|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Man hacked to death outside court
Saudagar Singh was a history sheeter and facing trial in an attempt-to-murder case. The police has registered a case against Jatinder, Gursimran and Satnam Singh, besides nine unidentified men, under Sections 302, 34, 506, 427, 148, 149 and 120-B, IPC. “The accused belonged to the rival group and had come to give their alibi in court today,” said Harpreet Singh, SP (City). Jatinder, Gursimran and Satnam Singh are residents of Landran while Saudagar Singh hailed from a village in Fatehpur Sahib district. In an attempt to save his life, Saudagar Singh, in his late 20s, reversed his jeep in full speed from the gate of the court when he saw the attackers running towards him with an axe. The jeep got stuck after it hit a divider. His friends, who were in the jeep with him, fled. No one dared to stop the attackers, who escaped after committing the crime. According to an eyewitness, who refused to be named, Saudagar Singh was sitting in his Bolero jeep with five-six friends when the rival party came out of the court. “Saudagar Singh challenged his rivals with one of his friends brandishing an axe. Seeing securitymen coming out, the axe fell and in a melee, one of the victim's rivals picked it up and attacked him. They pulled him out of the jeep and hit him with the axe on his head, abdomen, chest and other parts, leaving him to die on the spot," the eyewitness said. A large number of persons, including some policemen on duty, witnessed the crime, but nobody dared to interfere or stop the criminals from fleeing.
|
|
What was police doing?
Mohali, May 22 In today’s incident, the fight between the two groups began at the
main gate of the courts at about 1 pm. One of the groups was carrying weapons, including an axe, which was later used to murder the victim, Saudagar Singh. Being one of the most important complexes of the town, the courts not only have round-the-clock security, but also several policemen are present there during working hours. Despite this, the accused not only hacked Saudagar Singh in full public view, but also managed to flee the spot after committing the crime. “What were the securitymen and policemen present at the court complex doing at the time of the incident? How could the accused, who were carrying only an axe, manage to escape from the spot?” an advocate questioned.
Past incidents
August 10, 2011: A witness in a murder case was attacked with swords and other sharp-edged weapons in broad daylight outside the court complex in the afternoon November 21, 2011: A criminal not only manhandled a policeman on the court premises, but also set his turban afire October 7, 2011: A man was attacked by a rival group armed with guns, swords and rods. He sustained two bullet injuries while another person sustained injuries by sharp-edged weapons. The incident took place near the courts
|
|
18-yr-old motorcyclist killed in accident
Mohali, May 22 The deceased has been identified as Vivek, son of Sohan Lal, a senior assistant at the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and resident of Sector 39. The injured have been identified as Chanpreet and Amandeep. All three were studying at a polytechnic college in Tangori. The accident took place at about 11 am. The victims were rushed to a private hospital in Sector 70. The bulletproof jeep (PB11AN 0110), belonging to Baba Balbir Singh, head of Mata Sundar Kaur Gurdwara, was being driven by Hardip Singh. It was being taken along with two other security vehicles for repair when the incident occurred. Baba Balbir Singh was not in the vehicle at that time. The police post in charge, Ram Darshan, said the jeep had jumped red light and two of the victims had not worn helmet. At the police post, the driver Hardip Singh confessed that both parties, including him, were at fault, which resulted in the accident. The police has registered a case and investigation is on.
|
||
|
Catchment Row
Chandigarh, May 22 The apex court also granted the High Court the liberty to proceed with the matter while staying the demolition of construction already carried out in the area. The matter was brought to the notice of the apex court by Kumar Realtors Private Limited and another petitioner. Information available from Delhi says the vacation Bench of Justice Deepak Verma and Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya issued the notice and directed that the petitioners and all other persons would not undertake any construction in the area. The Bench also directed the UT Administration and other respondents not to demolish the constructions made till May 21, 2012. The Bench added in view of the order, if any of the petitioner or any other person still continued to undertake construction, the court would be at liberty to get the construction demolished. Taking up the Save Sukhna case, a Division Bench of the High Court had earlier directed Punjab and Haryana, along with the UT Administration, to not just stop construction activity in the catchment area, but also demolish without notice any construction being carried out against the court mandate. "We direct the states of Punjab and Haryana, as well as the Chandigarh Administration to put their enforcement agencies in action and construction activities going on in the catchment area as per the map of the Survey of India should be immediately stopped; and any construction raised in violation of the directions issued by the court be demolished without issuing any notice," the Bench of Acting Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Alok Singh had ruled. The development was considered significant as the Survey of India map says Tata Camelot project is in the catchment area. The High Court has already taken on record the map prepared by the Survey of India defining the catchment area falling in Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana. As per the map, villages of Kaimbwala and Khuda Alisher in Chandigarh, Nayagaon and part of Kansal in Punjab and parts of Saketri and Mahadevpur in Haryana form part of the catchment area. The Camelot site, located in Kansal
village, falls in the catchment area.
Some relief
The Supreme Court Bench has directed the UT Administration and other respondents in the case not to demolish any construction made in the area till May 21, 2012.
|
|
CBSE class X results on May 24
Chandigarh, May 22 According to the board’s official spokesperson, Rama, the result will be uploaded at around 4 pm and the students can access the same on http://cbseresults.nic.in/, powered by the national informatics centre. In case the website is not accessible due to increased traffic, students can also visit http://cbseresults2012.co.in/. Website, http://cbse.examresults.net/, has a service by which students can get their results via e-mail once they are registered on the portal. Though students are excited, the usual euphoria and nervousness is missing, thanks to the board’s year old decision to allow students to skip board exams and sit for school conducted examination; and above all the to the grading system introduced two years ago wherein the concept of toppers was done away with and percentages were replaced by CGPA. The Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) is an evaluation system followed the world over wherein a student’s performance in examination and extra-curricular activities is taken into consideration to work out an average grade. The system aims at creating stress-free learning environment. Students need to multiply the given CGPA with a common multiplier 9.5 to get an indicative percentage. This percentage is an indication of student’s performance vis-à-vis the overall results.
|
|
Departmental probe against 2 Inspectors
Chandigarh, May 22 The departmental inquiry has been ordered against Inspector Amanjot Singh, in charge (Crime Branch), and Inspector Neeraj Sarna, in charge (cyber crime cell). They are facing inquiry for alleged insubordination and refusal to obey the orders of ASP (Central) Desraj Singh during the Vice-President’s visit on May 5. He alleged that the Inspectors refused to obey his orders while on duty during the Vice-President’s visit. Some lawyers were trying to create disturbance and the ASP asked the Inspectors to take stock of the situation. But they disobeyed him, saying it was not their jurisdiction. The next day, the ASP submitted a report to the SSP, who marked an inquiry against the Inspectors. The Inspectors have reportedly denied the allegations. This is not the first time that a rift has been reported among officials of the Crime Branch and the ASP (Central). During a programme to celebrate the conclusion of gully cricket last week, DSP (Crime) Satbir Singh had reportedly got into an argument with the ASP which was resolved only after the intervention of the SSP. The ASP had reportedly ordered a constable to pick up chairs at the venue, much to the objection of the DSP who argued that a constable should not be told to do menial jobs.
SHO indicted
Inspector Jaspal Singh, SHO, Sector 31 police station, has been indicted in a departmental inquiry conducted by the SP, GS Grewal, on the orders of the Police Complaint Authority. It was alleged that the SHO illegally detained a complainant to help a landlord in a dispute. As per the probe report, the SHO was found guilty of tampering with the CCTV footage.
Truth will prevail
"There were more than 40 police personnel present at the PGI on duty that day and nothing of the kind happened. Truth will prevail. I have never disobeyed my
seniors." Amanjot Singh, Inspector
|
|
UT Admn not serious
Chandigarh, May 22 The UT Administration had issued notices to building owners who had allowed the installation of mobile phone towers on their buildings and had sought their replies on this issue. Requesting anonymity, one of the building owners said the UT Administration had earlier issued notices for May 11, but when around 200 persons turned up for hearing, nobody from the Administration came for the hearing. He added that the hearing was deferred to May 18, but the same thing happened again and nobody from the UT Administration turned up for the hearing. Last week, the UT Administration had informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that 180 towers had been erected in residential areas of Chandigarh and notices had been served. Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Brijendra Singh, in his report submitted to UT Finance Secretary VK Singh, had pointed out that more than 300 mobile phone towers in the city were illegal. The Administration had asked for the report after receiving directions from the high court that it should notify its policy on towers in residential areas in two months. The high court had made it clear that it wanted these towers to be shifted out of residential areas in a phased manner. The draft policy on mobile phone towers, which was prepared in 2004, made it clear that no such tower would be allowed in residential areas. Such towers would be allowed on commercial buildings which had completion certificates and sanctioned building plans. The policy further read that commercial buildings should have sewerage connections and should be inspected by the estate office staff. The owners of mobile phone companies had challenged other provisions and directions in the policy. The policy could not be notified since the court had stayed it. The litigation was sent to the Supreme Court and was subsequently reverted to the high court.
|
|
Deadline extension contemptuous: HC
Chandigarh, May 22 As the matter on the menace of mobile towers in residential areas came up for hearing, the Bench, consisting of acting
Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Alok Singh, questioned the Chandigarh Administration’s decision to extend the last date of May 18 for the removal of towers. The Bench observed in the open court that the decision to extend the date was taken by officials with the Administration for reasons best known to them. The Bench said it saw a deliberate attempt by the Administration to adopt a course different from the one it had itself
decided upon. Such a conduct was not only contemptuous, but also called for stern action, the Bench observed, while asserting that it was refraining itself from taking any action for the time being. Fixing May 30 as the next date of hearing, the
Bench asked Haryana to submit a status report within a week and noted down Punjab’s contention that directions had been issued to municipal corporations and
councils to pull down towers in residential areas which did not have specific approval from the
civic body. The Bench, on the previous date of hearing, had asked the state governments to direct all municipal councils, corporations and other local bodies to make mobile towers functioning from residential areas without following norms inoperative. A survey report on towers in the UT was
called for. The Bench had asserted that the state governments and the Chandigarh Administration were well within their jurisdiction to demolish towers if service providers given lease of the buildings ‘failed to answer the norms laid down in a letter dated November 17, 2011’. Focusing on Chandigarh, the Bench had taken note of the UT counsel’s assertion that 180 towers had been put up in residential areas of Chandigarh and notices had been served. For those, the last date for the removal of illegal structures was May 18. The counsel had also told the Bench that a survey was required to be carried out for assessing whether other towers conformed to norms fixed by the
committee.
|
|
More power cuts likely in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, May 22 The warning has come in the wake of the city and northern states overdrawing power from the northern grid. According to information, a number of states in the northern region have started drawing massively from the northern grid. A few days back, there was a crisis in the northern region, with the demand peaking simultaneously in all northern states and a sudden setback in production due to snags in a number of Central-sector units. Thereafter, the NRLDC had issued a warning to the states and Chandigarh to stop overdrawing power from the northern grid and instead, impose power cuts to meet the demand and supply gap. At present, the peak demand of power in Chandigarh was between 280 MW and 300 MW. This time, it was expected to be around 350 MW. At present, Chandigarh had no power-generation capacity and got power supply from various Central power-generation stations in the region. While 280 MW was being supplied from different power stations in the region every day, nearly 30 MW was channelised through Jammu and Kashmir as per a bilateral agreement. A senior official with the UT Administration said the NRLDC had also filed a petition in the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) against the northern states and Chandigarh for overdrawing power from the northern grid. He added that the UT was not overdrawing much, but states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana were overdrawing more power. The CERC had issued a notice for May 28 to file replies, he added. The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC), in its recent order, had allowed the Administration to enforce power cuts in the city if the department found it difficult to provide the power required to consumers. The JERC had also sanctioned Rs 90 crore less to the UT electricity department to purchase power from various power-generation plants. The UT electricity department had demanded Rs 653 crore from the JERC to purchase power to bridge the demand and supply gap, but the JERC had only approved Rs 563 crore to the electricity department. Not declaring actual load
At present, the city is also facing the problem of faults in power supply lines, due to which it is also witnessing power cuts. An official with the electricity department said a reason for the breakdown in the lines was that consumers were not coming forward to declare actual load. Last year, only 5,000 of the 2,25,000 consumers had approached the electricity department to declare actual electricity load, he
added.
|
|
Water shortage turns up heat
Mohali, May 22 Out of the 41 tubewells being run by the Water Supply and Sanitation Wing in the municipal limits, about 31 are giving a low discharge ranging between 3,000 and 5,000 litres per hour (LPH) while 10 newly sunk tubewells are discharging 8,000 to 10,000 LPH. Only about 3 mgd (million gallons a day) of water is supplied by tubewells while 10 mgd comes from the Kajauli waterworks against the overall demand of 23 mgd. Complaints of low water pressure are pouring in from certain areas. Residents also say at times even muddy water is supplied to them. Hakam Singh Jawanda, general secretary of the Residents Welfare Association of Phase XI, said they had been facing the water problem for the past about one month. Those living on first and upper floors were a harried lot. Overhead water tanks remained empty and had to be filled by running one's own pump sets. He alleged that a lot of water was utilised by those living in the commando complex in Phase XI, resulting in a shortage in other areas. He said the problem had been brought to the notice of the officials concerned, but a solution had not been found so far. A resident of Phase VII, Manmohan Singh Langh, also complained of water shortage in his area. The water was not only being supplied at a low pressure, but the duration of the supply time, too, had been reduced. A tubewell in the area, which had become non-functional last summer, had not been repaired so far, he added. Manjit Singh Sethi living in Phase III-A said residents in his area had been facing water shortage for the past one week. However, the supply had improved to some extent after complaints were made in this regard. Executive Engineer of the Water Supply and Sanitation Wing Anil Kumar said two days ago a snag had developed at the Kajauli waterworks, adversely affecting the supply of water. The supply was also hit when power cuts were imposed on the hotline connections given to the waterworks, but residents unjustly blamed his department for the resultant effects on the water supply.
|
|
Ex-councillors take up problems with Ram Niwas
Panchkula, May 22 A delegation comprising councillors of the Congress, BJP and INLD told the Financial Commissioner that parks in the town were in a pitiable condition as no repair work had been undertaken here since 2008. The delegation said so far only 20 per cent of the budget proposals of the civic body had been realised in terms of income and expenditure. The councillors said in view of the delayed payment, contractors avoided participating in the tender process. BJP leader and former vice-president of the erstwhile municipal council, BB Singal, said the Financial Commissioner after listening to the councillors, asked them to submit a list of pending works in their respective wards. He assured them of doing the needful. Among others present included former MC president Ravinder Rawal, former councillors Seema Chaudhary, VK Kapoor, VK Sood, Naresh Rawal, Lilly Bawa, Chander Kanta Goyal, Kuljit Wariach, Arti Thakur, Vikas Chaudhary, Gautam Parsad, Prem, Mamta Mittal, Lakshmi Devi, Saranjit Kaur, Sunita Devi, Subash Nishad, Jalmegha Dahiya and Rajesh.
|
|
Excise dept to go paperless soon, says Sukhbir
Mohali, May 22 Two killed in mishaps
DERA BASSI: Two persons were killed in separate mishaps on the Ambala-Chandigarh railway track near Dera Bassi. The deceased was identified as Sukhbir Singh (22), a resident of Jawahar pur village. He was run over by a train near Janetpur village. In another incident, a 55-year-old man was killed on the railway track near truck union here. The body has been kept at the Civil Hospital for identification.
Illegal structures razed
KALKA: The department of town and country planning department today demolished illegal structures in Kalka. Led by Hitesh Sharma, DTP, Panchkula, the officials of the department, accompanied by police officials, razed six buildings and boundary walls in Bitna Colony. Residents of the area opposed the demolition drive. They said the department had not issued notices to them. The department had razed illegal structures in Pinjore and Surajpur a few months ago.
|
|
School owner told to stop construction in catchment area
Panchkula, May 22 Officials had identified 28 structures in the MDC and Saketri village. Most structures, including the Shiv temple at Saketri and the Krishna ‘gaushala’ were old and only a classroom was being constructed in the area. The department had issued a directive to the school owner to stop the construction. Several illegal buildings had come up at the Manav Colony near Saketri village. The Haryana Urban Development Authority had move the Punjab and Haryana High Court to grant permission to acquire vacant land in the area so that a recreational park could be developed. The court had ordered status quo after about 10 persons, who had constructed houses at the Manav Colony, moved court against the project, to be set up under the Mata Mansa Devi Urban Complex Development Plan. The DTP department had also issued notices to residents of the colony for violation of the Punjab New Capital (Periphery) Control Act, 1952. When contacted, the district town planner said they had found only one structure, a classroom of a school. He added that they had stopped the construction.
|
|
Subhash Chawla quits committee
Chandigarh, May 22 In the first meeting of the committee constituted by the Mayor, its chairman Subhash Chawla submitted his resignation, stating that councillors in the opposition were challenging the credibility of the committee, due to which it was not possible for him to hold any further meeting. Confirming that he submitted his resignation to the Mayor, Chawla said opposition councillors were focused on members in the committee rather than discussions on the issue. BJP councillor Rajesh Kumar, a member of the committee, alleged that the Congress discriminated while constituting the committee as Saurab Joshi, who had taken up the issue in the House, was not made a member. During the meeting, he said he would not attend any meeting or take part in any investigation until Joshi was appointed a member. He asked how the superintending engineer sent a notice to Joshi to appear in the meeting without having the power to do so. It was also asked why no expert was told to attend the meeting when it was decided in the General House that an expert should be a part of this committee.
|
|
Lane driving on Jan Marg
Chandigarh, May 22 The extreme right lane is kept for overtaking. If any vehicle driver is found not following lane driving on this stretch, he will face prosecution as per rules, a traffic police official has said.
|
|
|
Residents face long power cuts
Chandigarh, May 22 Officials with the electricity department said that there were some faults in the power supply line and they carried out maintenance work this afternoon.
— TNS
|
|
Demolition staff halts construction
Chandigarh, May 22 The staff removed doors and windows of houses at Kaimbwala that were being put to use at the site. They did not press a JCB machine into service and were not escorted by police personnel. The land acquisition collector of the Chandigarh Administration had passed demolition notices against 300 illegal structures at Khuda Ali Sher and Kaimbwala.
|
|
|
PRS inaugurated at Burail jail
Chandigarh, May 22 This digitalisation of the record of inmates was aimed at streamlining processes like quick identification of visitors during visiting hours, fast preparation of prisoners’ lists to be supplied to judges of district and sessions courts, sharing data of prisoners with various police stations, prisons and security agencies and maintaining case histories and medical records.
|
|
|
IMA flays Bill, govt policies
Chandigarh, May 22 Interacting with mediapersons today, Dr Bedi said on the one hand, the government boasted of decentralising various departments for the effective implementation of its policies and projects and on the other, it batted for constituting a commission over all medical council.
— TNS
|
|
|
‘Spend on education, primary health’
Chandigarh, May 22 In a meeting chaired by Satish Kumar Kainth today, it was felt that there were long-pending demands of schools and dispensaries shifted from the Administration to the MC which awaited clearance. It was suggested that demands which helped in strengthening basic infrastructure be included in the fund. Members found it strange that there had been no amendment since 1996 in guidelines on the fund. It was also suggested that areas which were in the ambit of the MPLAD fund be allowed to be covered under this fund. It was also recommended that councillors be allowed to incur their fund for the installation of solar-based systems in rehabilitation and slum areas.
|
PUCSC protests hike
Chandigarh, May 22 PUCSC president Pushpinder Sharma along with a delegation met the Dean Student Welfare (DSW) demanding a roll back of the hike. “The increase in various hostel charges and fines would add unnecessary burden on the students,” said PUCSC president. The university has planned to hike the fine for late entry in girls hostel from Rs 100 to Rs 250. The electricity charges in both boys and girls hostel would be hiked to Rs 350 per month from Rs 290. Also, the students willing to install coolers in their room will have to pay Rs 250 per month instead of Rs 200. The university has also decided to introduce a minimum fine of Rs 1,000 if the student fails to vacate his hostel room within three-days after the ending of their exams. A hike in rent on the rooms allotted on a daily basis has also been proposed. DSW, AS Ahluwalia said that they are going to hold a meeting on Wednesday regarding the revised charges and if the students have problem to it they can give a representation.
|
||
|
Manav Mangal students bag top positions in Olympiads
Panchkula, May 22 Yajat Mehta, Rajat Hooda and M Sarth Rajan, all class IV students, have secured first position at the national level while Akshita Goyal of class IX has stood first in Haryana in level 2 of the International Olympiad of mathematics conducted by the Mathematics Olympiad Foundation, New Delhi. The school will receive the “Performance Excellence Trophy” for giving extraordinary results in mathematics. Other school students, including Ikjot Kaur, Shagun Puri, Anamika Singla, Akshita Aggarwal, Akram Afridi, Bhuvnesh and Shraddha have also secured first position at the state level in their respective categories in the final level of International Olympiad of English Language, 2012, conducted by the Educational Society of English Language, New Delhi, making it an almost clean sweep in
Haryana.
|
||
|
No online admissions in BCom for Hoshiarpur colleges
Chandigarh, May 22 The decision to restrict online-centralised admissions to the colleges of Chandigarh and Ludhiana has been taken in the recently held Syndicate meeting. A proposal for including the entire Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur district for the online admissions was also moved but the university, rejected the proposal, due to the low number of students opting for BCom in the colleges of Hoshiarpur. Meanwhile, the university decided to include the colleges falling under the urban areas of Ludhiana for online admissions. Janmit Singh, a PU Syndicate member, said that the house has decided to include the colleges in the periphery of Ludhiana for the online admissions. "Colleges in Hoshiarpur have been excluded from the list as the seats in BCom are left vacant most of the time after the admissions," Singh said. The university has also decided to make the BCom admissions in the department of evening studies centralised from this session. The university introduced online-centralised admissions two years back in three cities. However, after the university faced various problems it was suggested that the admission process should be streamlined. "Although the university initially had introduced online admissions as a pilot project in three cities and had decided to spread it to other cities later, however, now the university will restrict it to the colleges of the two cities only," said a PU official.
|
||
|
School organises anti-terrorism camp
Chandigarh, May 22 A slogan-writing and poster-making competition was organised in the school in which about 50 students participated. School principal Monica Maini gave the message of brotherhood to the students. She also appreciated the efforts made by the teachers Sukhwinder Singh and Tejinder to make the students aware of the issue. The NSS volunteers participated in the campaign with great enthusiasm.
|
||
|
Teachers meet CM, end fast
Panchkula, May 22 A six-member delegation of the ‘sangh’, led by state president Rajinder Sharma, met the Chief Minister at his residence today. The Chief Minister listened to their demands and assured the delegation that its demands would be considered by the state government.
|
||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Mohali, May 22
