Chandigarh, January 12
Panjab University (PU) is all set to implement the teachers’ evaluation from May. A unanimous decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the university administrative functionaries, members of the students’ council, PUTA representatives and other senior professors today.

Meanwhile, pandemonium prevailed as the meeting progressed, with members entering into heated arguments on the modalities of the evaluation and its format.

Despite differences, it was eventually agreed upon that the students who were eligible to appear in the examinations would be entitled to evaluate their teachers as well. The university’s functionaries also made their stand clear that the evaluation would have to be implemented as students were strongly in favour of it.

While members of the students’ council asserted that the evaluation should be detailed and comprehensive, the draft prepared by the teachers’ association was brief and consisted of only four questions.

The teachers’ body had broadly classified the evaluation in taking class satisfactorily, teaching methods, delivering the course content and encouragement. The student council members rejected this draft. It was eventually decided that the council would come up with a new questionnaire.

“We have always been in favour of the teachers evaluation. But it should not become a tool in the hands of the university administration to penalise teachers. At the same time PUTA is clear that it will not defend non-performers,” said Akshay Kumar, PUTA general secretary.

Quoting the example of his own department, where the teachers’ evaluation is taking place for the past three years on similar pattern to NIPER, Prof RK Kohli said “Feedback is important for any institution and more so in a competitive world. The teachers should take the feedback in a positive spirit, at the same time the university must rectify some of its own regulations. If students are unhappy and dissatisfied with a particular teacher to an extreme, unfortunately, the university has no written guidelines what to do with such a teacher.”

“After the meeting, everybody reached a consensus that the teachers evaluation has to come finally. Nothing could be decided about the format of the evaluation. But the students council has been given the task and we have started working on it now,” said Deepika Thakur, PUCSC general secretary. Students’ council and PUTA representatives, Dean University Instructions (DUI), Dean Students Welfare (DSW), Prof RK Kohli, Prof BS Brar, Prof AS Ahluwalia, Prof Shashi Sharma, Ronki Ram and other members of the evaluation committee attended the meeting. The next meeting is scheduled on January 15, when the format is likely to be discussed.

Chandigarh, January 12
Gajinder Singh, who had reportedly been linked with Ruchika’s brother, Ashu Girhotra, in cases of vehicle theft, was wanted by the UT police in eight such cases.

The Haryana police, which arrested Gajinder in Pune on Friday, today produced him in the Panchkula district court, which remanded him to judicial custody till January 25. The Chandigarh police had moved the court to seek his custody in connection with the cases pending against him.

The Chandigarh police has checked its records after its Haryana counterparts nabbed Gajinder a few days ago and found eight cases of vehicle theft, including those of seven motorcycles and a car, were registered against him and his accomplices at the Sectors 17 and 11 police stations in 1991 and 1993.

While Gajinder was declared a proclaimed offender (PO) in all the cases, the local courts acquitted his accomplice, Ashwani Kumar, a resident of Sector 28, and Sandeep Verma, a resident of Sector 6, Panchkula, who were involved in two cases along with him. His third accomplice, Ajay Singh Thapa, a resident of Sector 46, who was involved in three cases with him, was acquitted in two cases while declared a PO in one case along with Gajinder.

The arrest of Gajinder by the Haryana police after the fresh registration of cases against former state DGP SPS Rathore, who was convicted for molesting Ruchika Girhotra, has breathed ‘new life’ into these old theft cases filed by the UT police, which were gathering dust for years. After Gajinder was declared a PO years ago, the cases were considered almost dead and were apparently not high on the cops’ priority list.

It was alleged the Haryana police had “foisted” the cases of vehicle thefts on Ashu during the early 1990s at Rathore’s behest to put pressure on Girhotra to withdraw the molestation complaint against the then DGP.

Police records revealed the first case that was filed against Gajinder was on May 3, 1991 at the Sector 11 police station on charges of stealing a motorcycle. Thapa was his accomplice in that case and both were declared proclaimed offenders. Later in the same year, three cases were registered on September 11 at the Sector 11 police station against Gajinder on charges of stealing a motorcycle and then theft of about two motorcycles at the Sector 17 police station on September 7 and 17. He was also reportedly involved in a theft of a Maruti car (CHI 806), about which a case had been registered at the Sector 17 police Station on February 28, 1993.

The police had slapped charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy against Gajinder and his accomplices after it was found they were preparing fake documents to dispose of the stolen vehicles, said a police officer.

On the alleged involvement of Ashu Girhotra, a senior police officer said though, prima facie, he had not been not named in the cases, they could not say anything for sure at this stage and would go into the details of the cases to ascertain his role, if any, in the cases. As the matter has acquired sensitivity following nationwide media coverage no one is coming forward to give a “clean chit” to Ashu at this stage.

Chandigarh, January 12
The police has arrested two more persons in the Nari Niketan case on the charges of raping the mentally challenged girl at Aashreya in Sector 47.

With this, the police has so far arrested nine persons on the charges of raping the victim, apart from two women employees of Nari Niketan, Sector 26, who are charged with abetting and assisting the crime.

The police said the accused, Naresh Kumar, a resident of Sector 70, Mohali, and Devinder Singh of Mauli Jagran were arrested on Monday on the basis of statements of other accused in the case. The victim had also identified the accused.

The accused had reportedly confessed to the crime and had admitted that they had raped the victim in Aashreya.

The duo was today produced before a local court, which remanded them to two-day police custody. They police had sought four days of remand, saying they wanted to corroborate the statements of the accused with that of the other accused and evidences collected in the case so far. They would match the same to draw the exact sequence of events leading to the gang rape of the victim.

Naresh was working as a driver in the Government Institute of Mentally Retarded Children in Sector 32 and Aashreya, while Devinder was employed as attendant when they raped the victim.

The police said the custodial interrogation would provide them clues about the involvement of other employees, who might had raped the victim or were abetting the crime. Earlier, the police had arrested Chhotu Ram, alias Madho, after his DNA samples matched with the newly born baby of the victim in December. The police also arrested his accomplice Bhagwandin Yadav. All the accused are presently in judicial custody.

The police had registered a case of gang rape, destroying evidence and criminal conspiracy on May 18, 2008, after the victim was found to be pregnant. The police had taken blood samples of 23 suspects employed at Nari Niketan and Aashreya during the course of investigation.

The police arrested a Nari Niketan employee, Bhupinder Singh, on May 18 and later arrested Kalma, a sweeper-cum-attendant and a watchman, Jamna Dass, and another employee of Nari Niketan, Varinder Singh. On June 19, Maya, a nurse-cum-attendant, was arrested for allegedly abetting rape.

Chandigarh, January 12
The local units of the two main political parties - the BJP and the Congress - are heading for a trouble owing to infighting.

While crisis at the BJP central level seems to have replicated at the local level during the ongoing organisational elections, the Congress seems to be divided on the issue of jailed councillor of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) Devinder Singh Babla.

Still smarting under the May 13 Lok Sabha elections defeat, the BJP leadership has been struggling to put up a united front. Three of the party councillors had threatened to resign from the party in protest against the “high-handedness” during the election to the post of the president of the District No. 3.

Making the matter worse, there was uproar during the election to the post of the president of the District No. 2, forcing the state election officer Raghubir Lal Arora to put off the elections.

And for the Congress, the Babla issue is threatening to snowball into a major a confrontation between different leaders of the party. Certain members of the five-member committee met Congress president BB Bahl and reportedly expressed reservation over the appointment of Chander Mukhi Sharma as the chairman. Members also wanted Bahl to “broad base” the committee in view of the alleged “inadequate” representation in the panel.

The “crisis” in the Congress over Babla is not a new issue. A few years back, Bahl had vehemently opposed Babla's entry into the Congress fold but could not do much in the backdrop of Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources Pawan Bansal's support for him. The factionalism in the two parties is nothing new. A few years back, former MP Satya Pal Jain and former MCC Mayor Gian Chand Gupta fought it over for a long time for supremacy on the BJP set-up. While Gupta found refuse in the Haryana BJP, Jain enjoyed supremacy in the recent past. However, that supremacy seems to be under threat now as is evident from alleged tug-of-war between Jain and general secretary Sanjay Tandon during recent organisational poll.

However, Bansal's larger-than-life image looms large over the local Congress. The decision on Babla would be acid test for Congress to project its united face in the public eye, a senior Congress leader added.

Mohali, January 12
Even as it is negotiating rates of compensation for land being acquired for crucial projects, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) now has to seek environmental clearances for them. Marked as ‘area development projects’, a rapid environmental impact assessment study is mandatory for them according to the environment ministry guidelines.

The authority has already got this study completed for the proposed common municipal solid waste management facility in Rasenheri village.

The projects to be covered under the environment assessment study are the urban estate in Mullanpur, construction of 300 metres wide strip of land between Sectors 66 B and 82 to Chatt village and mixed land use between Sectors 73 and National Highway 21. GMADA has announced it will appoint consultants for the study. It has been observed that area development projects frequently get stuck due to absence of environmental clearances. Often those opposed to a specific project bring up this point, as was seen during a public hearing session on the proposed waste disposal facility.

Sources close to GMADA said construction of an urban estate along the upcoming international airport was crucial. The estate, comprising of residential, commercial and institutional sites, is proposed to come up on 1,000 acres of land being acquired for mixed land use along the 200 feet wide road planned to connect the proposed airport with the Zirakpur-Patiala and Chandigarh-Kharar highways. The land is located in Bakarpur, Kishanpura, Matran, Chachu Majra villages.

Chandigarh, January 12
The sudden dip in temperature is taking its toll on the health of Chandigarhians. If cold and cough have become common, doctors are reporting a rise in the number of people with symptoms of sinusitis, acute bronchitis and even pneumonia. And, the low temperatures are affecting heart patients too.

“A number of patients have to be admitted to the ICU with respiratory troubles caused by the sudden chill. This problem has compounded in the past seven days,” said a senior doctor of the PGI.

Also, an increase of about 20 per cent in incidents of cardiac arrest has been noticed compared to warmer months, as low temperatures increase the possibility of spasms in arteries.

"The main problem faced by cardiac patients in winters is greater chances of increased blood pressure levels. This, in turn, increases the needed quantity of BP controlling medicines," said a cardiologist. The incidences are higher in India as we do not live in artificially regulated temperature.

"It is therefore, imperative, for people with heart ailments to take as much precaution as possible to prevent exposure to cold," he said. For all those who have a routine for early morning walks, should delay it to post-sunrise.

"The appropriate time to venture out for morning walks in the winter months should be 8:30 am as the early morning chill has subsided, with the sun appearing on the skies," said a doctor.

While the season affects everybody in the same way, increasing the amount of labour required by the heart, a person with a normal heart hardly feels the increased level of stress. The same can be dangerous for a person with a history of cardiac ailments.

"People having a healthy heart will not even realise that the muscle in their chest has increased its labour by over four times or 400 per cent. However, this can be harmful for a cardiac patient."

With general cold-related ailments like common cold and cough also increasing the chances of cardiac attacks, some doctors also advise administering of anti-cold vaccines right at the outset of winter.

Chandigarh, January 12
Even as the maximum temperature rose by a few degrees today, chilly winds continued to sweep the city and the adjoining areas of Punjab and Haryana, forcing people to stay indoors.

The city recorded a maximum temperature of 10.4 degrees Celsius today, 1.8 degrees more than yesterday, while the minimum was recorded at 5.8 degrees. Though the visibility was not as low as it was on Monday, air traffic remained suspended for the 12th consecutive day today. However, there was a slight improvement in the rail traffic.

The Howrah-Kalka Mail (2311), which was supposed to arrive at 3.15 am at the city railway station, reached at 12.15 pm, nine hours behind the schedule.

As per the Met office, the sky will remain overcast with one or two spells of rain or thundershowers in the region during the next 24 hours. There will be a rise in the day and the night temperatures. The temperature will hover between 9 degrees and 12 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.

The poor and homeless were seen protecting themselves by lighting bonfires on the roadsides. However, the morning chill played a spoilsport for the morning walkers.

The cloud cover continued on Tuesday, too. Met officials said there was a possibility of light to moderate rain across the region in the next few days.

According to the Met department officials, there was an increase in the moisture level in the air. The wind velocity was recorded at 3-4 km per hour. Humidity was recorded more than 95 per cent in the morning hours. It is bound to increase after it rains, the Met department officials said.

With the entire North India reeling under the intense cold wave, city residents, particularly the villagers, are having a tough time, owing to unscheduled power cuts.

“Due to intense cold wave conditions, the only way to survive is to keep ourselves warm. But since there are unscheduled power cuts in our village, we cannot use electric gadgets,” rued Chetan, a resident of Behlana village.

Chandigarh, January 11
The police headquarters of the Chandigarh Administration appear to be more prone to security risk compared to the Punjab Police headquarters. That is what appears from the security arrangements behind the respective police headquarters in Sector 9.

Located in adjacent buildings on the Jan Marg, the headquarters of the respective state governments present a contrasting picture in the parking. The parking lot behind the police headquarters in the UT has barred any vehicle entry. Instead, one can see vehicles parked on the adjoining road.

The parking lot behind the Punjab Police headquarters in the adjoining building across the inner road of the sector shows normal crowded parking behind government offices.

Mahesh Kumar, a trader, said, “There seems no justification in clearing the parking for security reasons for the UT. There is a big gap between the parking and the police headquarters. Instead of wasting the parking space, the UT should instead concentrate on better security arrangements on the existing premises.”

A senior cop said, “The security at the spot had gained greater attention after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.

For a very simple reason, we do not want to take any risks. Why give a chance?”

On the other hand, questions have been raised on clearing the area behind the police headquarters only.

The adjoining buildings, too, house senior officers and important offices.

The issue gains importance in the context of a very tight parking space leading to vehicles pouring on to the roads.

Chandigarh, January 12
It seemed that the Municipal Corporation forgot its own slogan “Say no to violence against women and girl child”, which it had decided as the theme for Lohri celebrations at one of its meetings.

It was decided that the festival would be celebrated for the girl child this time, but the MC authorities while celebrating Lohri at the Leisure Valley today, did not even bother to speak a few lines on issues like female foeticide and dowry harassment.

Interestingly, Mayor Anu Chatrath, who had decided the theme “Say no to violence against women and girl child” during a Women Empowerment Committee meeting just two days ago, too, seemed to be uninterested to highlight the social evils.

The Mayor had also decided to honour Ruchika’s friend Aradhana for her courage and firm stand against all odds.

Surprisingly, for the last one week, the whole official machinery was busy preparing for the festival.

A number of meetings were held under the chairmanship of the Mayor to discuss the venue and other arrangements. But it seems that they forgot the main theme and the function merely revolved around the refreshments and cultural programme. As per official records, the budget allocated for Lohri celebrations was more than Rs 5 lakh, which included refreshments, decorations, awards and other expenses. Three women judges Justice Daya Chaudhary, Justice Sabina and Justice Nirmaljit Kaur were honoured at the function.

Meanwhile, MC Commissioner Dr Roshan Sunkaria, greeted guests. Dr Pam Rajput, chairperson, Women Empowerment Committee, Bhupinder Singh, Senior Deputy Mayor, Sheela Devi, Deputy Mayor, councillors and other officials of the administration were present on the occasion.

Chandigarh, January 12
Responding to a complaint by a Panchkula resident, accusing a senior faculty member of the State Institute of Education (SIE), Sector 32 of indulging in “caste discrimination”, the UT administration today marked an inquiry against the teacher.

In a written complaint submitted to the home secretary Phool Singh stated his daughter, a first-year student at SIE, secured admission under the ‘SC’ category and the Hindi lecturer at the institute, RB Yadav, was “using this fact as a tool to humiliate her”.

According to him, Yadav wanted his daughter to “do his official work” in his room. He said when she refused the lecturer began “looking for opportunities to trouble her by making derogatory comments pertaining to their caste”.

The complaint has cited several incidents when the teacher told the girl “the treatment given to members of her ‘caste’ in medieval times was suitable.’’ The complaint alleged he even threatened to “ruin her career for acting smart and refusing to do his work”.

“My daughter would be very depressed and come home weeping. We did speak to the institute director about all this and he promised to resolve things, but nothing happened. Things took an ugly turn on December 17. My daughter was in the middle of her exam when Yadav walked up to her and asked her to write some words on her question paper on the pretext of matching her handwriting with the answer sheet. However, later he began scolding her for making marks on the question paper. He humiliated her in front of the entire class, saying she was cheating. She was so disturbed that she couldn’t concentrate on the exams after that,” Phool Singh alleged in his complaint.

Both parties have been asked to dispose in front of the inquiry officer tomorrow.

While Yadav could not be contacted, for his comments, SIE director SS Dahiya said, “Yes, we have been informed about an inquiry against the lecturer being marked and I have set up an internal one also. The teacher concerned has gone out of town for some official duty. Prior to this the student’s parents never approached me and I received the copy of their complaint only today. Once the teacher comes back we will speak to both parties and then only will we be able to establish anything.”

Mohali, January 12
Two days after members of a sand-mining mafia near Nadha village assaulted a guard of the Punjab Forest Department, resentment is growing among residents of the village over the failure of the senior department officials in bringing the guilty to book.

Jagdish Ram and Jeet Bhumbla in a representation given to the Forest Minister and other senior forest officials alleged that Devinder Singh, guard, was singled out while being targeted. Two of his colleagues, Karnail Singh, a guard, and Badldev Singh, Deputy DFO, who had also set up a naka to check illegal sand mining, were left unhurt by the assailants. To be sure that these two officials were not involved in the incident, they felt that their mobile call details and other related information should be verified.

The villagers of the view that illegal sand mining and cutting of khair trees was not possible without the involvement of certain forest officials.

They sought setting up of a panel that had villagers as members so that the matter could be probed impartially.

Zirakpur, January 12
Two youths, including a girl, were injured when the Swift car, in which they were travelling, rammed into a divider near Singhpura Chowk, Zirakpur, late this evening.

After the accident, the youths fled from the spot, leaving the girl in an unconscious state.

The police said a passerby informed them about the incident and the girl, identified as Nikki, a resident of Delhi, was taken to the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi.

Both the youths were under the influence of liquor, the police added.

The investigating official stated that in her statement, the girl revealed that the youths, who were her friends, were going to drop her to Delhi.

“We are trying to intercept the youths and have started further investigations,” he added.

However, no case had been registered till filing of the report.

Zirakpur, January 12
Two unidentified persons were seriously injured in a head-on collision between a truck and Mahindra pick up near Occasion resort at the Zirakpur-Patiala Highway late this night.

According to sources, after getting the information, Highway Patrol Police party brought drivers of both the vehicles, who were seriously injured and admitted them to the GMCH-32.

Officials said the accident took place when the fully loaded truck, on its way from Zirakpur to Patiala, collided with Mahindra pick up, which was going towards Zirakpur.

The police said two other persons, who were sitting in the vehicles were safe. Officials said a case would be registered after recording the statements of the victim.

Zirakpur, January 12
A professor at a college in Phase VI, Mohali, has accused her in-laws of harassing and beating her up for dowry.

The victim, Shruti, a resident of Phase IV, Mohali, is undergoing treatment at the Phase VI Government Hospital.

The Baltana police today recorded Shruti’s statement, in which she alleged that she got married to Sandeep Chopra, a resident of Dhakoli, two years ago. After a few months, her in-laws started beating her up for dowry.

She said her in-laws were constructing a house at Dhakoli, for which they demanded money and when she failed to get it, they beat her up.

The investigating official stated that the statement of the victim had been recorded.

“We are waiting for the medical report of the victim following which a case will be registered,” he added.

Chandigarh, January 12
The NSS unit of the MCM Rotract Club and the medical committee of MCM DAV College for Women organized a blood donation camp on the college premises.

Students turned out in large numbers and 200 units of blood were collected during the camp. Director and head, department of cardiology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, Dr KK Talwar was the chief guest. Dr Talwar congratulated the college on its endeavour and explained the students about the significance of dietary and lifestyle standards.

A team of doctors from the PGI also congratulated the donors on their good response. Principal of the college Dr Puneet Bedi encouraged the students to come forward in large numbers and contribute for the noble cause.