Chandigarh, April 29
The craze for VIPs number is back with the Registration and Licensing Authority (RLA) today netting a record over Rs 53 lakh through the auction of these numbers. The CH01-AH-0001, which fetched a whopping Rs 7 lakh, was bagged by Seema Goyal of Sector 21.

The second highest price was fetched by 0009 (Rs 4.5 lakh) followed by 0007 which went for Rs 4.25 lakh. Among the single digit numbers which fetched more than Rs 1 lakh included 0003 (Rs 4 lakh), 0005 (Rs 3.8 lakh), 0002 (Rs 2.58 lakh), 0008 (Rs 2.5 lakh) and 0006 (Rs 1.11 lakh).

Surprisingly, the number 100 bagged a whopping amount of Rs 3.31 lakh while 1000 was auctioned for Rs 1 lakh.

Officials said residents of Chandigarh could afford to spend huge amounts on VIP numbers as these were considered to be a status symbol.

Chandigarh, April 29
A woman constable with the Chandigarh police, Manpreet Kaur, allegedly committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance at her residence in the wee hours today. The victim was rushed to the PGI, where she died after two hours. Her death continues to remain a mystery with her family as well as the police clueless about the reason behind her taking the extreme step.

The police has initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174, CrPC. While the police said her prolonged illness could be the reason, her family hinted that her death could have been an accident and that she consumed the tablets by mistake.

Manpreet Kaur took the extreme step at 5 am when she allegedly consumed celphos tablets. Her husband, constable Nirmal Singh, noticed she was unconscious and rushed her to the PGI where she breathed her last at 8 am.

She leaves behind two children. Thirty-year-old Manpreet Kaur was posted as a clerk in the Home Guard office of the police. “She woke up at 5 am as usual and took medicine following which her condition deteriorated. We have nothing against anyone and it is hard to believe that she could take such a step. We believe it to be an accident. It is possible that she consumed the tablets by mistake,” said Jagjit Singh, the victim’s brother.

The body was handed over to the family after a postmortem at the PGI.

Chandigarh, April 29
Still waiting for their mother to return home, Manpreet Kaur’s five-year-old son, Pratham, and two-and-a-half year-old daughter, Mannat, appeared oblivious of the fact she no longer existed in their lives. The family sent both children to their respective schools in the morning. On returning home in the afternoon they found several grieving relatives and family friends arriving at their residence in Sector 56.

“My mother has gone to work as usual and she’ll return soon,” said Pratham as he was busy playing with his sister. A student of Bhawan Vidyalaya, he was unaware of the tragedy that had befallen his family.

His sister was being taken care of by her relatives since morning. However she kept asking for her mother and was difficult to console. “Where’s my mummy?” she kept asking those around her.

Colleagues described Manpreet as a vibrant police officer who bagged the all-rounder prize during the passing out parade of her batch in 2000. “She led the parade then and was very bright. It’s a huge loss,” said one of her colleagues.

Chandigarh, April 29
In what has come as a serious blow to Panjab University’s claim to having a “near perfect” examination system in place, the BA (second year) economics paper that was held on April 26 is now learnt to have been “leaked”, which forced varsity officials to change the question paper two days prior to the exam.

While initially the university had dispatched the paper with code number 2402 to all colleges, on April 24 a new question paper with code number 2402 was designed and designated as “new” and sent to colleges that were then asked to return the earlier paper.

Yet, PU officials entrusted with the task of getting back the “leaked” question paper apparently failed to retrieve them from some of the university’s affiliated colleges. According to sources, students of institutions including Sainiwal College in Bulowal (Hoshiarpur district) were still given the “leaked” question paper for the exam.

Officials of the PU examination branch say the authorities of an affiliated college in Ludhiana had opened the sealed packet containing the question paper before the scheduled date, thus forcing the varsity to change the paper. However, it is not yet known whether this was deliberate or by mistake.

“We were all left shocked when we received the new question paper and, though no official reason was assigned, all we knew was that one college opened the question papers before the date. According to the norm, the new examination paper is handed over only after the earlier is taken back. But if officials skipped some colleges and students were asked to appear for the same paper, then there’s a really big problem. How will they be evaluated? The evaluators won’t know of the goof-up,” said a principal of an affiliated college.

While all seems to be well at its own campus, Panjab University is yet to streamline the examination process in its affiliated colleges where reports of mass copying are frequent.

Chandigarh, April 29
Right from constables to inspectors, Chandigarh police personnel continue to project a slovenly image before their seniors. For the second time in a month, cops were severely reprimanded by UT SP (traffic & security) HS Doon for being shabbily dressed during a routine weekly parade. Moreover, a constable who tried to fool his seniors into believing he had reformed was transferred to the Police Lines in Sector 26 for disobedience.

While 300 policemen were pulled up by Doon for the same reason last month, on Friday 155 personnel of the total 500 present at the parade were rebuked for a range of issues ranging from being shabbily dressed, unshaved, for improper length of hair and for having unhygienic nails. The cops were then told to clean up their act and assemble again after two hours at the police headquarters in Sector 9.

The policemen then made a beeline to their homes and barbers to groom themselves before reassembling at the police headquarters for another inspection by Doon. A constable posted in the PCR (police control room) wing, Balwinder Kumar, who was asked to get a haircut and polish his shoes, told Doon he had obeyed his orders.

However, his long hair and dirty shoes became all too apparent. Not amused, Doon immediately had him transferred.

“The constable was found telling a blatant lie and was hence transferred to the Police Lines. The rest were quick to clean up their appearance. Last time 300 of them were found dressed shabbily but today the number was only 155. There has been some improvement but a lot still needs to be done,” Doon told the Chandigarh Tribune.

Chandigarh, April 29
Nine properties of Super Bazaar, the city’s first chain of retail stores, were auctioned for Rs 15.48 crore here today, reviving hopes of 200 terminated employees to get their dues.

On February 3, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed open auction of Super Bazaar properties through a committee chaired by retired High Court Judge Justice AL Bahri. The auction of properties, including industrial plot and a shed in Industrial Area continued till 6 pm.

After the auction, hopes of 200 employees of Super Bazaar to get a relief have come alive. The services of these employees were terminated almost a decade ago after the shops were closed down on November 2, 2000, and the liquidation process was started thereafter.

Taking up an appeal filed in the matter, the High Court had earlier asked the UT administration to see if they could be absorbed, or as an alternative, be given benefits of the voluntary retirement scheme.

A Division Bench had in April 2009 observed: “We are of the considered opinion that it will be appropriate to direct the Finance

Secretary, Union Territory, Chandigarh, to examine the matter and file an affidavit as to whether employees of the erstwhile Super Bazaar can be absorbed or whether the employees are entitled to the benefits of the voluntary retirement scheme.”

The employees had been facing uncertainty since long with the case witnessing twists and turns. In March 2003, the High Court had quashed the orders directing the winding up of Super Bazaar, with around 50 outlets.

Challenging the orders, Hem Raj and other petitioners had contended that same were violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

Mohali, April 29
The state-owned Punjab Information and Communication Technology Corporation (Infotech) again failed to sell its 1.52 acre commercial site in Sector 67 that was put under the hammer here today. After waiting for over an hour, Infotech officials called off the auction when none of the bidders evinced interest in the site that has a reserve price of Rs 45 crore.

It was the second attempt by the government agency to auction the site. Earlier, the reserve price was fixed at Rs 60 crore, but was later brought down to Rs 45 crore on the basis of feedback from a consultancy firm, which was being paid lakhs of rupees to dispose of the site that could be used to set up a shopping mall, retail complex, multiplex or hotel. “Though there were three parties who had evinced interest in the site, they did not participate in the auction. We will analyse the reasons behind the zero response,” said Dr RK Sangwan, senior executive (technical), Punjab Infotech.

Earlier, Punjab Infotech had failed to sell commercial sites in the ELTOP IT Park in Phase VII, Industrial Area, Mohali. High reserve price was attributed to be one of the reasons. The IT park is spread over 289 acres with a presence of a large number of companies.

Chandigarh, April 29
Think twice before you damage any Municipal Corporation (MC) property in greenbelts and parks of the city as the civic body is coming up with stringent horticulture bylaws.

Hefty fine will be imposed on those who are using parks in residential areas for parking vehicles. Those found damaging damaging infrastructure, including benches, huts, footpaths and plantation, will also be penalised.

This was decided by members of the environment and city beautification committee during a meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Pardeep Chhabra. The bylaws will be tabled in the next meeting of the committee for approval and then in the General House meeting.

Members said that in the absence of horticulture bylaws, they fail to take action against violators damaging MC property in greenbelts and parks of the city. Officials of the department informed committee members that in case of any damage to the MC property in parks, they can only lodge police complaint but the MC cannot take any action. Members suggested that as the complaints of damaging property in various parks and greenbelts were increasing, the MC should frame the bylaws to check and punish the offenders.

The committee also instructed officials to speed up the beautification of entry points of all the sectors on the first-come-first-served basis through public participation.

Members observed that there was a need to recruit more staff to maintain the recently transferred greenbelts and parks to the MC.

The committee also approved works of providing and fixing benches in various parks at Vikas nagar, Mauli Jagran Complex and Shivalik Enclave, Mani Majra, costing Rs 14.16 lakh and providing and fixing benches in greenbelts and parks in Sectors 49 and 51 costing Rs 7.97 lakh.

Chandigarh, April 29
A delegation of the Resident Welfare Association of Sector 23 today met Municipal Corporation chief engineer SS Bidda to apprise him about the pathetic condition of Bulbous Garden in their area.

Members of the delegation informed the chief engineer that the fountains of Dream Park in Sector 23 were not functioning. The chief engineer assured the members to resolve their complaint within a week.

The delegation also met the superintending engineer (public health) regarding cleaning the N-choe. They complained that N-choe in their area is full of wild growth and garbage as it had not been cleaned for the past one year. Snakes and other reptiles are often seen in and around N-choe. The delegation demanded immediate cleaning of N-choe. They said that last year, snakes use to enter the houses near N-choe.

Chandigarh, April 29
The fire and emergency department of the Municipal Corporation is not implementing the Punjab Fire Brigade Rules, 1977, in toto. While ignoring the perks and allowances mentioned in the rules adopted by the department, the authorities have implemented only the recruitment and promotion norms for its 245 employees in the last 14 years.

As per rules, firemen in Punjab get a salary of six working days instead of five as they get a single day off in a week. They also get risk allowance varying from Rs 250 to Rs 500 as per their rank and as admissible to the Delhi Fire Service from time to time.

The rules also entitle firemen to avail of rent-free accommodation on the fire station premises or nearby according to their rank. Special allowance is given to firemen in Punjab on public or gazetted holidays. The rules also have a provision for conveyance allowance and free water and electricity supply for them. Also, the fire station officer and sub-fire officer can avail electricity bill of 100 units per month and leading firemen and drivers can avail a compensation of 50 units every month.

Even in the Delhi fire service department, firemen get compensatory pay of one month in lieu of long working hours and for not availing holidays and weekly offs.

However, in the Chandigarh fire department, firemen have not been getting any perks and allowances for the last 14 years. Even the issue of insurance has been hanging fire for the last three years as the authorities have failed to finalise the company for the purpose.

In a meeting of the fire and emergency services committee chaired by councillor Devinder Singh Babla here today, it was decided that a detailed proposal would be chalked out by the department with regard to the finalisation of the insurance company. The proposal will be tabled in the next meeting of the house scheduled for May 11. The committee also directed the authorities to speed up the process of finalising recruitment rules.

It also instructed officials to provide details of fire notices served on defaulters (sector-wise) and status report of the fire safety week in the next meeting.

Panchkula, April 29
Even though the municipal council had passed the Rs 66-crore budget for carrying out various development works in the town and its periphery on March 21, the budget was yet to get the final nod from the department of local bodies, Haryana.

Even though a month has elapsed in the current fiscal, the budget file has been passed on to the Commissioner, local bodies, for final approval just a few days ago.

The council had unanimously passed a budget of Rs 66.08 crore for 2011-12 under the chairmanship of Additional Deputy Commissioner Sanjeev Verma.

A sum of Rs 21.5 crore had been allocated for the recarpeting of major roads in the town and Rs 40 lakh had been proposed in the budget for the setting up of a sub-fire station building at a site earmarked by the Haryana Urban Development Authority.

No development work had been taken up during the past two financial years and with the passage of the Rs-66 crore budget, local residents were hopeful of seeing some development in the town this year.

According to sources, the municipal council had submitted the detailed budget to the Deputy Commissioner and the file was later to be submitted to the director, local bodies, for its final approval.

However, according to the sources, all this time, the file had only been moving from one table to another in the Deputy Commissioner’s office and had been forwarded to the Commissioner, local bodies, for its final approval just a few days ago.

MC executive engineer KK Jain said he had submitted the file regarding the detailed proposals to the office of the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

He said they had to submit the proposed budget report to the Deputy Commissioner within a week and from there it was forwarded to the Commissioner, local bodies.

When queried about when they would receive the final approval on the proposed budget, he said the file was currently with the local bodies department and that he couldn’t say anything in this regard.

Mohali, April 29
The Mohali Industry and Commerce Association has drawn the attention of the Deputy Commissioner towards the dumping of garbage near the Information Technology (IT) hub in Industrial Area, Phase VIII, here.

In a representation to the official, association president Nikhil Saraf stated that while the state government treated the area as a showcase sector for IT in Mohali as well as in Punjab and a lot of IT companies like Dell and Quark, besides small and medium companies, had set up their base in Phase VIII A and VIII B, the local municipal corporation had been dumping garbage on their doorstep.

Over 3,000 IT professionals worked in the sector alone and with new infrastructure coming up, the strength was likely to go up to 10,000 this year.

However, it was unfortunate that the administration was dumping garbage in the IT sector, he said while demanding the shifting of the dumping site.

Chandigarh, April 29
Dr Vinay Sakhuja has taken over as the officiating director of the PGI today. Dr Sakhuja, a former dean of the PGI and head, department of nephrology, is number two in the faculty seniority. A farewell party was organised for the outgoing PGI director KK Talwar, who is going to retire tomorrow.

Profssor GD Puri, Dr RK Sharma and Amarjit Nafra, nursing superintendent, highlighted the achievements of the cardiac centre under the leadership of Professor Talwar. — TNS

Panchkula, April 29
The district administration today formed a 14-member committee after the two warring groups of Bataud village agreed to sort out their differences during a meeting chaired by the SDM at the mini secretariat here.

Seven members each have been taken from the upper caste and Dalit communities representing the two sides.

The committee members of the upper caste would visit a Dalit family and sort out the differences between them.

A report regarding the decisions taken at the meeting would then be signed by all 14 members and forwarded to the district administration.

SDM Kuwant Kalson, who had been appointed as the chairman of a committee formed recently by Deputy Commissioner Ashima Brar, to pacify both sides, said he was hopeful of harmony returning to the village after the meetings.

Tension had erupted between upper caste and Dalit residents of the village over a land dispute on March 17 as some upper caste members had beaten up some Dalits.

On Tuesday, Dalit leaders had threatened a showdown at the office of the Deputy Commissioner on May 1 if the police failed to arrest the accused against whom the cases had been registered.

Tension had gripped the village as a group of Dalits objected to the cultivation of “shamlat” (common) land by a group of people belonging to the upper caste.

However, the latter insisted that since they had been cultivating it for the past over 40 years, they owned it under the law.

Subsequently, the two groups indulged in an altercation in which certain members of the Dalit community were assaulted following which they lodged a police case against the opposite group for the assault as well as using derogatory remarks against the their women.

Mohali, April 29
Two unidentified miscreants snatched an i20 car (HP-07-C-0916) from Manisha Kataria, wife of former Mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation PK Kataria and a resident of 3B2, Mohali, at gunpoint in the Phase V market late this evening.

The incident took place around 10 pm when Manisha Kataria had come to the market along with her mother and another woman. She parked her car in the parking area and went to the market along with other women. However, her mother kept sitting in the car.

Meanwhile, two unidentified miscreants with their faces covered came near the car and one of them dragged the woman out of the vehicle at gunpoint. The other miscreant sat on the driver seat and they fled.

Panchkula, April 29
Hundreds of JBT teachers from various districts of Haryana today took out a protest rally at Sector 5 parade ground here. They were protesting against the three-tier system introduced by the state government.

While addressing protesters, Vinod Thakran, president, Rajkiya Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, Haryana, said by shifting three classes to middle schools, the state government was avoiding fresh recruitments in primary schools. He said the move would put an additional burden on TGT teachers which in turn would affect middle class students.

Thakran said the state government’s decision of increasing working hours from eight to six hours should be revoked, as primary schoolchildren would find it difficult to sit in a classroom for so long during summer. He said timings of primary schools should be fixed from 8 am to 2 pm as the new schedule would affect their health badly. He said primary schools, especially in rural areas, lacked proper infrastructure. Moreover, power shortage and absence of drinking water facilities, worsened the situation in these schools.

He said a ban on granting promotion to JBT teachers appointed in 2000 should also be lifted. He demanded that JBT teachers be promoted up to the level of District Education Officer (Elementary) according to their work experience. He said teachers appointed after 2006 should be given regular payscales.

He claimed that the government was trying to privatise government educational institutions in the state by inviting public-private participation. He said this would badly affect people residing in rural areas as private institutions would fleece them by charging exorbitant fee.

Chandigarh, April 29
“Once considered as a nucleus of the youth power, Punjab has over the last few years failed to nurture or harness its youth potential because of an ailing education system and rampant unemployment,” said Capt Amarinder Singh, president, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, while addressing a gathering during a seminar on ‘role of youth in today’s Punjab’ at Panjab University today.

Elaborating on the condition of elementary and higher education, Amarinder Singh claimed that despite more than half of the state’s population being under 40 years, only a handful of youngsters, especially in rural areas, completed school education and reached colleges.

“Primary, middle and secondary education in Punjab need to be strengthened. It’s unfortunate that while on the one hand we talk of progress, on the other hand our youngsters are not even graduates. Another issue which plagues the state is unemployment and lack of industries which needs to be dealt with sensitively,” added Amarinder Singh.

An endeavour of Senator DPS Randhawa, the seminar aimed at emphasising on the need to harness the youth power.

“Punjab stands on the threshold of big change and only the youth can bring in the desired renaissance. We just can’t expect them to act, but need to give them the right environs to nurture their talent and power. State needs to undergo an ideological change to ensure that youngsters realise their responsibilities,” said Dr Randhawa.

Prof PS Jaswal, VC, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala, was the guest of honour, who held lack of quality and job oriented education responsible for youth specific frustration.

Prof RC Sobti, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University, urged students to start with minor changes at an individual level.