Chandigarh, July 12
Additional District and Sessions Judge RN Bharti today sentenced cardiologist Dr Deepak Kaura to rigorous imprisonment of four years for creating circumstances that led his wife Dr Babita Kaura, aka Dolly, to commit suicide. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on him.

Dressed in a T-shirt and trousers, Dr Kaura was immediately taken to the police station in Sector 17 and sent to the Burail jail. The deceased, Dr Babita, who was working as assistant professor in the Department of Immunopathology at the PGI, allegedly had strained relations with her husband, following which she committed suicide on the night of January 18 in 2005. Initially, the police took it as a suicide case. However, the police later filed a charge-sheet for abetment to suicide against Dr Kaura.

The sister-in-law of the deceased, Deepali Kohli, was reportedly with the deceased at her Sector 24 residence when she committed suicide after jumping from the third floor. Dr Kaura appeared upset with the conviction orders. The FIR in the case had been lodged on the complaint of a policeman.

Dr Babita’s father is not a complainant in the case.

Chandigarh, July 12
Dr Kaura’s aged parents appeared disturbed with the turn of events. The father shunned media and lost his temper many a time in the court.

Dr Kaura stood with folded hands in the witness box as the judge entered to pronounce the sentence. Looking at the doctor, the judge requested him not to fold hands.

Seeking a lenient view from the court, Dr Kaura’s father-in-law Sant Kumar Jindal said that his daughter was dead and if her husband was sentenced, the children would be orphaned. Dr Kaura broke down and tears rolled down his cheeks as the sentence was pronounced. The doctor begged the court for mercy, “Please forgive me sir…please forgive me.”

The whole family of Dr Kaura, including his son, daughter, parents and father-in-law were present in the court. After the orders, Dr Kaura’s son and daughter sat next to him. Still in school, his son caught Dr Kaura’s hand. A few well-wishers, who were his patients, were present in the court. Talking to The Tribune, one of them said, “When Dr Babita realised that Dr Kaura’s habits could not change, she must have taken the extreme step.”

Chandigarh, July 12
Be ready to be more disciplined while driving on the city roads as the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a slew of directions aimed at applying brakes on unruliness on roads.

The instructions to the motorists include sticking to their own lanes while accelerating, use of slow carriageways where required and stopping before the zebra crossings. The authorities concerned have also been asked to install walk sign at the traffic lights and to increase the number of pedestrian crossings in the city.

The directions are significant as six accidents were reported in the first week of July alone. As many as 215 mishaps were reported from January last to July this year.

In his four-page order on traffic safety, Justice Rajive Bhalla asserted: “The roads in Chandigarh are demarcated into different lanes in accordance with the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. But neither the police nor the residents of Chandigarh appear to understand the significance of lanes or lane driving. In addition, all V-1 roads are provided with slow carriageways, which are not used by the public. Counsel for the Union Territory of Chandigarh is directed to ensure that all the vehicles drive in their demarcated lanes and the slow moving traffic vehicles make use of the slow carriageways, wherever provided. The police shall demarcate cycle tracks and where cycle tracks are not available a separate lane shall be demarcated for cycles.”

Chandigarh, July 12
In a bid to lend teeth to the norm declaring 75 per cent attendance as mandatory in city government colleges, UT higher education department has abolished the powers of principal to grant any relaxation in lecture shortage cases.

The decision was taken in wake of the fact that fact that despite hundreds of students failing to achieve mandatory attendance levels, most of them were granted waivers by principals on medical grounds etc.

The practice, according to senior officials, made the attendance norm a mere joke for many and from now on a college principal will not be able to grant any relaxation to students, but will have to forward all such cases to director higher education.

“Attendance is meant to play a major role in academics, but students seem to be taking it too casually, as most of them skip lectures and eventually manage to get waivers from principals. To deal with the problem we have decided to take things in our hands. The principals will recommend all such cases to us and we will ensure that only genuine students get the waivers,” said Ajoy Sharma, director, higher education.

According to department officials it was brought to the notice of director of higher education that a few principals had continued to grant waivers to same students year after year on same grounds. The power was also alleged to be misused by some to issue regular threats to students.

Chandigarh, July 12
The Chandigarh police today arrested three persons for allegedly helping Pakistani spy Kashif Ali in procuring a matriculation certificate and also filling his passport form.

DSP (Crime) Satbir Singh said Ali had given Rs 10,000 to the trio for obtaining a matriculation certificate and facilitating him in getting a passport.

The accused have been identified as Kulwinder Singh, a resident of Sector 66, Mohali, Gurpinder Singh, a resident of Sector 47-C and Jagdish Kumar, a resident of Phase IV, Mohali. They were arrested from outside the Regional Passport Office in Sector 34 around 3.30 pm after Ali identified them.

Panchkula, July 12
A 22-year-old girl, Sandeepa, committed suicide under mysterious circumstances in Sector 7 late last night. A case of abetment to suicide was registered at the Sector 7 police station and the police is investigating the case. The body of the deceased was handed over to her parents after the post-mortem examination.

According to information, Sandeepa, a native of Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh, was living with her fiancé Milan, a resident of Rajpura, at a house in Sector 7, here, for the past two months. Milan had brought her to the Sector 6 general hospital after the deceased had allegedly cut her veins on her left wrist. However, the doctors at the hospital declared her brought dead. The body of the deceased was kept in the mortuary of the hospital for the post-mortem examination to be conducted today.

Chandigarh, July 12
When it comes to corruption, personnel of the Chandigarh Police top the chart along with officials of the UT Revenue Department.

A perusal of the cases registered by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Chandigarh Zone, reveals that both departments of the UT administration account for one-third of the total cases registered from 2005 onwards.

Sources in the CBI said the regional branch of the CBI, Sector 30, here, has registered 187 cases from 2005 onwards. Out of these cases registered under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 20 per cent of the cases involve police departments. And 15 per cent of these (20 per cent cases) were registered against UT police personnel.

Fortyfive per cent of 187 cases involved various departments of the UT administration. Like the policemen, employees of the UT revenue department faced one-third of the cases registered against employees of the UT administration. The remaining 15 per cent cases involve employees of other UT departments.

An analysis of the five-year data of the cases registered by the ACB showed 10 per cent of the cases registered during the period involve bank employees, while another 5 per cent of the cases involve other Centre government organisations, including the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Railways, Defence and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), said CBI DIG (Chandigarh) Mahesh Aggarwal.

The DIG said this year, the CBI had registered 19 cases so far, including 12 traps. Similarly, 31 cases were registered last year out of which 19 were traps, in which Centrel government officials were caught red-handed while demanding and accepting bribes.

Some of the high-profile cases registered during the current year were against the Debt Recovery Tribunal, HMT (Pinjore) and Panjab University, in which an executive officer and a sub-divisional officer were caught on charges of seeking illegal gratification of Rs 32,000 from a private contractor.

Since the ACB of the CBI, Chandigarh Zone, has original jurisdiction over UT Chandigarh, it is empowered to investigate the offences notified under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946. The ACB has registered 30 per cent of the cases in Punjab and another 25 in Haryana.

The DIG stated that 155 out of 187 cases were pending trial in court, with 40 per cent of these being less than two years old and 30 per cent five years old.

The cases that ended in conviction this year include disproportionate assets against IAS officer Vikramjit Singh, principal secretary (Home department), Punjab government, and J.K. Singla, the then chief engineer, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, V.P. Dhingra, the then UT Superintending Engineer (Electrical), and Dharampal Kherwa, the then Senior Superintendent of Posts, Karnal. 

Chandigarh, July 12
The issue of transfer of all the rehabilitation colonies from the Chandigarh administration to the municipal corporation would be discussed at a meeting convened by UT Administrator and Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil tomorrow.

This issue has become a bone of contention between the MC and the Chandigarh administration as the latter wants to transfer all the departments to the former without any supporting staff and funds.

In December last year, the UT estate office had started the process of transferring all the rehabilitation colonies to the MC. As per records, there are two colonies under the MC at present and remaining 16 are maintained by the UT estate office and the Chandigarh Housing Board.

MC Commissioner Roshan Sunkaria has taken a strong stand against the decision stating that as the MC was already facing acute staff crunch, the rehabilitation colonies should be transferred to MC with staff.

Sources said that in a recent communiqué, the MC Commissioner had asked the estate office to send details of the required administrative staff to handle the rehabilitation colonies of the city.

Sources said the draft of a few more departments which the administration is going to transfer includes all the greenbelts, 18 sanctioned and three unsanctioned dispensaries, a polyclinic, Ayush hospital at Maloya and seven primary schools. Sources said the administration had prepared a proposal that the MC should create its own cadre within six months after the shifting of the departments and till then, the exiting staff arrangement might continue.

Sources in the administration said that it has also been decided that administrative staff would not be transferred with the departments to the MC as there was already staff crunch in the administration. Even a majority of employees in the health and education departments are on deputation, so it is not possible to transfer them. Another reason for not providing staff with the departments is legal complications, which may arise due to issues of seniority in the exiting department and a majority of the UT employees are not willing to be transferred to the MC. 

Chandigarh, July 12
After nearly three decades, the UT administration has woken up to the alleged fraud by some shopkeepers who were running their businesses from leasehold shops in Sector 17.

The UT administration owns over a dozen showrooms in Sector 17 and it had rented the same on leasehold basis in 1970. It has now come to notice of the administration that some tenants have wrongfully sold these showrooms and in many cases, have even sublet them. Many have even transferred the rent deeds in the name of third parties.

It was an anonymous letter addressed to the President of India with a copy addressed to the Advisor to the UT Administrator that brought the matter to light. Now, the administration has marked an inquiry into the matter and has asked the Deputy Commissioner to submit a report.

The administration has laid down guidelines for most of these showrooms, which were allotted in early 70s, stating that these could neither be sold nor sublet. The tenants of these showrooms were paying lesser rent as compared to others. Even though the administration had been reviewing the rent over the past many years, it worked out to be much less compared to the existing market rates. While the existing market rates go up to a maximum of Rs 1 crore, these tenants of these showrooms are paying less than one fourth of it. Sources claim that some of these tenants had even worked out a mechanism to fleece the administration. In many cases, the original allottee would make a third party as a partner and gradually would pull itself out of the partnership.

Sources said that this had been going on from past many years in alleged connivance with some UT estate office officials. In some cases, the UT administration was also renewing rent deeds without even verifying the names of the original allottees.

Zirakpur, July 12
The water supply in Zirakpur is being affected due to long power cuts as only 10 out of 31 tubewells have generators while others run on power supply.

Residents claimed that when the power supply was disrupted, the water supply, too, was affected. The residents were forced to call private tankers to meet their needs. They demanded that the council should install generators on other tubewells as well.

They stated that most of the tubewells were not working properly as the water level had gone down. They said the MC had planned to setup eight new generators for the tubewells but nothing had been done so far.

They also alleged that tubewell operators were working on the orders of councillors and politicians. Last month, a high drama was witnessed when the key of a tubewell room was taken away by the councillor’s husband and residents of another ward had protested outside her house.

SDO, water supply, Mahesh Chawla, stated that 31 tubewells had been installed in 15 wards.

Colonies where generators have been installed are Preet Colony, Bishanpura, Balaji Enclave, Dusherra ground, Preet Colony stadium side, Kalgidhar Enclave, Govind Vihar, Saini Vihar Phase 2 and 3; AKS colony, Lohgarh, and Dhakoli near the hospital.

Kamal Khurana, a resident of Baltana, said since a single tubewell was supplying water to four to five residential colonies, the water pressure was very low.

MC president NK Sharma stated that the council had been planning to install generators on the tubewells where need be. “We have also planned to install new tubewells in the town to solve water crisis”, he claimed. However, GAMADA will also install 10 tubewells in the town soon, he added.

Zirakpur (Chhatbir), July 12
Chhatbir Zoo authorities today launched a cleanliness drive at the zoo and decided to conduct such a drive on every Monday. The zoo authorities are also planning to check and ban the use of polythene bags by visitors. The drive was conducted under the guidance of newly appointed Field Director Churchil Kumar.

Giving the information about the drive, he said, the department had decided to conduct cleanliness drive on every Monday as the zoo was closed for general public on that day. It will be easier for the employees to carry out the drive in a proper manner, he said. Around four to five tractor-trolleys of garbage were removed today.

Kumar stated that he had given instructions to the zoo employees to take precautionary measures, so that all animals remained healthy during the monsoon season. He said he had also given instructions to the doctors to start de-worming the animals. “We have also decided to set up drinking water purifier for animals, which be installed shortly”, he added.

Panchkula, July 12
In order to save their houses, residents of Budanpur village here today moved the district court against the notice served to them by the local Municipal Corporation (MC) to vacate the MC land.

Judicial Magistrate, Renu Rana, while acting on their plea issued a notice to the corporation to file their detailed reply by July 13.

Applicants Malkiat Kaur, Raunki Ram and Prakash, all residents of Budanpur, had alleged that the Panchkula MC had issued notices on June 28 to around 300 families residing in the village to vacate the MC land. The applicant said that after the lapse of around seven days, the MC again issued a notice to them.

They further stated that the issue of land, which was in question, had already been settled in their favour way back in 1986 by the then Collector of Kalka. But the MC has now issued notice them to vacate the land stating that this land belonged to it. The applicants maintained that they were living in Budanpur for many years now and they also had ration cards on their name but now the MC was trying to vacate the land by issuing notices.

Mohali, July 12
Family of 28-year-old youth, Gurdeep Singh, who went missing on June 4, has alleged the police negligence in not tracking him down. Despite filing two complaints with the Mohali police, no action was taken to track down his whereabouts.

Talking to mediapersons, Bhupinder Kaur, mother of the missing youth, alleged that his father-in-law was behind his disappearance. Victim’s father-in-law, Jagbir Singh, is the SHO at the Julka police station in Patiala district. “Since a police official was involved, no action was being taken. The police could have found out the whereabouts of the boy on the basis of his movement on the day of his disappearance,” lamented family members of the missing youth.

It is learnt that Gurdeep had a matrimonial dispute, but had reached a compromise. Incidentally, a day before the boy went missing, his wife left for the US. Local MLA, Balbir Singh Sidhu, and NK Sharma, district planning committee, today visited the victim’s house.

The police swung into the action only after NK Sharma called up police officials.

Chandigarh, July 12
The UT administration has decided to issue health cards to all aanganwari children and increase the number of centres from 423 to 500.

Health services director Dr S Bains said the card would contain details of child’s health, including immunisation status and periodic check-up.

He said the periodic examination would include weight and height of the child, nutritional status, clinical anaemia, eye diseases, vitamin A deficiency, any other gross abnormality, skin disease, diarrhoea, worm infestation, learning ability, treatment given and referral.

According to health officials, a team of 10 doctors with supporting staff had been deputed under the supervision of two medical officers for effective execution of the scheme.

“If a child shifts to some other area, the card will be issued by the new aanganwari. This will help check the dropout rate and ensure that no interruption is caused in providing healthcare to the child,” said Dr Sangeeta, in-charge, Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Chandigarh.

According to a report on healthcare in aanganwaris of the city, the number of enrolled children in aanganwaris has increased to 28,958. Registration of pregnant and nursing mothers has also gone up to 4,356 while there has been a decline in the number of home deliveries from 43 per cent to 37 per cent.

“There has also been a drastic fall in clinical anaemia among aanganwari children due to regular screening and supply of iron and folic acid tablets. It came down to 8.83 per cent (round-V) from 24.26 per cent (round-1). The cases of skin and eye diseases also declined from 0.93 per cent to 0.63 per cent and malnutrition from 39 per cent to 37 per cent", Dr Sangeeta added.

Panchkula, July 12
The Congress swept the zila parishad polls. Of the total 10 seats, seven were won by the Congress-backed candidates. Even though candidates had not used the party symbol for contesting the polls, the Congress leadership claimed that the elected members were supported by them.

Meanwhile, Ajaib Singh, who was supported by the Congress party today claimed his stake for chairmanship.

On the other hand, only three INLD candidates in ward no 3, 4 and 9, were elected members of the parishad.

Among others, who lost the polls, included two former presidents of the Panchkula district zila parishad, including, Umesh Sood and Shimla Devi.

Sood contested the election as an independent candidate, as he was not given a ticket by the INLD.

Hailing the result, local MLA DK Bansal said poll results clearly projected the faith of people in Bhupinder Singh Hooda led Congress regime.

Results

Rajesh Kumar of ward no 1 defeated Bhupinder Singh by 304 votes. Rajesh got 2,824 votes, while his rival got 2,520 votes. In ward no 2, Mahesh Kumar, who defeated Gurdial Singh, got 2,161 votes. Similarly, in ward no 3 and 4, Preeto Devi and Ramesh Kumar, who were supported by the Indian National Lok Dal, defeated Nisha and Jawala Singh, respectively. Preeto got 4,335 votes, while Ramesh got 3,102 votes.

In ward no 5, Vimla Devi got 1,744 votes, while in ward no 6 Ajail Singh, who defeated Des Raj, got 3,766 votes. In ward no 7, Veena Singla got 3,407 votes defeating her nearest rival and former president of the zila parishad Shimla Devi by 1,037 votes. In ward no 8, Champa Devi got 2,789 votes. Jeet Ram was elected from ward no 9, as he secured 2,428 votes against Anil Kumar, whom he defeated by 104 votes.

In ward no 10, Fom Lal got elected by securing 3,189 votes. He defeated his nearest rival Mushtaq Ali by 2,600 votes.

Panchkula, July 12
Two more persons, who were seriously injured in a road mishap near Dhamala village on the Pinjore-Nalagarh national highway 21-A yesterday, succumbed to their injuries today.

The bodies were handed over to their relatives after an autopsy.

A case has been registered against the driver.

The deceased have been identified as Irshad and Dev Raj. The vehicle was being driven by Dev Raj.

Abdul Qayoom (45) succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Pinjore, while four others were referred to the Sector 6 General Hospital, from where Irphan and Salim were referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, where their condition was stated to be serious.

All five persons, who hailed from Doda district of Kashmir, were going to Shimla.

Mukhtar Ahmed, son of Abdul Qayoom, who came from Bhatogra village in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, said his father worked as a labour contractor and had hired Dev Raj’s car to go to Shimla.

He said he called up his father but the police answered the call and told him about the incident.

Chandigarh, July 12
A 10-day workshop on “Biotechnology for nurses” began at the National Institute of Nursing Education (NINE), PGI. The workshop is being funded by the GOI, DGHS (nursing section), New Delhi, for training of nurses working in different hospitals and educational institutes in North India.

The workshop will cover the role of biotechnology for nurses are time management; building positive attitude; handling and maintenance of O2 cylinder/nebulizer; biomedical waste management; functioning of pulse oximeter/glucometer; air infection; use of ventilators, maintenance of incubator/baby warmer/phototherapy machine; use of stabilizer/boiler/auto clave machine; universal precautions; airconditioning, technology of CCTV/video filming during surgery; use of electro-surgical diathermy machine/light source, defibrillator/bedside monitor; go green; conservation of energy; importance of coordination in the hospital.

Chandigarh, July 12
The Chandigarh State AIDS Control Society today organised a workshop to sensitise municipal councillors in the city on issues regarding HIV/AIDS.

Dr Vanita Gupta, project director, Dr Jitender Dahiya, consultant (mainstreaming), and Dr Vandana Dewan, consultant (voluntary blood donation) apprised the councillors on various high risk groups, preventive strategies, avoiding stigma and discrimination and rehabilitative measures.

Mayor Anu Chatrath was the chief guest. She said HIV/AIDS had emerged as one of the most powerful obstacles for social and economical development of India.

The councillors participated actively in the discussions and offered to get the people together in their respective areas to spread awareness. Councillors of the urban sectors committed to educate youngsters.

Chandigarh, July 12
In a bid to promote extra curricular activities, UT department of higher education has integrated them in the main curriculum now.

In its latest directive issued to colleges, students will have to necessarily participate in various activities and their participation and performance will form a key basis for internal assessment.

The move, according to Ajoy Sharma, director higher education, is to make current education system multifaceted.

“Most colleges already have different clubs like dance, music, peace, environment etc, but only 20 per cent of the total students actively participate. Most students feel that these activities are wastage of time or hindrance to their studies. With this mandatory move, students may be able to take extra curricular activities seriously,” said Sharma.

A student shall have an option to be a part of various cultural clubs like dance, music, drama, debate, NSS or NCC. They will also be provided an option of social clubs like environment peace or social awareness.

“Principals and lecturers will be trained on constituting and managing these clubs. They will also be responsible for getting members and organising activities. Any given club will have to organise a minimum of specified number of activities. Students’ participation in these activities will be assessed and marked for internal assessment,” added Sharma.

The admission forms of various colleges had a column where student was asked to mention his activity preference. Based on this preference students will be allotted their respective clubs.

Besides, every college will have its teaching staff trained to double as counsellors. The teachers will be allotted a group of around 20 students and they will act as a mentor. The teacher will keep a track of student’s college as well as personal life and help him/her when required.

Chandigarh, July 12
A meeting of the state steering committee for the upgradation of Government Central Crafts Institute for Women, Sector 11, through a public-private partnership was chaired by Ram Niwas, Home Secretary-cum-chairman, state steering committee, to review the progress made under the scheme.

Also present at the meeting were director, technical education; principal, Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET); and other committee members from various industries and organisations.

The committee approved the introduction of new four computer-related courses, namely Java Programming, Net (C#, ASP), PHP (Pre-Hypertext Processor) and Basic of 3-D Animation from this session at the institute. These courses are being run under the Government of India scheme, wherein the institute has been declared as the centre of excellence in UT Chandigarh.

The committee further approved the architectural drawings for the proposed new block being renovated to accommodate these courses at the institute. The students going for these courses would utilise the infrastructure being created especially to run these courses with an ultra-modern computer labs.

Further, a loan of Rs 2.5 crore has been sanctioned by the Government of India under the Partnership Initiative Programme Scheme. An institution management committee has been formed by the Chandigarh administration.

With five members from the industry side and the remaining from different colleges and institutions, a society was also formed which was notified by the Chandigarh administration in 2008.

In addition to this, four batches in the computer related courses -- web designing, advanced web course, tally and proficiency in computer application -- have already been completed and placed in different organisation on passing their courses.