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Sector-10 shootout accused Multani held
Chandigarh, April 24 Both the accused are supporters of the Students Organisation of Panjab University and are active in student politics.
“Multani was wanted in the shootout case near the residence of Punjab’s Advocate-General HS Mattewal in Sector 10 while Setia was involved in a brawl on the campus during the college elections. Both the incidents occurred in September,” said Charanjeet Singh, inspector, crime branch. While Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act were slapped on Multani for firing in Sector 10, a case was registered under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 506 and 427 of the Indian Penal Code against Setia. Both the accused had been evading arrest since long as their names had surfaced in various incidents of student violence time and again during college days. On a tip-off, Multani was nabbed near the skating rink, Sector 10, while Setia was apprehended from the Sector 10 market, added Charanjeet. Repeated attempts to contact Principal BC Josan proved futile. Despite various students being regular offenders, college authorities allegedly did not take action against them. A resident of Panchkula, Setia is a grandson of Haryana’s former minister Lakshman Dass Arora. Multani belongs to a middle-class family from Mohali. Both students had passed out from the college last year and were preparing for Panjab University’s law entrance examination. “Further investigations are on. Both the accused will be produced in court tomorrow,” said Charanjeet.
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Bhatti: IPL=Indian Paisa Laundering!
Chandigarh, April 24 Arguing for more teams in the ‘Indian Paisa Laundering’ series to facilitate flaunting of black money, Bhatti suggested names for new teams like ‘Kolkata Night Bribers’, ‘Royal Money Changers Bangalore’, ‘Delhi Fare Dealers’ and ‘Chennai Super Links’. Parodying the Adnan Sami number, he sang: “Teri oonchi shaan thi Modi, panga le ke yun hi kho di, tu tha sab kuchh jaanane wala, black white ko maanane wala, tu ne kaisi game ghuma di, kayion ki tu ne wicket gira di, Twitter hai kaisa ajooba, tu bhi dooba Tharoor bhi dooba, doobon ko ab kaun bachaaye, meri bhi ek team bana de, black money mera white kara de, black money mera white kara de.” (You were doing very well Modi, and had no reason to spoil your chances of turning black money white. You turned the tables for many players by bowling them out of the game. Twitter was a whirlpool that drowned you and even Tharoor. Who is going to save the drowning teams? Give me a team in the IPL as well to convert my black assets into white. A motley Saturday crowd at the Sector 17 plaza has a good laugh at Bhatti’s arguments. “The scandal, as in the past, has come at the right time to bury all other ongoing controversies, including the BJP’s ‘out-roar’ against the price rise.” He said, “The IPL is an excellent opportunity for laundering dirty money. We should expand the series by auctioning more teams. There is no harm in allotting two or three teams to a state. Every team should have at least a ‘big’ politician, an underworld don and a film star to run the affairs of the team smoothly.” He demanded that match fixing and ‘satta’ be legalised. He asked people to play ‘satta’ on whether Lalit Modi would stay or go and whether ties between the NCP and the Congress would snap or not. The parody was penned by Punjabi folk singer Gurtej Tej. Members of the Bhatti motley crew included Brijesh Ahuja, Vinod Sharma and Lally Gill. An office-bearer of Bhatti’s Nonsense Club, Vinod said Bhatti’s takes on price rise and recession during the last general election were examples of spoofs he was credited with.
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Rentals vanquish recession blues
Chandigarh, April 23 Though the rise in seems to be marginal in percentage terms, businessmen term it an early sign of revival. A rise of between 10 and 15 per cent has been observed in rentals of showrooms and shops at Sector 17. Though owners are reluctant to reveal details, many of them admit that rentals are on the increase. “Now a showroom with a space of around 500 sq feet on the ground floor at Sector 17-E is fetching between Rs 3.5 lakh and 4 lakh per month. The rent depends on the location and viability of business. If the shop or showroom is at a prime place, it fetches more money. Many showrooms in lanes near Neelam cinema are fetching over Rs 5 lakh per month,” says JP Singh Kalra, general secretary of the Sector 17 Trade Association. The market of Sector 17 is one of the costliest areas in the region. The rentals are not much different at the hotels’ lane of Sector 35, where a showroom on the ground floor with a basement attracts a rent of around Rs 2.5 lakh. Kalra says things are not much different at other commercial sectors like 34 and 22. Says Chander Verma, a local businessman, “Rentals for shops in malls at Sector 17 vary between Rs 100 and 125 per sq foot. It also depends on the popularity of the mall.” He is hopeful of a boom. Rentals had nosedived during the recession. A garment company which had rented a showroom at Sector 17 four years ago for around Rs 22 lakh per month was now paying around Rs 8 lakh.
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‘Inbreeding’ at PU raises eyebrows
Chandigarh, April 24 Unfortunately for Panjab University, no one from the university was present to defend the educational institutions and those PU Senate members who were present did not offer any explanation. Expressing concern over the recruitment of students, who are eligible to become teachers in the university, former Haryana chief secretary Dharamveer said “inbreeding” was narrows approach. “Why are outsiders not being given a chance in the local universities? Why is there no recruitment of competent teachers from other parts of the country?” Questioned Dharamveer, while speaking on “Education Reforms: Opportunities and Road Map Ahead” at the PHD Chambers in Sector 31. “Quality is the main difference between the western and Indian universities. It is unfortunate that smooth conduct of examinations is still a distant dream here,” said Dharamveer. Without specifying the university, Punjab Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor MS Kang said Nobel laureate Dr Hargobind Khurana was not given a job by a university.
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Higher Education
Chandigarh, April 24 Appealing to Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, who was present at the seminar, Siwatch said the department was having a harrowing time in dealing with the situation “Haryana needs help from the Union government,” she said. “Out of the 600 colleges in the state, most colleges are located in urban areas neglecting the rural areas. The syllabus has not been updated in colleges and universities since long,” she told Sibal. Pointing out how there was a mismatch in the education system, Punjab principal secretary (technical education) Suresh Kumar said: “In contrast to 17,000 seats for science students in Class XI, the number seats in polytechnics is 43,000 (two-and-a-half times more) and many more in professional colleges,” he added. “Why are engineering colleges not producing engineering teachers and producing only?” Questioned Kumar. Highlighting the need to rate schools as per the government standards, DPS Sandhu, a director in the Prime Minister’s Office, said the use of terms such as “world class” must be done away with. “There is a dire need to provide vocational training to students. Vocational specialisations have to be taught at Class XII level since education is not restricted to books. A government agency which can certify that a student is eligible to become a plumber, mechanic, electrician, etc must be established,” he said.
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19-yr-old stabbed to death
Chandigarh, April 24 The accused have bee identified as Khajinder, Goldy and Sumit. The police said Khajinder allegedly stabbed Pintu in the abdomen, rupturing his kidney. He was rushed to GMCH-32 where he was declared brought dead. Pintu was an auto-rickshaw driver and was residing with his parents in Dariya village. Sources said Khajinder and Pintu had an altercation three days back near the auto-rickshaw in Dariya. Today, Khajinder came with his friends and attacked Pintu, said sources. The police has sent teams to nab the accused, who are still at large.
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Yatra.com told to refund Rs 86,900
Chandigarh, April 24 Ajit Singh Ubhi and Jagroop Singh, residents of Mohali and Chandigarh, respectively, planned to visit Dubai for a pleasure trip and they availed services of Sonit Soni, sale in charge, Yatra Online Private Limited, who assured the complainants of excellent arrangements in Dubai. They were informed that Rs 41,500 per person would be charged. On February 7 last year when the complainants reached Dubai, they found that no visas had been obtained by the travel company and therefore, the complainants had to approach various counters and had to spent two hours for obtaining the visas. Following this, the district forum has directed the company to refund the amount spent by the complainants, along with Rs 75,000 as the compensation to each of the complainant for causing mental and physical harassment and Rs 5,600 as costs of litigation. Aggrieved by the order passed by the district forum, the company filed an appeal before the commission. School fined Rs 5,000
Considering poor transportation system of a private school as a deficiency in the services of the school, the consumer forum has asked the school management to pay Rs 5,000 as a compensation, along with refund of entire amount of school fee charged to the complainant. Sakshi Gupta, a resident of Sector 38, had filed a complaint against Rainbow International School, Sector 27, Chandigarh, and the consumer forum has asked the school to refund school fee Rs 9,783 with interest at the rate of 12 per cent annually from the date of deposit till its realisation, along with Rs 1 lakh as the compensation for mental and physical harassment. Gupta in her complaint alleged that on the assurance of the school authorities that it had enough buses for picking and dropping children within 20-25 minutes in all sectors, she got her son admitted in the school. The complainant deposited Rs 5,200 as the admission fee, Rs 500 per month as charges for bus services, Rs 850 per month as school fee and Rs 1,133 for books. According to the complainant, the school timing was from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm, but the bus used to pick her child at 8.10 am and dropped at 1.40 pm. The complainant raised objections, following which she was assured by the school that her child would reach school and back home within 20-25 minutes, as there were some adjustments to be made. According to the complainant, after 15 days the school bus stopped coming to her house for picking the child. On inquiries, she was told steps were being taken to arrange another bus. The school authorities in reply, however, denied that any assurances given to the complainant. It has been pleaded that the complainant has filed this complaint just to withdraw her child and to get the refund of fee deposited by her.
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Survey on Industrial Area
Chandigarh, April 24 The survey is being done to identify encroachments, illegal occupancies and misuse of premises. Official sources claim that the assessment is also being done to identify various problems faced by industrialists. The EO had also served around 450 notices in the past one year on erring industrialists who had either violated the norms or were misusing their premises by carrying out commercial activities. The defaulters were made to pay a fine of Rs 500 per sq feet.
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Go-ahead to 93 posts at GMCH-32
Chandigarh, April 24 Dr Rajbhadur, director principal of the GMCH-32, said it would improve the efficiency in order to provide extra facilities to the patients. Earlier, the health ministry had also sanctioned 780 posts, including staff nurses, attendants, X-ray technicians, ECG technicians, dialysis technicians, junior radiographic technicians and dark room assistants and 36 ministerial posts for strengthening of the administrative branches and medical record department of the institute. Health officials said these posts were being filled up through outsourcing. It would help in maintaining patient’s record of the OPD and IPD files, as well as the office records.
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Illegal meat shops removed
Chandigarh, April 24 Acting on a complaint received in the Administrator’s Grievances Forum regarding 25 unauthorised meat shops in the Labour Colony, a team comprising PS Shergill, additional deputy commissioner, Hargunjit Kaur, assistant estate officer, and additional commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Pawan Kumar Sharma, Assistant Estate Officer, visited the spot. The other illegal meat shopkeepers removed their kiosks voluntarily. The officials also directed the shopkeepers to stop unauthorised sale of meat from the colony. Deputy Commissioner Brijendra Singh directed officials to regularly visit the colonies to keep a check on the mushrooming of unauthorised commercial activities.
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Chandigarh, April 24 Pratibha has lodged a complaint with the Sector-36 Police Station and the police is looking into the matter against Varun Khanna, a co-owner of the Defence Dry Cleaners at Sector 35. Pratibha said: “My curtains had shrunk and also lost their colour after dry cleaning. When I complained, the boy just didn’t listen. He threw the curtains. A beat constable also came to the spot.” Varun said: “She never furnished any bill. I remember that we had never handled the assignment.” Pratibha said the boy had come home to collect the curtains and was not carrying any bill book.” — TNS
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Onus on colleges to reveal vital stats: Sibal
Chandigarh, April 24
The minister said final recommendations for setting up the National Council for Higher Education and Research would be made within a week. “The council would be policy making body in future for which a special task force has completed consultation on the issue. It will present a report to me this week,” he said. The need to pump in investments from the private sector in the field of education was also highlighted by him. “How many colleges and universities can the government sponsor or help? The need is to invest in education and public private partnerships are necessary,” he said. Ducks questions on IPL
Despite controversies surrounding the IPL, Sibal declined to answer any question pertaining to the issue although he made a clear mention of the IPL in his speech. “IPL is a metaphor for the future,” Sibal said, adding: “There is a greater market for cricket in India and the IPL. The money is here, the talent is here and the IPL is the way ahead,” said Sibal.
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CM visits health corporation office
Mohali, April 24 A large number of people had gathered on the premises of the corporation to attend the function, but were taken aback when the Chief Minister left within a few minutes and was not present at the time when Thiara took over the charge as the chairman. Badal said the PHSC was a big corporation, which had the responsibility of ensuring good health to people. He said he would not be able to give much time at the function because he had to attend convocation at the Army Institute of Law. He had there on time, as Army persons were very punctual. He said the corporation would flourish under the chairmanship of Thiara.
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Ayurveda helps cure cancer: Doc
Chandigarh, April 24 Addressing the mediapersons here today, Dr Regmi said although modern medicine- chemotherapy and radiation helped arrest cancers to some extent, it had its limitations. “On the other hand, ayurveda has succeeded in increasing the lifespan of the affected,” he claimed, adding that efforts are on to study the combined effect of ayurveda and modern medicine on cancer patients. He said ayurveda could play an important role in curing cancer by stopping cell multiplication without any injury to normal cells. Dr Regmi further said the number of Cancer patients was increasing manifold not only in India, but also worldwide. Keeping in mind the side effects of allopathy, ayurveda treatment is miraculous. He further advised that a vegetarian diet that is alkaline in nature, a digestive enzyme and three to five litres of boiled water a day is good for health. Anything containing preservatives are strictly prohibited. This is based on the theory that cancer is associated with high acid levels in the body, he added.
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Punjab first to launch dental implant centre
Mohali, April 24 With this, Punjab has become the first state in the country to launch such a facility. The Chief Minister said the state government was determined to provide quality health services to the people. The Health and Family Welfare Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawala apprised the Chief Minister that the implant centre was setup by the state health department in collaboration with Nobel Biocare at a cost of Rs 10 lakh. The Chief Minister also signed the visitor’s book complimenting the project. SMO in charge of the hospital Dr HS Sarang said Dr RS Mann would be heading the dental implant centre and he was the only implantologist in the government sector in northern region. Dr Mann said as per implant dentistry, the missing tooth was replaced with a titanium screw having a crown on the top. Earlier, partial dentures, bridges, etc were common, but these damaged the natural teeth. He said the facility would be provided at less than half the cost being charged in the private sector. The Civil Hospital would provide each implant for Rs 15,000, whereas the rate being charged in the private sector varied between Rs 32,000 to Rs 35,000. The strength of the dental implant was five times the strength of the normal tooth as it stood fixed in the bone. Among those present were principal secretary Health and Family Welfare Satish Chandra, MD, Punjab Health Systems Corporation, Manisha Trighatia, Civil Surgeon, Dr PK Siridhar, Deputy Commissioner PS Mand, SSP GPS Bhullar.
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Sibal was speaking at a seminar on ‘Education reforms: Opportunities and road map ahead’ at the PHD Chamber here. “The institutes must disclose number of teachers, their qualification and related information to the regulatory body and also submit an affidavit. If the information is found incorrect, they will be prosecuted,” said Sibal referring to the law to prevent, prohibit and punish educational malpractices. The law has received an inter-ministerial consultation and the draft is currently undergoing legal screening. 
Announcing the setting up of a new education regulatory body, Sibal said: “To access the quality of new universities, which are needed in large numbers, we also need a national accreditation body to ensure quality. Every college in the country will have to compulsorily go though assessment and accreditation.” 