Chandigarh, September 9
At least 20 junior doctors at the Government Multi-specialty Hospital, Sector 16, proceeded on mass leave today in protest over the indictment of some of their colleagues in the inquiry held into the recent death of a newborn baby at the hospital.

As soon as the hospital’s OPDs opened Diplomate of National Board (DNB) doctors began gathering near the office of the medical superintendent, Rajiv Wadhera. After meeting him they decided to go on mass leave.

“The indictment of DNB doctors in the incident was unjustified. We’ll take up the matter with senior officials”, they said.

On July 21 Bulbul, a poor woman from Bihar, was forced to move to the corridors in the hospital’s gynaecology department though she was in labour. She later gave the birth to a baby girl in the open near the OPD counters. The child’s head reportedly hit the floor leading to her almost instant death.

An inquiry into the incident indicted Dr Veena Sarna, head of the gynaecology department, Dr Usha Bansal, Dr Praveena Dhiman and three DNB doctors - Deepak Thakur, Rita Gaba and Vandna. The legal remembrancer recommended criminal proceedings against Sarna and the three DNB doctors. “We work under the guidance of seniors and can’t take any step without their supervision or direction. In view of such conditions there was no logic in criminal proceedings being recommended against three of us. We did our job as was expected from us and we will apprise this to higher authorities including the UT administrator”, the DNB doctors said.

When contacted GMSH spokesman MP Singh said the doctors met the medical superintendent and registered their protest against the indictment of medicos. “The doctors told him they were intended to meet the administrator. To ensure patients don’t suffer due to their absence at OPDs we have shifted doctors deputed in dispensaries in the city’s periphery to the hospital”, he added.

Chandigarh, September 9
In what comes across as the first concrete step towards curtailing the ongoing slapgate in UT government schools, the UT police today arrested the class VII boy who had slapped his teacher yesterday for asking him for his homework.

Sunil Kumar, a student of GSSS 38 (W), was booked for voluntarily causing hurt and assaulting a public servant to deter him from performing his duty in addition to criminal intimidation (332, 353 and 506 of the IPC).

He was taken to the Sector 39 police station and interrogated for about an hour before being taken to District Courts, where he got bail.

“Education officials had informed us about the incident yesterday only. A complaint was lodged against the boy and he was nabbed eventually,” said a police official.

According to some unconfirmed reports, the police has also been intimated about the teacher concerned being threatened to withdraw her complaint. However, the police officials refused to confirm it.

While DPI (S) PK Sharma could not be contacted for his comments, an official of the education department claimed that the student’s parents approached them, demanding mercy for the boy, citing his age.

Sunil had slapped his teacher Ravi Kataria when she repeatedly asked him to show his homework. The DPI reacted to the incident by asking the police to take immediate and apt action in the case.

Chandigarh, September 9
In its latest circular issued to its affiliated schools, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked them to reduce homework and the number of tests being given to students in the name of formative assessment.

The circular comes in wake of the of the parents’ feedback on the implementation of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) where they have complained about various schools having increased frequency of tests and volume of homework in the name of formative assessment.

“A majority of parents seem perturbed over unjustified increase in tests, assignments, projects, homework etc. The students in some schools are being tested six times a week.

Many times the projects given to students to be done at home lead to no real learning as they are either done by siblings or parents or conveniently outsourced to entrepreneurs," claimed the circular. The practice according to CBSE officials defeated the purpose of formative assessment, which surely was not based on formal tests or exams.

“The assessment should be based on student’s learning abilities and classroom conduct. The activities need to be aimed at identifying various skills like communication, reading, discussion and group participation. The schools take the easy way out and conduct tests and award grades, which need to be stopped immediately, “ said DR Yadav, Regional Director, CBSE.

"Assessing students on a continuous basis in a cyclic manner is formative assessment. It needs to be taken up with discrimination and in consultation with all teachers so that projects are not given at the same time," the circular clarified. The circular also said excessive homework or assignments or projects were not CCE, but collaborating of project and research work in groups, and balancing projects and assignments amounted to CCE.

Chandigarh, September 9
A local court today directed the UT health department to appoint a panel of doctors to decide whether the pregnancy of the 14-year-old rape victim, an inmate of Snehalaya, a home for destitute children, should be medically terminated or not.

The court of additional chief judicial magistrate Anshul Berry asked the department to submit the panel’s report by September 13.

Pronouncing the orders, the court said the panel of doctors would ascertain the stage of the victim’s pregnancy. It further said the panel should take note of the risk factors involved for both mother and child in case the latter is delivered or if an abortion is conducted.

In its reply on Wednesday the police said according to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, an abortion can be conducted only during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Last Tuesday Luxmi, the victim’s maternal grandmother, had moved an application seeking directions for aborting the victim’s child wherein she had sought directions to be issued for preserving the foetus for conducting a DNA test on the rape suspect.

The rape came to light when the victim returned to Snehalaya from her grandmother’s home in Bapu Dham colony. A medical examination conducted on her found her three months pregnant. The police arrested a suspect, Om Prakash, who was the son of Laxmi’s landlord.

Panchkula, September 9
A local court today sentenced an Indian army constable to life imprisonment for attempting to kill his wife besides harassing her for dowry. The convict, Baljinder Singh, is posted in the army western command at Chandimandir, near here.

Additional district & sessions judge Ritu Garg held Baljinder guilty under section 307 (attempt to murder), 498A (husband of a woman or his relative subjecting her to cruelty) and 325 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the IPC. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on him, in default of payment of which he would have to serve another 10 months of imprisonment.

However, the court acquitted four members of his family - his mother, Kamaljit Kaur, father, Inder Singh, sister, Harjinder Kaur, and brother-in-law, Jaswinder Singh - as the prosecution failed to establish anything substantial against them.

The case dates back to October 31, 2008 when the Panchkula police filed a case against Baljinder and his family members.

In his complaint to the police on October 27, 2008, the victim’s father, Gurmit Singh, stated Baljinder called him up to say his wife, Ranjit Kaur, had suffered an electric shock from an immersion rod water heater. He said Baljinder had told him she was hospitalised but on arrived at the hospital he found his daughter had sustained strangulation injuries and burns.

Gurmit, a resident of Kapurthala district, had further stated he spent nearly Rs 15 lakh on Ranjit’s wedding in January 2008. He said he had also gifted a Maruti 800 car to Baljinder as part of the dowry. The police later arrested the suspect.

Panchkula, September 9
The 2-kilometer narrow road near MM University, Mullana, in Ambala district seemed to be the main cause of yesterday’s bus accident, in which 28 students and teachers were injured.Drivers are normally seen vying with each other to reach the institution in time.

Students said they had taken up the issue of widening the road from the main Ambala-Jagadhri road to the university campus with the MM University management, who had told them that they had taken up the matter with the state government for the widening of the road. They further added that the management claimed that they did not have funds to acquire the land.

They alleged that other bus drivers, who were following the ill-fated bus, did not even bother to know the fate of their colleague, Sukhbir Singh, who was trapped under the bus.

When the driver was rescued, one of the college buses stopped at the site and took the injured driver to the college hospital for treatment, leaving in the lurch the injured students.

Despite repeated attempts, college dean JK Sharma could not be contacted to elicit his views over the issue.

The students said when they requested to take back the bus to the accident site, the driver instead of listening to them continued to drive the bus.

They further said they requested him to at least drop them so that they could help their colleagues in distress.

They said they took lift from a truck driver to reach the accident site and further informed the parents of the injured students.

Meanwhile, the parents of one of the injured students, Mayank, while talking to the Tribune said they were worried about the studies of their son, who had been advised bed rest for at least three weeks. They said the college management did not even bother to instruct the bus drivers to immediately lift the injured and rush them to the nearest hospital.

Chandigarh, September 9
Addressing the demands put forth by principals of Panjab University-affiliated non-government colleges, the university has handed over the colleges-related work charge to controller examination, AK Bhandari rather than recently appointed associate dean colleges, Keshav Malhotra.

The principals have staged a dharna today against the university’s act of appointing Keshav Malhotra as the associate dean. They claimed that the university and colleges’ relations had deteriorated and day-to-day work like appointment was being delayed ever since.

PU Vice-Chancellor RC Sobti met the principals and is believed to have taken the decision at the meeting.

Though Sobti chose to be tight-lipped about the decision, the principals confirmed it.

“The Vice-Chancellor has been understanding enough to take several steps. He has promised to appoint a regular dean in the next 15 days and till then files are to be directly moved to him. The protest is not against an individual but existing incompatibility, which is harming the colleges’ functioning,” said AC Vaid, principal SD College, Sector 32.

It may be recalled that around 25 principals boycotted the principals’ meet organised by the Academic Staff College, PU, recently.

The principals under the leadership of Dr SS Randhawa submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor raising objections on the appointment of Prof Keshav Malhotra as the associate dean, college development council.

Chandigarh, September 9
Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, (GMCH-32) celebrated its annual day at the college auditorium with fanfare. Director-principal, Prof Raj Bahadur welcomed chief guest Geeta Bhukkal and other dignitaries.

He presented the annual report of the medical college. He also elaborated upon various community healthcare services and national health programmes being rendered by the hospital in the field of eradication of polio, blood donation, HIV/AIDS, geriatrics, adolescent care, nutrition and dental care.

He also spoke about the future plans of the institution like installation of MRI, bio-medical lab, construction of mental health institute, starting of college of nursing, college of physiotherapy and national injury surveillance centre.

The chief guest also addressed the gathering and announced a donation of Rs 5 lakh for poor patients in GMCH.

Later, the chief guest released the college magazine. The college students also presented a cultural programme.

Chandigarh, September 9
DPI (S) PK Sharma today chaired his first meeting with the NGOs running AIE centres.

In addition to regular briefing, various cluster heads informed him about problems being faced at several AIE centres.

Several NGO heads complained about lack of cleanliness or storage area, while others had problems like hanging electricity wires and lack of extra-curricular activities.

It was also decided at the meeting that an 11-point agenda need to be addressed upon immediately.

Mohali, September 9
To tackle the problem of waste management, Mohali district administration has identified 35 acres of panchayat land near Sangouli village at Dera Bassi.

Garbage from Mohali, Kharar, Kurali, Zirakpur, Naya Goan, Dera Bassi, Lalru and other small towns would be taken to the site for solid waste management.

The site is among three sites identified by the administration outside the urbanised area of the district. Mohali Deputy Commissioner Parveen Kumar said today that the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mohinder Singh Kainth, had been entrusted to finalise the site in the coming few months.

He said environmental clearance for the project would be sought before giving the final approval.

The DC said garbage would be collected at collection centres in different towns before being transferred to the solid waste management site.

Though the technology has not been finalised, sources say that the proposed plant will have a capacity to handle 200 tonnes per day (TPD) of solid waste.

It may be mentioned that the GMADA has been looking for a landfill site on the outskirts of Mohali. After failing to get environmental clearance, the GMADA has decided set up the site at Jhanjheri village. But the environmental clearance for the site was still pending.

Earlier, three sites in Tangori, Swara and Nagari villages had also been identified by a committee constituted for the purpose on the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

But due to delay or protest by residents living near the identified sites, no site had been finalised.

Panchkula, September 9
In view of the statement issued by the Haryana Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee’s (HGPC) for the forcible overtaking of religious shrines, Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) urged the district administration to ensure security of the shrines here today.

SAD delegation led by Gurdeep Singh Bhanokheri, SGPC member, Ambala, in a memorandum submitted to Deputy Commissioner Ashima Garg, alleged that Jagdish Singh Jhinda, president of the HGPC (adhoc) was trying to violate the peaceful atmosphere in the state.

He said, earlier too, Jhinda had tried to overtake the gurdwaras besides taking away the money by breaking open the “Goluk” of the shrines in various parts of the state, but the police or the state government had not taken any action against him.

Bhanokheri alleged that Jhinda, along with anti-social elements, was trying to grab the Sikh shrine to hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community.

He said devotees would strongly oppose if anyone tried to take the possession of gurdwaras and would even sacrifice their lives to save religious places.

Chandigarh, September 9
Various issues related to the development of the city will be discussed at a meeting of the Administrator’s Advisory Council (AAC) to be held at the UT guesthouse here tomorrow.

Among the issues to be discussed would be traffic management, making nine sub-committees of the AAC more effective, besides other issues. The meeting will go a long way in making the participatory democracy more effective in the city, a senior official said. The meeting will be presided over by UT Administrator Shivraj Patil.

Chandigarh, September 9
Once again the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation is trying their luck to auction shops of the first-air-conditioned fish market located at Sector 41. The auction will be held by the end of this month with the same reserve price with which it was auctioned four months ago.

In this market, there are 12 booths of three different categories varying from 22.75 square yards to 25.37 square yards for the retail shopkeepers and 47.25 square yards for the wholesalers. There is one 380.2 square feet chill room also in the market. The authorities have fixed the reserve price for two small booths at Rs 37.5 lakh, for eight big booths at Rs 41.5 lakh and for two wholesaler booths Rs 77.5 lakh annually. The reserve price of chill room has been fixed at Rs 16, 666 per month.

It may be mentioned that in April this year, the authorities held auction of the shops and only five bidders turned up and out of them only two deposited their bids to participate in the bidding. After the poor response, the MC cancelled the auction and decided to re-auction it later on.

During the last auction, the bidders requested the authorities that as the quoted reserve price were very high provision should be made for them to avail loan for it. It may be added that most of the bidders were not financially well off and could not afford to participate in it.

When contacted, MC Additional Commissioner TPS Phoolka said that no change had been made in the terms and condition of the auction. He said they were hoping for a good response from both retail and wholesale fish sellers. After seeing the response this time, decision will be taken whether to make any changes or not.

Meanwhile, when this project was mooted up by the Chandigarh Administration it was decided that the market would be auctioned at a price, which would be within the reach of the small shopkeepers. The other purpose of setting up this market was to rehabilitate the shopkeepers who were illegally holding shops in various sectors of the city, including Rajiv Colony, Mauli Jagran, Shastri Nagar, Colony No. 4 and 5, Dadu Majra Colony and in 
villages under the corporation.

A majority of shopkeepers stated that they would not participate in the bidding as the authorities had neither amended the terms and conditions nor made any provision for them to take loans from banks.

Chandigarh, September 9
Leading architects from countries like Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Nepal were awarded at the 19th Architect of the Year Awards (AYA) today at Grand Ball Room of Hotel Taj, Chandigarh.

Shivraj Patil, Governor of Punjab and UT Administrator presented the awards to the winners. A crème de la crème of architects, builders, civil engineers and dignitaries connected with architecture and construction from India and neighbouring countries such Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Nepal were also present during the award function.

Speaking on the occasion of the 19th Architect of the Year Awards Ceremony YP Singhania, Managing Director, JK Cement Ltd said, “We are very happy to hold the 19th Architect of the Year Awards Ceremony at Chandigarh.”

From seventh AYA, the award was extended to the neighbouring countries. To encourage the work of young architects, award under the Young Architect’s category was included in the 7th AYA. In order to recognise the work of architects working in various states, the State Architecture Award was introduced from the ninth AYA.

Beginning with a small number of participant years ago, the awards have grown in the world because the selection is based on merit and scrutinised by independent jury consisting of prominent Indian as well as foreign architects. The architect of the year award was given to Christopher Charls Benninger from Pune (Project: Samudra Institute of Maritime Studies, Lonavala), Sanjay Puri from Mumbai (Project: Trios, Lonavala), Kiran Venkatesh from Bangalore (Project: National Assessment and Accreditation Council), P Krishna Raj from Banglore (Project: Hulikanu Mane), Smaran Mallesh, Banglore (Project: Out of Box), Kishor N Trivedi, Rajkot (Project: IPSA School of Architecture, Rajkot, Gujrat), Uday Andhare and Mausami Andhare from Ahmedabad (Project: Koba House, Ahmedabad), Deepak Guggar from Pune (Project: Grid House), Alistar Macbeth from Mauritius (Project: Anahita Waterfront Village, Mauritius), Palinda Kannangara from Sri Lanka (Project: Weekend House, SriLanka) and Peshali Mandara Perera from Sri Lanka (Project: Random Rust, Sri Lanka).

Chandigarh, September 9
Lon de La Riva, Ambassador of Spain, and Jaime Nualrat, Ambassador of Mexico, today called on Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj V. Patil at Punjab Raj Bhawan.

Discussing various issues at length, Patil said India enjoyed mature bilateral relations and strong socio-cultural linkages with both Spain and Mexico.

Emphasising on joining hands to work on genetic technology and solar energy, Patil said bold initiatives had taken for the generation of more power with focus on tapping solar energy to meet growing demand in different sectors of economy as India had great potential for this.

He stressed upon the need for further strengthening of economic and trade ties through vibrant partnership and joint ventures in different fields of activities.

He said that Punjab had achieved a major breakthrough in the agriculture sector and allied fields and the state was emerging as a progressive and vibrant investment destination.

Patil said that India’s economic capability was growing at a faster pace. It had enormous dynamism and potential.

He said that there was a major scope to further expand economic and business cooperation in wide range of fields like information technology, marketing of agriculture produce, sharing of educational tools and technologies, which can be of immense mutual benefit of people on both sides.

He said India has strong people to people links with both Spain and Mexico.

Patil said India and Mexico had striking similarities in geo-climatic conditions, biodiversity cultural and family values. Similarly, relations between India and Spain are cordial.

Earlier, the ambassadors visited the Le Corbusier Centre. Director of the centre VN Singh showed them around.

Chandigarh, September 9
The CBI Special Court today recorded the statement of retired DSP Harbhajan Singh and CRPF constable Anil Kumar in connection with the “fake” encounter of Kulwinder Singh, alias Kid, on the Tangori-Kurda road at SAS Nagar.

During cross-examination, constable Anil Kumar, who was present at the time of encounter, stated before the court that the incident occurred late in the evening and the visibility was poor, so he could not identify anyone.

The case was registered on July 22, 1989, when SS Grewal was posted as inspector (Crime) with the CIA staff in Patiala. The police had accused seven cops of the crime. Kid was killed in an alleged fake encounter in July, 1989, by the accused policemen on the Tangori-Kurda road. A case of abduction was registered against Grewal and Amarjit, while Birbal Das, Gurcharan Singh, Nikka Ram, Chanan Singh and Dayal Singh were booked in a murder case in 2002. During the course of arguments, the CBI made an appeal that Grewal and Amarjit be charged with murder. It was alleged that Grewal and Amarjit, along with other CIA personnel, raided a house at Phase V, Mohali, on July 22, 1989, in search of terrorists Dhyan Singh, Kulwinder Singh and Jagbir Singh, alias Panjola. During the raid, Palwinder, an acquaintance of Kid, was shot dead and Kulwinder was picked up by the raiding party. Later, Kulwinder was killed by the police personnel in an alleged fake encounter.

Kulwinder’s father Tirlochan Singh had moved a writ petition against the policemen in the high court. Acting on the petition, the court had directed the sessions judge to probe the case and submit a report.

After he submitted his report on April 24, 1995, the court directed the CBI to register a case against the policemen. Investigation by the CBI revealed that Kulwinder was picked up by Grewal, Amarjit and five CIA personnel.

Chandigarh, September 9
Choudhury Mohan Jatua, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, visited the city yesterday.

During his visit, the minister had discussions with the heads of the media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Jatua visited the Doordarshan Kendra in Sector 37, where Station Director K K Rattu apprised him of the working of the station. The latter also apprised the minister about the transmission problems being faced by the kendra. The minister assured that the problems of the station would be looked into.

Jatua also inaugurated a blood donation camp organised by the local unit of the Trinamool Congress at Aggarsain Bhawan, Sector 30. Appreciating the efforts of the organisers, the minister said that blood donation was one of the noblest acts as each drop of blood could save a life.

Earlier, Jatua was given a warm welcome at his arrival in Chandigarh near the Airport Light Point and The Tribune roundabout by the Trinamool Congress activists.

While addressing the party activists at Aggarsen Bhawan, Jatua said that the Trinamool Congress always raised the voice of poor people.

Shambhu Banerjee, local Trinamool Congress unit chief, said the Trinamool Congress was getting good response from the city residents and in the forthcoming Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh elections it would make its presence felt.

Chandigarh, September 9
After putting to rest all speculations, SK Jaitley’s name has been cleared for the post of UT Chief Engineer. Jaitley’s name was cleared with UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil and Adviser to UT Administrator Pradip Mehra for the coveted post here today.

As of now, Jaitley will hold the additional charge of Chief Engineer and his file would go to the UPSC for promotion.

With the post of Chief Engineer, Jaitley will remain Superintending Engineer (SE).

It must be mentioned here that Jaitley was already performing all duties of the Chief Engineer and was an acting de-facto Chief Engineer for the past few days.

The post had fallen vacant following the repatriation of Surinder Pall to his parent state, Punjab, as director commercial, Powercom.

SK Jaitley has also held the post of Chief Engineer with additional charge in 2008. Later Jaitley was out of action for a few months after a near-fatal fall resulting in a fracture in his leg. Finally, SK Jaitley’s file and Krishanjit’s file was sent to the UPSC for promotion to the post of Chief Engineer. Even though Krishanjit Singh was a junior to SK Jaitley, he rose to the post of Chief Engineer before retiring from service.