Chandigarh, January 29
Scores of ultra-modern fountains installed at a cost of lakhs of rupees in various green belts and parks across the city have been literally “orphaned”, thanks to the wisdom of babus in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.

On request from different councillors, officials did show alacrity in sanctioning funds for the fountains but forgot to frame any policy for their maintenance and security.

As a result, expensive gadgetry (including brass nozzles) of the fountains were stolen by unscrupulous elements in different parts across the city and the MC officials have no technical know-how to make the fountains operational.

The issue would have been consigned to official files but for some councillors who, during yesterday’s general house meeting of the MC, pointed out the theft of fountain equipment. Records of the corporation revealed that out of 10 fountains, which were installed in the past two years, four are not functional due to missing parts of the fountains. Every month, the MC received complaints of theft of expensive gadgetry from different parts.

Chandigarh, January 29
A stab injury following a road rage incident wrecked a teenager’s right arm in Sector 40 last evening and it took over five hours for the PGI doctors today to operate upon the 18-year-old.

The victim, Siddharth Malhotra, a Class XII student, will not be able to move his forefinger and thumb again, stated doctors to the boy’s family.

A lackadaisical Chandigarh police is yet to wake up and arrest the accused even as all four of them have been identified. What’s more, all the police did was book them under bailable sections and dismissed it as a simple case of brawl even as the victim sustained multiple stab injuries.

Four assailants stabbed Siddharth in Sector 40 after he got into a scuffle with them as they damaged his bike. The four bashed him up, following which one of them took out a knife and stabbed him. Siddharth is pursuing studies from an open school.

“Doctors told us that Siddharth will not be able to move his right finger and thumb in the near future. His condition may improve after some months, but even then, the movement will be only 70 per cent as the knife pierced his right arm and damaged the nerves completely,” said a grieving Arun Malhotra, Siddharth’s father while talking to Chandigarh Tribune. Arun added that the father of one of the accused Ankush Chadha is politically connected and even threatened him at the hospital.

“My son returned from tuition and he had parked his motorcycle near Sampark centre in Sector 40 and was talking to a friend when a rashly driven bike rammed into his motorcycle and broke its headlights. As he confronted the two, they soon called their friends who came in a white Hyundai i10 car and one of them, identified as Ankush Chadha, took out a knife and attacked him,” said Arun Malhotra.

“Even as we provided the vehicle number CH04 C 0255 to the police, and identified all accused, the police has not taken any action and imposed softer sections, which are bailable while it is a case of murder attempt,” he said, adding that the father of one of the accused also threatened him in the hospital. “I thought he came to ask about the condition of my son, but the father of the prime accused Ankush Chadha, Sanjeev Chadha, told me that he is politically well-connected and the police cannot touch him while threatening them with dire consequences,” he added.

The other accused have been identified as Kartik, Himanshu and Dilpreet. The police has registered a case under Sections 323, 324, 506, 427 of the IPC in the Sector 39 police station.

Chandigarh, January 29
Chandigarh U-16 football team has done the city proud by lifting the North Zone trophy for the first time today.

With this there is a double bonanza in this month, as other city football teams have won top honours at national level. Besides, the city had secured two national titles last year taking the title tally to four in nine months.

Today’s title came with Chandigarh drubbing Haryana by 6-0 in a title clash of the All-India Football Federation-backed National Football Championship (North Zone) for the U-16 in Kashipur (Uttarakhand) today.

The win also enabled the U-16 team to secure berth for the first time in the forthcoming All-India National Football Championship scheduled for February 12 in Kolkata.

Ace forwards Danial and Samual played a vital role in the win by scoring two goals each, while Arjit and Timohi netted a goal each.

In the winning squad, 10 members were from the state-run Chandigarh Football Academy at Sector 42, here.

As many as eight teams from North participated. Interestingly, city boys scored 13 goals against their rival teams (2-0 against Delhi, 2-1 against Haryana and 3-0 against Jammu and Kashmir) and conceded just one goal in the tournament.

“I am sure that our boys will bring the All-India trophy next month,” said the proud coach, Harjinder Singh.

Mohali, January 29
With only two radiologists in five government hospitals in Mohali district, the Punjab health department has pressed the alarm button and come out with a scheme to reach out to the private sector to overcome the crisis even as a lifestyle clinic is being set up at the local civil hospital.

Patients in the district feel deprived of various medical facilities due to shortage of radiologists as they are not available in the hospitals throughout the week.

According to sources, Dr Vijay Bhagat, a radiologist at the Mohali Civil Hospital, has to go to Kurali Community Health Centre every Tuesday to attend to patients there. Similarly, another radiologist, Dr Harneet Kaur, posted at the Dera Bassi hospital, has to take care of patients at the Kharar hospital twice a week. The community health centre at Banur has also to be covered.

Keeping the welfare of patients in mind, the Principal Secretary, health and family welfare, had decided to reach out to the private sector to overcome the shortage of radiologists. In accordance with the decision of the Principal Secretary, the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) has invited expressions of interest from radiologists and radiodiagnostic centres for providing referral diagnostic services in the district.

Sources further said the managing director, PHSC, Raji P Srivastava, had asked the Mohali Civil Surgeon, Dr PK Shridhar, to directly receive the proposals, which would be evaluated and finalised by a committee. Dr Shridhar would be heading the committee and Deputy Medical Commissioner and Senior Medical Officer would be its members.

While talking to The Tribune, Shridhar said talks with private radiologists were going on. Those found suitable would be enrolled to provide services in areas which lacked these and payments would be made as per the terms of the agreement. The hospitals would be providing machines for carrying out various tests.

The Civil Surgeon further said that a lifestyle clinic was being set up in the local civil hospital. The hospital would also be equipped with a separate maternity ward having a neo-natal unit, foetal monitor in the labour room, round-the-clock laboratory services, digital x-ray machine and a priority laboratory for cultural sensitivity tests.

Chandigarh, January 29
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has given its nod for creating three posts of junior residents in the department of dentistry at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32.

Besides, six posts of various categories, including demonstrator, biotechnologist and DNA analyst in the genetic centre, have also been created. It was two months ago on November 26 that additional 20 technical posts were approved for the GMCH by the ministry.

In fact, taking steps to improve infrastructure in the lone public sector medical college in the region, the ministry had sanctioned Rs 45.56 crore for the GMCH last year to start new postgraduate disciplines and increase postgraduate seats.

The GMCH had projected to increase postgraduate seats to another 48 seats over and above the existing seats. Now the GMCH is expected to have 48 seats of post-graduation in specialties of anatomy, biochemistry, pharmacology, pulmonary medicine, community medicine, forensic medicine, general medicine, paediatrics, dermatology, general surgery, psychiatry, transfusion medicine, orthopaedics, radio diagnosis, obstetrics and gynaecology.

Earlier, 93 posts for the Government Institute for Mentally Retarded Children run by the Hospital had been sanctioned by the ministry. Still there were nearly 10 such cases had been under consideration of the ministry and expected to be cleared soon, said Dr Raj Bahadur. There was a dire need of professor in the departments of orthopaedics and anaesthesia for which efforts were being made to get the approval in near future, he added.

Panchkula, January 29
The role of the police is under scanner as the “mentally retarded” girl who was found dumped near Sector 4 Maheshpur village on the National Highway-22 yesterday was found missing from her bed in the Sector 6 General Hospital this morning.

However, Om Parkash, Sector 5 SHO, said while admitting that the girl had left the hospital on her own, he said though two lady constables had taken her to the hospital for medical examination yesterday evening, was not found on her bed this morning.

In reply to a query whether the police had failed to give proper assistance to the girls in despair, the SHO said they can’t force anyone to undergo psychiatric or psychological test to ascertain whether he or she is mentally challenged nor forcefully keep one in their custody.

He further said that she didn’t want to register a case against anyone.

Zirakpur, January 29
High tension prevailed in Sanoli village when hundreds of village residents opposed the land acquisition by a private educational institute here today. The institute had taken a common land on lease for 33 years for setting up a world class day-boarding school. Village residents raised slogans against the state government and Banur MLA Jasjeet Singh Bunny.

They demanded that the lease should be cancelled to save the common land. They threatened to continue with their protest till their demands were fulfilled. Village residents also said they got the information that officials of the educational institute, along with labourers and a JCB reached at the common land and started their work.

In the meantime village residents reached the spot and asked the labourer to stop the work. Later, the matter become worse as the heated arguments started between the village residents and officials of the educational institute. The police team also reached the spot and assured the village residents that they will do justice. Residents alleged that the sarpanch, along with three panchayat members, had given 23 acres to a private institute for 33 years on lease, ignoring the interest of village residents. They threatened that they would not allow anyone to take control over the land.

Meanwhile, the officials of JTL Education Foundation Trust denied the allegations and claimed that they had taken the land on lease as per government rules after getting approval from Punjab Governor.

Chandigarh, January 29
The UT Administration through the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) has launched golf tourism packages aimed at promoting golf tourism in and around Chandigarh. Tourists can avail golf packages at Hotel Mountview, Hotel Shivalikview and Hotel Parkview.

The UT Administration is promoting city as a golf destination with two golf courses and other two golf courses in the vicinity. — TNS

Chandigarh, January 29
A 14-member team of the Municipal Corporation of Jordian city in Iran visited the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation today to study its working.

MC Additional Commissioner (I) TPS Phoolka welcomed the delegation and SE, public health, RK Goyal has given a brief introduction regarding various projects of water supply, gardens and greenbelts, urban planning and architecture to the delegation.

The delegation included Jordian city Mayor Ismail Hassan Waahi 10 councillors and three officials. The team also visited the sewerage treatment plant, green parks and water works.

Chandigarh, January 29
The police was on its toes today after the Police Control Room received a call of a bank robbery in Canara Bank, Sector 35. However, it later turned out to be a false alarm as a bank employee accidentally pressed the security alarm button, which has its connectivity with the Police Control Room.

The incident took place around 9.40 am when security guard of the bank Swaran Singh accidentally turned on the security alarm which the bank had installed last week.

Chandigarh, January 29
Recurring attempts by the Panjab University authorities to fill up its key administrative posts, including that of Registrar, director public relations and dean college development council, have fallen flat.

First advertised nearly two years ago in June 2009, these crucial profiles are currently being handled as the “additional charges” by PU’s senior faculty members, who are already managing important charges like controller of examination and dean student welfare.

Having “not found any suitable candidate” in the interviews conducted last year, the university re-advertised these posts on October 16, 2010. The applicants await calls for fresh interviews.

Responding to a query at the Syndicate meeting held on January 21, PU Vice-Chancellor RC Sobti said the posts would be filled by February end, 2011. Incidentally, in October 2010 also, Sobti had announced that these posts would be filled “shortly”.

With nearly a year left for Sobti’s tenure as the PU Vice-Chancellor, pressure to fill up these important posts is mounting from various quarters of PU now. Accountability, claim certain Syndics, is suffering due to multiple profiles being imposed on a few individuals in the university.

“Not filling up important posts is not good for the overall health of the university. Lack of efficiency and accountability are the direct outcomes of delaying the recruitments for these posts. The university’s smooth functioning gets hampered and not filling up the posts has also resulted in a casual approach among employees and officials,” said Rabindernath Sharma, a Senate-Syndicate member, PU.

“Independent charges must be given to individuals. Certain talented persons maybe handling multiple profiles but is it humanly possible to tackle all important tasks?” he questioned. University officials, however, continued to claim that the posts would be filled up shortly.

Chandigarh, January 29
A workshop on “Gandhi darshan” and “Satyagraha exhibition” was organised today by Yuvsatta, an NGO, along with the Peace Club of the Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36.

An inter-college rangoli, collage making and spinning competitions on the theme “Message of Mahatma” were also organised on the occasion.

Haryana cabinet minister Randeep Singh Surjewala was the chief guest and Reeta Kohli, Additional Advocate General of Punjab, presided over the programme, in which nearly 300 students from 10 different colleges of the city participated.

The Chandigarh Institute of Hotel Management (CIHM) was declared the overall best college amongst all participating colleges. Winners of the inter-college rangoli contest were Sainara, Bikram, Nirmal and Divya. The first prize in the collage-making contest was bagged by Shivani, Joha, Phunchok and Harshit.