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Fake degrees Tribune News Service
The accused were identified as Mukta Sharma (37), director, Sai Service Education Wing, Mohali. She has done MBA, MSc as well as BEd. Her husband Vikas Sharma, who is assisting in her business, has also been arrested. The police also arrested Kalpana, manager, Sai Service Education Wing, Sector 35. Another accused Naveed Anjum Agent, resident of Khuda Ali Sher, a computer expert, has been arrested. While the police has identified 18 persons who procured fake degrees and certificates from them against a price, it arrested Balraj Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran, who procured a fake degree of Panjab University for getting a study visa for the UK, as his visa for France was rejected in 2011. The police has sealed both offices of Sai Service Education Wing in Sector 35, Chandigarh, and Zirakpur.
66 fake degrees recovered The police recovered 66 degrees and migration certificates of UP Technical University Lucknow, Board of Higher Secondary Education, UP, Babashaeb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Muzaffarpur, State Board Technical Education, Bihar, Patna University and Board of Higher Secondary Education, Delhi as well as Sikkim Manipal University.
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Well-oiled set-up was in place
Chandigarh, March 21 The police has recovered over 400 receipts from the accused, which will take it to the clients who procured the degrees. The police is also probing the role of mediators who provided the link between the gang members and the universities and helped the accused draft a degree, similar to the original one. The accused charged Rs 70,000 to issue degrees on an urgent basis, while Rs 40,000 was charged to issue degrees within a month’s time. During investigation, the accused disclosed that they were having links in Bihar, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. DSP Anil Joshi said they were investigating from where they had got prepared these stamps for the procurement of fake documents. The SIT is also verifying correspondence of some mails made by
the clients as well as by the company.
2 varsities under scanner
UT SS Naunihal Singh said they had established a Delhi link to the scam and identified some persons who had link with universities in Bihar and Sikkim. The accused acted as mediators and helped the accused in making fake degrees. “Today’s gang of five members functioned parallel to the one busted yesterday. They operated separately but have common mediators. While the nine arrested yesterday had clients in northern India, the gang busted today has its network of clients in Central and Eastern part of the country,” said the SSP.
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Our degrees protected by hologram: PU
Following panic created by the busting of a fake degree gang, Panjab University has issued an assurance that its degrees are foolproof, as these are now protected by UV holograms, in addition to having students’ photographs on them. Standing by its employees, the university has asserted that it thoroughly believed that none of the employees were involved in the creation of any fake degrees. It was, however, ready to cooperate with police investigation.
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Punjab crime, cyber unit phones don’t ring
Mohali, March 21 About 20 phone lines have been installed in the building. And the amount of pending bills is said to be nearly Rs 60,000. Set aside making outgoing calls from the landline phones, officials here cannot even talk on intercom, which is also out of order. “We have to make several calls to deal several cases on a routine basis and every time we could not use our own mobile phones,” said an official. Another official lamented that they were forced to use mobile phones if they wanted to place an order for even tea and snacks in the canteen. Despite apprising our seniors of the “scenario”, nothing has been done in this direction, lamented the officials. Both officials admitted that many a time, they avoided making official calls, related to cases they deal with from their own mobiles. “Yes, the work is surely suffering but it’s not our fault,” they said. ADGP (Crime) HS Dhillon said the liaisoning department should be contacted to get the details.
Work suffers
The venue houses the State Crime Branch, the Forensic Science Laboratory and Cyber Crime Police Station and State Crime Police Station, all handling vital cases of Punjab state.
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Private schools turn away EWS parents
Sumedha Sharma Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 21 Similar fate was shared by hundreds of children and their parents belonging to the economically weaker sections (EWS) who were shooed away from city private schools today. While many schools were closed for the end of the term holidays others, ignoring the UT’s directive and advertisement, refused entry to these parents, saying they had no seats vacant and admissions were closed. The education department had, through a public advertisement issued today, asked all eligible candidates to apply to city private schools for 470 vacant RTE seats. It was, however, in for a rude shock when it received over 200 calls on its helpline from distressed parents, claiming to have been denied entry in schools, leave aside being given application forms. “The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since morning. Parents are calling us to tell how they had been turned away because of vacations in some schools or schools’ denial of admission. There are even cases where people have been asked to deposit hefty fee with promise of refund once they get money from the education department. They continue to blame us, but what about their social responsibility? Are they education institutions or shops?” said a senior official of the education department. The schools, however, have refused to accept the argument. Independent School Association president HS Mamik blamed the department for this saying, “The RTE is a social responsibility within the confines of the law. We were fully in for the implementation and that is why we reserved seats and waited till now, but there are procedures to be followed, which cannot be overridden. The department went ahead, giving advertisement without taking us into confidence. It’s end of the term break in our school, so where do I get people? And if so much concerned, why didn’t they advertise their vacant seats along with ours? Why can’t we admit these children on government school seats for which investment has already been made? What are they doing for over 1,200 vacant government school seats? The RTE failure in the city is the UT administration’s fault.” March 27 has been declared the last date of the application process which is yet to start and the session commences from April 1. Neighborhood criterion
In one of its usual dilly-dallying moves, the education department which has so far insisted on private schools accepting the RTE application from the entire city has now enforced neighborhood criterion, where the EWS students will be eligible to claim admission in private schools within 1 km of their residency.
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3 killed, 11 injured in accident
Three persons were killed and 11 injured in a road accident on the Banur-Landran road today. The dead were identified as Rajinder Kaur, Manjeet Kaur and Jaspreet Kaur, all residents of Ghoga Kamali in Mohali district. The accident occurred when a Mahindra jeep collided with a car. All passengers of the jeep had gone to Badhunpur village to worship at a temple. The injured were admitted to Gian Sagar Hospital in Banur, PGI, Chandigarh, and GMCH-32, Chandigarh, for treatment. A case was registered in this regard.
2-year RI for corruption
A local court sentenced an employee with the Punjab Roadways to two-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) in a corruption case. The court sentenced Jagdish Chander to two-year rigorous imprisonment. He was booked in 1997 for demanding a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a conductor to clear his file. Jagdish was posted as a reader with the then Managing Director of the Punjab Roadways when he was booked.
Chill stages comeback
Chilly winds lashed the Tricity during the day, resulting in the crashing of the temperatures, forcing city residents to pull out their woollens. Even though the weather office has predicted a mainly clear sky, the day and night temperatures will plummet by about 6 to 8 degrees Celsius. The cool winds surely have disappointed the summer lovers! Sunita Bhandari, a housewife, said, "Temperatures had been rising for the past few days and anticipating the onset of summers, I had dumped all my woollens.
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MC to go easy with defaulters
Chandigarh, March 21 This proposal will be tabled at the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) meeting which is scheduled for tomorrow. According to the amended terms, the authorities will not get the notified taxi stand vacated from the defaulter and re-allot it to another company. It has been recommended that both these clauses should be deleted from the allotment rules for taxi stands. The records of the corporation revealed that during the last month six notices had been issued to defaulters for the delay in depositing their licence fees to the authorities. There are 62 notified taxi stands in the city. According to the existing terms and conditions, if the allottee of a taxi stand does not pay the ground rent on time, notices are issued to him for paying the same with 15 per cent interest per annum. A BJP councillor and member of the F&CC Rajesh Kumar Gupta expressed surprise that instead of recommending stringent action against the defaulters the authorities were suggesting the removal of both these clauses from the terms and conditions for the allotment of taxi stands. The department concerned has also recommended revising the licence fee for taxi stands. According to a fresh proposal, the licence fee for up to 1,500 sq ft of area has been recommended at a rate of Rs 5,100 per month and for more than 1,500 sq feet Rs 7,300 per month. Revision of licence fee The department has also recommended revising the licence fee for taxi stands. According to a fresh proposal, the licence fee for up to 1,500 sq ft of area has been recommended at a rate of Rs 5,100 per month and for more than 1,500 sq feet Rs 7,300 per month.
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Road to remain closed
The road from Anand theatre to KC Theatre in Sector 17 A and 17 B will remain closed from March 23 till March 31 for the construction of an over-bridge in Sector 17 A and B. However, the arrangement for entry to the parking lots will not be effected during the construction work. Annual function
The Dayalbagh Educational Institute study centre Sector 35, Chandigarh, celebrated its annual function here today. The chief guest on the occasion was prof Lalit Kumar Bansal chairman, university school of open learning, Panjab University. Co-coordinator, Swami Sharan, said that the university offered 80 programmes in diverse areas such as engineering, education, management and theology apart from other regular courses like humanities, sciences and commerce.
Cattle impounded
As many as 86 stray cattle were impounded from Mauli Jagran, Vikas Nagar, Manimajra, IT Park, Sector 26, Colony number IV, Ram Darbar, Faidan, Sector 46, 47, 48, Colony Number V, Sector 51, Sector 42, Kajheri, Sector 39, Sector 56, Dadu Majra and Dhanas from March 11 till March 20.
Patisserie competition
Convocation
A total of 533 degrees were distributed during the 26th annual convocation of Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 42, a press release said, here today. As many as 18 Roll of Honour were1 awarded to the outstanding students and 7 merit prizes for different subjects for holding positions at the College-level in the annual university examination. Dr Jaspal Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala, addressing the students emphasised upon the need for acquiring more knowledge as it can neither be stolen nor destroyed by anyone. Principal Mani Bedi highlighted the achievements of the College for the current session.
Elected
The following have been elected as office bearers of the Senior Citizens Forum,
International Army Day 
The NCC unit of Gian Jyoti Institute of Management and technology commemorated the “International Army day to pay tributes to the soldiers of army soldiers who have laid down their lives for nation. (See photo)
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Lackadaisical approach to the fore
Sanjay Bumbroo Tribune News Service
Panchkula, March 21 There were only five fire tenders and 45 staff members at the fire station in the district, which catered to more than 6 lakh people. Nothing had been done to fill vacant posts. According to sources, the shortage of staff had also affected the maintenance of fire tenders, which sometimes failed in case of emergency. The fire department did not have any masks and other equipment, which should be used to rescue the victims held up in a building during fire. There was no check on the haphazard display of advertisement signboards on the outer walls of SCOs in the town, which also hampered the movement of firefighters. In the absence of any hydraulic platform, the task of firemen had become more difficult as signboards installed by shopkeepers blocked the openings to the SCOs. According to sources, the authorities had planned to purchase a fire tender with a hydraulic platform, costing around Rs 7 crore, for the fire station to be set up at Sector 28. This was decided in view of several high-rises at Sector 20 and in areas across the Ghaggar. The officials were yet to receive any word from the fire safety department set up by the government. The district had one fire station, located at Sector 5. Kalka and Raipur Rani were over 30 km away. Barwala had several industries manufacturing plywood boards and over 200 poultry farms. Residents of the towns ran the grave risk of fire, especially during summer, when water and power supply were severely affected. Fire officer RP Dhull said they had approached the authorities for fire tenders with hydraulic platform a few years ago. He said they were yet to receive any reply till date. He added that they were ready to meet any eventuality with whatever equipment and fire tenders they had. MC executive officer OP Sihag said Deputy Commissioner Ashima Brar and MC officials recently held a meeting with officials of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). He said they asked HUDA to provide a fire tender with hydraulic platform as several high-rises were coming up in the town. He added that HUDA recently allowed the construction of a 14-storeyed building. He further said without a fire tender with hydraulic platform, the lives of those living in high-rises would be in danger in case of a major fire. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) threatened to launch an agitation if the administration failed to fill vacancies in the fire department and purchase the things required. Addressing mediapersons here today, state BJP finance secretary Gian Chand Gupta said they had raised the issue two years ago, but nothing had been done in this regard. He said shopkeepers in the town were paying crores in taxes, but nothing was being done to safeguard their business establishments. He demanded that adequate compensation be paid to the shopkeepers affected as it would take them between five and six years to establish their businesses again. Elsewhere, INLD leader Seema Chaudhary said the party had passed a resolution to fine shopkeepers who failed to instal firefighting equipment at their shops. She said the civic body should have taken action against the shopkeepers concerned for installing signboards outside their shops.
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Victim’s parents allege inaction by police
Panchkula, March 21 The father of the girl, Ashok Kumar, alleged that besides the main accused, Gola, a resident of Beer Ghaggar, three other accused, Maneesh, Billa and Ajit, had molested his daughter. He alleged that the accused had threatened his daughter not to report the incident to anyone. He claimed that she was so terrified that she was not able to speak to the family about the incident. The police registered a case under Section 354 IPC against Gola on March 18. It also arrested the accused and sent him to the juvenile home at Ambala. The girl’s parents had later alleged that three other boys were also involved. A panel of doctors had conducted medical tests and submitted in the report that there was no injury or rape-bid mark on the girl by the accused. The father of the victim alleged that Gola had forcibly taken her to a room adjacent to his residence at Beer Ghaggar and tried to rape her after she returned from school. He said the accused had threatened other persons at the village as well. He alleged that the boys had attacked a shopkeeper at the village with stones after the latter refused to give them money. Members of the Mahila Chetna Manch, led by its president Sunita Dahiya and secretary Nirmala, demanded justice for the victim by taking stern action against the accused. Chandi Mandir SHO Rajesh Chaudhary said the main accused had already been arrested and sent to the juvenile home at Ambala. He said two out of the other three accused had also been arrested and they hoped to arrest the accused who was at large. He assured the delegation that action would be taken against the accused as per the law.
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Patients, attendants left in lurch
Chandigarh, March 21 In the absence of the employees, patients’ attendants could be seen searching for stretchers and wheelchairs at the entry of the hospital and at Emergency. Even work at the ICUs and operation theatres was also affected, said sources. It was at 8 am that all the ward attendants assembled outside the hospital building and started raising slogans against the contractor. The president of the GMCH Contractual Workers Union, Suresh, said it was a routine that the disbursal of their salaries is delayed. Even there was no record of the ESI and provident fund contribution deducted from their salaries by the contractor, he said. While all efforts to contact the contractor failed, the director principal, Dr Raj
Bahadur, said the contractor was at fault and he had been asked to disburse the salaries immediately. It was found that the contractor was in the habit of it and the hospital administration would look for an alternative arrangement, he said.
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Malba disposal bylaws passed
Chandigarh, March 21 The committee had earlier reviewed the draft of the bylaws approved by the General House at its 156th meeting in 2010. However, the committee, after due deliberations, decided that the malba bylaws should be implemented immediately and it had made a few suggestions regarding their implementation. The committee has decided that the charges for the removal of malba, debris, construction material, if it is done by the corporation, will be in addition to the fine to be imposed on a violator. The committee has constituted a flying squad, comprising three members and one security person, which will round the clock keep a watch on unauthorised disposal of malba. It was decided that wherever the renovation of government houses is carried out, malba will be removed by contractor, otherwise a challan will be issued to division concerned carrying out maintenance work. The committee has further decided that authorised malba-dumping sites will be identified.
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Chandigarh gets Butterfly Park
Chandigarh, March 21 Santosh Kumar, UT Conservator of Forests-cum-Chief Wild Life Warden, said, The park is spread over an area of 7 acres and forest department has planted more than 50 species of host plants and various nectar plants for development of this park". He said that out of 65 varieties of butterfly available in Chandigarh, around 35 varieties could be seen in this park. A state-of-the-art glass house has also been set-up in the park to keep various species of butterflies. An official said that the glass house would help them in keeping butterflies in the park at any time of the year. He said, "A natural environment has been created in the glass house by setting up an artificial waterfall and spring and planting various plants, which attract butterflies for breeding."
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Leopard to be tranquilised today
Chandigarh, March 21 An official said the leopard, which is now confined to 25-foot area in the pipe, which is 75-foot long and less than 3.5 feet in diameter, was required to administer the antidote in time in case experts tranquilised him. He added they were trying to get closer to the leopard in order to tranquilise it. As the UT Forest and Wildlife departments have not been able to rescue the leopard for the last 10 days, they had sought help from the experts of the Wildlife Institute of India. A live chicken and a goat had been placed near the pipe as bait, but the leopard did not come out. Officials have put up a cage in front of the pipe to catch the leopard in case it ventures out. They had even tried to scare away the leopard with crackers and had put water inside the pipe, but in vain.
Getting closer
The leopard, which is now confined to 25-foot area in the pipe, which is 75-foot long and less than 3.5 feet in diameter, is required to administer the antidote in time in case experts tranquilise it. They are trying to get closer to the leopard.~ — An official of the WWI
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HUDA auctions 28 commercial sites
Panchkula, March 21 The highest amount was fetched by an SCF at Sector 14, which went for Rs 5,11,70,000, against a reserved price of Rs 2
crore. This was followed by two SCFs at Sector 17, that went for more than Rs 4.16 crore each. Five shops at Phase II of the Industrial Area fetched more than 1.3 crore each, against a reserve price of Rs 35.26
lakh. In the smaller segment, a double-storeyed shop site, with basement, at Sector 28 went for Rs 1.98
crore. Another double-storeyed shop site fetched Rs 2.06 crore. The shopping centre site at Sector 27 went for Rs 14.45
crore. Three booths at Sector 15 fetched between Rs 87 lakh and Rs 91
lakh, against a reserve price of Rs 55 lakh. Haryana State Property Dealers Welfare Association president Suresh Aggarwal said the response was average. He said only 28 of the 37 sites were put under the hammer. Had the reserve price been kept below the market price, the response would have been better, he added.
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Gurukul organises annual function
Panchkula, March 21 Kindergarten students presented a foot dance on the ‘I’m going to the fair’. Class-III students transported everybody to the Ramayana era with the ballet ‘Luv-Kush’. The contemporary dance by class-IV students had a beautiful portrayal of victory of good over evil through dance. The dance on a welcome song by class-II students impressed the audience. Salma Ansari, wife of the Vice-President, was the chief guest. She gave away trophies to students for achievements in various fields. She also released the school newsletter ‘Gurukul Express’. Rajni Thareja, director academics, welcomed the guests. School principal Harsimran Kaur presented the annual report.
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Fire station ill-equipped
Mohali, March 21 “All nine tenders are traditional ones, which will be of no use in case of fire in high-rises,” said a fire station official, adding that four of those were not in a good condition. High-rises had been coming up rapidly in new sectors. “How will they handle fire in such buildings with old-fashioned fire tenders,” asked Rajbir Singh, a local resident. The district was dependent on Chandigarh, which had two fire tenders with hydraulic platform. Despite repeated attempts, fire officer Sham Lal Kamboj could not be contacted for comment. The fire station catered to areas in the entire district, which included Kurali, Kharar, Banur, Zirakpur and Mohali.
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Seminar on entrepreneur’s journey organised in PU
Chandigarh, March 21 The guest speakers on the occasion included likes of Nikhil Mittal director Nik Bakers, Souvik Das Gupta, and director Miranj. Director central placement cell, professor SK Chadha and training and placement officer, UIET, Dr Manu Sharma delivered key-note Nikhil and Souvik Das Gupta, shared the challenges they had faced so far, which included starting a venture and then running it in current competitive market scenario. The speaker's encouraged the students to follow their dreams, and motivated them to do pursue a career of their choice. A few of the students, discussed the venture's they wish to
start.
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‘Jhankaar’ begins at Panjab University
Chandigarh, March 21 The highpoint of event was however the evening ‘jaago’ where the organisers visited all the hostels to invite students for the mega show. What, however, caught everybody’s eye was the tight the security deputed at venue and around the PU. In wake of recent bloody brawl at DAV College, Sector 10, over 150 policemen have been deputed for the event. “We are not taking any chances and have a very strict security in campus. All the students have been warned against any nuisance and we are keeping close tab on outsiders entering campus. The security will be tightened for star night,” said Gurmukh Singh, the SHO, Sector 11 police station. Sherry Mann is set to perform tomorrow
evening.
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PU dept to participate in neutrino research programme with US lab
Chandigarh, March 21 The group at physics department includes Dr Vipin Bhatnagar (principal investigator), Prof JB Singh, Dr Sandeep Sahijpal and Dr Ashok Kumar (co-investigators). The sanctioned grant will enable the group members and the PhD scholar to participate in all the aspects of the neutrino experiments, actively, starting from the research and development stage to physics and detector simulations for the upcoming experiments, detector/electronics testing for the upgrades of the existing
experiments, participating in the data acquisition and physics analyses. The physics department has been collaborating with Fermilab since 1990 and has actively worked on the DZERO experiment (resulted in the discovery of Top quark in 1995), which stopped data taking in September 2011.The other participating institutes, besides Panjab University, from India are University of Delhi,
BHU, IITH, University of Hyderabad, CUSAT and IITG.
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PU online test forms
Chandigarh, March 21 The last date for submission of the application form is April 24, 2012. The test will be conducted on May 27, 2012. For online application, candidates have to first register and get a pay in-slip for paying the fee to any branch of the State Bank of India. After paying the fee, the candidates can feed this information to his/her account, which will be operated through their login and password and they can update their information. The candidates will be able to down load their admit card on the given date from www.cetadmissions.puchd.ac.in. The staff of the Computer Centre, PU, has developed this software. All other entrance test forms for the OCET, MEd and PhD will be made online. The information of all the entrance tests will be available on the PU website
www.admissions.puchd.ac.in . The university has already made the availability of the forms online for the Entrance Test
of PUTHAT test for which last date is March 26, 2012.
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VC inaugurates national seminar
Chandigarh, March 21 In the afternoon session Dr Sodani and Dr Shilpi Mishra from IIHMR, Jaipur, delivered lectures on ‘Health system performance assessment’ and ‘Gender inequalities in health’, respectively. On the concluding day of the seminar Dr RS Sharma from NVBDCP, Dr VR Raman from PHFI, Dr AK Aggarwal and Dr Amarjit Singh, PGIMER, Dr SK Chaturvedi from UNICEF India and Dr NK Goel from GMCH 32 delivered lectures on health inequalities.
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Varsity dispatches roll numbers
Chandigarh, March 21 Those candidates, who have not received their roll numbers so far, are advised to visit the campus to seek duplicate roll numbers on March 26
and 27, 2012. The duplicate roll numbers will be issued to them on production of attested passport size recent photograph, proof of having submitted the examination form and on payment of requisite fee of Rs 100.
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Chandigarh, March 21
The team of the IHM, Gurdaspur, comprising Mohammad Hasan and Rohit Kumar won the 3rd North India Inter-Hotel Management Institutes patisserie competition organised by the Chandigarh Institute of Hotel Management, here on Wednesday. The team of the host institute comprising Vikram Bahadur and Sonu was adjudged second while the Chandigarh Group of Colleges, Landran, team comprising Vikrant and Devinder was adjudged third in the event.
Zirakpur, president- NR Lakhesh; Senior vice-president-Col IVS Sodhi; Senior vice-president vice president-CS Mehta; general secretary-Gurdeep Singh Bhogal; additional general secretary-Kamaljit Singh Bhatia; finance secretary-Amar Singh; organising secretary-Capt GK Sharma; auditor Ajmer Singh; chief editor-SP Kapila and editor-DR
Sikri.