Chandigarh, March 1
An inquiry report submitted by UT’s former Additional Deputy Commissioner PS Shergill into the illegal allotment of booths, has reportedly indicted the top Congress leadership, along with certain top officials of the police and estate office.

Shergill, who has probed the alleged irregularities in the allotment of around 2,600 booths during 2002 and 2008, has also recommended a CBI inquiry into the scandal involving crores of rupees. He has also recommended that all records related to the scam be sealed immediately. Shergill today handed over his report to UT Deputy Commissioner Brijendra Singh.

Highly-placed sources claimed that several top officials of the UT administration and police, along with some Chandigarh-based Congress leaders, were found directly or indirectly involved in the scam by the inquiry officer. The booths were illegally allotted to some affluent businessmen.

The scam was unearthed a few months back following which Shergill, who was the ADC then, was appointed to probe the matter by UT Administrator Shivraj Patil. According to the sources, out of the 94 files, 12 were found missing .

As per rules, the booths were meant for people earning below Rs 7,500 per month. But some affluent businessmen were allegedly given these booths.

Chandigarh, March 1
“He was the most jovial and brightest student of our batch. In fact he called up all his friends, even those he hadn’t met for a long time, on the fateful day. It appears he had planned to kill himself,” said a classmate of Sukhraj Singh Sandhu, 22, a student of PEC University of Technology, who reportedly committed suicide on Monday. His body was found hanging from the ceiling at his home in Mohali.

A day before the tragedy, Sandhu had gone to Ambala with over a dozen of his class fellows to attend the funeral of his friend’s mother. An otherwise practical youth, no one could have imagined he would take such an extreme step.

The police recovered two blank papers signed by Sandhu from the room where his body was found. The reason for the suicide is yet to be ascertained.

“His body was in the room after removing the airconditioner since the door was locked from inside,” said sources close to the police.

Was it exam stress or a personal problem? There are no clear answers as to why the youngster decided to end his life. Having last met him in a perfectly “normal” state, even his classmates at PEC could not figure out the reason for the suicide.

Expressing disbelief and grief at Sandhu’s death, most of his classmates and teachers remained tightlipped over the incident. Some even pleaded with this reporter not to reveal their identities.

“He met us on Sunday and seemed to be in a very joyful mood. He had a very practical mind and was knowledgeable, and was enthusiastic about participating in projects and practical assignments. He was always seen smiling on the college campus. We never saw him under pressure due to exams or anything else”, said a PEC student on condition of anonymity.

Sandhu was studying in the final semester at the PEC’s electronics department and even bagged a decent job with a substantial salary during campus placements.

“His parents had been a great support for him. His knowledge about agriculture was impressive as his family owned ancestral farmland in Punjab. He displayed no signs even when he called up his friend to confirm the exam syllabi,” said another student.

PEC officials declared Monday a day off and held a condolence meeting for Sandhu. The examinations scheduled for today have also been postponed till Saturday.

Nearly a dozen classmates today went to Amritsar, Sandhu’s hometown, to attend his funeral. Attempts to reach his parents, who were in Amritsar for the cremation, drew no response.

Chandigarh, March 1
Though the UT Administration has empowered the Municipal Corporation (MC) politically by transferring certain departments, resource crunch stares the Municipal Corporation (MC) in the face in the election year.

With the UT plan budget for 2011-12 making a provision of grants-in-aid of only ` 15 crore for the MC, the projected expenditure of about ` 80 crore this year will be hard to come by bringing embarrassment for the ruling Congress and Pawan Bansal, union minister for parliamentary affairs, science and technology and earth sciences.

Since the MC, in a populist decision ahead of the civic body poll later this year, had already decided not to levy taxes, raising resources for new projects is going to be tough.

Chandigarh, March 1
Punjabi delicacies like ‘Amritsari fish tikka’ and ‘naan’, ‘Bhatti ka murg’, ‘tandoori roti’ with yellow ‘dal tadka’ virtually dominated the orders placed by the South African cricket players for Tuesday’s dinner.

Talking to the Chandigarh Tribune, Neeraj Chaudhary, chéf and beverage manager of Hotel Taj in Sector 17, where members of two of the ICC World Cup teams - South Africa and the Netherlands - have been putting up, said after tasting Punjabi cuisine the players were enquiring about other mouth-watering dishes of the area.

Mohali, March 1
The Budget for 2011-12 has brought much disappointment for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), said KS Mahal, president of the Mohali Industries’ Association. He said the Budget had focused on various areas, including infrastructure, rural development, agriculture and education, but there was very little for the industry, especially SMEs.

The SMEs were expecting an increase in Central excise exemption limit from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 3 crore, but there was no such increase, which was disappointing.

Moreover, there was no clear road map for implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

He said this year the Finance Minister had provided an additional Rs 1,000 crore for the development of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The service tax had been imposed on a large number of services which were exempted earlier. Due to this there would be an adverse affect on the input cost for industry and would affect competition among the SMEs.

Mahal further said frequent fluctuation in the prices of raw materials required by the industry made it difficult for the industrialists to sustain.

There should be some mechanism to control the prices for a period of at least three months for all materials required by the industry.

Chandigarh, March 1
Kashmiri families residing in the city have something to cheer now, the UT administration has decided to increase the financial aid being provided to them.

Around 61 displaced Kashmiri families, which came here to settle in 1990, will now get Rs 5,000 per family. Earlier, the amount was Rs 4,000 per family and a person used to get Rs 1,000. Now, the amount has been increased to Rs 1,250 per person following the decision which was taken in a meeting of senior officials of the UT administration.

The aid is being given under the Central government scheme.

The additional load would also be borne by the Central government, said a senior UT officer. Around 12 families are staying at community centres, while the rest are living on their own. — TNS

Chandigarh, March 1
Anugraha, an NGO, in collaboration with the Centre for Social Work, University Institute of Emerging Areas in Social Sciences (UIEASS), Panjab University (PU), organised a five-day training programme on “Basic Care of Elderly and Issues Related to Elderly” at the ICSSR complex on the campus today.

Aabha Chaudhary, chairperson of Anugraha, which is also a Regional Resource and Training Centre, announced a series of programmes that would be launched in Haryana and Punjab to assist NGOs in age care programmes. — TNS

Chandigarh, March 1
In a severe indictment of a leading developer, Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Limited, the UT Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission has directed the company to pay a compensation of Rs 7 lakh besides refunding Rs 64.12 lakh for failing to hand over the possession of a plot in Ansal Golf Link, Mohali, to a Jalandhar-based allottee.

The compensation announced by the commission includes a payment of Rs 5 lakh on account of “financial loss” caused to the allottee, Tejinder Singh Atwal, due to enhancement in construction costs in the intervening period of the promised date of the allotment till the filing of the case. The company has been told to pay Rs 1 lakh each for causing mental and physical harassment and for adopting unfair trade practices.

In his complaint, Atwal said he had purchased a residential plot (206) of 500 square yard in Ansal Golf Link for an amount of Rs 74.36 lakh from North Delhi Construction and Investments private Limited. With respect to this plot, Ansal Properties and Infrastructure had issued an allotment letter in March 2007. He said he deposited Rs 64.12 lakh and was looking forward to getting its possession.

However, he was shocked to learn that the company changed its layout plan and the common park earmarked in front of his plot vanished, giving way for the construction of flats. Even the rear common Green Park was deleted and the location of his plot was changed without his consent.

Further, the developer failed to hand over the possession of the said plot, which was to be offered in October 2008, and no intimation in this regard was received.

In their reply, Ansals admitted that the location of the plot was changed due to “reasons beyond their control”, as the Department of Town and Country Planning, Punjab, altered the layout plan. The company defended their action on account that the changes were effected not due to their whims or fancies but because of a legal and competent direction and change in layout plans by the Hon’ble High Court and subsequently by the Department of Town and Country Planning.

They also claimed that the plot was relocated due to the introduction of a new concept of Leisure Valley. They said the plot 206 was subsequently allotted to some other person and they gave an abundant choice to the complainant to select his plot.

The commission comprising presiding member Neena Sandhu and member Jagroop Singh Mahal observed that since the developers were not willing to give the possession of the plot No 206 to the complainant, their contention that the said plot had been allotted to some other person could not be accepted as correct because the allotment once made in favour of the complainant could not have been changed by them without offering the complainant an opportunity of being heard.

Chandigarh, March 1
A seminar on ‘Heavy Lift Capability of the IAF’ was organised as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of no 12 Wing of the IAF, here today.

Various aspects of transport operations were discussed at the seminar.

In his inaugural address, Air Marshal DC Kumaria, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Air Command, gave an overview of the transport operations in the IAF since its inception. He also highlighted matters of historical as well as operational significance. He said with fresh inductions like the C-130, the proposed C-17 as well as new generation helicopters in the near future would provide a boost to the airlift capability of the IAF.

Air Officer Commanding 12 Wing, Air Commodore Rajeev Sachdeva gave a presentation on the evolution, history and the role of Chandigarh Air Force Station over the past 50 years.

Chandigarh, March 1
Overcast sky, strong winds and intermittent showers in the city and in parts of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh during the past 24 hours brought back slight chill as the day temperature came down by 2.3 degree Celsius.

With erratic weather conditions prevailing in the city over the past few days, temperature has been rising and falling.

The day temperature came down to 20 degrees C from yesterday’s 22.3 degrees C, while minimum rose to 12.4 degrees from Monday’s 9.0 degrees. The Met officials have predicted a cloudy sky and rain in some parts of the city, with a further dip in the minimum temperature. India Meteorological Department (IMD) director said the chill factor was because of light to moderate rain in the plains and snowfall in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Doctors said such weather conditions could result in several ailments such as chest infection, palpitation among asthma patients, common cold and respiratory infection. “To avoid these, one should take precautions, especially during early morning and evening hours,” Dr Anil Kapoor, a consultant physician, said. According to the Met department, hailstorm/ thunder squalls with wind speed exceeding 45 kmph can occur at isolated places in Punjab and Haryana tomorrow.

Chandigarh, March 1
Vivek High School, Sector 38, the only city school to have opted for framing its own question papers for the forthcoming school-based Class X assessment, is in a fix after the school acting on the directive of the Central Board Of Secondary Education had sent these self-designed question papers for the Board’s ‘verification’ but even after three months it is yet to get a response. The school exams are scheduled to start from March 14.

“Frankly speaking, we are in a fix. As per the Board’s circular on conduct of the School Based Assessment for Class X students, a school that wishes to frame its own question papers needs to get it approved from the Board to ensure that it is according to the Board’s guidelines and specified marking scheme. We are the only school in the city to have opted for it but even after three months we have not got any response from the Board and are not clear whether we should use these papers or not,” said a senior teacher of the school.

School Director HS Mamik, however, claimed that there was nothing to worry. “ We received a circular later saying the schools were free to hold exams in accordance to the CBSE-specified pattern so we will be able to use these papers even without the approval. We will resend the papers along with the answer key. Though the delay and confusion created by the Board through its repeated circulars is surely disheartening,” he said.

MC Sharma, Head, Examinations, CBSE, New Delhi failed to specify the course of action if these question papers were found inappropriate after the conclusion of exams.

Chandigarh, March 1
Tightening the noose around students who seek exemption from classes to organise cultural events, but are not completely involved in those, Panjab University is mooting stricter attendance rules.

Shorter sub-committees of students will be formed for the upcoming event-Jhankar 2011 which is organised by the PU student council annually on the university campus.

Taking cognisance of the past cases, where a large number of students applied for exemption from classes on the pretext of organising cultural events, but were not found working on the same, the university officials will be verifying the names of participating candidates this time. A similar case of lecture shortage of nearly 250 students of the department of evening studies was brought to the Syndicate in academic session 2009-2010.

In a meeting of student council representatives and Dean, student welfare, held on Monday, it was resolved that only genuine students working for Jhankar, would be given attendance. “The university officials will verify names of students in the sub-committees,” said a student representative.

Even as Naval Kishore, Dean, Student Welfare (DSW), was not available for his comments on the issue, student representatives welcomed the university’s initiative.

“Only those students who actually participate in the cultural events will be given attendance. The core committee of Jhankar will consist of four members of the student council. We will get the names of students in sub-committees approved by the DSW,” said Akhil Bansal, general secretary of the Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC).

Starting with the job-fair on March 4 to 6, the month will be packed with student related events on the campus. Jhankar will be held on March 14 and 16 and a mega science fair is also being held on March 11 and 12 which will coincide with the PU rose festival.

Chandigarh, March 1
More than 14,000 city students appeared for the Central Board Of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class XII examination in over 26 city centres today.

The board, however, started on a disappointing note to many, with several Class XII students complaining that the physics paper though easy was too lengthy to finish in three hours.

“The paper was easy, but we had to draw graphs in several questions which made it exhaustive. I couldn’t complete two questions,” said Ripjot Kaur, a examinee at GMSSS, Sector 37.

“Questions carrying 2 and 5 marks were a bit twisted and lengthy. It took a lot of time. The paper was easy according to the board’s blue print, but was lengthy. I was expecting more objective questions. I could complete only 70 per cent of the paper,” added Anshuman, a student of GMSSS, Sector 33. Experts, however, felt that the paper was entirely based on the NCERT book and was easy for anybody gone in for in-depth reading. “The paper was not very difficult or tricky. It was easy for any student who must have done an in-depth study. Students are expecting good marks,” said Madhu Bahal, principal, KBDAV School, Sector 7.