Chandigarh, February 15
Reports of the arrest of a fifth year student of PU’s University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS) on charges of sexual molestation at Boston, have stirred up a controversy on the campus.

According to colleagues and family members, the student (name withheld) who had gone to attend a conference on human rights at Harvard University, in which law students from Panjab University participate each year, is currently in police detention.

While the UILS department had officially sent a 21-member delegation representing the varsity, several other students, numbering about 25 to 30, accompanied them. The students can participate in this conference in groups of 5-6 and a preregistration is mandatory.

This student, however, was not among the 21 members who were part of the official delegation and was among those who had applied online to participate at an individual level, UILS officials claimed.

“The student was not a part of the official delegation representing our department. His name doesn’t figure in the list we had formally sent to the Harvard University authorities,” said UILS chairperson Sangeeta Bhalla.

Some senior PU officials said besides the department delegation the student’s council had sent other students representing other departments to the meet.

Denying the charges, Panjab University Campus Students Council head Amit Bhatia clarified the council had not funded the trip for any student. “The students applied online this year unlike the earlier procedure where permission of the VC or the dean of students welfare was required,” he added.

According to sources, the trial of the student, a resident of a PU hostel, will begin on Tuesday in Boston.

“He went to a pub with a few friends and ended up bringing one of the girls, who was under the influence of alcohol, to his hotel room. The girl subsequently protested and told the police she was forcibly brought there,” said a close associate of the student.

There was speculation about the boy’s hometown. While some of his colleagues claimed he is from Bathinda others said he belonged to Ludhiana.

On being contacted PU vice chancellor RC Sobti, said, “The student had applied online to attend the conference. The moment we get any formal information about the case from Boston we’ll take strict action. It’s for the department head to ascertain the details and report to us.”

Chandigarh, February 15
In spite of shortage of staff, the MC horticulture department is going ahead with a number of green belts and parks across the city. Crores of rupees are spent every year to develop new green belts and parks, but the department does not have adequate staff for their maintenance.

For seven main gardens and more than 100 green belts, parks and open spaces, the department has only 600 gardeners whereas the requirement is of more than 1,200.

A visit to sectors where parks have been given to private contractors revealed that most parks are in a bad condition as the contract had expired long ago and the authorities had not renewed it. Saplings were either dead or on the verge of dying due to inadequate water.

BJP councillor Rajesh Gupta said the contract of the green belt in Sector 20 had expired over a year ago and had not been renewed. He had requested the MC to renew the contract or make some other arrangements, but in vain.

Even the condition of green belts and parks maintained by the horticulture department is no better.

A gardener said for the past six months, the hydrant was not working and they had brought it to the notice of the authorities, but nothing was done. Referring to the green belt in Sector 47, he said the hydrant there was also not functioning properly for the past two months, due to which water would overflow the whole day.

Councillors had also raised the issue of increasing the staff of the horticulture wing. The proposal of the horticulture department to increase the staff strength has been lying with the higher authorities for long.

Even in the recent ward meetings chaired by the Mayor, Anu Chatrath, she had directed the horticulture department to provide proper maintenance for the green belts and parks.

An MC official stated that they had to hire private contractors for the purpose. All green belts and parks, which had recently been allocated by the Chandigarh administration to the MC, were being taken care of by private contractors.

Chandigarh, February 15
The police today arrested Iqbal Singh, owner of a local TV channel, along with his father, brother and four friends, in three cases of trespassing, rioting, causing injuries and criminal intimidation.

The police has also slapped a case of attempt to suicide on Iqbal Singh for allegedly banging his head against the police Gypsy to deter policemen from discharging their duties.

The police said Iqbal Singh had already been facing several cases of cheating and other crimes in Punjab, Himachal and Chandigarh. His father Labh Singh, brother Gurpreet Singh and friends Harjot Singh of Saharanpur in UP, Sahil Thapar of Patiala, Amit Kumar of Sector 42 and Chander Sharma of Jalandhar, had also been arrested.

A high drama was witnessed at the Sector 22 police post where the police took the accused after getting information of some nuisance in the Sector 22 market. The accused reportedly hurled a brick on the policemen and manhandled them when they tried to control the accused.

The drama went on till the DSP (central), Jagbir Singh, reached the spot and placated the accused before taking them to the Sector 17 police station. At the police station, Iqbal Singh reportedly banged his head on the police vehicle, shouting that he would kill himself as the police was not doing justice with him.

The police said Iqbal Singh had been running the TV channel in partnership with Kailash Rattan Dewan. Of late, they had been suffering losses in the business and decided to end the partnership.

Dewan complained to the police that Iqbal Singh broke the locks of the premises they had taken on rent at a showroom in Sector 22 and took away the articles. He also placed his own furniture on the premises without Dewan’s consent. When Dewan objected to it, they had a heated debate over the issue today.

Meanwhile, the owner of the premises, Gurmail Singh, also reported to the police that Iqbal Singh had damaged his property in the process. The acting SHO of the Sector 17 police station, Gurjit Kaur, said the police was verifying the antecedents of the accused and getting details about the cases registered against the accused.

Mohali, February 15
For a timely action against fatal viral infections like H1NI, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has started a pilot project to set up over 150 viral diagnostic labs across the country.

Through screening of patients at the labs, a data bank of the various types of viruses will be created and it will help the researchers in finding vaccines based on the scientific evidence. Sharing the information, Secretary of the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dr VM Katoch said under the project a referral lab each would be set up in each state. The National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD), New Delhi and the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, would be coordinating the sampling process.

Katoch, who is also director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), was in the city to participate in the Foundation Day celebrations at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) here. After taking over as secretary of the Department of Health Research, Katoch said at least 50 out of 200 leads in form of research papers and medicine delivery technologies, that were gathering dust, have been taken up so that same could reach the common man. For delivery of the technologies, the infrastructure was being strengthened.

“It has been found that often after conducting trails in limited areas, the leads are left by the researchers. The leads include simple ways to tackle various diseases,” he said.

Chandigarh, February 15
Members of the Finance and Contract Committee of the municipal corporation have approved the proposed budget of Rs 701.68 crore for the next financial year, which is Rs 111 crore more than the Rs 590.30-crore budget last year.

The meeting was chaired by Mayor Anu Chatrath and attended by members and officials of the corporation.

For the next financial year, officials proposed income under plan head of Rs 363. 69 crore, as against Rs 256.19 crore last year.

Non-plan income was Rs 182.23 crore, as against Rs 175.12 crore last year.

Income under the head of other resources was proposed at Rs 155.76 crore, as against Rs 158.99 crore last year.

The proposed expenditure for next year was in the range of Rs 664.30 crore, with Rs 382.85 crore under the plan head and Rs 281.45 crore under the non-plan head.

Last year, the total expenditure was Rs 670.20 crore, of which Rs 280.38 crore was under the plan head and Rs 389.82 crore under the non-plan head.

The authorities earmarked special allocation of Rs 1 crore each for electric wiring at rehabilitation colonies and villages, upgradation of community centres and installation of tubewells, which had been approved by the committee.

This year’s proposed budget was Rs 152.10 crore for the public health department and Rs 138.83 crore for the building and roads department.

Officials proposed the construction of one marriage palace at Mani Majra, but on the demand of BSP councillor Jatinder Bhatia, the committee approved the construction of another marriage palace at a southern sector.

They tabled a proposal for the setting up of a sports complex, renovation of the cremation grounds at a cost of Rs 68 lakh and modernisation of the ‘dhobhi ghat’ at a cost of Rs 1.50 crore.

They also proposed Rs 3 crore for streetlights, Rs 1 crore for community parking and Rs 5 crore for for widening of V5 roads.

The authorities planned Rs 7 crore for the beautification of Phase II, Industrial Area, during the next financial year.

The proposal for the construction of a ‘mahila bhawan’ also got a go-ahead signal from the committee.

Chandigarh, February 15
A delegation of traders of Sector 17, led by Kamaljit Singh Panchhi and consisting LC Arora, JPS Kalra, Arun Talwar and Neeraj Bajaj, called on Shivraj Patil, Punjab Governor-cum-UT Administrator, to discuss major issues related to traders of the city.

In a representation to the Administrator during his public hearing session here, the traders demanded box-type structures on the rear side of SCOs and SCFs in all commercial areas.

They demanded that business and commercial activities be permitted on upper floors of the SCOs without charge.

The permission for an additional floor on booths and bay shops was also demanded in the representation.

Demanding deemed assessment up to December 14, 2005, of all pending sales tax assessment cases without C-form, the delegation sought deposit of VAT in cash at banks other than the SBI.

The representation demanded the auction of commercial property converted from leasehold to freehold.

The Chandigarh Advertisement Control Order, 1954, should be amended to empower traders to compete with MNCs and the corporate sector, they said.

The enhancement of food article storage limit, a food court at Sector 17, construction of a community centre and the formation of department-wise grivance redressal committees were the other issues highlighted by the traders.

Patil passed directions to the officers concerned to sort out the issues in a time-bound manner.

Meanwhile, responding to the demand of leaders of UT employees to adopt Punjab government rules for the UT Administration, Patil asked the Home Secretary to consider the proposal and assured the delegation that the needful would be done.

Pradip Mehra, Adviser to the UT Administrator, MP Singh, Secretary to the Governor, Mohanjeet Singh, chairman, Chandigarh Housing Board, Ram Niwas, Home Secretary, Sanjay Kumar, Finance Secretary, Roshan Sankaria, municipal corporation Commissioner, Mahabir Singh, DIG, and MS Brar, Director, IT and Public Relations, were present.

Chandigarh, February 15
The Chandigarh municipal corporation has once again decided to explore the possibility of replacing paid parking lots with electronically managed ones.

The decision was taken at a Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) meeting on development agenda today.

Members of the committee asked the MC officials to work out the modalities of the technology within three months.

Congress councillor Chander Mukhi Sharma raised the issue in the committee meeting and said a number of amendments had been made, but not a single contractor followed them.

He said even after surprise visits by the officials and councillors, there was no change in the attitude of the parking lot contractors. Other members added that most of the contractors were violating the existing terms and conditions, as there was a minimal fine for it.

Members said there should be a system to automatically count vehicles and display available space at individual parking lots.

Vehicles entering and leaving the parking areas will be sensed automatically and the available space at the main entrance and each entry point for parking zone will be shown in real term.

Vehicular movement will be sensed through sensitive sensors and incoming traffic alarms will be rung at all necessary locations.

On sensing a vehicular movement in a wrong direction, audio-visual alarms will be generated.

Members have asked the officials to keep in mind the cost of operation and service backup because of high technology involved.

It was decided that the paid parking contractors who violated norms would be fined Rs 3,000 for the first time, Rs 5,000 for the second time and Rs 10,000 for the third time and after that they would be blacklisted from the corporation.

It may be added that the electronically managed parking lots were earlier proposed in 2003, but when these were tabled in the house, the authorities rejected the same, as maintenance cost of the system would be quite high.

Besides, the committee also approved the rough estimate of re-carpeting of roads in Sector 47, installation of paver blocks in Sector 22 A, B, C and D, V4 road of Mani Majra and reserved price for tourist buses at Rs 6 lakh.

The committee decided that those, who had donated blood for more than 50 times, would get free parking passes from the corporation.

Mohali, February 15
Rejecting the ultimatum of the municipal council president on the development of Madanpur village here, the GMADA chief administrator said today that the president was no one to issue such a threat as GMADA did not function under his authority, but added that his organisation was prepared to give a financial support to any viable project for the village.

Council president Rajinder Singh Rana, who is backed by Congress MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu from Kharar, had served notice on GMADA in the first week of this month that if it did not begin work on the development of Madanpur within one month he would move court in this regard.

Madanpur village in Phase II here, which falls in the ward of the council chief, lacks amenities.

Slum like conditions prevail in the village with filth all over and lack of potable water, sewerage, streetlights and proper roads.

Deaths and cases of cholera, diarrhoea and gastroenteritis have been reported from the village in the past year.

A number of migrant labourers live in this area.

Rana, along with villagers, had in the past requested the GMADA authorities several times to provide the basic amenities in the village but to no avail.

He had maintained that GMADA was responsible for providing the basic infrastructure in the town, including the villages falling within Mohali, and the work was later taken over by the civic body for maintenance.

Talking to The Tribune, Vivek Partap Singh, chief administrator, GMADA, said he failed to understand why the civic body could not own the villages falling within municipal limits even when it had earlier been collecting octroi from people living in these areas.

When these villages were not under the charge of GMADA, how could these be transferred to the council by the development authority, he questioned.

He said GMADA would not be executing any development activity in Madanpur village as the streets were very narrow.

At certain places the width was only about 5ft to 6ft and there were various norms for laying water and sewer pipelines.

Earlier, a meeting with the principal secretary to the Chief Minister was held and it was suggested that development work in Madanpur could be got done from the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board. But later the sewerage board backed out and the department of public health was asked to take up the project.

At one of the meetings with the residents of the village, it was pointed out that animals would have to be shifted out of the area if any development had to be carried out in Madanpur. However, nobody responded in this regard.

The CA said GMADA would provide funds whenever a feasible proposal regarding the development of the village was presented by the department of public health.

Chandigarh, February 15
Bollywood glamour will soon rock the City Beautiful with live performances of celebrities and singers at the Rose Festival 2010.

Bollywood’s dancing sensation Koena Mitra, singer Kunal Ganjawala, anchor Hussain, designer Libas, Anamika Rawal and Stunt dancing troupe from Goa will perform in the three-day festival to be held at the Rose Garden from February 26 to 28. On February 26, there will be a musical evening titled “Gungunati Sham”, a dance programme based on songs of flowers from the days of black and white films to the present day films. On the second day, the festival will have a live performance by Koena Mitra, which will be followed by fashion shows by renowned Mumbai designers Libas and Anamika Rawal. Hussain will be the anchor for the day. The third day will witness a live performance by Bollywood renowned singer Kunal Ganjawala.

Gul Panag, a city-based actress, will be the star guest on the last day of the Rose Festival.

Various other activities, including competition of Rose Prince and Rose Princess, on-the-spot painting, photography, antakshri and kite-flying competition will also be organised. The festival will also see the inauguration of the musical fountain installed near the entrance of Rose Garden.

Chandigarh, February 15
Two months after the inmate of Nari Niketan gave birth to a girl child, another inmate of Ashreya delivered a baby boy at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, here today.

The woman was brought to Ashreya on the intervening night of June 15 and 16. She was found to be six-week pregnant.

Medical reports of the woman revealed that she had conceived before she was brought to Ashreya.

The police found the woman at Kishangarh village on June 15, while pelting stones on some villagers. She was produced before the SDM, who found her mentally challenged and asked the police to get her admitted to Ashreya. After her medical examination was conducted, the police handed her over to the Ashreya authorities.

Later, she was admitted to the psychiatry ward at the GMCH and was discharged on June 26. On July 7, during a medical examination, she was found to be pregnant. A medical board was constituted for her examination, which revealed that she was six-week pregnant.

Being speech impaired, she could not speak properly, but she wrote her name.

The child was born at 1.51 am and both mother as well as child were in good health, said medical superintendent Dr Vipin Kaushal.

Mohali, February 15
National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, celebrated foundation day on its campus here today.

Dr VM Katoch, director general, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, and secretary, department of health research, who was the chief guest, delivered the foundation day lecture “Opportunities in tuberculosis research with special reference to Indian scenario.”

He emphasised on tuberculosis research and its result. He added that scientists were provided with better opportunities of research environment that would lead to own the research work till its completion.

Dr Katoch was also conferred with AstraZeneca Endowment Award established by NIPER for his contribution in tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases.

Prof KK Bhutani, officiating director of the Institute, presented a slide show of progress report of 2009-10 along with photographs, including achievements of the Institute and highlighted the collaborations with industries.

He highlighted the future projects, along with the on going projects of the institute. He informed that an exclusive branch of the State Bank of Patiala (SBoP) has been opened at NIPER.

Prof RC Mahajan, PGIMER, Chandigarh, presided over. Harkishan Singh, Emeritus Professor, Panjab University, Chandigarh, was guest of honour.

Dr Katoch released a book “Herbal wealth of Greater Bihar- Ancient knowledge and database appraisal” and DVD based on the educational documentary “Herbal wealth of Greater Bihar.”

Prof Bhutani gave away prizes to the winners of various competitions.

Chandigarh, February 15
Three bodies, including two of unidentified persons, were recovered from different parts of the city today.

One of the deceased was identified as 55-year-old Surinder Kumar of Ram Darbar, who was reportedly a drunkard. His body was recovered from near the boundary wall of the Government Senior Secondary School in the locality. The police ruled out foul play behind his death.

Another body was recovered from near the Housing Board traffic lights at Mani Majra and the third from Sector 15. The police suspected that the duo died due to excessive drinking.

Mohali, February 15
On the pattern of various benefits given to its senior citizens by the Indian Government, the Nepal Government was also following the suit. Initially, old age pension has been started in certain villages in Nepal.

The Nepal Prime Minister, Madav Kumar Nepali, shared the information with an 18-member delegation of the Mohali Senior Citizens’ Council who had gone to Nepal on an invitation of the Nepal Senior Citizens’ Council.

On returning from the trip, Swaran Chadhary, who led the delegation of 10 men and eight women, said they received a warm hospitality from their Nepali counterparts. The Mohali council presented a memento to the Nepal Prime Minister.

In return, the Nepali PM presented pashmina shawls to the ladies and traditional Nepali cap to men.

During a visit to old age homes, they donated Rs 40,000 cash to the NGO running the centres.

Chandigarh, February 15
Around 50 students of Dr Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 52, were not allowed to enter the college after they got late by five minutes. The students subsequently protested outside the college and some even tried to persuade the gate security to permit them to enter.

A majority of these students, studying in BSc I, III year and diploma courses, had come to attend classes from Panchkula, Ambala, Patiala and other far-flung areas.

While the college principal had issued directions to send students back even if they were late by five minutes, students argued that they were forced to miss seven lectures in such a situation and their overall attendance got affected. “Students have to suffer because of the apathetic attitude of the authorities. The issue has cropped up several times in the past and even schools and other educational institutes cannot deny right of admission to students.

Despite being rated as one of the best colleges of hotel management in the country by several magazines, the issue of refusing entry to students has dragged the college into controversies even in the past. “Due to limited seats in the hostel, we could not get admission. Those, who reside in the hostel have the advantage of coming late by few minutes, but we are forced to go back, even if we give a genuine reason,” said another student who come from Panchkula. Notably, students attend lectures of two hours each from 9 am to 5 pm. If a student is late, he is not allowed to sit in any lecture throughout the day. Meanwhile, the authorities dismissed the plea of students and said certain amount of discipline was required.

“There has to be some discipline in our students. If we do not teach them these values now, they will not be able to inculcate these ever,” said Navin Kumar Nanachal, principal of IHM, Sector 42.

Chandigarh, February 15
Impressed with the flick “Three Idiots”, Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal has once asserted that the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation System (CCE) aimed at producing similar “Idiots”.

Six months after its implementation apparently without the requisite groundwork, the evaluation applicators are en route realising the goal though in a literal sense.

CBSE’s formal “assurance” that the upcoming Class IX examination papers will be based on sample question papers prepared by the board, has turned books out of many classrooms.

In a shocking trend which has picked up in many city schools, students are being made to cram sample papers and some old exam papers to gain easy success in the CCE’s pen and paper test or summative assessment.

Most of the teachers have abandoned books or notes and have been making kids “perfect” in cramming sample papers for the past few months.

When contacted, principal of a school at Sector 26 on condition of anonymity said, “See initially there was no fixation for examination papers so both students and teachers tried to go through as many books as possible, but now when we know that the paper will be set from a set of about 30 to 40 questions then why to burden the kids.”

“The CCE looks truly good theoretically, but before recommending it, we need to change the entire set up of society.” said principal of a school at Sector 46.

Things have taken a worse turn in government schools, where Class IX students attend school only on practical days that is once or twice a week. Surprisingly, they are asked by their teachers to stay at home and practice sample papers.

Another aspect, which has perturbed many educationists, is virtual assurance that all students will be promoted.

Most of the parents have approached a local school complaining about the fact.

“Ever since my kid came to know about the CCE system, he has stopped studying at all. I was shocked to know that he does not get home work and his teachers have stopped giving him assignments since October 4,” said Purvi Singh, a teacher.

Chandigarh, February 15
A solo performance by Vijay Giri, an alumnus of department of Indian Theatre, PU, in “Ganika” marked the conclusion of five-day annual Katha Manchan organised by the Mask Theatre Group at Randhawa auditorium here today.

The potent script written as a monologue and enacted solely by Vijay brought into focus the hypocrisy, double standard and perfidy underlying the spirituality, practiced by many patriarchs of maths or deras.

Such a custodian of religion Guru Vijyanand, heading a religious cult, exploits among others a Ganika (dancer and prostitute) named Kalyani who ditches her after completing a book with her help, but giving no credit to her. She pays him back proving the former a fraudulent guru.

The monologue is a satire on fake and corrupt religious gurus who exploit innocent people.

The central character of the play guru Vijayanand is a fraud, who takes advantage of common people.

Lights by Sumit Sood and percussion effects by Vijay Machal augmented the production with a bold theme.

Without any government or corporate patronage, the organisers relied on the support of theatre buffs. Each viewer was requested to contribute for the sake of art.