Panchkula, July 16
In a daring robbery, gun-toting youths decamped with cash and jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh after keeping 13 members of a family hostage for over three hours at their home in Sector 10 in the wee hours of the morning today.

The incident came to light when two children of the family came out of the house after breaking the pane of clerestory (‘roshandaan’) and alerted a neighbour residing in the back lane. Neighbouring residents then broke open the locks of the house’s front door and informed the cops.

Violent robberies in 2009

June 6 - Panchkula lawyer RS Mittal and his wife held hostage by robbers at their Sector 6 home. However the suspects soon fled from the scene leaving valuables worth over Rs 15 lakh behind when the housemaid alerted a neighbour, who immediately called up the police June 29 - Medicines worth Rs 12 robbed from a godown in Industrial Area Aug 12 - Rs 25,000 looted at gunpoint from a liquor vend in the Mansa Devi complex area in broad daylight Aug 16 - Four youths in a Maruti Zen looted Rs 2.5 lakh at gunpoint from a petrol pump Oct 13 - A gun shop in Swastik Vihar robbed of goods worth Rs 9 lakh Nov 23 - Three car borne robbers looted Rs 18 lakh at gunpoint from a cashier at the electricity department office Dec 11 - Two armed robbers snatched Rs 47,000 from a dairy owner in Sector 21

A police team accompanied by fingerprint experts arrived at the scene and took samples from various rooms of the burgled house as well as adjoining houses. Some of the suspects had also attempted to commit a robbery on the first floor of house no 106 after climbing the stairs and walls of house no 105. However, when they did not find any valuables there they returned after drinking some milk kept in the refrigerator.

About 7 to 8 burglars who included a woman, armed with a “country made” pistol and daggers, entered house no 104 at about 2 am after removing the screws of a window grill. They first took hostage four members of the family of Mohinder Pratap Vij, a former deputy director of Haryana Tourism, in one of the rooms on the ground floor, ordering them not to make any noise. They then asked them to hand over their mobile phones, cash and jewellery.

Vij told the police he only came to know about the presence of a woman among the suspects, who he said were wearing shirts and jeans, when she told the others she would take a new unstitched suit lying in the house along with her.

After pushing him and his family members into a room, Vij said the robbers moved on to the house’s first and second floors where his younger brothers, Rakesh and Vinod Kumar stayed, and later brought them down. He said the suspects tied their hands and feet with bedsheets and removed the gold chains, bangles, rings and earrings of the women besides removing a ‘kara’ (bangle) and chains of the men folk. “The robbers had locked all the doors from outside before fleeing the scene”, he added.

Vij noted the suspects were very courteous and offered water to drink to their hostages during the incident. “When asked why they were robbing us they said unemployment had forced them to indulge in such activities. When one of the children, Abhey, asked them their names and whether they knew how to burgle houses, they politely told him to keep quiet and not to make any noise”, he added.

Superintendent of police Maneesh Chaudhary said the burglary appeared to be the handiwork of a new gang. “We have alerted the cops stationed at all exit points in the district besides the neighboring police. All efforts will be made to nab the culprits as soon as possible”, he added.

Meanwhile, strongly condemned the burglary, Bharat Hiteshi, general secretary of the House Owners Welfare Association, Sector 10, submitted memorandum to the deputy commissioner and the SP demanding immediate installation of security gates in the locality. “The DC assured us she would call a meeting of the ‘high-powered committee to take immediate action on the matter”, he claimed.

Senior BJP leader Gyan Chand Gupta and former party councillor BB Singal later visited the house. Gupta said with such incidents occurring frequently the town’s residents had lost confidence in the police force.

Mohali, July 16
In a major embarrassment for the local police, a head constable serving with the district police was arrested for allegedly possessing a stolen police Gypsy vehicle in which he drove around the city for about two years. The cop, Jasvir Singh, was booked under section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the IPC.

Before being apprehended head constable was posted with the SP (headquarters) and later as head ‘munshi’ (clerk) at the Zirakpur police station. A Few days ago he was transferred to the Police Lines. The Gypsy vehicle bore a fake registration number (PB12 G9981).

Jasvir landed in police net after the vehicle was found abandoned in Sector 19, Chandigarh, by the UT police. On enquiring the latter found out the original registration number of the vehicle was PB65 D8609 and it was stolen in Mohali on August 15, 2008. After probing further the investigating officer in the case found that until a few days ago Jasvir was driving the same vehicle. On the basis of the investigations he was arrested.

Chandigarh, July 16
Local lad Abhinav Dhingra has brought laurels to the city by bagging the first position in the entrance examination of the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

More than his success, it’s the determination behind it which has made Abhinav’s achievement more special.

The boy stood fifth in the CBSE PMT last year but could not make it to AIIMS. He took admission in Maulana Azad Medical College, a premier institute, but left it within five days to chase his first love.

“Ever since I thought to be a doctor, I could not think of anything but AIIMS. I was disappointed when I could not make it there in my last attempt. Whenever I would see the AIIMS building, something inside ached and I longed to be there and left everything to retry. This time, my efforts have borne fruit,” said Abhinav.

Claiming to study for just five hours, Abhinav said, “AIIMS was my first love. Every time I heard the name or saw the place, my heart would have a sense of longing. I knew I belong there and thus worked passionately for it. I had got into one of the best medical colleges, but I could have never been satisfied without admission to AIIMS.”

Meanwhile, it is for the first time that five students from the city have not only made it to the institution but three are amongst first 10 top rankers.

PATIALA: City lad Vitish Singla made the city proud by bagging a seat at AIIMS. Vitish is also AIPMT seventh position holder.

Chandigarh, July 16
Floods might have brought misery to thousands of residents of Patiala, but for the public information officer (PIO) in the office of district social security officer (DSSO) Patiala, these have proved to be a boon.

The PIO of this office took the plea before the Punjab State Information Commission that the office could provide no records to RTI applicants as their records had been destroyed by floods! More shocking, however, was the outcome of the plea when State Information Commissioner PK Verma dismissed the applicant’s appeal for information citing the same grounds as put forward by the PIO!

“The respondent has made a written submission that despite their best efforts, the documents for which the complainant has applied could not be located in their record. They have stated that the applications of old cases of pensioners were probably destroyed in the floods. In the above circumstances, no further action is required to be taken in this case, which is disposed of,” state Verma’s orders of July 8.

Joginder Singh, a resident of Ambala, had asked for details of applications filed by some residents of Mandiana village in block Ghanaur who were receiving old-age pension from the Punjab government. “These persons have been receiving old age pension from the department of social security for many years but all of them are ineligible to receive the pension as they are underage. I came to know about this and wanted the copies of the application forms submitted by these persons to the department. I filed a request under the Right To Information Act in December 2009. My application was forwarded to BDPO Ghanuar, who denied to give us the information.

Some of the people in the BDPO’s office even came to my house to request me to withdraw my application. But I refused,” he said. Joginder Singh appealed to the Punjab State Information Commission, but the PIO instead of giving the information to the commission took the plea that the records being asked for by the applicant were very old and had been destroyed in the floods. “This is absolutely false as the records are not very old. The applications should have been received in the office of the BDPO in 2005 and 2007 as the beneficiaries are getting pensions since then.

Chandigarh, July 16
It seems that the Chandigarh municipal corporation is going by the saying “To err is human, to forgive divine”, as it has failed to take action against “corrupt” officials, whom even the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has found guilty.

As per records of the corporation, the authorities have not taken any action against the tainted officials even after receiving reports from the CBI.

It may be mentioned that the CBI had sent reports pertaining to corruption cases, including the theft of pipes from Sector 17 and installation of streetlight poles on Dakshin Marg.

In all these cases, the CBI had asked the authorities to initiate action against the employees. But the MC authorities, instead of taking any action against them, either sent these officials back to their parent states or transferred them to other departments.

The CBI had sent a questionnaire to the corporation over the allotment of land, installation of machinery and memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the JP Associates Company and authorities.

MC Commissioner Dr Roshan Sunkaria said he had directed the MC health officer to prepare a detailed reply so that it could be forwarded to the CBI as and when required.

A senior official of the corporation stated that it would not be possible for the authorities to take any action against the company as according to the MOU, action could only be initiated in case the company shuts down. Besides, they could only issue the show-cause notice to the company, which the authorities had already done as they found out discrepancies in the installation of machinery.

In the case pertaining to garbage processing plant, discrepancies were reported in the allotment of land to the company by the corporation.

The investigation agency also found out that the machinery installed in the plant was not as per the MoU.

The CBI has asked the corporation to give details about the officials responsible for signing the agreement. It has also asked the authorities to submit a report on the course of action in the cases.

Chandigarh, July 16
An awareness camp was organised today in Motor Market, Mani Majra. The aim of the camp was to create awareness among owners, mechanics and tyre traders in the market so as how to reduce breeding of mosquitoes in their areas. This was a part of the activities organised to observe July as the anti-dengue month.

The camp was inaugurated by assistant director malaria-cum-state surveillance officer-IDSP, Dr GC Bansal. He informed the members to take part in the programme for reducing Aedes mosquito breeding in the motor market area.

Dr Bansal further said during monsoons, discarded tyres, junk material and other water-holding containers easily became permanent source of Aedes mosquito breeding. He not only advised the owners and mechanics to not throw any discarded containers on the rooftops of the shops but also not to allow water to accumulate in underground haudies because haudies are the main source of mosquito breeding.

In order to create the awareness among people, Dr GC Bansal along with the members of the motor market association and mechanics also took out a flag march in the motor market, Mani Majra. At the end of the camp, the “fever alert” teams and operational teams screened the entire area of motor market, Mani Majra.

Panchkula, July 16
Officials of the wildlife department today saved the life of a rare species of Indian Horn Owl. The owl was spotted by a youth in Old Panchkula yesterday.

Manoj Aggarwal, president of the local unit of Indian National Lok Dal, said after he came to know that one of his employees had found the owl near his shop yesterday, he immediately called the boy.

He asked him to bring the owl along. The boy refused to have spotted any owl, but when he was threatened with a police complaint, he agreed to have found it. Aggarwal, meanwhile, informed the wildlife department about the incident.

Officials of the wildlife department led by inspector Jaiveer Singh immediately reached the spot and took the bird into custody.

Jaiveer said the two-and-a-half-year-old female owl would be sent to a zoo in Pipli near Kurukshetra for breeding as recently they had found a one-and-a-half-year-old male owl recently. 

Chandigarh, July 16
In a bid to strengthen the security at the campus, the Panjab University Vice-Chancellor has sanctioned 13 posts for the security staff and nine new security persons have been deputed at the new girls’ hostel at the Sector 25 campus.

The university is also gearing up to install floodlights at various points in the campus, including gate number 1, hostel number 6, two girls hostels close to gate number 3, UIAMS, PU dental college and new boys hostel.

Chandigarh, July 16
The UT health department has planned to observe a week-long activity on the occasion of World Population Day.

According to information, they will counsel beneficiaries to adopt family planning methods like condoms, oral contraceptive pills and IUD.

Health officials say the activity was being promoted by health workers at the grassroots level. Special gifts will be distributed among couples undergoing sterilisation.

Dr MS Bains, director, Health Services-cum-Mission, said in order to promote the small family norm among city residents, awareness would be spread.

Follow-up services for contraceptive acceptors are being done intensively by the health department at all health facilities.

He said the percentage of female sterilisation was higher comparatively to male sterilisation.

“Emphasis is on clearing myths and misconceptions attached with the NSV among men. The ANMs and MPHWs are motivating their male counterparts to undergo the NSV,” Dr Bains added.

It was also announced that the best performing ANM/MPHW would be awarded by the director, health services, for their contribution.

“This year, the main objective is to encourage people to participate in their official census and other methods of collecting data on population. An increased public awareness on population issues like importance of family planning, gender equality, poverty, maternal health, sexual, reproductive health and human rights is needed,” he added.

Chandigarh, July 16
Firdos, Bikaner-based wife of the suspected Pakistani spy Kashif Ali, today met him in police custody at the crime Branch in Sector 11 here. She came along with their two-year-old son, Ajay Babu, and her sister. She had been searching for Ali after she did not get any response to her phone calls for the past many days.

DSP (Crime) Satbir Singh said Firdos told the police that she had lived in the city with Ali in Burail and went to that house. There, she was told about his arrest and so she had come to meet her husband.

The DSP said they had quizzed Firdos and nothing incriminating was found against her. “She appeared to be unaware of his real life and was under the impression that he was working as a property dealer in the city”. Firdos, a mother of six children, five out of her first marriage, told the police that Kashif aka Pawan Kumar told her after the marriage that he was a Pakistan national. He kept her in the city and later sent her back, but remained in touch with her on the phone. — TNS

Panchkula, July 16
The local Municipal Corporation would soon start levying on mobile companies that have set up their towers in rural areas. It has decided to claim Rs 2 lakh each for every tower installed as its fee.

According to executive officer of the Municipal Corporation KK Jain, HUDA has allowed telecom companies to install the towers against a particular fee in the urban areas of the city. Though, the revenue from collected from such sources should be deposited in the coffers of the Municipal Corporation, there was no logic in disturbing the ongoing procedure till the new rules were carved out, he added.

However, after declaring Panchkula as the Municipal Corporation and merging it with Pinjore and Kalka revenue generation has picked up, he added.

According to a rough estimate, in old part of the city telecom companies have installed 15 towers alone. However, the companies have erected more such towers in Pinjore and Kalka.

While the telecom companies had to deposit Rs 2 lakh for installing the tower, the renewal fee was also being finalized, Jain added. It would be anything between RS 10,000 and Rs 15,000 for a year, the executive officer added.

Mohali, July 16
The Punjab Police has marked a high-level inquiry into the entire episode of armed escort being provided to Manmohan Singh, fake political adviser to the Prime Minister, who also befooled the Mohali police. The ADGP (security) has asked a DIG-level official to probe the entire matter.

On the basis of the findings, the Mohali police would take suitable action, if required.

The fake adviser had visited the shop of a cloth merchant in Phase III B2 here. After the visit and subsequent expose, Inderjit Singh Minhas, owner of the showroom where the fake adviser came, had complained to the police that when Manmohan visited the place, the host and occupant at the first floor of the shop, RK Goyal, along with his son and PA to the advisor, NK Sharma, climbed up the stairs and threatened him of dire consequences.

The DSP (city) is probing the matter. A resident of Delhi, Manmohan Singh came to Mohali on July 11 escorted by a police gypsy amid tight security arrangements to meet a cloth merchant, RK Goyal. He was accompanied by a number of people and they reached Phase III B2 in four cars. Kharar MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu was also present.

Chandigarh, July16
In an effort to reduce the heavy rush for e-tickets during morning hours that often leads to slowing down of the IRCTC website, the Railways is mulling two separate timings for tatkal and normal bookings.

The Railways is also mulling a shift in the tatkal ticket booking timing. It would start from 10 A.M. instead of 8 A.M to avoid server jams.

The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is seeking the Railway Board’s approval for the move. The IRCTC hopes that this move will help ease the morning traffic on its website when both regular and tatkal bookings are made.

If implemented the move would considerably reduce the traffic volume on the IRCTC website providing e-tickets, thereby enabling quick access to the site, which sells 30 per cent of all rail tickets, an IRCTC official said.

The idea is to shift the opening of tatkal bookings to 10 am instead of 8 am. “Though it is still being planned, we hope the change of timings will considerably reduce the pressure on the IRCTC portal,” he added. “The Railways is trying to get an estimate of the number of tatkal hits a day. It will then be easy for us to segregate the bookings into tatkal and advance,” says a senior IRCTC official. The Railway ministry has recently decided to bar travel agents and web-service agents of the IRCTC from accessing the website from 8 A.M to 9 A.M. after complaints from customers saying that the agents are cornering tickets in large volumes and causing the crashes. 

Chandigarh, July 16
The last day of the first counselling for admission to MBBS, BDS, and BHMS at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, ended on a sour note with parents of some students resorting to protest and accusing the authorities of adopting “unfair” means to allot seats to “undeserving” candidates.

These allegations were, however, strongly denied by director principal Dr Raj Bahadur, who in a written statement issued late this evening, said all seats were filled “purely on merit”.

The trouble began at 4.30 pm, several hours after the counselling had begun, when some parents raised objection to the authorities giving a chance to those students who had for some reason missed the session earlier. A parent alleged that while the counselling had ended at 126th rank yesterday, the authorities today started calling students with ranks below it.

“They should have started the counselling from 127th rank but they chose to call students with 80th and 90th ranks,” said a parent, claiming that it was in violation of rules. He claimed that students, who failed to turn up earlier, should not have been given a fresh chance.

The other issue that became a bone of contention between parents and the GMCH authorities was the conversion of the NRI seats into general ones. What raised the suspicion of people was the fact that even after filling seven seats in the 15-seat NRI quota (in all courses), the authorities converted four seats into general category and gave no information on the remaining four seats.

Parents alleged that the authorities had failed to maintain transparency and tried to fill the seats through the back door. Though GMCH and PU counsellors tried to pacify parents, but the latter refused to listen to them.

In his statement, Dr Raj Bahadur clarified that as a few representations were still under consideration by the administration, four NRI seats in the BDS stream could not be de-reserved as yet. “Following appropriate decision, these seats will be filled on the merit basis,” he said.

Meanwhile, the second counselling is expected to start in the second or third week of August, 2010, after a counselling at all-India level by the CBSC.

Chandigarh, July 16
In the past one year, her silence used to be termed as arrogance by her classmates till they realised that she had 100 per cent hearing disability. A crucial decision by the Panjab University authorities not only changed her attitude towards education but also provided hope to several other students with such disabilities.

Anu Gupta, who will turn 18 on August 18, is the first student of Panjab University to have cleared the BA (first year) examination, along with regular students this year. She secured 419 marks out of 800 in the annual examination conducted by the university.

On January 30, PU Syndicate members had resolved that “the component of internal assessment for these students be enhanced from 10 to 30 per cent”, which boosted her morale to continue her education. The item 76 in the Syndicate agenda was passed and later approved by the Senate, hence providing fresh hope to parents of the students with hearing and speech disabilities.

Her mother, Dr Rashmi, who is a deputy librarian at the AC Joshi Library in PU campus said, “When the Panjab University Vice-Chancellor and Controller of Examination were informed about the problem, they brought the issue before the Syndicate. Due to this historic step taken by the PU authorities, several other students with hearing disabilities will be encouraged to pursue their studies.”

The Syndicate also resolved to permit these students to attempt alternative questions, meant for foreign students, in case the students with hearing and speech disabilities have not studied Hindi or Punjabi.

In addition to this, the students were also permitted extra 30 minutes in the examination.

Having faced several hiccups during the last one year, Anu has taken up education as a challenge, adds her mother. “Prior to her enrolment in the Postgraduate Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Anu has spend last 11 years at the Clark School for the Deaf at Chennai. Since she had only studied English, hence, the Syndicate’s decision to do away with compulsory Hindi and Punjabi was a boon,” added her mother.