Chandigarh, January 20
Lawlessness in the city claimed yet another life when a group of youths stabbed an 18-year-old youth to death during a street fight at Mauli Jagran last night.

The victim, identified as Pardeep of Saheed Bhagat Singh Colony, was killed with knives and screwdrivers in Charan Singh Colony of Mauli Jagran around 8.30 pm. Some boys of the colony had snatched his purse on Sunday night. He was assaulted when he went to their house to take it back.

His 15-year-old brother, Kuldeep Singh, who was accompanying him, fled when he saw the situation turn ugly. The victim was rushed to the Sector 32 GMCH, where he died around 11.30 pm. Pardeep was working as an electrician.

The police has registered a case of murder against Channa, Bamb and Ashish on Kuldeep’s complaint.

Irate residents of the colony, along with the victim’s family, staged a demonstration outside the Mauli Jagran police post, accusing the police of inaction.

Kuldeep said: “We went to the colony to take back the money and were waylaid by a group of about 15 youths who started thrashing Pardeep and me. I ran from there and came after a few minutes only to find my brother lying there. I raised the alarm and people assembled there.”

The victim’s father Arjun, a BJP activist from Panchkula, alleged that the police did not inform them about the death of his son. They came to know about the death from their neighbours around 4 am. Even though his mobile phone was in police custody, no one answered their frantic calls.

The in charge of the police post, Malkiat Singh, said both parties had a financial dispute and the victim was beaten up on Sunday night. Last night, he went to take revenge, but was thrashed again. His brother and two friends, who were accompanying him, fled.

He claimed that Kuldeep went home, but did not inform anyone about the fight and slept. “The police came to know about the incident after about an hour when someone spotted the boy and informed the PCR. The police took him to hospital, but it was too late,” he said.

The postmortem report indicated that the death was caused due to excessive bleeding. The police has rounded up four persons for questioning.

Chandigarh, January 20
A group of youngsters reportedly stabbed two school students in Sector 19 here this afternoon following a quarrel on Tuesday. The victims were rushed to the Government Multispecialty Hospital, Sector 16 with injuries on their heads and arms, and were later discharged after being administered first-aid.

According to the police, following a heated argument between the boys at a tuition centre yesterday those belonging to one group called in goons to settle scores. The victims have been identified as Lalit Kumar Kadiyan, son of a Chandigarh police head constable and a student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 22, and Lalit Chowdhery, a student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19. Both are class 12 students in the nonmedical stream.

Talking to TNS, Kadiyan said he was on his way to meet Chowdhery after both had appeared for their exam. He added when they arrived near the ‘rehri’ market in Sector 19 a group of about 10 youths assaulted them, hurting his arm.

Kadiyan claimed though he could not identity any of the assailants he was certain they had been sent by a group of boys with whom he had a dispute to attack him and his friend.

However, Chowdhery expressed ignorance about the entire matter, saying he was attacked for no fault of his own. He added he did not know any of the assailants.

Meanwhile, the police has registered a case of assault and criminal intimidation under sections 323 & 506 of the IPC against the unidentified assailants.

The cops said they were verifying the statements recorded by the victims, who they added were “frequently changing the sequence of events”.

Chandigarh, January 20
Street hooliganism has become the order of the day in the city. With several robbery and stabbing incidents and two murders in less than a week, it appears that anti-social elements rule the roost in the city.

The city has witnessed a spate of stabbing incidents in the past few weeks. Most incidents had occurred in areas bordering slums in southern and eastern parts of the city. Last night’s incident of a youth being stabbed to death was not an isolated one.

A few months ago, some anti-social elements had stabbed a youngster to death in front of his shop at the Indira Colony in Mani Majra. Tension broke loose in the area after the murder and the police faced a tough time controlling the situation then.

A police officer attributed the rise in incidents of stabbing and robbery to the lack of proper patrolling in the fog. In the past three weeks, three persons had been stabbed to death in the city, including a woman in Sector 42 last Saturday.

The Chandigarh police had failed to achieve any breakthrough in the case of murder of Shashi Sharma on Saturday. The victim’s throat was slit. The police termed robbery as the motive behind the killing.

On Monday night, two unidentified persons stabbed Sri Ram of Ram Darbar, who was returning home from work. He was admitted to the Sector 32 Government Medical College and Hospital.

Next day, Vijay Kumar of Sector 19-B was stabbed by unidentified persons while he was waiting for a bus at a stop near the timber market in Sector 26. The assailants robbed him of valuables. He was stabbed in abdomen and was admitted to the PGI.

In another incident, Mohammad Shaharaj of Colony No. 5 reported that a group of unidentified persons stabbed him near the railway track at Mauli Jagran last night. He was also admitted to the PGI.

Rakesh of the Dadu Majra Colony, a fruit vendor, was stabbed by a group of robbers near his residence on January 29. He was grievously injured and died a few hours after the attack.

Though the police had managed to nab the accused involved in the murder, it had failed to curb the rising incidents of lawlessness in the city.

“The rise in such incidents has left the residents in a state of shock and people are afraid of venturing out after sunset. The fog has become a contributory factor as miscreants manage to flee under the cover of fog and darkness after committing the crime,” said Balpreet Singh, working at a call centre and usually travelling during late hours.

Chandigarh, January 20
Though Basant Panchami is the harbinger of spring, it was the coldest Basant in the city over the past four years with the mercury touching the maximum of 15 °C today against 22.6 °C in 2007. Last time on the day of the festival, the maximum temperature was 21.9 °C as against 18.4 °C in 2008.

Meanwhile, foggy and cloudy morning continued to give shivers to residents. However, the meek afternoon sun made the day temperature rise a bit. The maximum temperature was recorded at 15 °C (5 degrees below normal) and 3 degrees above yesterday while the minimum temperature was 5.5 °C.

Fog continued to play havoc with air and rail traffic. All flights remained cancelled for the fourth consecutive day and rail services were also hit.

Weather officials predicted partly cloudy sky with fog or mist during night and day in the next 24 hours. However, no rain is expected. “After this, the chill would start receding in the region,” an official at the met office stated, adding that the region could look forward to some sun in the coming days as the minimum temperatures were expected to rise marginally. The relative humidity was recorded at as high as 97 per cent while visibility dropped to 500 m.

Chandigarh, January 20
In a noble gesture for students to emulate, DAV College-10 students today donated Rs 50,000 to a child hospitalised at the PGI for a congenital heart disease.

Rajwinder Kaur, the girl with a timid heart, is recuperating unmindful of those who supported her medical expenses. She is one among four others who have been helped by Sankalp, a group of DAV College students working under the guidance of their teachers since 2006.

Rajwinder Kaur is daughter of Shingara Singh, a resident of a village near Mohali. Despite all efforts, he could not collect enough money to support the medicare of his daughter. The PGI contacted Sankalp for help and it responded promptly.

Arushi Goyal, president of Sankalp, stated: “It had been quite some time since we received any communication from the PGI. A simple call was enough reason for us to rush with the donation.”

The group has to date helped a four-and-a-half-year-old Sandeep who had a hole in his heart; 13-year-old Monika suffering from blood cancer; a two-year old suffering from a heart ailment; and Mrityunjaya who was critically ill.

Sankalp was founded by a student, Harpriya Kaur, in January 2006. Arushi said: “Harpriya showed us the light to commence our walk for a noble cause. She has passed out from the college. Under the guidance of our teachers, the movement continues to garner support from fellow students. Our experience shows that there is always a helping hand around if you look for support earnestly.”

The group has on its board Prof Ashok Kumar as patron and Prof Ravinder Chaudhary as in charge. The movement began with a determination to help critically ill children whose parents could not afford the treatment. The organisation holds an annual charity show -- Sparkles -- to collect funds, which are then donated to the PGI.

Students also hold a “donation day” when people can contribute in cash or kind. Clothes, stationery, shoes and other items received from people are distributed in the slums and colonies of the city.

COMMUNITY

Ruchika Case
CBI records Veena’s statement
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 20
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today recorded the statement of Veena, the alleged stepmother of Ruchika Girhotra.

The statement was recorded outside Chandigarh or Panchkula, said sources. The controversy over her role had arisen recently, when Subhash Girhotra claimed that the police, in the inquest report of Ruchika’s suicide in December, 1993, forged signatures of Veena and showed her as his second wife though he never remarried.

Veena reportedly repeated her words which she told the Special Investigation Team of the Haryana police. She had admitted that she had married Subhash Girhotra and left him after four years and-a-half in March, 1995.

Panchkula, January 20
Finding no information regarding realtor Deepak Rai Sagar, who had gone missing on June 1, 2009, the family of the victim accused the local police of inaction here today.

During the seven months of the realtor’s disappearance, the police had failed to question the three main suspects properly, let alone question or book five other suspects in the case, alleged Sameer Sagar, son of the realtor, during a press conference at Chandigarh Press Club.

The main suspects were roaming freely and the police was acting in an unprofessional way. The police had even failed to address the apprehensions of the family, he said.

Deepak (55), a local property dealer, had gone to meet one of his friends, Vinay, in Sector 21 in a black Skoda car but failed to return home on June 1.

On the complaint of the family, the police had registered a case of kidnapping, which was later converted into murder.

“In fact, the police did not check any lead provided by us. Even a special investigation team constituted by the Inspector General of Police a few months ago was yet to talk to the family,” he said.

“Now, we are being stalked by some strangers, making the entire family feel insecure,” added Sameer.

Panchkula Superintendent of Police Maneesh Chaudhary said the police had been making all efforts to solve the case.

The main suspects have refused to undergo narco test in the case. The district police is moving the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek their custodial interrogation.

The Sagar family has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court asking for the transfer of the case from the Panchkula police to the CBI. The next date of hearing in the case is January 22.

Chandigarh, January 20
Coming to the rescue of a complainant whose two-wheeler was stolen from a paid parking lot of the municipal corporation, the district consumer disputes and redressal forum today directed the corporation to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 to him along with litigation costs.

Rapping the corporation, the president of forum-I, Jagroop Singh Mahal, in his orders, stated that after collecting the fee when the vehicle was parked in the parking lot, it was the duty of the corporation to protect the vehicle from theft and damage.

It appeared that after collecting fee, the corporation left the vehicles at the mercy of thieves, who could commit the crime at the parking lot, for which the corporation claimed that it was not liable, he said. This position was not legally sustainable, he ruled.

If certain vehicles were not taken back by owners till 9 pm, the corporation should either put another attendant on duty after 9 pm or make a provision to hand over the vehicles to some responsible person to take care of, he added.

Due to the theft of the vehicle, the complainant had been harassed and he had to make do without a vehicle till he got the compensation thereof, said the forum president.

Even if the vehicle had been insured and the complainant might get some compensation from the insurance company, the corporation was liable to compensate the complainant for deficiency in service, resulting in mental and physical harassment to the complainant, he observed.

The complainant, Navneet of Sector 40, parked his Hero Honda motorcycle on March 12, 2009, at the paid parking of the corporation in Sector 9.

When he came back to get his motorcycle around 10:45 pm, he could not find it there. The matter was reported to the police, which lodged an FIR under Section 379 of the IPC.

Thereafter, the complainant had visited the office of the corporation many times to get the value of the lost motorcycle, amounting to Rs 40,000, but to no avail.

In its reply, the corporation had stated that the paid parking was being by run by M/S Enter Climax Private Limited, a private security agency, but parking slips were handed over to the agency by the corporation for proper management and records.

It had been stated that parking lot attendants were on duty from 9 am to 9 pm and since the complainant had come back around 10:45 pm, there was no deficiency in service, adding that the complainant had not contacted the in charge of the parking lot.

Chandigarh, January 20
Differences have cropped up among members of the five-member committee constituted by the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee (CTCC) to decide the fate of jailed party councillor Devinder Singh Babla over the quantum of punishment to him.

Interestingly, the term of the committee, given a 10-day deadline for taking action against Babla, initially accused of irregularities in the shed allotment at the Sector 26 Grain Market and facing charges in four cases, expires tomorrow. In fact, fireworks are expected at the committee’s meeting tomorrow, with certain members wanting strict punishment for Babla, who has embarrassed the party.

Other members want to toe the line of Pawan Kumar Bansal, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources, who had been maintaining that Babla is being vicitimised at the instance of UT Administrator SF Rodrigues.

CTCC chief BB Bahl formed the committee, comprising Chander Mukhi Sharma and Vijay Singh Rana, councillors, Subhash Chawla and DD Jindal, Congress vice-presidents, and Pardeep Chhabra, former Mayor, on January 11.

Sources said with Rodrigues demitting office on January 22, the Congress might not take a hasty decision on Babla, considered a close confidante of Bansal. Babla could be meted out soft punishment in the backdrop of the administration’s supposedly vindictive attitude towards him.

The other view was that strict punishment should be meted out to Babla and the law should take its own course. The house of the Congress-dominated corporation came to the rescue of the arrested councillor when he applied for leave till December 31. The opinion of UT senior standing counsel Anupam Gupta was that it was the prerogative of the house to declare Babla’s seat vacant.

Chandigarh, January 20
The inter-state gang of dacoits had relied on conducting proper reconnaissance by assessing the security of the industrial units they targeted than using mindless force to overpower security guards.

One of the alleged ringleaders of the gang, Ramakant Singh, alias Sanjay Thakur, disclosed this fact in police custody, saying they used to scout the industrial units for months and even managed to extract information from the security guards, posing as relatives of persons there, UT SP (City and Crime) Madur Verma said.

“We would tell a security guard that they we were looking for our relative working as a security guard in the area, giving a fictitious name. The guard gave us information about the persons deployed at the unit. After assessing the security, it became easy to strike there,” said Thakur.

He told the police that they used to sell the stolen articles to Raja Ram, alias Neta, of Delhi while Subash Kalia, a co-accused from Ludhiana, facilitated them in disposing of the booty. The police had been conducting raids to nab Neta.

Meanwhile, the police claimed to have recovered six quintal of nickel and seven quintal of brass worth several lakhs from the dacoits. The police said the accused had buried the stolen metal, contained in gunny bags, at a jungle in the Industrial Area.

Inspector Yashpal Vinayak, SHO of the Industrial Area police station, said the accused had formed their gang at the Ludhiana jail.

Thakur was lodged in the jail, where he met Rajan, Dinesh and others, and they decided to commit dacoities.

They would use different passwords to dodge the police. They called police ‘flies’ and robbery ‘duty’.

Thakur said though they used to carry weapons, they avoided using those, preferring to threaten their victims than to cause physical injury.

Chandigarh, January 20
Food chain owners at the night food street here will now have to fix nominal rates for eatables at their kiosks.

This was decided by a committee constituted by the municipal corporation’s finance and contracts committee last month. It had been mentioned by the MC authorities in auction norms that if any food chain owner fixed charges of eatables higher than those prevailing in surrounding markets of Sectors 11, 15 and 16 and the Panjab University, his licence could be cancelled.

The authorities had received a number of complaints of overcharging last year and the basic idea of having eating joints with reasonable prices near the PGI and the PU had seemed to have failed. Sources said the proposal for subsidised rates was mooted during the meeting as mostly students and attendants of patients visited the place for food, but the committee rejected the proposal.

The committee also decided that from now on, the company which participated in the auction would not be allowed to sublet kiosks.

The sources revealed that after last year’s auction, a number of companies took kiosks for around Rs 30,000 per month and had sublet those for Rs 50,000 per month.

Another norm which the committee fixed was that the corporation would not accept cheques for auction payment and monthly rent. The authorities had decided that only demand drafts and cash would be accepted and if there was any delay, a penalty would be imposed on the owners. The corporation fixed January 28 as the date for the auction of the eight kiosks, with a reserve price of Rs 31,500 for each kiosk.

Mohali, January 20
A Congress-backed municipal councillor, Kuljit Singh Bedi, has urged the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) to constitute a committee comprising elected representatives of Mohali to discuss plans for bringing about an improvement in the infrastructure of the town.

In a letter addressed to the Additional Chief Administrator, GMADA, Bedi said developed phases of the town that had been handed over to the municipal council by GMADA had many deficiencies as far as planning was concerned.

It was in the jurisdiction of GMADA to improve infrastructure in older sectors.

He said there was a need to provide slip roads around congested chowks, convert green belts into parking areas in marketplaces that were visited by a large number of residents, widen internal roads by removing road berms and widen busy main roads to the ease flow of traffic.

He said there was also a need for providing slip roads at Chawla chowk, Phase III-V chowk and the Spice chowk in Industrial Area.

The green belt in Phase VII market, near bank square, should be removed and the area be converted into a parking zone for the convenience of residents, he added.

The road leading from the Spice chowk to Phase XI and the shopping street passing through the town should be widened because these were
proving to be too narrow to handle the volume of traffic these days.

He asked GMADA to also provide a proper playground for children of the town.

Bedi said the town that was to be developed as per international standards had expanded over the years and its population was also increasing by the day but residents had been deprived of many basic facilities.

Chandigarh, January 20
Braving a chilly weather, art lovers, especially elders, thronged the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan Auditorium in large numbers to relish the classical music concert “Aei Basant Bahaar”.

The fifth edition of the annual programme organised by the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademy in collaboration with the Indian National Theatre featured AIR vocal maestro Pandit Baldev Sharan Narang along with versatile and vivacious Dr Nivedita Singh.

Confident and poised Dr Nivedita Singh bared the melodic character of raga Basant in all compositions. After a short alaap, Nivedita commenced the recital with “Aei bhanvra re” in slow tempo (vilambat lya), which melted into fast paced (drut), “Piya sang khelo”.

Maintaining her level of perfection, she presented, “Ae bhanwera lubaan rei”, composed by her dada guru Pandit Bhola Nath Bhatt in raga Rageshwari Bihag. She again turned to sing more in raga Basant Bahar, as desired by intrusive audience. She was, however, at her best with “Sakl ban gagan” and “Phool waale kat..” composed by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.

Since Dharwad-based maestro Pandit Kaivalya Kumar could not make it due to the last minute flight cancellation, Baldev Sharan Narang took the centrestage to spell the magic with sur, lya and tal.

Better known as BS Narang, the globe-trotting guru, however, opened up with a mundane beginning of raga Basant but gradually flourished with his enviable voice retaining the youthful freshness, while delineating “Aayi Basant Briha bas antt”. Narang enraptured the audience with a traditional “Phagwa braj dekahn ko chali..” in drut lya. He sang more compositions in Plasi Basant and Tilang Basant contextual to the romantic fervour of basant ritu and raga. He virtually spelt magic while rendering the Raag Mala before concluding with a boisterous Thumri, “Yaad Piya ki aaye”.

An array of most accomplished musicians, including Vinay Mishra, Avirbhav Verma, Jaidev, Naval and Gurpreet, provided admirable accompaniment while Namita Mahajan compeered the programme. Akademy chairperson Kamal Tewari welcomed audience, artistes and guests of honour NPS Rattan IAS (retd) and Guru Pandit Ganesh Parshad who honoured the artistes.

Chandigarh, January 20
Girls staying at the Panjab University’s hostel number 5 have been terrified owing to the monkey menace for a fortnight now.

Monkeys have been found sneaking into rooms, resting on hostel beds, sipping fruit drinks and eating snacks. Students residing on hostels’ top floors are most prone to facing such incidents.

Just two days back, an MA-I student of the English department, Sonam, was locked in the room for nearly 30 minutes along with a monkey after the other girls got petrified and locked the room to save themselves.

The hostel authorities hired a ‘langoor’ tamer, who had been making repeated visits to the hostel throughout the day and was at the campus full time.

“We are on duty from 7 am to 7 pm near the PU hostels. These monkeys come in a group of nearly 200. There are more complaints at places like the PEC, the PGI and the PU since those are surrounded by forests,” said Ali Mohammed, who provided the ‘langoor’ service.

The girls had been directed to save the number of the ‘langoor’ tamer in their cell phones and the same was also put up on the hostel notice board.

“I was casually sitting in the room when a huge monkey entered the room around 8 am. My roommate yelled and we called the attendants to help us. The attendants were too scared to open the door. The girls closed the door in panic and one of the attendants opened the room after nearly half an hour,” said Sonam.

“We were terrified when a monkey was found sleeping on our bed and a monkey was found sipping cold drinks in another room. The hostel authorities have now hired a ‘langoor wala’ and we all have taken his cell number,” said Mehak, another student.

“The monkey menace was too much for the last three days and hence, we called the ‘langoor’ tamer. He goes around the hostel to scare away the monkeys,” said Gurmeet Kaur, warden.

Chandigarh, January 20
The Panjab University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) has convened an emergency general body meeting of PU teachers for tomorrow to discuss the issue of teachers’ evaluation.

The meeting has been called after the Chandigarh Tribune today highlighted that the essence of teachers’ evaluation was being lost in war of words between the administration and teachers’ body.

PUTA, in its press note, also mentioned that instead of evaluation, feedback was more appropriate and a constructive method.

According to PUTA secretary Akshay Kumar, the purpose of the meeting is to debate the modus operandi of the framework of feedback and to arrive at consensus before it is submitted to the appropriate committee.

The press note also mentioned that in some departments, the practice was already being followed. In the joint meeting involving senior teachers, office-bearers of PUTA and students’ council held on January 12 under the chairmanship of Dean University Instructions, PU authorities were informed that the feedback would not be handled or used by the administration, mentioned the press note.

PUTA also raised the point that there should not be any intervention of third party in the process of feedback between the teachers and students. However, it did not rule out the possibility of formation of an independent body or a committee to monitor the whole process, as is being demanded by council’s members.

Chandigarh, January 20
Without being deterred by fog and cold, inmates of the Institute for the Blind, Sector 26, Chandigarh, today took out an awareness rally on sanitation, which was organised by health medical official, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, under the partnership initiative programme.

Through this rally, the visually challenged children spread a message that beauty need not be appreciated only through eyes; it can also be felt.

With slogans and message placards, the children tried to make residents aware of the importance of cleanliness in maintaining the city.

Area councillor Sarita Sharma in the presence of institute principal KR Sood flagged off the awareness rally.

The children appealed to the residents of the city to join the chain for maintaining the city sanitation, thereby, strengthening the bond for creating social awareness in their vicinities for keeping the status of city beautiful intact.

Chandigarh, January 20
The UT education department today organised a function at Government Girls’ Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 18, and distributed aids and appliances to children with special needs.

Indian Council for Child Welfare president Jean Rodrigues was the chief guest on the occasion. She interacted with the children and distributed seven wheelchairs, 19 tricycles, 23 hearing aids, two blind sticks and eight pairs of crèches.

Rodrigues also distributed sweaters to 150 children enrolled in the AIE centres, which were sponsored by the federation of sector welfare association.

JP Malhotra and PC Sanghi, residents of Sector 21, donated 150 sweaters for the function. Medical teams comprising orthopaedician, ENT specialists and eye specialists from GMSH-16, GMCH-32 and a team from Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO) conducted medical examination of 250 children suspected to be having moderate to profound degree of impairment with orthopaedic problems, visual problems and hearing problems for providing the required assertive devices, aids and appliances.

In these camps, 115 students were identified as orthopaedically impaired, 66 as hearing impaired and 36 with extreme low vision.