Lalru/Ambala, April 20
Fourteen children were injured after their school bus overturned near Ranimajra village this morning.

The injured children were admitted to Civil Hospital Ambala. Two of them were referred to the PGI Chandigarh in a serious condition.

The bus driver also sustained injuries and was also admitted to Civil Hospital Ambala. As per reports, the accident took place when the driver of the bus of Attri Public School Lalru, while trying to save some schoolchildren going on a bicycle, lost control over the vehicle due to the poor condition of the link road.

Two girls Harpreet and Jaspreet, aged 12, were referred to the PGI due to head injuries and damage to backbone.

Former sarpanch of Ranimajra village, Jagdev Singh, whose children were also injured in the accident, said the injured children were between the age of 5 to 15.

Other injured children were Gurkamal Kaur, Gurkaran Singh, Balwinder Kaur, Harnoor Kaur, Navjot Kaur, Harjinder Singh, Mehakjot, Kajal, Gurpreet Kaur, Navleen Kaur, Simran Kaur and Diljot.

Chandigarh, April 20
Can a solitary official of the UT Estate Office efficiently monitor building violations in about 14,000 premises? In theory, may be. In practice, probably not. But as far as the UT Administration is concerned, it expects its team of just five junior engineers (JEs) to monitor and check building violations in about 70,000 buildings across a city located in 144 sq km.

This revelation finds mention in a confidential communication sent on April 11 by Deputy Commissioner-cum-Estate Officer Brijendra Singh to the UT’s newly appointed Finance Secretary VK Singh highlighting the estate office’s pathetic shortage of staff in the building branch, which includes the critical enforcement wing. The communiqué is a sequel to a similar letter written nine months ago in July 2010.

Even though blatant violations of building bylaws have grown by leaps and bounds over the years, a consistently skeletal staff continues to be the hallmark of the building branch of the Estate Office. It comes as no surprise that the enforcement wing of the building branch has been able to issue only about 400 notices to owners of about 13,000 marla houses till now, states the deputy commissioner’s letter to the UT finance secretary.

Consider this: In 1966, when the union territory of Chandigarh was created, the building branch of the Estate Office had a sanctioned strength of nine junior engineers and seven draftsmen. At that time, Chandigarh extended only up to Sector 28, which made the city much smaller considering that there is no Sector 13, while Sectors 1 to 5 are half sectors with very limited population. Since then, the city has expanded to Sector 63 with the addition of Phase-II and III. Clearly, these two phases comprise a larger component of the city’s population and construction.

Yet, the building branch has only one SDO, five junior engineers (JEs) and four draftsmen to document and monitor violations.

“The estate office is reeling under acute staff shortage. The above sanctioned staff was for the Phase I sectors up to Sector 28. Thereafter, Phase II and southern sectors developed, but no staff had been provided for them,” the deputy commissioner’s letter states.

In 1966, the population of the city was only around 1.25 lakh. Forty five years later, the city’s population has grown almost 10 times to 10.54 lakh along with considerable expansion and construction in the city.

Besides, the Estate Office has only 78 clerks against a sanctioned strength of 107, states the deputy commissioner, who has demanded immediate posting of at least one SDO, four JEs and three draftsmen.

Out of five junior engineers, two are with the building branch, which is responsible for checking building violations. The remaining three are designated to check misuse of buildings.

“Can just two junior engineers check the building violations and only three effectively check misuse of buildings in the entire city,” asked a senior department official on the condition of anonymity. “They also remain busy in attending court cases where the Estate Office is party,” he added.

Adding insult to injury, the department has no vehicle to carry out enforcement activities. The field staff has to use its own vehicles during their job, said the official.

Chandigarh, April 20
Around 400 poultry shopkeepers today went on a daylong strike against the implementation of meat and bird slaughter by-laws by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC).

Complaining about the flaws in the by-laws, shopkeepers alleged that the authorities had not made arrangements for the slaughter of birds in the Industrial Area slaughterhouse.

Shopkeepers said on an average 14,000 birds of around 500 poultry suppliers were slaughtered daily in the city in various markets. In the MC slaughterhouse there are only 40 butchers deployed for slaughtering. Shopkeepers were also against charging Rs 5 per bird at the MC slaughterhouse.

President of the Meat Market Association Vijay Kumar said the authorities were keen to implement the by-laws but the long-pending demand of shopkeepers of a big slaughterhouse in the city was yet to be taken up. He said it would not be possible for the slaughterhouse staff to butcher birds of 200 shopkeepers in a day.

He said the shopkeepers would continue their strike if the MC fails to relax the provisions of the by-laws.

Mayor Ravinder Pal Singh said the matter was discussed with the MC Commissioner today, but the authorities were yet to come to a conclusion. He said the matter would be discussed in the General House meeting of the MC scheduled for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, no poultry product was supplied in city hotels and restaurants today.

Zirakpur, April 20
Nagla wants his name to be included in the Guinness Book of World Record for staying atop a tree for longest duration. But, the Haryana police may soon play a spoilsport and his dreams may be shattered.

A team of Rohtak Police is expected to be in Nagla village to take him in custody for a cheque bounce case. Already non-bailable warrants are issued against him.

With this, it is apparent that Nagla is getting trapped in the web of publicity he had weaved for himself.

Nagla has also been declared a proclaimed offender by a Chandigarh court in another cheating case.

The police also claim that these may not be only complaints against Nagla.

Meanwhile, Nagla’s protest has entered its sixth day today. But the crowd was less this afternoon. As people loosing interest in the protest. While in the beginning, the protest had witnessed people coming to Nagla village to see the unique protest, day six saw only his supporters present at the spot.

Ram Narayan Saini, an advocate of the complainant Jai Bhagwan, a resident of Rohtak, said the accused had taken Rs 8.50 lakh from Jai Bhagwan in January 2010. When the complainant demanded the money, Avtar handed over two cheques of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 3.50 lakh, respectively. Later, the cheques got bounced. Ram Narayan added.

He said after filing the complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instructions Act and 420 of the IPC, the court issued non-bailable warrant against Nagla.

Zirakpur SHO Yogi Raj said a team of Haryana Police had approached him with an arrest warrant against Nagla in a cheque bounce case.

He said the police team was waiting for him to come down. Nagla had perched himself atop a Eucalyptus tree, around 40 feet above the ground on Friday.

He is still demanding for a face-to-face dialogue with the Punjab Chief Minster Parkash Singh Badal in land sale.

Mohali, April 20
The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) held a draw of lots for 200 plots in the Aerocity housing scheme for riot and terror affected victims here on Wednesday.

All applications were put in a glass container that was rotated frequently. People from among the applicants were asked to take out slips from the container after which the name of the successful applicant was read out by officials on duty.

The authority had received about 5,000 applications for the 200 plots. Five per cent of the total number of plots were reserved for riot-affected people.

The plots allotted are of seven different sizes. While 32 plots were reserved in the 500 square yard category, three were reserved in the 400 square yard category and 36 in the 300 square yards category. Similarly, 26 plots in the 250 square yard, 40 in the 200 square yard, 28 in the 150 square yard and 35 in the 125 square yard categories were reserved.

GMADA estate officer Balbir Singh had said earlier the draw of lots would be held without any verification and the records of successful applicants would be sent to the deputy commissioner to enable the required verification to be done. Waiting lists having a minimum of three names in each category would be prepared. Generally, 10 per cent of the number of plot applicants were put on the waiting list.

Mohali, April 20
In order to bring some improvement in sanitation work, Municipal Commissioner has directed officials concerned to blacklist contractors, who deployed inadequate number of “safai” workers.

Varun Roojam, Mohali Deputy Commissioner, who also holds the charge of Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation, took a round of various parts of the town to know about the state of sanitation.

He was accompanied by Assistant Commissioner Parveen Kumar Thind and officials of the civic body.

Roojam directed officials concerned to take personal interest and supervise the work done by contractors.

In case the number of “safai” workers were not deployed as per the terms of the agreement, the contractors should be blacklisted.

Directions were also given to construct boundary walls around garbage collection points on the Chandigarh pattern. One “safai” worker should be deployed at each collection point to ensure that garbage was dumped in a proper manner and also spray insecticides after garbage was lifted from these points by contractors concerned.

Four complaint centres have been set up for the convenience of residents.

These are located in Silvi Park, Phase X, Rose Garden, Phase III B-1, fire station in the Phase I Industrial Area and one in the Phase VII Industrial Area.

Sanitary inspectors have been asked to be there at these centres from 11 am to 1 pm.

It was highlighted in these columns on April 18 that sanitation was in a bad state in Mohali much to the annoyance of residents, who have been shown dreams by the SAD-BJP government of making the town into another Singapore.

Heaps of garbage, dry leaves and garden waste is a common sight in the town.

Even the footpaths along the main roads can be seen strewn with polythene bags. Unhygenic conditions prevail near garbage collection points in various parts of the town.

Chandigarh, April 20
Enthused over the successful cadaveric liver donation transplant on April 15, doctors at the PGI are hopeful of starting live donor liver transplant at the institute.

This will, however, take some time, said doctors who were part of the team that conducted the first liver transplant in this premier health institute.

Cadaveric liver donation is possible from a brain dead person, while a living donor who is a relative of the recipient can donate half of his/her liver. However, it involves a risk to lives of the recipient as well as the donor.

The PGIMER was granted recognition for liver transplant surgery in December 2009 and plan was to start with a cadaveric programme and in a structured manner, all other liver transplant programmes later, said Professor Arunanshu Behera.

The recipient of the first liver transplant done at the PGI was suffering from cryptogenic liver cirrhosis with end stage liver disease and liver failure and had a poor expected survival without transplant. The patient received liver from a 17-year-old girl who was a victim of road accident with neuro trauma and was declared brain dead. The surgery was conducted by a team comprising Professor Arunanshu Behera, Dr L Kaman, Dr Harshal, Dr Harjeet, Dr Ajay Savlania, Dr M Adil, Professor YK Batra, Dr Bukal, Dr Sameer, Professor Sham K Thingam, Kanchan, Gopal, Professor YK Chawla, Dr RK Dhiman, Dr Ajay Duseja, Dr Sunil, Dr Souvik Ghosh, Dr John and Dr Arun. It went on for over eight hours. Dr Anupam Saha from the Army Hospital, Research and Referrals, New Delhi, who has expertise in the liver transplant, also assisted.

Talking about the post-surgery condition of the patient, Dr Behera said the graft was functioning well and all the anastomosis were perfect and liver function tests are normalising. The patient was still under close intensive care, requiring circulatory support. Initial two-week period was always a critical period for such patient, he added.

Chandigarh, April 20
The package system of surgery in the ophthalmology department, Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, has proved a big success since it had been introduced two years ago. Nearly 800 patients are availing the facility every year.

The package includes the cost of intra ocular lens and other consumable items, which are made available to patients from the office of the ophthalmology.

It is convenient for patients as they do not have to stand in long queues in front of the chemist shop and moreover the cost of the package is cheap compared to buying such items from chemist shops as lenses are purchased directly from the manufacturer or distributor, said Dr Raj Bahadur, Director-Principal, GMCH.

“After getting a boost following the response of the patients, we are enlarging the scope of lenses in the package,” he said. This year, patients will have the option to choose from eight different lenses, which will be offered at different costs. The cost of package A is Rs 10,300, package B1 and B2 Rs 8,400, package C1 and C2 Rs 6,700, package D1 and D2 Rs 5,500, and package E Rs 2,700.

The patient can choose any lens depending on their paying capacity and the indication depending upon the type cataract, said Dr Sunandan Sood, head, ophthalmology department. The amount is deposited by patients in the hospital and all items are issued from the ophthalmology department with complete transparency. All these lenses are foldable and are implanted through 2.8 mm or 1.8 mm incision during phacoemulsification, which is a stitchless surgery. The patient can go home immediately after the surgery and return for follow-up the next day, he added.

Panchkula, April 20
Concerned over illegal possession of land by religious organisations, the Deputy Commissioner here today directed officials of various departments to not allow construction of religious structures in their areas.

Deputy Commissioner Ashima Brar stated this while presiding over the meeting of all officers of the district administration at the mini secretariat. The DC asked the officials to submit their monthly progress report to the administration in this regard. She also directed them to carry out raids at the night so as to impose a complete check on illegal mining and added if anybody was found indulging in illegal mining, an FIR should be registered against him.

Brar directed the officers of the food and supplies department to carry out surprise raids to find out whether LPG cylinders were being misused in the commercial sector. She also directed the officers to make adequate arrangements of drinking water during the summers so that people should not face any inconvenience.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Sanjeev Verma, city magistrate Arvind Sharma, sub-divisional officer (civil), Kalka, Vandana Disodiya and other senior officers of various departments were among those present at the meeting.

Mohali, April 20
The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) on Wednesday demolished unauthorized structures that had come up on government land on the road dividing Phase XI and Sector 66 in the town.

Those affected tried to block a street in protest against the move even though they had asked told to vacate the area two weeks ago. The police was called in to bring the situation under control.

GMADA had issued a warning on April 6 to the encroachers numbering about 15, who included shopkeepers selling furniture and building materials as well as those operating welding units and flour mills, asking them to vacate the area within a week failing which their illegal structures would be razed.

Mohali, April 20
Mohali will soon have an international convention centre-cum-five start hotel here.

The financial bid of the project was formally opened by sub-sectoral committee for the project.

Out of the total three bids received, the highest bid of Rs 16.20 crore was received from Apollo Enterprises, a London-based company, which has stakes in the toll plaza constructed on the Jaipur-Gurgoan Highway.

The other bids of Rs 5.50 crore and Rs 7.20 crore were received from C and C Constructions and Jupiter Hotels, respectively.

According to sources, the successful bidder would have to pay the bid money annually for 50 years.

The project would come up on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The project had, earlier, been kept pending in the wake of poor response from bidders.

A first of its kind in North India, the convention centre will have a capacity of over 4,000 seats and the hotel will have at least 300 rooms.

The hotel and convention centre site has already been approved at a meeting of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) held at CM’s residence here this evening.

The 16-acre site is located next to the YPS chowk. The site plans have been finalised by Jurong Ltd, the Singapore-based consultants of GMADA.

“A five-star hotel site in Mohali is an attractive proposition for an investor, especially after the setting up of the international airport. But combined with a convention centre, the hotel site will be a profitable proposition for the private player,” said a senior official.

Chandigarh, April 20
In violation of the Punjab government rules, adopted by the UT administration, which bar UT employees from receiving transport allowance (TA), Punjab Engineering College (PEC), a deemed university, has spent Rs 49.49 lakh over a four-year period from 2006-2010 in paying the allowance to its staff ranging from professors to gardeners and even truck drivers.

This has come to the fore in the accountant general’s audit report for fiscal 2009-2010. Although the report states that though PEC’s board of governors and finance committee had decided to grant transport allowance to employees, college officials however failed to seek approval from the UT administration and the central human resource & development ministry - a mandatory prerequisite for the board of governors to amend or frame any new rule.

“This omission has resulted in inadmissible payment of transport allowance to tune of Rs 13,92,494.

A similar irregularity amounting to Rs 35,56,750 was also pointed out in the previous audit,” the report reads

Though the PEC administration was informed about this serious irregularity last January it had not furnished any reply in regard so far.

When contacted PEC director Manoj Dutta refused to comment on the report.

Meanwhile, UT education secretary VK Singh said: “The institute was made autonomous to bring it at par with IITs. However, as far as the norms regarding approvals from the UT administration are concerned, they need to be followed. We’ll get in touch with PEC officials to ensure better coordination.”

Goalpura (Barwala), April 20
Panic gripped students of the Swami Devi Dyal College of Law after the Central Bureau of Investigations raided the college premises at Barwala yesterday.

The students feared losing their precious years and money, as the college was not affiliated with the Bar Council of India (BCI). However, the college management says the students should not worry as they have already applied for affiliation with the BCI.

About 150 to 200 students were studying at the college, which is offering three-year degree course (LLB) and five-year integrated course (after Class XII). Even though the Swami Devi Dayal Group of Institutions (SDDGI) has mentioned that the college was affiliated with Kurukshetra University as well as BCI, yesterday’s raid by the CBI revealed that an inspection team of the BCI had inspected the college in October after the college had applied for affiliation.

Some of the students on the condition of anonymity said about 15 students had passed out of the college and had appeared in the exams conducted by the BCI. However, they added that those students were yet to get the Bar licences. They also feigned ignorance about the CBI raid and said they were told there was income tax raid on the basis of a complaint filed by someone to harass the management.

“Our mobile phones were also taken away by the authorities during the raid and were returned only in the evening,” they said.

However, Amit Jindal, a member of SDDGI managing committee, claimed that the law college was already affiliated with Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, and they had applied for affiliation with the BCI after depositing a fee of Rs 2 lakh. Commenting on the arrest of BCI members, who had entered into a criminal conspiracy with the college management, Amit said it was an internal matter of the BCI and further added that if the BCI wants to re-inspect the college, they don’t have any objection.

Amit said they had set up a new building for the law college and they had told the CBI officials and BCI team in this regard. He said finishing touches were being given to the new building and classes would be shifted within the next few days.

Mohali, April 20
A human rights organisation has demanded registration of a case against St Xavier’s School principal where a Class X student, identified as Jahnvi, had fallen from the third floor of the school building.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Anil Kaushik, chairman of the All-India Human Rights Watch, said the Chandigarh Police had recorded the statement of Jahnvi, who was undergoing treatment at Fortis

Hospital here, last evening even when the girl was in a condition to give the statement much earlier. He said if the Chandigarh Police failed to register an FIR, a case would be filed in the court in this regard.

Sunila, mother of the injured student, said it was her daughter’s birthday today, which could not be celebrated because she was admitted to the hospital.

The mother alleged that the school authorities had sent some teachers who wanted the family to go in for a compromise. It was sad that the school principal had not come to the hospital to inquire about the health of the injured student, she added.

Kharar, April 20
The Rayat Bahra Group of Institutes organised the IT job fest, wherein leading IT companies from Noida, Gurgaon, Delhi and IT Park, Chandigarh, visited the Mohali, Ropar and Patiala campuses to fill their vacancies for BTech, MCA and MBA students of 2010 and 2011 batches.

A Noida-based company, Impetus Infotech visited the Mohali campus of the Rayat Bahra Group of Institutes to recruit BTech and MCA students. The drive was specifically for students of computer science and IT streams and was open for all colleges across Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Dr Sandeep Singh Kaura, AMD, said 682 eligible students participated from 26 engineering colleges and 108 students were shortlisted for the final round of the interview by Impetus Infotech.

He also informed that another leading IT company, HCL Comnet visited and selected 11 BTech students.

A Chandigarh IT Park-based Basware Inc visited the Ropar campus to conduct the joint campus drive and shortlisted 52 students. Vinove Software from Delhi, too, conducted the joint campus placement at Patiala campus of Rayat Bahra and gave offer letters to 22 students.

A job fest was also held at the GGS College of Modern Technology, Kharar. Students from Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Gurgaon, Delhi, Mohali, Punjab and Panchkula participated in it.

Various MNC’s like HCL, Wipro Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Blue Beacon, HDFC, Intellisence Technology, Aspire Technology, NIIT, Industrial Equipment, Aptech, Next Gen and Godrej recruited the students.

Chandigarh, April 20
Panjab University Vice-Chancellor inaugurated the University Staff Club this evening. Housed in one of the newly constructed T-I flats, the club is air-conditioned with a fully equipped kitchen, an LCD TV, music system for parties and ladies’ evenings.

The Dean University Instruction and Registrar are the president and vice-president (ex-officio), respectively, of the club. An ad-hoc committee comprising deans and core functionaries of PUTA was also constituted.

Space has also been allocated for a children park and playground as well as a meadows garden in the South campus.