NEIGHBOURHOOD

Illegal structures demolished in Ambala
Attar Singh
Tribune News Service

Ambala, July 13
Heavy rain in parts of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana a few days back has raised concerns regarding a flood-like situation in some parts of the district.

Several parts of the district have been affected, with the water levels in Markanda and Tangri rivers reaching threatening levels.

Ambala District Magistrate Sameer Pal Srow has declared a red alert and ordered round-the-clock surveillance in areas near rivers, drains and dams, besides railway tracks, in the district till September 30.

Youths have been deployed at all sensitive points in the district to keep an eye on danger from floodwaters. Officials of the municipal corporation and the district administration have been alerted.

The district authorities are concerned over the possibility of floods, particularly in low-lying areas. Several areas along rivers have been eroded. An alert has been sounded in villages like Saha, Mulana and Samalheri, though a need for evacuation has not arisen.

Lalru, July 13
Electricity consumers of the area have been facing inconvenience due to long and repeated power cuts, both during the day and at night.

They have been getting electricity supply for only a few hours a day. This problem has affected all sectors, be it domestic, agricultural or industrial. People allege that long power cuts and line faults, caused by loose electricity wires, has hit life in the area. The problem of loose electricity wires is particularly pronounced in the area covered by the Mukandpur feeder. Former sarpanch Harichand and some residents of Bhagwasi and Muknadpur villages have said there is no power supply when there is rain or strong winds. On some occasions, they do not get power supply for 24 hours at a stretch. They allege that the junior engineer concerned does not listen to their complaints.

Roshan Lal, a farmer at Bhagwasi village, has demanded proper voltage for tubewells at a time when farmers are busy in paddy plantation.

Lalru SDO KR Srangal said the problem of power cuts was being caused by extra load on the power grid at Dera Bassi. He said another grid would be functional at Lalru soon, which would solve the problem.

Ropar, July 13
Seven government and nine private educational institutes have been permitted to issue learner’s licences for driving to its students.

In a press note issued here, district transport officer-cum-assistant commissioner (general) Pushpinder Singh Kailey said a meeting of all principals had been conducted in this regard.

Government institutes could now issue licences to their students while private institutes were allowed to prepare documents needed for licence issuance and send the files to the district transport office.

The office would then issue licences and send those back to private institutes, which could distribute these among the licence-holders.

The government institutes include IIT, Ropar, girls’ ITI, Morinda, ITI, Nangal,

Government Shivalik College, Nangal, and girls’ ITI, Agampur.

The private institutes are IET, Bhaddal, Shahid Baba Ajit Singh Jujhar Singh Memorial College, Bela, Khalsa Girls College, Morinda, Mahatma Bhuri Wala College, Tibba Nangal, Sant Baba Sewa Singhji Khalsa College for Girls, Raipur Munno, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Polytechnic College, Agampur, Global College, Kahnpur Khui, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, Anandpur Sahib, and Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Charitable and Educational Awareness Society, Anandpur Sahib.

Ambala, July 13
Four members of a family, including two children who were reportedly fell unintentionally yesterday from the Kali Paltan bridge on National Highway No.1 are still critical.

They were identified as Pradeep (29) his wife Lalita (27), daughter Roshni (6) and a son Rohan (3) and belonged to Jharkhand. According to eyewitnesses, Roshni fell down from the 20-feet high bridge and in an attempt to save her Pardeep, Lalita and Rohan too fell down from the bridge.

On getting information, the police PCR reached the spot and the victims were rushed to the Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt, for treatment, from where they were referred to PGI, Chandigarh.

The police party sent to Chandigarh today failed to record the statement of victims since all of them were still not in a position to give any statement. The police could not collect any information regarding the victims so far. However, Lalita while in a conscious state for a short time, denied any suicidal attempt by the family, the sources said.

Lalru, July 13
The youth who was killed in a train accident at the Lalru railway station on Monday was today identified as Raman Kumar, a Btech student at Punjab engineering college, Lalru.

He belonged to a Champaran village in Bihar. He was studying in Btech (second year), electronic and communication stream. While crossing the railway track at Lalru on July11, he was killed on the spot. His body was kept at the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi, for identification. His body was handed over to the relatives after identification. — TNS

Kalka, July 13
Residents of Kalka, Pinjore and adjoining villages are irked over long unscheduled power cuts and erratic power supply in the area.

They rue that they have to make do without electricity for long hours everyday. These power cuts range seven hours and above in duration. Residents are sore over the irregular and erratic power supply for the past couple of weeks, which causes great inconvenience to them.

As a result, there is resentment against the working of the UHBVN and the state government. These are indifferent towards residents’ plight, they claim.

When contacted, UHBVN officials at Pinjore said power supply was being interrupted due to a technical problem in the powerhouse at Subhash Nagar.

They added that electricity supply was also being affected by damage to the 200-KV transformer at Chauna Chowk here.

Chandigarh, July 13
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has given a major relief to those students of the Law Department of the Panjab University whose admission used to be cancelled by the university on account of the shortage of attendance in the first semester.

The relief has come on the petition of Sahil Singla, who was admitted to the three-year law course last year.

He fell short of attendance, as a result of which his admission was cancelled.

He was asked to seek fresh admission by taking a competitive examination once again.

His counsel Amit Jhanji contended that the university regulations had no provision for such an action. He supported his argument by quoting rule 6.1 of the university, which said “promotion from semester 1 to 2, 3 to 4 and 5 to 6 shall be allowed to a student… even if he fails to appear or qualify in the papers prescribed for semesters 1, 3 or 5 as the case may be”.

Justifying the university action, university counsel BL Gupta said the university interpreted this regulation to mean that the student of the first semester who failed to get requisite attendance would not be eligible for re-admission except by qualifying the entrance test afresh.

Justice Mahesh Grover did not agree with the university’s interpretation and described it as “totally misplaced”. In his judgment, Justice Grover described the university’s action as “arbitrary”.

He said the university decision was unsustainable in the eyes of the law. “Consequently, the action of the respondent is held to be un-warranted and accordingly quashed.”

He ordered that the petitioner would be permitted to attend the classes for the first semester and he might be permitted to continue with the course, subject to the rules and regulations of the university.

Chandigarh, July 13
Additional district and sessions judge VP Sirohi today awarded seven years’ imprisonment to a Sector-48 resident for raping a minor. The court also directed the accused to pay Rs 5,000 as fine.

The police arrested 20-year-old Vicky of Sector 48 on November 30 last on charges of kidnapping and raping a 15-year-old resident of Sector 49. Vicky was working with a local advertising company.

The victim’s parents lodged a missing person report when she failed to return home after school on November 23 last. It was reported that Vicky took her to Chintpurni in Himachal Pradesh, where he had raped her.

Chandigarh, July 13
Three prosecution witnesses deposed in the Chandigarh district courts in connection with a drug pilferage case against former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Saji Mohan here today.

Two Mumbai ATS officials, DIG Sukhwinder Singh and inspector Sanjeev Krishan Rao, along with BSF inspector Rajesh Kumar Roshan, recorded their statements.

Sukhwinder said Saji Mohan was posted in Mumbai at the time of his arrest. Rao said they had caught Saji Mohan with contraband from Mumbai in January, 2009. Roshan said they had recovered a 60-kg bag containing contraband from the Jammu and Kashmir border.

Saji Mohan was booked by the Chandigarh Police under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act on March 14, 2009, accusing him of pilferage of narcotics from the NCB ‘malkhana’.

Saji Mohan pilfered and manipulated the contraband seized from various places in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Additional district and sessions judge Lalit Batra deferred the hearing for tomorrow.

Zirakpur, July 13
A 71-year-old pedestrian died after being hit by a Punjab Roadways bus near the Chhat village bus stop on the Zirakpur-Patiala highway here on Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Ujjgar Singh, a resident of Barri village in Sohana.

The investigating officer stated that the incident took place around 9.15 am when the victim was crossing the road when a speeding bus coming from Zirakpur side hit him and dragged him to quite a distance. A passerby, immediately informed the police and the victim was taken to GMCH-32, Chandigarh, where he died during the treatment late in the evening, he added.

The body of the deceased has been handed over to the family after conducting the postmortem examination. The police official said that the driver of the bus Inderjit Singh was arrested and a case had been registered against him.

Zirakpur, July 13
With the arrest of two persons, the police claims to have solved two cases of theft in Zirakpur.

The accused have been identified as Manjur Ahmad and Abdul Rehman, both residents of Naisk district.

The investigating officer Shamsher stated that they got information about the accused who were roaming near Sethi Dhaba on the Zirakpur-Amabala highway. A police raided the spot and arrested them. While inspecting their bags, silver utensils with some cash were recovered from their possession, the officer added.

The investigating officer claimed that the accused had confessed to their involvement in two thefts at DS Estate, Dhakoli and Astha Enclave, Pabhat village in March. The Zirakpur SHO said the accused were produced in the Dera Bassi court.

Mohali, July 13
The Punjab Forest Department today submitted a complaint to the Mohali Police regarding sand quarrying in the Parole forest area near Mullanpur.

In their complaint to the police, the forest officials Balwinder Singh, Gurpal Singh, Baldev Singh and Hardeep Singh alleged that they got the information that a group of people along with Jagir Singh were quarrying the sand from a season rivulet.

The complainants claimed when they reached the spot and stopped them from illegal work, the suspects allegedly started firing at the officials. The forest officials alleged that the police did not taking any action against the persons who were illegally lifting the sand. On the other hand, Jagir Singh alleged that the forest officials assaulted them.

The police said that they had received the complaint and investigations had begun.

Chandigarh, July 13
A day after a police informer was assaulted at Manimajra, the police arrested two persons in a case of attempt-to-murder.

The prime accused, liquor contractor Azad Singh, was still absconding. The police arrested Rajesh, alias Gabbar, a resident of Indira Colony, and Ajay, a resident of Manimajra.

Harial Paul was going to drop his wife Punam to her office at IT Park, Manimajra, when he was attacked. He received 16 multiple fractures and sharp injuries.

Chandigarh, July 13
Even apt number of trained coaches for the city seems to have failed to do wonders in the sports arena. Besides having a number of official professional coaches, various schemes under the Sports Authority of India (SAI) are still full of various flaws.

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has appointed 32 coaches at various coaching centres, including 12 with Chandigarh sports department, six with different schools, eight coaches at Panjab University and a coach at a local college.

Earlier, the National Sports Association was facing problems with the administration, but even after coming up from the hurdles, the body failed to provide facilities to budding players. The players under the sub-junior category have no coaching camps or seasonal camps to nurture their skills.

Even in schools and other centres, the schemes might work smoothly on papers but the reality is blemishing. Panjab University (PU) is one of the centres of SAI. The centre has been allotted a total of 62 seats under the sports scheme, but according to players, no camp under the scheme is organised by officials, however, kits are being distributed to them.

According to information, SAI has deputed eight coaches at PU for imparting training in games like badminton, kho-kho, kabaddi, football, hockey, volleyball, swimming and gymnastics. Interestingly, the coaches are deputed for a year, but inter-college or inter-university tournaments are organised under the maximum period for three months.

The authorities, however, are of the view that staff is functioning well and players are also attending the camp on regular basis.

“The coaches appointed at the centres undertake these camps under the scheme. A supervision committee is also formed to look after the presence of coaches and the selected players on the ground,” said Vir Singh Chohaun, assistant director coaching, SAI.

Adding further, “As per the scheme, the camps are being organised on regular basis and work of the coach deputed there is to supervise them,” said Chohaun when asked about the deputation of coaches for a year.

On the other hand, according to a player found practicing at another coaching centre in Sector 17 revealed, “We were given proper kits but the camp was not organised at a regular span of time.”

When TNS team asked official for attendance sheet of players, he said, “We are not keeping the record but it is coaches who update it.” Notably, there are no tournaments being organised for the players in the camp where the actual performance of the player can be seen. Last year witnessed a number of changes with more schemes planned but not implemented properly.