Chandigarh, November 12
Chaos prevailed on the roads leading to Sector 15 today with thousands of Congress party activists streaming into the city from all over Punjab to attend the “coronation ceremony” of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh.

Commuters had to face a harrowing time after the local police imposed diversions and closed the entire section of the road facing Punjab Congress Bhawan in Sector 15 to accommodate the huge rush of party workers. Students and ambulances were left stranded in interminable traffic snarlups on the roads surrounding Sector 15 throughout the day.

Large groups of Congress activists from the neighbouring state began arriving in the city early in the morning and most of them parked their vehicles wherever they found space, paying a scant regard to the inconvenience caused to the locals. Residents of Sectors 10, 11, 15 and 16 complained some of the visitors had parked their vehicles in front of the gates of the houses, leaving them grounded.

The activists not only flouted traffic regulations with impunity but some of them were seen passing obscene remarks at girls and indulging in catcalls. “Though we noticed the rowdy behaviour we chose to turn a blind eye as we were told to concentrate on the law and order situation and regulate traffic”, said a police officer.

The stretch of the road from Sector 16 to the PGI roundabout remained closed till the end of the function at about 1 pm, but it took a couple of hours for the traffic to return to normal. Though the police had not permitted heavy vehicles to ply near Congress Bhawan, jams were routine there as the other side of the road has to cater to a heavy rush of the vehicles.

The party activists also created bottlenecks by walking on the other side of the road, which was open to the traffic. They crossed over the median and walked to their vehicles parked across the road. Sweets were distributed among the party workers on the occasion. There were also incidents of gate crashing and minor brawls, which went largely unreported.

The police diverted buses coming on Madhya Marg for Sector 15 from the Sector 10, 11, 15 and 16 roundabouts where they had to take a detour to reach to their destinations.

About 300 local cops were deployed on the security duty while an equal number of Punjab police personnel were guarding the gathering inside Congress Bhawan.

“About 25,000 people participated in the function, which was organized at such a small space. We had a tough time controlling the situation”, said a police officer.

Traffic jams were also witnessed in other areas of the city when the function concluded in the afternoon. Commuters remained stranded with long lines of vehicles seen at the Kisan Bhawan and Batra cinema roundabouts and on other roads.

Ludhiana, November 12
Dr E Sreedharan, managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), today said that the survey for the Chandigarh metro project would be completed in nine months.

Chandigarh, November 12
Flats under the special UT housing scheme in Sectors 52, 53 and 56 are set to cost more. With the cost of construction material and overhead expenses rising since the launch of the scheme in 2008, the UT Administration is considering an upward revision in the cost of the dwelling units.

The the Chandigarh Housing Board is in the process of working out the rough cost estimates for the flats which would be added to development charges for calculating the exact cost of the flats. “It depends on quotations in various tenders to be floated, but the cost will certainly rise due to several reasons,” a senior official said on condition of anonymity.

If the current cost of construction is taken into account, the cost will rise substantially.

According to Surinder Bahga of Saakaar Foundation, the average cost of construction per square feet is around Rs 1,200. By this estimate, the construction cost of a Category A flat (2,000 sq ft and costing Rs 34.7 lakh) will be about Rs 24 lakh. Since this sum excludes land cost, providing a flat for Rs 34.7 lakh would virtually be impossible, CHB sources stated.

Similarly, the construction cost of a Category B flat, excluding the land cost, will be around Rs 18 lakh. The CHB had pegged the cost of the flat at Rs 24.3 lakh. For a Category C flat, the construction cost works out be around Rs 11 lakh, as against the total price of Rs 11.53 lakh.

The Category A (three bedrooms), having a covered area of 2,000 sq ft was to cost only Rs 34.7 lakh for UT employees. The same flat with a covered area of 1,424 sq ft will cost Rs 39.57 lakh to a general allottee in the Sector 63 housing scheme.

The cost of Category B (two bedrooms) 1,400 sq ft apartment was Rs 24.3 lakh while the general category allottees were asked to pay Rs 29.14 lakh for the same category, with a reduced area of 1,075 sq ft.

To top it, the Category C (one bedroom) flat for general allottees was priced at Rs 17.15 lakh for an area measuring 684 sq ft. On the other hand, the UT staff was to pay only Rs 13.53 lakh for the flat measuring about 900 sq ft.

Recently, the CHB had announced the launch of the housing scheme in Sector 51 where a two-bedroom flat will cost around Rs 50 lakh.

Chandigarh, November 12
Two juveniles residing in Bhaskar colony, Sector 25, allegedly killed an autorickshaw driver, Vijay Shankar Diwedi, on Divali night after robbing him in order to gamble with the money.

This sensational fact came to light today when the police arrested the two boys, aged 14 and 17 years, in connection with the blind murder case.

Diwedi was found dead in a pool of blood near the Panjab University campus on November 6. The police suspected robbery as the motive behind the murder.

The Tribune highlighted the growing menace of gambling in Sector 25 colonies in these columns on November 2 in a news item, ‘Gambling in city areas, police looks the other way’.

The boys had bludgeoned the victim’s head with a brick and fled with the latter’s money. Earlier that day the elder one had gambled away all the money he had in and was in desperate need of cash. None of the two has a criminal background.

The 17-year-old boy is a class 10 student of a private school in Sector 41 while the younger boy is a dropout and works at a tea stall, a police officer said.

Sources said being immature the boys could not control their emotions after committing the crime. They were overheard talking about their last night’s “adventure” by someone at a barbershop and the information somehow reached the police.

UT SSP Naunihal Singh said the two suspects were arrested today following secret information and they told investigators they had killed the autorickshaw driver to rob him of his money to play dice and for buying crackers.

“A joint team of the crime branch and the Sector 11 police station solved the murder acting on the tipoffs they had received from their sources”, he added.

DSP (crime) Satbir Singh said the duo hired the autorickshaw from near their colony at around 11:45 pm on Divali night to go to Sector 17 to buy crackers. “On reaching Sector 17 they realized they had forgotten whatever money they had at home and told the auto driver to take them to their friend’s home in the PU campus. Realizing the two did not have any money, the driver had an argument with them asking them to get down from his vehicle”, said Satbir.

However, the duo managed to convince him. After making several rounds on the roads for half-an-hour, one of the two boys alighted from the autorickshaw near a house and pretended to ring a doorbell.

Meanwhile, the other boy who was sitting in the auto picked up a brick and pushed Diwedi out of the vehicle.

They pounced on him and smashed his head with the brick. Then they searched the victim’s wallet and took out Rs 600 from it and fled.

The police said a postmortem conducted on the victim’s body revealed he suffered a fatal skull fracture besides other minor bruises.

Chandigarh, November 12
Testifying to the increasing craze for “special” vehicle registration numbers among city residents, those who had applied for two-digit and other “fancy” numbers were seen sleeping inside the premises of the UT registration & licensing authority (RLA) office yesterday night to ensure they got to the counter first the next morning.

Such was the frenzy among the applicants that two hours before the counter at the RLA office opened today, nearly 70 people had lined up to grab a fancy number of their choice from the new ‘AE’ series. While some of them claimed to have arrived at 5 am to “position themselves better” in the queue others had stationed their servants to occupy a position and sleep overnight in the premises.

Recounting his efforts to get a two-digit registration number, a lawyer, who asked not to be quoted, said he had “deputed” his helper since 8:30 pm yesterday evening and claimed to have arrived at the office early today morning. Yet another applicant, Rajesh, said he lined up outside the counter at 11:30 pm on Thursday night and it was because of his obsession for a “small number” that he had waited so long.

For some other applicants hanging around was not as fruitful. “I wanted either the 18 or 27 numbers as the sum total for both comes to nine, which is an ‘auspicious’ number. However, some others had already applied for these before me,” said Mukul, another city resident.

Interestingly, most people in the queue refused to reveal the number of their choice fearing others might overhear and apply for the number preferred by them.

“I had applied for the number 0213 in the AE series since my house number is the same. It’s a sheer craze for having the same house and car number that led to me to prefer this one. I don’t mind paying for it,” said Amritpal Kaur.

The frenzy among applicants also led to chaos at the scene when some of them fought with others in the line who tried to get ahead of them.

“During the last four years I have worked in this office I’ve seen an ever growing craze among people about fancy registration numbers. This time the excitement was unprecedented and people slept here overnight to get to the counter first,” said Sanjeev Kohli, branch in charge (licenses) at the RLA office.

Chandigarh, November 12
The ban imposed by the Army’s Canteen Stores Department (CSD) on the sale of cars through it in Chandigarh, ostensibly over matters relating to excise and taxation, has found its way before the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).

For about a year, defence personnel in Chandigarh have been unable to purchase cars through the CSD from city dealers, forcing them to go to dealers in Haryana where the cost of vehicles is more. The tribunal has issued notices to the Army and the CS authorities concerned.

In his petition, Brig Sant Singh, a decorated officer has contended that as per procedure, the delivery of vehicles is to be given by authorised dealers to the representative of the CSD, who then passes it on to the customer. For this, a representative of the CSD has to be present in Chandigarh. However, since there is no CSD depot in Chandigarh, the nearest being at Ambala, the CSD authorities, to avoid administrative inconvenience, initiated a system that customers residing in Chandigarh would only buy the cars through Haryana dealers so that the representative of the CSD does not have to visit Chandigarh, and altogether stopped sales in Chandigarh.

Besides the extra financial burden on service members and veterans, this has resulted in practical problems for disabled, elderly and widows. According to the petition, CSD authorities later tried to give a legal twist to the entire issue by quoting taxation problems. However, even the Governor of Punjab-cum-Administrator, UT, clarified that the Excise and Taxation Department had no problems in delivering the cars in Chandigarh provided that the delivery was taken by a CSD representative.

The CSD authorities then tried to put the onus on Western Command, asking it to resolve the issue. Western Command, however, claimed that it did not have jurisdiction over the matter. The authorities also claiming that the CSD had stopped the sales since some vehicles moving from Chandigarh to Ambala the CSD had been seized by the Haryana Government’s tax authorities. However, in response to an RTI query, they failed to provide any instance of vehicles being seized.

The petitioner has sought that the respondents concerned be directed to co-ordinate with each other and take steps to resolve the issue, which is affecting all serving and retired personnel of Chandigarh.

Chandigarh, November 12
Sedentary lifestyle and obesity are major factors for the growing incidence of diabetes in the city. A study conducted by the PGI revealed that these factors were more pronounced among the 11 per cent of residents who are suffering from diabetes.

Thirteen per cent of residents were borderline cases.

Even as the number of diabetics in the city was not higher than that of the national average, the disease has increased five-fold during the last 40 years.

During a survey in 1968, the number of diabetics in Chandigarh was only 2 per cent of the population.

The study conducted by the department of endocrinology (PGI) on 2,227 residents revealed that 349 persons were suffering from diabetes and 344 had pre-diabetes. Those surveyed were residents of Sectors 8, 11, 23, 24, 37 and 42.

The study, which was conducted two years ago, was accepted for publication in a medical journal, “Diabetes & Metabolism”, in France last month. Residents of age 20 years and above were included in the survey.

As many as 1,366 residents had no physical activity and 1,491 were found to be obese, Dr Bhansali, an endocrinologist at the PGI, stated.

Chandigarh, November 12
A seminar on the “Rule of Law: Good Governance or Activism” was today organised by Rajiv Gandhi Institute for contemporary studies in association with the Department of Laws at Panjab University campus.

Inaugurating the event, Punjab Governor Shivraj V Patil said the laws must be framed keeping in mind the aspirations of the public. Patil said at many times deficiencies existing in written and unwritten laws (customs) came in the way of effective enforcement of rule of law. The process of changing or amending laws, however, was not always that simple.

The Governor said discrimination in any form on the basis of caste, color, creed, sex or place of birth had no place in the realm of application of rule of law. Let our legislators make good laws that are in tune with the laws of nature, he said. It was up to our legislators to decide goodness, badness, rightness or wrongness of any law. However, good laws alone can’t ensure good rule of law. It also requires good judges, good lawyers and even good witnesses to ensure meaningful justice.

The Governor stressed upon having good laws, their proper execution and checks and balances by judicial interpretative process.

Welcoming the participants, GK Chatrath, dean, faculty of law, spoke about various Articles of the Constitution guaranteeing equality, social justice and rule of law. He also talked of why provision of reservation for the Scheduled Castes and the Backward Class people was incorporated in the Constitution of India and also about the arguments put forth by him later in some cases in the Supreme Court for favourable decisions on reservations.

Dr PD Kaushik, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies, traced the history of “Rule of Law” from ancient times and linked its importance to the modern democracies. Paramjit S Jaswal, Chairman, the Department of Laws, PU, Chandigarh said, “The concept of rule of law runs like a golden thread in the Constitution of India and it keeps the public authorities within their limits while discharging the duties.”

Chandigarh, November 12
Animal welfare societies have a reason to cheer. The PGI is all set to use petscan (positron emission tomography) for drug development tests in animals.

With this, there will be no need to sacrifice animals being used such tests. Till now, animals like mouse, rabbit and monkey are used for drug development tests before those are conducted on human beings.

After the start of the facility, not only will the lives of animals be safe, but the financial burden will be eased out as such animals are raised under special conditions and made available to laboratories at high cost, says Dr Anish Bhattacharya, associate professor, nuclear medicine, PGI.

At the PGI, a petscan machine is available for use in diagnosis as well as therapeutic use for human beings. It cannot see lesions smaller than 1 centimetre and for scan of small animals like mouse, there is a need of micro-petscan with very high resolution, which can scan lesions in a size of millimetre, he says.

After micro-petscan is installed, isotopes will be attached with medicine and as soon as the animal is put under petscan, the isotopes attached with the medicine will be radiated.

This way, scientists will be able to know the amount of medicine that has reached till the affected organ. After some time, the isotopes will be dissipate and the animal will be ready for other tests.

Chandigarh, November 12
On the second day of the annual conference of the Society of Nuclear Medicine India, lectures on basic science and clinical applications were delivered by delegates from different countries at the PGI here today.

The four-day conference, with the theme ‘Recent Developments and Future Directions in Molecular Imaging and Radionuclide Therapy”, was inaugurated by Punjab Governor-cum-Chandigarh Administrator Shivraj V Patil yesterday. Dr Baljinder Singh, additional professor at the PGI, said the main topics to be discussed included recent advances in molecular imaging using newer PET radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis of disease pathology.

Dr Vijay Sharma from the US spoke on the emerging role of molecular imaging in biomedical research. Personalised treatment of cancer was an upcoming topic in oncology, he said. Dr Monica from the US shared her research experience on polymeric nanoparticles for cancer and cardiovascular imaging. She elucidated the role of PET in imaging new blood vessel formation, a key event in cancer.

Dr Venkatesh Rangarajan from Mumbai delivered the Homi Bhabha Memorial Oration on sustainability of PET/CT. He discussed strengths and weaknesses of this emerging modality.

Chandigarh, November 12
The staff of the enforcement wing of the municipal corporation razed 10 pucca structures on municipal land at sadar market in Sector 19 here today.

The anti-encroachment team faced mild resistance from encroachers, but no untoward incident was reported.

The structures included shops and illegal sheds. Around 50 labourers, along with gas cutters, conducted the drive, which lasted more than six hours.

After demolishing the structures, the staff of the Chief Engineer’s department put barricades around the site.

Chandigarh, November 12
A development agenda of around Rs 4.09 crore was approved by the Road and Electricity Committee of the municipal corporation (MC) during a meeting held here today.

The meeting, which was chaired by Resham Chand Jakhu, approved major agenda items, which included estimates for 22 sites to lay paver blocks, two to widen roads and to repair the community centre at Sector 37.

The members approved estimates of thick paver blocks on the V-4 road at Sector 20, paver blocks at Sector 22, thick paver blocks at entry points and brick on edge along existing footpath at the green park in Sector 16.

The committee also approved widening and carpeting of the V-6 roads in Sectors 2 and 9, along with marking of segregation line and zebra crossing with thermoplastic paint on V-4 and V-5 roads and in front of various schools at Sectors 31, 47 and 48.

Meanwhile, the Electricity Committee approved a few agenda items during a meeting chaired by Anju Beniwala.

The committee approved items for augmentation and shifting of streetlights on the V-4 road at Sectors 34, 43 and 45, providing lights at the green belt in Sector 42, the road separating Sectors 12 and 14 towards Khuda Lahora, providing footpath lights at parks in Sectors 39 and 40 and providing streetlights at the district court parking in Sector 17.

Chandigarh, November 12
The Orthodox Syrian Church Society will organise a South Indian food carnival at St Mary’s School, Sector 46-A, here on November 14 from 11 am to 3 pm.

This will be the seventh such carnival to be organised by the society to raise funds for its charity projects. The event has received a good response in the past.

At least 6,000 persons are expected to attend the food carnival this time round. Mahesh Singla, ADGP, Kerala, will be the chief guest on the occasion.

Mohali, November 12
The body of a five-year-old boy was found floating in a pond at Sohana village here this morning. The victim, Deepak, a nursery class student of Setinel school, Sohana, had gone missing on November 9.

The police suspected drowning to be the cause of death of the boy. The pond is located close to the house of the victim.

Sohana SHO Mohinder Singh said no injury marks were found on the body.

Chet Ram, father of the victim, is daily wage earner and his mother works as domestic help. The couple has three daughters.

SP (city) and DSP (city-II) also visited the scene. The autopsy will be conducted tomorrow.

Chandigarh, November 12
The alleged offensive remarks by former RSS chief KS Sudarshan against AICC president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi earned the ire of the local unit of the Congress, which organised a protest here today.

Led by president of the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee BB Bahl and Mahila Congress president Lalit Joshi Bhardwaj, the protest march started from the Congress Bhavan in Sector 35. After traversing Sector 33, it marched towards the BJP office in Sector 33 where it was stopped by the police for preventing any untoward incident.

Terming Sudarshan’s remarks part of a larger Sangh Parivar’s conspiracy to vitiate country’s atmosphere, the Congress leaders demanded a public apology for “uncalled for and offensive” remarks.

Meanwhile, certain BJP workers also staged a “counter-protest” near the BJP office.

Panchkula: Hundreds of Congress workers led by local MLA DK Bansal burnt the effigy of Sudarshan for making defamatory statements, near the Sector 9-16 roundabout here today.

Addressing the gathering, Bansal urged the government to register a sedition case against Sudarshan who was trying to create law and order problem in the country.

He said the government should arrest Sudarshan as he was a threat to the unity and integrity of the country.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Indian Youth Congress workers gathered at the Shalimar Mall chowk, near Sector 6, and burnt the effigy of Sudarshan. They also raised slogans against him demanding his arrest.

Ambala: Congress workers led by Haryana Congress chief Phool Chand Mulana and district Congress committee president Nirmal Singh staged a protest and burnt the effigy of the former RSS chief at Mohra village today.

Hundreds of party supporters led by senior party leaders expressed their anger over Sudarshan’s derogatory remarks about party chief Sonia Gandhi.

Sudarshan had espoused a bizarre theory that Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had plotted the assassinations of her husband Rajiv Gandhi and mother-in-law Indira Gandhi.

Mulana said Sudarshan should be arrested for making the remarks and demanded an unqualified apology from him.

During the protests, Congress workers demanding immediate ban on the RSS.

Congress workers said the remarks made by him against Sonia were inhuman and should be condemned by all Indians.

Mulana added that Sudarshan had apparently lost his mind.

Others present included Braham Pal Rana, Raj Kumar Aneja, Raj Mohan, Naib Singh Saini, Surjan Singh Kesari besides district-level Congress workers.

In Ambala city, hundred of workers led by former DCC president Arun Garg held a rally from the residence of local MLA Venod Sharma and burnt the effigy of Sudarshan at the Polytechnic Chowk.

The workers also raised slogans against the RSS and demanded the arrest of Sudarshan for levelling derogatory allegation against Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Senior leaders, including Parminder Babla, Naresh Sehgal, Karnail Singh Bai, Ashok Boondi, Mukesh Joshi, Bharat Rattan, Ajay Saini, and Tarun Chugh, were present.

In Ambala Cantonment, Naraingarh and Mulana, too, Congress workers burnt the effigy of Sudarshan to register their protest.

District Congress committee, Ambala City, will burnt the effigy of Sudarshan tomorrow at Jagadhri Gate at Ambala City.

Chandigarh November 12
A Punjabi adaptation of Arthur Miller’s classic ‘A memory of two Mondays’ was staged on the second day of ongoing 5th Chandigarh Theatre Festival organised by Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademy at Bal Bhawan here today.

Titled as “Oh loag jo ruke raho” and adapted for dramatisation by Navdeep was directed by renowned theatre director Vivek Mishra of Mumbai.

The play evolved after a month-long workshop by Mishra with students of the Department of Theatre and Television of Panjab University. It brought into focus the life concerns of a common man from the lower or middle class family.

Structured in a Punjabi milieu, a transport company office and a garage, the play bears frustration anguish and problems of each employee subjugating their aspirations, ambitious, joys and future prospectus.

The presence of director was perceptible as the actors brought of their respects characters with chaste Punjabi flavour and emotional outburst.

Shubra Verma, Bhanupriya Jiwan Singh, Jeeva, Mahesh Yadav, Lajpal and a strong cast of 25 actors justified their roles. Akademy chairperson Kamal Arora welcomed chief guest Harish Bhatia who honoured the artistes.

Mohali, November 12
The district administration has identified 10 acres of land for a cattle pound at Kambali village here. The gram panchayat of the village has offered the land for the purpose.

Mohali Deputy Commissioner Parveen Kumar said if finalised, the land would be acquired at the collector rate.

Due to the increased menace of stay cattle, the administration has been looking for a large chunk of land for the cattle pound.

Earlier, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) had been directed by the Punjab Chief Minister to set up a cattle pound at the earliest. Chairman, District Planning Board, NK Sharma had also raised the issue.

Due to increased development in the peripheral areas, stay cattle continued to pour into the town from the adjoining slums and rehabilitation colonies.

Chandigarh, November 12
In yet another turn to the ongoing case of violence at the student centre in Panjab University, the suspended members of the Panjab University Students’ Union (PUSU) today claimed that the committee formed by the Vice-Chancellor did not summon them even once before passing the suspension orders.

The students said the orders were passed in haste without a detailed inquiry into the case. One of the four suspended students, Arshbir Johal, of the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS), told the Chandigarh Tribune today: “I was just spotted standing in the background in a clipping extracted by the PU authorities. How can the university suspend me without even giving a chance to clarify my position? I have never had a record of roaming around with arms on the PU campus.”

Agitated members of PUSU today said the university should have verified its own records first and conducted a detailed inquiry into the case before pronouncing the judgment. “Why didn’t the university take action against those who hurled chairs on officials on the day of student election?” questioned Johal.

Reacting to the allegations of PUSU, a senior administrative functionary, said: “We would be looking at all the cases in totality and those found guilty of violence would not be spared.”

Chandigarh, November 12
Spreading awareness about cancer in villages of Punjab on bicycles, 25 NCC cadets arrived in the city today from Amritsar. The cadets, between 9-15 years of age, will cover 850 kilometres before returning to Amritsar on November 16.

NCC Additional Director General Major General MS Virk gave away mementos to the participants and said such activities made a lot of positive changes in the society.

Organised under the aegis of 11 Punjab NCC Battalion, the cycle rally was flagged off from Amritsar on November 7 to mark the Cancer Awareness Day. Accompanied by two associate NCC officers and two NCC instructors, the cadets have already traversed Tanda, Dasuya, Hoshiarpur, Nangal, Anandpur Sahib and Ropar.

Chandigarh/Mohali, November 12
UT Education Department’s Children’s Day celebrations started today with the inauguration of two-day inter-school competitions.

Today, an inter-school skit and mimicry competition was organised in Government Model High School, Sector 38 where eminent theatre personalities like Vijay Vashishist and Parveen Chubey adjudged over 21 teams from various schools.