Ambala, April 6
Ambala will soon have a memorial for martyrs of 1857 mutiny. The Haryana government has sanctioned Rs 17 crore for this project.

Deputy Commissioner Sameer Pal Srow here today said a 70 feet high memorial would be built. The contract for the project has been given to a Lucknow based company Muralage. He said the memorial would be located along the National Highway-I near IOC depot on the Ambala-Delhi road. Srow said the memorial would be spread across 20 acres and would have a food court, garden and other amenities. It would also have a helipad.

Deputy Commissioner said latest research had shown that 1857 mutiny had started from Ambala. Earlier, it was believed that the mutiny started from Meerut on May 9, 1857, but now historians said it started from Ambala on May 8, 1857.

According to the plan, the memorial being built near Ambala will have a large auditorium where incidents in Ambala, relating to the revolt, will be showcased pictorially.

More than 10 structures made of brass and steel will depict how the revolutionaries stood firm against the Britishers here, Srow added.

He further said this would be the first martyrs’ memorial in Haryana, which would bring Ambala on international map and work on this project would be started soon.

He said there was a provision for a museum, highlighting the documentary proof that freedom for Independence was first started from Ambala Cantonment. Earlier, the project had been delayed, as the Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had no dates available for laying the foundation stone of the memorial, the sources confirmed.

Ambala, April 6
A team of health department led by Deputy CMO Dr Surender Mohan raided around 10 shops, including Fresh Reliance and Easy Day departmental stores in Ambala City to check the adulterated special fasting flour (kuttu) which has caused illness to a number of persons in the city.

The team also took samples of “kuttu” flour from East Day and sent it to the state laboratory for examination.

Similar raids were also conducted at Ambala Cantonment. Around 30 more persons were admitted to different nursing homes and at a civil hospital on the third day of the Navratra festival as they had consumed adulterated “kuttu” flour.

According to a doctor of the civil hospital, patients have been complaining of vomiting and stomach pain. He said that adulteration in “kuttu” flour could not be ruled out. It is pertinent to mention that 15 persons were admitted in the civil hospital on Tuesday evening as they fell sick after consuming “kuttu” flour.

Deputy Commissioner Samir Pal Saro said three teams of health department had been constituted in the district to conduct raids at various grocery shops to check the quality of “kuttu” flour.

He said a ban could be imposed on selling of “kuttu” flour in the district.

He said all civil hospitals in the district had been alerted. He said if the samples of any shop were found adulterated, strict action would be taken against the shopkeepers. He appealed the people to avoid the use of “kuttu” flour during Navratra festival.

Meanwhile, chief sanitary inspector Rishi Raj Gautam said during the raid around two-and-half quintal of stale vegetables and fruits were recovered from the Reliance. He said a warning was issued to the store manger.

Dera Bassi, April 6
Five members of a family fell ill after consuming “kuttu” flour during their Navratra fasts at Shakti Nagar colony in Dera Bassi.

The food prepared out of “kuttu” floor turned out so dangerous that all the members of the family were compelled to break their fast on the second day of Navratras.

According to sources, the incident occurred with the family of Rajinder Lamba, a resident of Street No. 19, employed with a local Bhushan factory. Rajinder Lamba said all five members, including his wife Shanno, elder son Ravinder (20), son Shankar (17) and daughter Kuldipika (15) preferred to use “kuttu” flour to observe fast.

After consuming chapattis of this flour members of the family complained of vomits yesterday. After which, a private doctor was called for treatment. The doctor said the family was suffering from food poisoning.

The “kuttu” floor, being used for chapattis was learnt to be the cause of their illness. One kg flour was purchased from a local shopkeeper.

Meanwhile, SMO Dr Meena said she was not aware of any such problem and no patient with such a problem was admitted to a civil hospital.

Dera Bassi, April 6
Nearly 15 persons were injured in a collision between a tractor-trolley and a truck on the Dera Bassi-Ramgarh road near Kakrali last night.

The injured were admitted to the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi, and driver of the truck was referred to GMCH, Chandigarh, for his condition is stated to be serious.

The injured were going to Mansa Devi from Nimbua village in the tractor-trolley when the collision took place.

Meanwhile, residents of the nearby villages alleged that overloaded trucks with sand and stones had been causing accidents on this road and the administration is not doing anything regarding this problem.

Dera Bassi, April 6
Due to the infighting of municipal councillors here, the budget of the council was passed by the executive officer by using his special powers. Executive officer Sarbjeet Singh approved the budget of Rs 11 crore and 21 lakh for 2011-12.

Before this, council president Manjeet Kaur Dally had tried to get the budget passed by convening two special meetings of the councillors but it could not be passed because eight councillors were opposing it out of total 13 councillors of the city. The executive officer said that the budget was passed by using special powers regarding this issue.

Notably, Dera Bassi town was facing the lack of development activities due to the infighting of councillors for last one-and-half-year and no development proposal could be passed. Recently, the opposition councillors had presented a no confidence motion against the council president to remove her from the post but it could not be passed due to lack of one vote. — OC

Chandigarh, April 6
A recent order of the Supreme Court extending the benefits of “broad-banding” disability pension to Armed Forces personnel who retired before 1996 has come as a big relief to pensioners with many cases now expected to be settled shortly in favour of similarly placed ex-servicemen.

Based on the apex court’s judgement of April 1, 2011, the Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal comprising Justice Ghanshyam Prashad and Lt Gen AS Bahia today allowed as many as 85 petitions based on this issue.

The Supreme Court had held that denial of benefits to pre-1996 pensioners that were given to similarly placed disabled veterans who retired in or after 1996 was illegal and arbitrary. Legal sources said number of such cases being disposed off in a single day was unprecedented.

The Tribunal has directed the government to pay pension-related arrears to the retirees concerned with effect from January 1, 1996, along with interest at the rate of 8% within four months.

The Fifth Pay Commission had “broad-banded” disability pension into three slabs to avoid subjectivity, variance and arbitrariness at the time of assessment by medical boards. Under this policy, those assessed having a disability of up to 50 per cent would be granted pension at the rate applicable for 50 per cent disability, between 51-75 per cent would granted pension applicable for 75 per cent disability while those having disability above 75 per cent would get pension applicable for 100 per cent disability.

While the recommendations of the pay commission, which were also applicable to civilian Central government employees, were extended to those who retired in 1996 and afterwards, these were denied to pre-1996 pensioners. Later, these were also extended to pre-1996 pensioners, but a cut-off date was “arbitrarily” imposed that had again denied benefits to a large number of affected veterans. 

Chandigarh, April 6
Just more than six months after a Judge of the Punjab and Haryana Court quashed the notification fixing property tax on institutional land, a Division Bench today stayed the operation of the orders.

The Bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice AK Mittal also admitted the appeal filed against the order.

The Single Judge’s order had come on September 24 last on a bunch of 23 petitions filed by St John’s High School-26 and other institutions.

The petitions were filed more than seven years after a notice specifying the tax on commercial, industrial and institutional land was issued.

Challenging the “illegal” imposition of Municipal Land and Building Commercial Property Tax on private schools, the petitioners had, in fact, contended that it would result in financial burden on “thousands of students” studying in all private unaided schools.

Appearing on the petitioners’ behalf, senior advocate ML Sarin had argued that the petitioner schools were surviving on the fee collected from students and had no other source of income, as these were neither funded nor aided by the state government.

Seeking the quashing of the impugned notices dated May 7, 2003, Sarin had argued, along with other counsel, that the land was owned by the Central government and allotted on lease to the unaided schools, as per the Chandigarh Lease Hold of Sites and Building Rules of 1973. As such, the Central government was the landowner.

Sarin further argued that the impugned notices, imposing rate of tax and also framing the byelaws, were issued without jurisdiction, as the power had been exercised by the administrator, whereas the government by notification could assess the tax.

After hearing the arguments, the Single Judge had asserted: “These writ petitions succeed. The notification fixing the property tax on the institutional land is quashed, being beyond the powers of the administrator. The notices issued, demanding tax from the petitioners, are also ordered to be quashed.”

Chandigarh, April 6
Three witnesses deposed in court today in the case of drug pilferage involving former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director and IPS officer Saji Mohan as the accused. Kaushal Kumar, a sepoy with the Jammu and Kashmir police, Vijay Kumar from the border security a force, both were part of the party which had seized 60 kg of unclaimed heroin near the border.

Vijay Kumar in his statement before the court said that the unclaimed heroin was recovered near the border in Jammu and Kashmir on May, 15, 2000 and the same was handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau. The court also recorded the statement of Majit Singh, who was the PSO of NCB zonal director, Saji Mohan.The hearing in the case will resume tomorrow. — TNS

Chandigarh, April 6
Two months after the slapping incident in which a Punjab-cadre IAS officer, Sujata Dass, had thrashed a nursery student in full public view, the father of the girl has moved a court on Monday, seeking directions to the UT Police to register an FIR in the case.

The incident took place on February 10 this year when Sujata Das had allegedly thrashed three-year-old Garima in he Sector 38 (West) market after 
a minor scratch on her Honda City car.

Sujata, a 1978-batch IAS officer, is posted as the Secretary, Vigilance Inquiries, Punjab, and stays in Sector 39.

In an application in a court, Garima’s father Pardeep Kumar said the SHO of the Sector 39 police station as well as in charge of the police post, Maloya, had forgotten their official duties and were under pressure to favour the IAS officer.

“I was forced to withdraw my complaint and not to make statements in the media that the matter reached a compromise. The police has played a poor role to hush up the matter,” states the petition.

The petition seeks registration of a criminal case against Sujata Das under Section 323 and 506 of the IPC and has been moved through counsel Arvind Thakur.

“The police has failed to act and provide justice to Garima. It is thus prayed that necessary directions be given to the SHO, Sector 39 police station, to register the FIR,” adds the petition.

Garima, a student of Delhi Public School, Sector 40, was on her way back home on February 10 in an auto-rickshaw, along with four other schoolchildren. Around 4.30 pm, the auto-rickshaw driver took a halt in the Sector 38 (West) market to drop one of the children. Garima was sitting in the front seat with the driver, who got off the vehicle leaving its ignition on.

In the meantime, Sujata came to the market and parked her luxury car (CH-01-AB-5120) right next to the auto-rickshaw. Garima, who was fiddling with the steering, accidentally pulled the gearlever, as a result of which the auto-rickshaw banged into the rear door of the Honda City and left a minor scratch on the door.

Agitated, Sujata then pulled Garima out of the auto and slapped her at least five times. After about two hours of questioning, Sujata was let off, without any medical examination.

Chandigarh, April 6
The UT police arrested 11 persons for gambling in a park at Dadu Majra Colony (DMC) today.

The police raided the area on receipt of secret information and an amount of Rs 60,190 was recovered from their possession. Those arrested have been identified as Joginder Singh, Pardeep Singh, both residents of Sector 14, Harpal Singh, resident of Mohali, Prem Kumar, Sunil Kumar, both residents of DMC, Surinder Singh, resident of Maloya Colony, Ramesh Kumar, resident of Mohali, Rakesh Sharma, resident of Sector 15, Ashwani Kumar, resident of Sector 30, Harjit Singh, resident of Sector 37, and Sudarshan Kumar, resident of DMC.

Inspector Charanjeet Singh, SHO, Sector 39 police station, said that a majority of the accused has been arrested for similar offence earlier too. A case under Sections 13-3-67 of the Gambling Act has been registered at the Sector 39 police station.

Chandigarh, April 6
Ironical as it may sound, the local Kings XI Punjab team is sans any recognised cricket player from the city or Punjab. The team, being captained by noted Australian batsman Adam Gilchrist, is dominated by Australians. The following is a playerwise brief profile of the team that is all set to play its first match in the forthcoming fourth edition of the Indian Premier League starting on April 8.

Shaun Marsh (1983): Shaun Marsh, who is son of Australia’s former Test cricketer Geoff Marsh is a left-handed opening batsman. He has represented Australia at One Day International and T20 at international levels. He has played for KXIP earlier as well. 

David Hussey (1977): Right-handed batsman David is also an Australian cricketer and is the younger brother of Australian Test cricketer Michael Hussey. Though he is known for his quickfire innings, he can also bowl right-arm offbreak as well.

Love Ablish (1982): Right-arm-fast-medium bowler Love Ablish is a first class cricketer. He adds to the bowling strength of the squad and currently is a member of Indian World Team in the Indian Cricket League T-20 competition.

Dinesh Karthik (1985): Karthik is a wicketkeeper-batsman who made his debut for the Indian team in 2004 and has been a regular member of the team for varying periods since then. Karthik was a batsman in his junior career, but took to wicket-keeping in order to improve his future prospects. 

Siddharth Chitnis (1987): Siddharth is an offbreak bowler. He has played for various teams like the Mumbai Cricket Association XI, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.

Praveen Kumar (1986): Right-arm medium fast bowler Praveen was also selected for the World Cup squad this time, but due to some injury, he was left out. Parveen has an ability to swing the ball both ways which makes him most effective when given the new ball. He is also considered as a pinch hitter with the bat. In domestic cricket, he has also opened the batting for his side.

Nathan Rimmington (1982): Right-arm fast-medium bowler Nathan is an Australian cricketer, who plays for the domestic Queensland Bulls Club in his country. He is a capable player, especially in the Twenty20 cricket. 

Adam Gilchrist (1971): Australia’s Adam Craig Gilchrist, nicknamed Gilly or Church Gilly or Church, is an attacking left-handed batsman and a very fine wicket-keeper. He is considered to be one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batsmen in the history of the game, as he holds the world record for the most dismissals by a wicket keeper in One Day International cricket and the most by an Australian in Test cricket. 

Paul Valthaty (1983): Right-arm-medium bowler, Paul is a gifted player. He has played for Air India, Mumbai and Rajasthan Royals.

Mandeep Singh: A right-handed top order batsman, Mandeep Singh, was named India's vice-captain for the 2010 U-19 World Cup in New Zealand. He was one of the stars of the 2009 U-19 tour of Australia, where he cracked a match-winning 151 in a one-day match.

Piyush Chawla (1988): Chawla was a member of Indian squad that won the World Cup after 28 years. Left-handed batsman and leg-spinner, Chawla has played for the India U-19 team and the Central Zone. Chawla has been with KXIP since the commencement of The Indian Premier League and is an integral part of the team.

Paras Dogra: Dogra is a defensive right-handed batsmen, who made his debut in first-class cricket in 2001. He can also bowl right-arm legbreak. He was signed by the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL in 2010.

Abhishek Nayar (1983): Left-handed batsman and right-arm medium bowler Abhishek is an all-rounder. Earlier, he was a part of Mumbai Indians in the IPL, Season III. Seeing his abilities, KXIP owners hired him to strengthen the local team.

Bipul Sharma: Bipul is a young Punjab boy who has played for Chandigarh Lions, India A, Kings XI Punjab, North Zone, Punjab. He made his debut in 2005. He is a left-handed batsman and off-spinner.

David Andrew Miller (1989): This left-handed batsman David Andrew Miller from South Africa is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm slow bowler. He plays domestic cricket for Dolphins, a famous cricket club of his country and has represented South Africa in both ODIs and T-20 cricket.

Sunny Singh (1986): Right-arm batsman Sunny has represented the Haryana team in the Ranji Trophy circuit during his cricketing career till now. Now, he is a part of Kings XI. 

Nitin Saini (1988): Right-hand batsman Nitin is also a wicket-keeper. He has played for Haryana and made his first-class debut in 2007. 

Chandigarh, April 6
Karan Patnaik clinched the men’s title after drubbing Parminder Singh in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 in the YMCA Total Tennis Tournament that concluded today at the YMCA, Sector 11.

The match that lasted for an hour witnessed Patnaik in total control right from the beginning of the match.

Earlier, in the semifinal tie in the men’s category, Parminder Singh had to battle hard to end the challenge of Sachit Malhotra of Delhi Public School in a keenly-contested two-set match.

In the first set, Parminder was down 2-3 and then he came back strongly to level the score at 3-3 and thereafter won the set 5-4(7-2). In the second set, both the players played very well, Sachit took an early lead of 4-3 , then Parminder displayed solid ground strokes to take the set into the tiebreaker . In the tiebreaker, Parminder held his nerves and showed the doors to his opponent.

Results

Boys U-18 final: Sachit Malhotra beat Barun Gill 6-3,2-6,6-1.

Men’s semifinal: Karan Patnaik beat Abhishek 4-1,4-0; Parminder Singh beat Sachit Malhotra 5-4(2),5-4(6).

Girls U-14 final: Dolly Aulakh beat Pallavi Hooda 6-1,6-2.

Men’s final: Karan Patnaik beat Parminder Singh 6-1,6-2.

Girls U-18 final: Sonali Bansal beat Pallavi Hooda 6-1,6-2.