Chandigarh, September 16
A college principal’s exit and the appointment of another could not have been more dramatic. Following a day long drama that saw squabbling and verbal spats, DAV, Sector 10 ended up being the first college to have two principals - one who refused to let go off his chair and the other appointed in a most unceremonious way.

In dramatic turn of events BC Josan refused to hand over charge as principal after the college’s governing body suspended him. No efforts, however, could shake Josan’s determination, who insisted he was the principal though the body handed over the charge to the college’s senior most lecturer, Shashi K Gupta.

Refusing to abide by the governing body’s members like S Marria and ML Aeri, who came to the college to serve him a suspension notice, Josan flatly refused to hand over his work charge and even the principal’s office to his chosen successor. He arrived at his office early morning and literarily clung to the principal’s chair and refused to budge.

According to sources Josan got his supporters to “guard” his chair while he was away even for a second. The governing body members barged into his office and had a heated argument with him.

The argument though started on the validity of the body’s decision but it soon boiled down to mudslinging where both parties hurled abuses and recalled each other’s alleged scams.

“The suspension is illegal. I asked the governing body members to go to a lawyer and get it legally justified. They tried to force me out but I struggled. We were on the verge of a fistfight but I refused to give up as I was right. I have informed officials of both the UT administration and Panjab University about my decision,” said Josan.

What added the final touch to the entire controversy was the students protesting against the principal’s suspension. The students not only shouted slogans but even reportedly abused and manhandled Marria and Aeri.

“Those were not students but goons who were brought from Jallalabad by Josan. No student will ever support a bad principal like him. We immediately informed the police about the outsiders, which dealt with them,” said Marria.

Panchkula, September 16
It is a double whammy for residents of the Morni area. After remaining without drinking water and power supply during summer, they are facing the same situation during the rains as well.

Landslides in many parts of the only hilly area of Haryana has not only restricted the movement of residents, but has also damaged electricity poles and water supply lines. This has also affected tourism in the area as the road to Tikker Taal has been lying blocked for days.

Two buses and private vehicles carrying tourists were stranded last Saturday near Mandhna until midnight when the debris was cleared. The areas of Thapli Tipra Badi Sher, Ragi Tikkri, Thandok, Dadsoo, Kudana, Plasara, Dudhgarh and Koti have been cut off from the rest of the district and people have to tread miles to reach their destinations.

A landslide in the Tikker area damaged 10 electricity poles, disrupting the power supply to the town. In the absence of power, the damaged water pipes and tubewells could not be fixed and people have been going without water for the last two days.

There is barely any road left which is motorable as the soil has been washed away. With much effort, the PWD department has been able to keep the Panchkula-Morni road open for traffic though it had also remained blocked thrice over the past month, Dr Harmesh Agnihotri, a Congress leader, said, adding that a large number of people commuted between Morni and Raipur Rani.

Since the road to Raipur Rani was blocked, commuters had to go via Panchkula, increasing the distance. It is a nightmare for employees who work in the neighbouring areas.

“As the road from Morni to Tikker is blocked since the last week, I have to walk 9 km to reach my school,” a primary schoolteacher at Tikker said. The reason behind the landslides is loose soil of the Shivalik hills, Vijender Kadiyan, District Forest Officer, stated.

Chandigarh, September 16
“We’ve lost all hope. We don’t have any food nor a roof to cover our heads”, bewailed Mukesh, the 12-year-old son of Govind Singh Rana, who was murdered in Badheri village yesterday. His mother, Maheshwari, 30, was arrested on charges of killing her husband at their rented accommodation.

“We’ve nowhere to go. Papa was killed and mummy is in police custody - there’s no one in the city to take care of us. We’ll go to our grandmother’s home in our native village in Garhwal”, said Mukesh, bursting into tears, at the Government Multispecialty Hospital, Sector 16.

Accompanied by his younger siblings - brother Rakesh, 10, and sister Anita, 7, he arrived at the hospital where the postmortem on his father’s body was being conducted. The children were left homeless after the murder and spent Wednesday night at their maternal aunt’s home in Sector 39.

When asked about his mother, Mukesh said with a choking voice he had seen some “tablets” in her purse a month ago. “When I asked her about them she told me that she would put the tablets in my father’s food and kill him”, he stated.

“I told her the police would eventually come to know about it and would arrest her and, like I’ve seen on TV, the postmortem examination of a body reveals everything”, Mukesh said with tears rolling down on his cheeks.

Confessing to the crime on Wednesday night, Maheshwari reportedly told the police her husband was a drunkard and used to beat her frequently and did not go for work. As the murder was committed in a fit of rage, she left behind strong clues that helped the cops in cracking the case within a couple of hours.

Narrating the sequence of events, Sector 39 police station SHO inspector Janak Rana said Maheshwari returned from work in the afternoon and found her husband lying on the floor dead drunk. The murder was committed after 3 pm when the children left for their tuitions, he added.

“Maheshwari tied Govind’s hand with a string and strangled him to death by pressing a bamboo stick on his throat. The stick caused a wound on his throat while the string inflicted bruises on his wrists. She locked the door from outside and went away, only to return after a while to raise an alarm that her husband had committed suicide”, the SHO said.

He said Maheshwari could not show the cops any rope or ‘duppata’ with which she had claimed she found her husband hanging from a ceiling fan hook. “Moreover, one could not lower a body hanging from a fan by untying the knots of the rope as one has to cut it to lower the body. In this case she could not produce any rope or ‘dupatta’ that was cut in such a way as to support her claims,” the SHO said.

Meanwhile, a board of doctors and a forensic expert from the Government Medical College & Hospital, Sector 32 conducted the postmortem on the body. The SHO said viscera samples would be sent for chemical examination to ascertain whether any sedative was administrated to the victim. The chemical examination would also disclose how much liquor the victim had consumed.

Govind’s two brothers, Bhawan Singh Rana and Amar Singh Rana, had come to the city after they were informed about the murder. They said they would take the children along with them after cremating Govind’s body.

A local court today remanded Maheshwari to judicial custody.

Chandigarh, September 16
The sleepy village of Sarangpur on the Chandigarh-Punjab border, which hogged limelight in the backdrop of setting up of mega projects a couple of years back, seems to have fallen on bad days.

With major mega projects, including the Film City and the Amusement Park, being scrapped by the UT administration following allegations of irregularities, crores of rupees spent on the development of the area have gone down the drain.

The administration virtually put the cart before the horse by developing the infrastructure at the Sarangpur institutional area where these two mega projects were to be set up. It laid the roads in the entire institutional area in anticipation of the coming up of the mega projects.

However, Sarangpur seems to be jinxed as the two mega projects -Film City and Amusement Park - were later scrapped by the administration following controversies. Of the mega projects, only the Education City is on track, though certain selected firms have expressed reservations about the terms and conditions governing the land allotment.

Manjit Singh, a Sarangpur resident, said the Film City and the Amusement Park could have turned the village into a tourist destination bringing in prosperity. However, with these projects becoming a thing of the past, hopes of area residents have dashed.

A visit to the institutional area today revealed that the recent rain has taken a heavy toll on roads. Some of the roads have already started breaking up.

Official sources said they had laid roads anticipating setting up of mega projects. “We did not imagine that roads would go waste with the scrapping of mega projects after their allotment to the realty firms,” a senior official said.

Meanwhile, some of the existing roads can be used for approaching the Education City. The Chandigarh administration also intends to allot huge chunks of land for setting up of the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) at Sarangpur and parts of the road network can be used for approaching the IRB complex, said officials.

Chandigarh, September 16
The board of directors of the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) today approved the bonus for its eligible employees.

It was decided that an incentive of Rs 7,000 would be given to its employees as per eligibility. The employees used to get incentives as per the remarks in the ACRs. The board also gave administrative approval for the installation of a sewerage treatment plant at Hotel Mountview, costing Rs 56 lakh.

The board approved enhancement in the gratuity amount from Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.

During the meeting of the board of directors held under the chairmanship of Home Secretary Ram Niwas, it was mentioned that the cash profit of CITCO during the first quarter of this fiscal stood at Rs 6.12 crore, which is 11% higher than the cash profit of Rs 5.51 crore achieved during the corresponding period in 2009-10.

The turnover of Hotel Mountview increased to Rs 8.69 crore against Rs 7.05 crore in the corresponding period last year. Similarly, the turnover of Hotel Shivalikview increased to Rs 5.61 crore against a turnover of Rs 5.09 crore achieved in corresponding period last year. Hotel Parkview’s turnover was Rs 3.58 crore as against Rs 2.66 crore during the corresponding period last year.

The board of directors also approved to give discount on food for room service on paid privilege cards (gold and silver). Gold card is available at a Rs 3,000 plus service tax. The cardholders get 25 per cent discount on food and room. Similarly, the silver card is priced at Rs 1,500 plus service tax and allows customer a discount of 15 per cent on food and room.

Chandigarh, September 16
The annual day celebrations of a Banur-based college, Gurukul Vidyapeeth, turned sour late this evening when some students allegedly damaged the property of Tagore Theatre after heated arguments with the theatre management.

According to CEO of the college Manmohan Garg, the students, who were celebrating the annual ‘Engineering Day’, were upset over frequent breakdown of electricity and sound equipment during the function. "They complained to the theatre authorities several times but no one was willing to attend to them," he said.

“We had hired the place to celebrate the event, but the entire celebrations were marred by the lackadaisical attitude of the theatre management. The students were agitated as they had been looking forward to the event. Even after the entire function was messed up, students did lose their temper but no one indulged in violence," he said.

However, contrary to Garg's stand, Tagore Theatre manager JPS Kohli said the theatre was hired by the college from 5 pm to 9 pm. "We told them to wind up their party at 9 pm. But despite repeated request, they carried on with the party,” he said, alleging that the students then indulged in violence and broke two chairs and took away a water dispenser.

Till the filing of this report, no formal case was registered.

Chandigarh, September 16
Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Commissioner Roshan Sunkaria today handed over LPG auto-rickshaws to 57 BPL beneficiaries at the Sukhna lake parking lot.

He asked the beneficiaries to ensure that they pay their loan instalments timely, besides saving their earnings through the monthly deposit scheme of the bank.

The commissioner said that under the step-up component of the Swaran Jayanti Shastri Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), the cell has started innovative programmes for the urban poor. He said three courses have been introduced related to health and skincare with the VLCC, computer hardware and office automation with the DOEACC and a security guard course with G-4 Securities.

He said around 150 BPL families will be given training under the revised guidelines of the SJSRY. Besides, training programmes in gardening, plumbing and electrician have also been introduced under the SJSRY.

Earlier, the commissioner flagged off LPG auto-rickshaws after handing over the keys and documents to beneficiaries.

Mohali, September 16
Private bus operators are taking Chandigarh-bound passengers for ride by allegedly giving wrong information about the route and destination of buses. Despite given route permits only for plying buses between different destinations within Punjab, the operators allow Chandigarh-bound passengers to board the buses.

Once at Mohali bus stand, the Chandigarh-bound passengers are directed to again board maxi cabs that ferry passengers to inter state bus terminus (ISBT), Sector 43, Chandigarh.

Mohali DTO Karan Singh said the private bus operators violating the rules are being challaned regularly. Passengers complain that conductors of these buses often misguide them and coax them to board their buses for a particular destination despite the fact that these buses were never destined for those ends.

Such incidents are common on the Mohali-bound buses coming from different towns of Punjab.

The passengers are charged fare inclusive of Chandigarh, but the operators do not have any valid permission to charge fare beyond Mohali. For their convenience the bus operators pay the maxi cabs for ferrying the passengers to Chandigarh.

A transport department official said apart from the violations by the private bus operators, passengers also need to be aware of the destination of the bus they board.

“It not a matter of convenience alone, precious time is lost in changing the mode of transport,” said a harried commuter. Hundreds of passengers face this problem daily.

Mohali, September 16
The Mohali Civil Surgeon has suggested that a high-level meeting should be called to discuss the issue related to free treatment for patients from BPL families in multi-speciality hospitals here so that decisions taken nearly three years ago could be implemented.

Sources said in a letter written to the estate officer of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) on September 10, Dr PK Shridhar, Civil Surgeon, said a high-powered meeting should be fixed at which the Deputy Commissioner of Mohali, managing director of the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC), director of the health and family welfare department and senior officials of GMADA should discuss the guidelines suggested in September, 2007, and come out with ways that could help poor patients to avail the facility.

He further said in the letter that patients from BPL families would not be able to get the facilities in private multi-speciality hospitals until these establishments gave their consent to the guidelines issued three years ago. The consent of these hospitals had not been received so far and neither any details about the infrastructure available there had been provided by them.

It is learnt that copies of the letter were sent to the Principal Secretary, department of health and family welfare, Punjab, Deputy Commissioner, Mohali, Managing Director, PHSC, and Director, Health and Family Welfare.

A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Roshan Sankaria, MD, PHSC-cum-Secretary, health, on September 12, 2007, where it was decided that people living below the poverty line should be given free treatment by multi-speciality hospitals, which had been given land at concessional rates by PUDA.

Free treatment was to be provided to 5 per cent of the indoor patients and 10 per cent of outdoor patients. The meeting was attended among others by Krishan Kumar, Chief Administrator of GMADA, at that time.

Eight multi-speciality hospitals in Mohali were asked to draw up a mechanism for referring patients from BPL families. The records show that only one hospital (Ivy Hospital) was providing free treatment to this section, while five managements had flatly refused to do so on legal grounds and two remained silent on the issue.

Chandigarh, September 16
The Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee (CTCC) will have to wait for its new president for some more time, as the announcement is not being made on September 17-the scheduled date.

Even as 25 members of the Territorial Congress Committee (TCC), including Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources Pawan Bansal and current CTCC president BB Bahl and three district congress presidents, through a resolution authorised the Congress high command to name the party president, the announcement would only be made by the end of this month or early next month, sources said.

Names of several senior leaders, including BB Bahl, Subhash Chawla, Rampal Sharma and Pawan Sharma, are doing the rounds for the coveted post. It seems that it is virtually going to be a Bansal man who would head the organisation ahead of the 2011 municipal corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) elections.

Bahl has been president of the Congress since 2000. While he was nominated in 2000, he was elected president in 2002 and 2006. Since Bansal does not perceive any threat from Bahl, he is one of the front runners for the post.

In fact, the delay in naming the next president has to be seen in the backdrop of Bahl’s claim for the post. Since according to party rules and regulations, a president cannot have a successive third term, the high command is taking time in deciding the CTCC president particularly when Bahl is in the reckoning for the top post.

In fact, the stamp of party high command is visible on all major nominations in the local Congress. Recently, the high command nominated all TCC members that sparked off allegations of favouritism. While certain wards were not represented at all, other wards had more than one delegates. In fact, the election of the ward presidents is yet to be held.

Chandigarh, September 16
The unpleasant odour from the dumping ground at Dadu Majra here has been causing great resentment among people living in the area and surrounding sectors.

The residents affected complain that they are adversely affected by the air and water pollution and the foul smell being emitted from the dumping ground.

They have expressed their anger against the authorities, which are virtually sleeping over the issue despite several representations submitted by resident welfare associations over the past four years.

The residents allege that the authorities have been passing the buck by constituting committees and bringing experts to study the cause of the foul smell being emitted from the dumping ground and the garbage plant at Dadu Majra.

They have remarked that no conscious effort has been made to address their misery till date and they have just received false assurances of action.

The general secretary of the Dadu Majra Residents Welfare Association, Narender Chaudhary, said the authorities would wake up only after there was a big mishap, including casualties, due to the unsanitary conditions.

He expressed anguish over the callous attitude of the authorities and claimed that officials of the corporation never supervised the throwing of garbage by its vehicles.

Chandigarh, September 16
Seeking the revision of freight to save the concrete pump and transit mixture industry, the North India Concrete Pump and Transit Mixture Owners Association held its first meeting here on Sunday.

The association said owners of transit mixtures were running into huge losses since services were outsourced by companies in 2007 and in case freight charges were not revised immediately, a majority of people in the business had to shift to other areas.

In a press conference, Col SS Mihnas and Aneet Goel, president and secretary, respectively, of the association said the companies in the business did not revise the freight charges during the last three years though running expenses of their mixtures had been increased substantially.

The compulsion of mixture owners to remain in business was that this machinery could not be used for any other purpose. Prior to 2007, the companies were using their own machinery for the purpose, they said.

However, finding that it was not a viable option, the companies offered the opportunity to transporters and other entrepreneurs to arrange for their transit mixtures with an investment worth more than Rs 25 lakh to run plants. More than 12,000 machines were put in by people all over the country, they said.

Since the companies had not increased any freight charges since then, the machinery owners were in a dilemma as staying in the business with losses would not be possible for long. On the other hand, the machinery lying with them would be rendered idle, they rued.

Finding themselves in a similar situation, owners of transit mixtures had formed the association and people from other parts of the country had been roped in, they said. Ravinder Pal Singh Tuli from Mumbai was elected patron of the association.

Chandigarh, September 16
Dr Chetana Vaishnavi, Additional Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, became a Fellow of the International Medical Science Academy for her significant contribution to medical science. She was conferred with the honour by Prof K. Jagdeesan, president of the society, during the 30th Annual conference of IMSA at the Royal Society of Medicine, London, on September 10.

Vaishnavi, a medical microbiologist, has a galaxy of honours to her credit such as the prestigious Dr CGS Iyer Oration award by the ICMR, Dr TMA Pai gold medal and several awards for scientific presentations in India and abroad. She has about 130 publications in the national and international journals of repute. She is also a member of several scientific bodies. She has edited a book on ‘Gastrointestinal Tract Infections’.

Chandigarh, September 16
The Deaf Way Foundation is to organise All-Haryana Painting and Quiz Competitions for the Deaf” marking the 53rd International Week of the Deaf 2010, on Saturday.

The Deaf Way is a voluntary organisation working in India to tackle the varied problem of the deaf community and also to enhance the opportunities available to the deaf, empowering them to lead happy productive lives, integrated in the mainstream of society.

The organisation runs two educational centres in Delhi, and Biza (Ludhiana) to empower deaf people through education and vocational training enabling them to support themselves and their families in future. More than 250 children from 15 schools across the state are expected to participate at the Indira Holiday Home.

Chandiagrh, September 16
On the 81st birth anniversary of theatre stalwart Gursharan Singh, the audience witnessed action-laced with jubilation and joys outside Randhawa auditorium, venue for the play. As usual, scores of artists and art lovers escorted the living legend to the stage for a cake-cutting ceremony and distribution of ladoos.

The festival opened with Rangkarami Amritsar’s socially relevant play “Baba Bantu” which ripped open caste prejudices and widening gap between the rich and the poor.

Sculpted by playwright Charan Singh Sandhu, the play structured in the Punjabi pastoral milieu bares the plight of Baba Bantu, a poor but gifted expert on treating snakebite cases.

The penury of the family and alleged illicit relationships resulted in the killing of Bantu Baba’s son. Unable to bear the agony he kills landlord Sarban, the killer of his son, only to end his life later.

Manchpreet, Rashpal Randhawa, Gurtej Mann, Aman Bal, Pargat Mandip, Inderjit, and Navjot Kaur played important roles. PAC chairperson Harjinder Kaur, Ajmer Aulakh, playwright Pali Bhupinder graced the festival.

Chandigarh, September 16
A brawl with his brother over a trivial issue landed a proclaimed offender (PO), wanted in a double murder case, in police net on yesterday.

The police has arrested 35-year-old Krishan Pal, alias Ram Gopal, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, from Nehru Colony, Sector 52. A police team arrested Krishan under preventive measures after he had a fight with his brother Ram Pal with whom he was staying for the past fortnight.

The police suspected the credentials of the accused during questioning and contacted the area police station. The SHO of the police station concerned, Rishi Ram, told the police that the description of the accused matched with Ram Gopal, who was wanted in a double murder case. The case was registered against him in 2001.

The SHO of Sector 36 police station, Anokh Singh, said after the credentials of the accused were confirmed, he was produced before the SDM (South) along with his crime history. The SDM sent him to jail and he would be taken by the UP Police in connection with the murder case on production warrants.

WE are four senior citizens who go for a stroll to the Green Park situated adjacent to Sanatan Dharam Temple, in Sector 42, every day.

During the evening hours, we face a major problem while walking. At every nook and corner of the park children are seen playing football and cricket. There are times when the football and cricket ball hit us. On the cemented pavement, which is basically meant for walking, children are seen plying bicycles. They pose a problem in our walking.

Tiles are also being fixed at both the ends of the park and the entrance from both sides is filthy, it becomes very difficult to walk through. Can something be done about the above problems?

Chandigarh, September 16
In a major twist to the upcoming PU Senate byelections, Professor VK Mahajan has withdrawn his name leaving the battle to both former PUTA presidents.

It will be Raunki Ram of Political Science versus Manjit Singh of Sociology department for the elections of Art faculty. While both of them have been members of the Senate in capacity of being PUTA presidents, it’s the first time they are contesting from this faculty. Mahajan who according to the buzz has withdrawn his name to support one particular group, he asserted, “ I stood up with independent intentions and now have withdrawn at my own will. It is not because of any group but my own decision.” The election will be held on September 25. While four professors had initially filed their nominations but it ended up with just two. The art faculty seat was rendered vacant after the retirement of AK Sehajpal.

The election is getting mileage due to recent break up between the Chatrath and Goel group and thus it is expected to change the Senate chemistry. — TNS