addressing mediapersons, Amarjeet, said the focus is to impress the reader that much (relief) can be achieved without medicines or doctors. Meanwhile, Dr Inderjeet Walia said the book focuses on women as they have been documented to lack adequate access to health. “The book emphasises a lifestyle that is conducive to well-being. Such a lifestyle envisages physical exercise, healthy diet, yoga, spiritual orientation, meditation and philanthropic activities,” added Dr Walia. “The book is a virtual gold-mine of home remedies - some of which we knew vaguely but the rest are new,” said Dr Walia, adding that there was an extensive description and ample illustrations related to women’s diseases. It is based on the sound dictum that prevention is better than cure. The book has 41 chapters by 61 individual authors on different health problems. Authors are mainly from PGIMER, Chandigarh, GMCH-32, Chandigarh, AMU, Aligarh, MAMC, Delhi, UCMS, Delhi, Foreword is by Prof Meera Malik, chairperson, centre for women’s studies, Panjab University. It has been edited by Dr Amarjeet Singh, Prof Community Medicine, PGIMER. Dr LK Dhaliwal, head of obstetrics and gynecology department and Dr Indarjit Walia, principal, National Institute of Nursing Education, PGIMER, are its co editors. It is priced at Rs 1,800 for a set of two volumes.
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Mobile exhibition on road safety
Chandigarh, November 10 The police said apart from distributing published material on the subject, the van would educate people about road safety by showing short duration video films on a
DVD. The van designed on Swaraj Mazda mini bus is equipped with a projector screen, DVD player, public announcement system and a generator to supply power. The van will be sent to various places, including markets, plaza, Sukhna Lake, Rose Garden, Rock Garden, Punjab University Student Centre and IT Park in the evenings. UT DGP SK Jain flagged off the van, while Mahabir Singh, DIG (headquarters), UT SSP SS
Srivastava, SP (traffic) HS Doon, RS Ghumman, SP (operations), and Madhur Verma, SP (city), were also present on the occasion.
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Issueless, woman hangs herself
Chandigarh, November 10 The police said the death came to light when the victim’s husband Dinesh Kumar, a labourer, returned home and found the door locked from inside. After he did not get any response for his repeated knocks, he peeped through a window and found his wife hanging from a ceiling fan. He broke open the door and called his neighbours. The police was informed about the incident. Investigating officer of the case Nirmal Singh ruled out any foul play behind the death. Dinesh told the police that his wife remained upset for not having a child after 14 years of their marriage and was living in a state of depression. The police has shifted the body to the Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital and initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
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Ear-chopping: Cops grope in dark
Chandigarh, November 10 The horrific incident has left city residents apprehensive about their security as the police has so far not been able to trace the assailant. Sources in the police said investigating officials had gone to the victim and other persons who were present in the Terraced Garden, but to no avail. The SHO of the Sector 34 police station said victim Vimla Vinayak did not see photo album of criminals, saying she could not identify the assailant. The SHO further said they had been making efforts to gather clues and were working on various theories, but had not been able to zero in on anything. The police had, meanwhile, registered a case of attempt to snatching under Sections 356 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code. When asked about why the police had not taken notice of the injuries inflicted on the victim and did not invoke the relevant sections, the SHO maintained that they were waiting for the medico-legal report of the victim and would proceed accordingly. The incident occurred in front of the garden on early Sunday morning when a man attacked Vimla with sharp-edged weapons severing her earlobes apparently to rob her of her diamond earrings.
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Chairmen to air grievances before Mayor
Chandigarh, November 10 The meeting was attended by chairmen of all sub-committees. Most of them alleged that the officer’s table revised estimates of development works during the monthly meetings, but did not give any information about its status. Sources said the issue pertaining to timely noncompliance of complaints made by councillors to the officials was also raised during the meeting. Members decided to organise an awareness camp on November 14 to make public aware about functioning of the corporation.
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Condom van flagged off
Chandigarh, November 10 SSP S S Srivastava was the chief guest on the occasion. Srivastava flagged off Ustad Condom Van which will move around the city for 27 days and create awareness on the usage of condom and HIV/AIDS. The aim of the programme was to target the most vulnerable section of truck drivers and their attendants and spread awareness regarding HIV/AIDS. Various games were played to involve drivers and attendants, which also disseminated vital information regarding HIV/AIDS.
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Explanation for ‘lackadaisical’ behaviour
Chandigarh, November 10 Accompanied by a team of about 20 officials, including the UT Chief Architect, Chief Engineer and representatives of the education department, Ram Niwas directed the officials to fix the infrastructure, build proper studios, workstations and workshops for students. Students and faculty members of the college had objected to the lack of interest shown by officiating principal Manohar Lal, who was given the charge about seven months back. The inspection continued from 9.45 to 10.37 am, during which the faculty members discussed problems with the Education Secretary. One of the female lecturers rued that there was no separate toilet for women since the inception of college. While others brought to his notice the wretched condition of studios, furniture and computer room. “Our college is among the best colleges of arts in the region and our students are spread across the globe. But poor infrastructure was a cause of concern for faculty and students,” said DS Kapoor, senior faculty member. Moreover, despite being informed about Education Secretary’s inspection on Friday, Manohar Lal informed his college staff that he would not be coming on Monday, the scheduled day of visit. “I have ordered an explanation from the principal about his absence and have issued directions to the departments concerned to set the infrastructure right,” said Meanwhile, some students also requested to change their teacher Sumangal Roy, who was also absent from the college at the time of inspection. “Students of the college have been an integral part of the Chandigarh Carnival since 1992, but this time the principal did not pay any attention to the upcoming carnival,” said a faculty member. On being contacted, the principal said he was on leave. Meanwhile, Ram Niwas said a special session would be organised to discuss the theme of Chandigarh carnival.
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Withdraw summon order, school urges education dept
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 10 In a letter, sent to the department today, the school authorities have claimed the directive to be education office’s attempt to intervene in the internal matters of the school. It may be noted that UT education department had summoned the principal, along with the accused art teacher, for authorities alleged failure to submit a written reply to it on the complaint of a senior PCS officer TK Goyal, also a parent accusing the art teacher of instigating students to join adult sites. However, claiming to have received the demand for any such reply on November 6, the school authorities replied to it today and clarified that it could not be done on November 7 and 8 due to official holiday in the department. The letter once again stresses the school’s minority status stating that St Johns High School belongs to the Christian community with a consequential right to establish and administer the school and is free from all external control. Thus, by virtually denying directive, the authorities have clarified that they would inform the department about the progress in inquiry.
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