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Sumit Sofat finally behind bars
Panchkula, September 17 When the accused arrived in the parking area in his Sonata car (CH 03K 2948) around 4.45 pm the police team gheraoed the car and arrested him. He would be produced before the area Judicial Magistrate, district courts, Panchkula, tomorrow for further investigation. Dr Sofat’s bail application was dismissed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently after he failed to appear before the Panchkula police to join investigation. The police had registered an FIR against Sofat on July 19 last year under Sections 182 and 307 of the IPC after he lodged a false complaint against Ramesh Pashan and his sons, all residents of Ludhiana, in July last year stating that they had robbed him of Rs 32 lakh at Morni hills. He had further alleged that Pashans had fired gunshots at his driver Nelson as well. In this incident, Nelson had suffered two bullet injuries in his chest. Sofat had alleged that Ramesh Pashan and his sons — Vinayak and Abhinav — with the help of their driver Ranjit and two other unidentified persons, had attacked him, injuring his driver. He claimed that the accused also snatched Rs 32 lakh lying in his Tata Safari. The Pashan family produced evidence before the police to establish their innocence in the case when summoned by the local police. The police during investigation found that Sofat had a dispute with Pashans over a piece of land since 2005 and had allegedly cooked up the story to frame them in a criminal case. The Pashan family had reportedly presented as evidence their photographs and a CD showing them present at the ring ceremony of Vinayak at Nirvana Club at the time of the incident. The police said Sofat had a criminal background in Punjab and the UK also and was wanted in about 25 cases in Punjab. In five of the cases non-bailable warrants had been issued against him and he was declared a proclaimed offender in a rape case.
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UT fudged facts on Kajauli project: Punjab
Mohali, September 17 Against a 50 feet wide strip of land initially acquired jointly by Punjab and the UT administration to lay six pipelines with a capacity of 20 million gallons a day (mgd) each from Kajauli to the Sector 39 water works, the union territory paid two-thirds towards the cost of land and the remaining one-third cost was paid by Punjab. The land was acquired under a joint scheme to lay six pipelines each bringing 20 mgd from the Bhakra main line to the Sector 39 water works in Chandigarh. The issue surfaced at a recent meeting in which the Punjab housing & urban development department accorded formal approval to undertake work on phases V and VI of the Kajauli water works scheme. Work on the scheme to bring 40 mgd of water from the Bhakra main line at a cost of Rs 335 crore would begin immediately, it was decided. A department official said the previous scheme was meant to supply 80 mgd of water to Chandigarh and the remaining two pipelines were to be laid to supply water to Mohali. The UT administration and the Punjab government shared the cost of land accordingly. While the union territory has exhausted its share, the remaining land is meant for Punjab to claim its share of 40 mgd. “Since Chandigarh doesn’t have any share in water available or running in the Bhakra main line, in lieu Punjab and Haryana were being given 2.5 mgd and 1.5 mgd water from each pipeline laid by the UT administration. Thus Mohali was getting 10 mgd of water from the existing four phases of the Kajauli water works”, said the department official. Putting the facts straight, the department has stated at present Mohali was getting 13 (10+3) mgd water against a requirement of 23 mgd, compared to Chandigarh being supplied 87 mgd (67+20) against a requirement of 70 mgd. This includes the supply of water generated by tubewells. Chandigarh was getting sufficient water to meet the demand for commercial, domestic and institutional use of water for the next five years, the department added. Requirement of water in Mohali is likely to touch 50 mgd in view of the growth of adjoining towns — Zirakpur, Banur, Mullanpur, Derabassi and Kharar — within the GMADA area.
Project cost to be met from EDC funds
GMADA has been asked to meet the project expenditure from funds available under external development charges (EDC) recovered from the promoters of mega projects, besides the authority’s own sources. Land required for laying the pipelines is already available. It has also been decided to lay only one pipeline of double size/capacity capable of supplying 40 mgd water would be laid instead of two pipelines 20 mgd each. A committee has been set up to identify the site for construction of a pumping station and treatment plant in Mohali in the second phase.
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VC backs DAV’s decision, snubs registrar
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 17 According to sources, the act of Prof SS Bari, the registrar, to provide short-term relief to Josan backfired today when the VC reportedly took umbrage at not being informed about the decision. They are believed to have had a heated argument on the issue. “The matter was controversial. The VC spoke to him, but there was no fight. The registrar used his powers and the PU respects it, but what irked the VC was that he was not even informed, leave aside consulted on the issue. There was no urgency to act,” a source close to Sobti stated. Late evening, rumours of Bari having resigned did the rounds, but these were dismissed by the PU. “Professor Bari is very much the registrar. No resignation has been submitted by him so far,” said Anil Kapur, PRO of the university. The decision has, however, disappointed Josan who claims to be ready to fight his battle alone. The management has, meanwhile, asked him to vacate the principal’s office. “The decision has surprised and disappointed me, but I will not give up and move the High Court. I am the principal and will function from the authorised office only,” Josan said. DAV management members had visited the college yesterday to serve the suspension notice on Josan. He, however, refused to leave the office. The argument between both parties continued for hours and the management made Prof Shashi Gupta the new principal. The college ended up with two principals. The registrar had quashed the DAV management’s orders last evening.
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Raids on pharma majors detect massive tax evasion
Chandigarh, September 17 Over 300 department personnel drawn from the entire northern region and the Mumbai income tax office searched the offices of Surya Pharmaceuticals, Nectar Lifesciences and Parabolic Drugs and seized a large number of incriminating documents that suggested tax evasion amounting to crores of rupees. Though officials were tightlipped about the seizures, investigation director YR Saini said, "Since this morning we’re conducting search and survey operations at the offices of three pharmaceutical firms”. Income tax officials said almost 39 residential and commercial premises were covered under the raid and surveys were conducted at another 12 commercial premises. These three integrated pharma companies, all listed on stock exchanges, are engaged in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients, contract manufacturing, and research & development activities. The firms have established businesses in the overseas markets as well. According to the officials, the operation was one of the “biggest” this year. They added they had valuable information indicating these companies had earned “excessive profits” but which were not being reflected in their tax returns. The officials observed newspapers had extensively been reporting that the country’s pharmaceuticals sector had witnessed significant growth in the recent past and was expected to post 12-13 per cent annual growth in turnover from $7 billion in 2007 to about $13-14 billion in 2012. This growth is being driven by numerous factors apart from just GDP growth, such as increased penetration in rural markets, growing incidence of lifestyle diseases and greater coverage of medical insurance.
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NHRC notice to SSP on inaction in torture case
Chandigarh, September 17 In the notice, issued on September 7, the commission directed the SSP to file a report within six weeks from the date of its receipt. Counsel for the petitioner S. Elumalai had filed a complaint with NHRC on August 19. On July 5 this year the counsel and the petitioner had earlier lodged a complaint with the UT inspector general of police alleging Elumalai’s employers, Recarders Medicare Systems (P) Ltd, based in Industrial Area, had tortured him for three days from June 17 to 19. In the complaint Elumalai stated he had come to the city, where the firm employing him is based, when it had not paid him his salary for the past two years. He alleged after he arrived here he was beaten up and kept in illegal detention by the company’s functionaries. He claimed his friends later rescued him from there.
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10 down with dengue in Mohali
Mohali, September 17 Dr Jai Singh, District Health Officer, said two patients were from Phase III-A, two from Sector 70, one each from Phases II and VII, two from Mohali and Balongi villages, one from Udham Singh Colony and one had got admitted himself in Prime Hospital. Five persons had gone to Fortis Hospital for treatment and four to the Civil Hospital. He said two children, a three-year-old and a one-and-a-half-year-old, were suspected to be suffering from swine flu. The swabs taken from both the patients were sent for the required tests. The confirmatory reports in this regard were still awaited.
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Two more names surface in PEC scam
Chandigarh, September 17 They might have allegedly introduced a few students to Dr Nishikant, the CBI added. Accepting the request, court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Jasbir Singh Sidhu sent Dr Nishikant in police remand till September 21. Seeking a seven-day police remand, special public prosecutor (SPP) Pawan Dogra said, “The investigating agency is yet to recover forged seals and has to go to Hisar and Delhi for the same. The CBI has recovered an amount of Rs 1 crore and 4 lakh from the bank accounts of the accused. The investigation is presently at its initial stage,” he added. The CBI asserted that Dr Nishikant was taken to Gurgaon in order to reveal involvement of others in the crime, however, on visiting the place the information was found to be false. Meanwhile, CBI Special Court of Darshan Singh dismissed the anticipatory bail of Mahender Bajaj, who was asked to join investigation in this case. Mahender had filed an anticipatory bail in the court. Contesting the bail, the public prosecutor said Mahender had not joined the investigation though the CBI had asked him to do so. The CBI had also sent a messenger requesting him to join investigation but Mahender didn’t join the investigation. 12 students fail to submit passport More than 12 “NRI” students of Punjab Engineering College have failed to submit their passports and original certificates to the CBI. In a letter addressed to all heads of the departments, the authorities had sent a list of around 24 students who were supposed to submit their certificates by today. While most of them submitted the certificates, around 12 students failed to do the same. “We have asked them to submit certificates by Monday. The students are not only from Nepal but other places as well,” said Prof Sofat, Dean, academics, PEC. Sofat claimed that SAT should not have been a criterion for investigation. “When students were admitted, SAT was not compulsory at that time. SAT has been made compulsory from this year only,” he said.
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ALC’s office nets Rs 3 crore
Smriti Sharma Vasudeva Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 17 However, sources claim that if the UT estate office had cooperated with the office of the ALC, the amount would have been much higher. Both departments are under the charge of the Deputy Commissioner, who happens to be UT estate officer as well as labour commissioner. The UT administration had notified the imposition of labour cess on all new constructions on September 17 last year. Since then it was mandatory for all involved in new constructions to pay 1 per cent of the cost of construction as labour cess. As a result, labour inspectors physically visited the site of construction to verify the cost of construction in order to calculate the labour cess. This was done after the UT administration formulated the Chandigarh Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules-2009 based on a notification of the union government of the Central Act 27 of 1996. While neighbouring Punjab and Haryana had already adopted the Act long ago, the UT administration adopted it in 2009. Since then, the ALC had been corresponding with the UT estate office for providing them with information of new building plans that are submitted to the estate office for approval. Sources claim that the ALC had even asked the estate office to put labour cess in the checklist before the clearance of any building plan. Sources claim that the estate office had started sending copies of building plans only recently.
Notice issued
The office of the assistant labour commissioner has
served notice on various organisations and institutions for not paying
annual maintenance cess. Some names that have been issued notices
include EPF, GPO, Canara Bank, LIC, Indian Oil Corporation, BPCL, HPCL,
Hotel Taj, Panjab University, ESI Corporation. All have been asked to
submit a reply within 10 days.
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Seminar on Hindi Day at Press Club
Chandigarh, September 17 He was the chief guest during the Hindi Diwas celebration at the Chandigarh Press Club here last evening. The function was organised by the Punjab Pradeshik Hindi Sahitya
Sangam. Prominent speakers shared their views on the proliferation of Hindi as a language in the
state. Naresh Kaushal, editor of the Dainik Tribune, said the quality of language and less literary content in certain newspapers had an effect on the psyche of a reader, who changes a paper for the better. However, since 1958 there is a tremendous rise in the popularity and acceptance of the language of the masses. Director of Doordarhan Kendra and a man of letters Dr KK Rattu said the built in “Virodhavas” among writers was a common phenomenon. Though we lack in literary genre, but the media, especially the electronic media had imparted a spectacular and felicitous fervour to non-Hindi speaking areas with the help of films and TV programmes. Similarly, principal RR Parbhakar and guest of honour Mahant Atma Ram envisioned the bright future of Hindi. Eminent personalities, including author, columnist and IPS Rajbir
Deswal, Usha Sharma Haryanvi, actor producer and HKP director, Thespian Kamal
Arora, scribe Som Datt Sharma, were honoured with Sanskriti Sanmman.
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Predicament of womanhood depicted
Chandigarh, September 17 Structured in the Punjabi pastoral ambience, the play revolves around the life of protagonist Santi who is subjugated, tortured and condemned to hellish living by his tyrant blacksmith husband Kaku. Perturbed at the inhuman torment, their daughter runs away with her lover. Caught between her respect for societal ideals, principles and unwarranted agony, she, too, goes to her old lover. The acting spells by Anita Shabdish and Sudesh Sharma brought out the subtle characters with understanding, verve and intellect to enliven the element of conflict and bigotry throughout the play. Aman Khaira, Roopi Maan, Shenti Saini, Mukesh Sharma and others too excelled. Samir Mathur, IAS, was the chief guest.
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Need for more compassion: Patil
Chandigarh, September 17 Expressing these views at the combined meeting of general body and executive committee of the council here today, Patil said in the next meeting, he would like to know about the amount collected at the district and state level. He said the aim behind this was to enlighten people for a social cause and not only to generate money for the welfare of children. NGOs are expected to educate people regarding welfare schemes. Patil said in the next meeting he would ask members what steps they had taken to check, child labour, drug addiction and female foeticide. Uma Ratra said children suffering from rheumatic heart and congenital heart diseases were undergoing treatment at the PGI, Chandigarh, and Hero Heart DMC, Ludhiana. She said, “Our workers are conducting a door-to-door survey to identify the cases of cancer in Bathinda district.”
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Freshers welcomed
Mohali: The Institute of Management and Technology, Rattan Group of Institutions, organised a welcome party for first year students. The function was inaugurated by Sunder Lal Aggarwal, managing director, Rattan Group of Institutions. Various events like bhangra, giddha and dance were held. Sarabjeet and Juhi were declared Mr and Miss Freshers. Ranjit and Monika were named Mr and Miss Personality. Visit
Children of kindergarten section of Small Wonders School, Mohali, visited Senior Citizens Home, Sector 43, Chandigarh. Young visitors reminded the elderly lot of their grand children.Principal of the school Hardip Nama underlined the vital role of elders in the lives of youngsters.
Hindi Diwas
To mark the Hindi Diwas, a plethora of activities were organised at AKSIPS-65 throughout the week. Activities like calligraphy, story telling, poem recitation and slogan writing were held for primary classes.
Talent hunt
Dera Bassi: A talent hunt was organised at Government College, Dera Bassi. The function was presided over by college principal Ritagangahar. Various events were held.
Results
Winners: Ritambra in rangoli, Rubi in mehandi, Sarbjit Kaur in debate, Archna in poetry, Shilpa in singing, Narinder Kaur in singing, Jeevan Jot and Randheer Singh in fancy-dress competition, Avtar Singh in poster making and Akashdeep Saini in clay modelling. Ashutosh was declared best actor, while Sukhwinder Kaur and Goldy were declared best dancers. Sukhwinder Kaur stood first in on-the-spot painting competition, while in quiz, Jaswinder Singh, Sajan Sethi and Rakesh emerged winners.
New session begins
A religious function was organised at Sri Sukhmani Institute to mark the beginning of new session. Principal, faculty, staff and students were present on the occasion. Students and tiny tots from Sri Sukhmani International School presented shabad kirtan.
Students
shortlisted
A team of Indian Army officials comprising Col RK
Sangar, Lt Col Shashi Kumar and Lt Col Nagendra Pillai visited Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engg and Technology, Dera
Bassi, to shortlist students for University Entry Schemes (UES-20 ). A motivating CD ‘Do you have it in you’ was shown to students. A total of 73 eligible students were
shortlisted.
Workshop
A workshop on “Personality Development and Facing Interviews” was organised by Career Launchers at Swami Parmanand Group of Colleges,
Lalru. Chairman of the institute Inderjeet Bajaj welcomed guests. More than 200 students from B Tech and MBA attended the workshop.
— TNS
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Boy goes ‘missing’, found sleeping in bus
Chandigarh, September 17 The bus dropped all students and moved to its stop Mullan Pur. The driver reportedly locked the bus and left for home. Parents kept waiting for the boy and then approached the school authorities. “When he did not return, we rushed to the school, where the school authorities called the driver but his phone was switched off. They sent a man to his house and our child returned at 4: 30 pm,” said Garnav’s grandmother. The driver, however, asserted that he had taken the boy, along with him, to his house and gave him lunch and then dropped him home. Garnav’s family members, however, refused to accept the driver’s claim, as the boy’s grandmother said, “If that was the case then why didn’t he inform the school authorities or us about the boy?” The school will enquire the matter tomorrow.
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MC panel fixes space for vendors
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 17 The committee proposed space for dry article vendors (20 per cent), vegetable vendors (40 pc) and fruit vendors (40 pc). The committee also directed the enforcement staff to deploy staff at all market sites in coordination with the engineering wing to ensure that unauthorised vendors did not sell their goods in the market. It was also decided that the junior engineer concerned would issue slips to vendors from 10 am to 5 pm. Time and date would be mentioned on each slip. The members directed the department to display the rate list at each day market site. It was also decided to restrict the entry of auto-rickshaws to the market. Also, only those vendors selling vegetables would be allowed to bring in their tractor-trailers in the day market site.
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Youth accuses GRP of inaction over assault
Chandigarh, September 17 Honey told the TNS that he had alighted from a train on his way to Lalru at the railway station around 6.15 am when he saw the shooting of a TV serial there. As he tried to take a closer look, a bouncer hired by the crew pushed him back. On being objecting to for his behaviour, the latter thrashed the youth, hitting him with a stick on the head, he alleged. Honey added that he went to report to the matter to the GRP, but the policemen there refused to listen to his plea and asked him to leave. ASI Shiv Kumar posted at the railway station police post said no such incident had occurred at the railway station.
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MC drive to save power
Chandigarh, September 17 This was decided at a meeting of the committee held under the chairmanship of Anju Beniwala and attended by other members of the committee. It was also decided to purchase small boom ladders especially for colonies and villages where big ladders could not move. Besides, the committee also accorded approval to various agenda items like providing high-mast lighting system near the boundary wall of theme park at Dadu Majra Colony, providing lights in green belt at Sector 39-A and B and providing lights in the park opposite the mosque in Sector 20-B.
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Taps go dry in Sec 61
Chandigarh, September 17 The residents kept waiting for the water supply, which was suspended without prior information. To top it all, the municipal corporation failed to make arrangement for alternative supply of water. There was no water supply even in the afternoon, a resident said. The water supply was restored only late in the evening. In spite of repeated calls during the day, residents learnt about the fault in the motor of the booster, from where the water is supplied, in the evening from officials.
— TNS
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Demolition drive by CHB
Chandigarh, September 17 At least five illegal constructions were removed from different houses. The illegal constructions included rooms in verandahs, which were constructed in violations of the rules on different floors. CHB officials maintained that the drive was conducted following complaints from certain section of residents of the same sector. The officials added that currently around 50 complaints were pending with the department and the demolition drive would continue in days to come.
— OC
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