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Shopkeeper shot, 2 hurt
Chandigarh, July 26 The incident took place around 11 pm when owners of Raj Provision and Departmental Store near the Sector 22 petrol pump were counting cash of the day. Two assailants, who came on a motorcycle, entered the shop and tried to snatch cash. They attempted to snatch the gold chain of the owner. As the owner of the shop Kailash Chand, his brother Madan and servant Tilak resisted, a violent scuffle ensued and the assailants fired gunshots indiscriminately injuring the brothers Kailash Chand and Madan Lal. The assailants also stabbed Tilak and fled leaving them in a pool of blood. The police reached the spot along with a CFSL team. The three injured were rushed to the PGI where one of them, Kailash Chand, reportedly died. His brother Madan received two bullet injuries in the chest and back. The incident created panic in the area and all senior police officials reached the spot. Two shells were recovered from the spot. A special investigating team headed by DSP Satbir Singh has been formed to probe the incident. Police investigations revealed that the two assailants had earlier been seen at the shop and they had a scuffle with the owners in the past.
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Hospitals to work in sync
Chandigarh, July 26 The city will be divided into three zones for the purpose. The PGI will not be a “dumping” ground of serious patients at least for Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH) and Government Medical College and Hospital, (GMCH), the two Chandigarh administration-run hospitals from now onwards. Doctors at these hospitals will have to consult the PGI authorities before referring any patient to the premier hospital. The decision was taken at a meeting convened by UT Home Secretary-cum-Health Secretary Anil Kumar. The meeting was attended by PGI Director Dr YK Chawla, GMCH Director-Principal Prof Raj Bahadur, Director Health Services, UT, Dr Chandermohan and GMSH Medical Superintendent Dr Rajiv Vadehra. The police will be directed to shift accident victims to the hospital falling in the zone. Till now, a majority of accident victims are taken to the Sector 16 hospital, from where serious patients are referred to the PGI. It has been decided to make the emergency wards consultant-oriented. Till now, the emergency wards in all hospital are run by junior residents and senior residents. The consultants are available on call only and their main focus remains on their patients at OPDs, operation theatres and wards. But now, a consultant will remain attached to emergency wards so that he can talk to his counterpart in other hospitals. Besides, all hospitals will create a post of nodal officer who will be in charge of coordination among the three hospitals, said the UT Health Secretary.
4 patients shifted from PGI to GMCH in 4 yrs
It was proposed that patients from the PGI should be accommodated by other two hospitals after they were stable. This, however, did not work well. Sources said only four patients from the PGI were shifted to the GMCH in the past four years. The number of patients referred to the GMSH was also not very high, added sources. How it will work If a patient is received at GMCH and GMSH The GMCH and the GMSH will contact the PGI to confirm the availability of bed These two hospitals will not be allowed a referral mindlessly If a patient is received at PGI The PGI will stabilise the patient Will check with these two hospitals for the availability of bed Patient will then be sent for nursing care at either of these two hospitals
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PGI’s faux pas
Chandigarh, July 26 While Dr SK Gupta is already away for a medical conference to Kolkata, the Dr Ashok Kumar left the city today to attend a conference. The inquiry is to be submitted within 48 hours. After discovering that two doctors would not be available, the authorities replaced the two members today. The inquiry committee was to be led by Dr Rajinder Singh, head of the department of general surgery. Dr Mandeep Dhillon, head of the department, orthopaedics, and Dr SK Gupta from department of neurosurgery were deputed as members and Dr Ashok Kumar, department of hospital administration was appointed convener of the committee. Dr Gupta and Dr Ashok were then replaced by Professor NK Tiwari and Dr RK Sharma, respectively. Yesterday, PGI Director, Dr YK Chawla had ordered an inquiry into the treatment and cause of death of Anupma at the PGI. However, Prof Rajinder Singh, chairman of the committee, said they would submit the report tomorrow.
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Panchkula police caught napping
Panchkula, July 26 Twenty-four hours after the incident, no policeman was present at various sensitive points across the town. Besides, no PCR vehicle was seen at any of the PCR shelters. All the major points, including roundabouts in Sector 2, Sector 6, Sector 11, Sector 12, Sector 7/18, Sector 11/15 and Sector 26/27 point, were unmanned. “With no policemen around, it becomes unsafe for people to travel on the roads during night. “We feel unsafe. I come back from office late at night and it is scary as there is no policeman around. Any person can forcibly stop your car and strike at you,” said businesswomen Rajni Bhimsa, a resident of Sector 7, Panchkula. “I live in Zirakpur and my office is in Sector 6, Panchkula. I get free around 11.30 pm. I find no policeman or a PCR vehicle on my way back home. Just two days ago, some miscreants were creating ruckus on a road in Sector 5. I got so scared that I sped my car,” said Ritika Kamra, a resident of Zirakpur. On Wednesday night, Kulwant Singh and his wife Tej Kaur were returning home in their Verna car after paying obeisance at Nada Sahib Gurdwara when three unidentified youths with masked faces in Swift car forcibly stopped the elderly couple and snatched their car at gunpoint. “There was no policeman present at the incident spot where our car was snatched. We tried calling 100, but there was no connectivity. Some youths came to our help and informed the police. Policemen should be deputed at various sensitive points,” said victim Kulwant Singh. When contacted, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Dheeraj Setia said: “Policemen keep patrolling during night in PCR vehicles. They don’t remain stationary at one place.” When asked that Chandigarh has around three policemen on every point, Setia said: “The Chandigarh Police has a big force, but don’t have that luxury.” July 26, 2012: Car snatched from a couple at gunpoint July 11, 2012: Ajay Tanwar, a Chandigarh resident, was allegedly robbed of his mobile phone, a purse and other valuables by unidentified youths, who were posing as policemen. They drove the victim to Sector 28 in Panchkula and dumped him their after drugging him. Tanwar was in the car for five-hours on the Sector 28 road and was crying for help, but no one came. It was after some nearby residents saw him that the police was called July 11, 2012: Veena Verma (55) was robbed of jewellery and cash by three unidentified youths. The miscreants forced her to sign two blank cheques and also took away her ATM cards. They entered the victim's house saying they wanted accommodation on rent. The victim, a resident of Zirakpur, was driven at knifepoint in her car to her bank and no policeman came to her rescue
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Robbers were polite to us, say victims
Panchkula, July 26 “They did not push us. They came in front of our car all of a sudden and forcibly stopped us, but no one spoke to my husband. They just spoke to me and after pointing pistols towards us, they said ‘aunty please come out. Please give your car keys. We are getting late’,” said victim Tej Kaur. They couple said they got scared when the youths stopped the car. “I told the youths that they could take all our cash instead of harming. The youths did not harm us and asked for our car in a polite manner,” added Kulwant Singh. The police is yet to find the victim’s mobile phone location that was left in the car. Kulwant Singh said that the police was asking him about the location as he works with the BSNL. When contacted, additional station house officer Narender Singh said: “We will get in touch with the cyber cell. Once we managed to find the location of the cell phone. It was in Zirakpur. But later the phone was switched off.”
Previous incidents
March 13, 2011 A Swift Dzire car was snatched at gunpoint by two youths near the Sector-4/11 chowk from Tarun Sharma, a resident of Sector 11, Panchkula April 23, 2011 Two persons robbed of a Maruti Suzuki SX4 car at gunpoint from Berkeley Automobile, Industrial Area, Phase 1, from an employee when they expressed their desire to take a test drive September 28, 2011 A Verna car was snatched from the driver at gunpoint from four youths near the Raipurrani road. December 1, 2011 Swift Dzire, mobile phones and a gold ring were looted at gunpoint by two youths from Anil Gupta, a resident of Sector 10 when he was in his showroom at Sector 5
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Similar moves failed in past
Chandigarh, July 26 Five years ago on the initiative of then PGI Director Dr KK Talwar, the three hospitals came together and arrangements were made to accommodate stabilised patients of neurosurgery at the Mani Majra hospital of the Chandigarh Administration. One neurosurgeon was also deputed to look after these patients in routine. However, the practice was stopped suddenly after a few months. There is no orthoscopy expert at the GMSH. An orthopaedician from the GMCH has been visiting the GMSH every Monday for past many years to conduct orthoscopy. Similarly, a urologist from the GMSH also used to visit the GMCH once a every week who later joined the GMCH as a regular employee and now attends OPD at the GMSH every Saturday. The impracticality in the modalities of the plan proved it a non-starter, said a senior medical official in the health department. The hospitals shy away from admitting the patient stabilised by doctors from other hospitals. The responsibility of death or any other complication in such patients is contributed in the name of the latter hospital, he said.
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No more meetings in 5-star hotels
Chandigarh, July 26 In a strict note issued by the Union Ministry of Finance, officials of the Chandigarh Administration have been asked to curtail the wasteful expenditure on holding conferences in five-star hotels and purchasing new vehicles. The UT babus have also been asked to avoid foreign jaunts. The Union Ministry of Finance has also put a ban on the creation of plan and non-plan posts. The directions issued by the Union Ministry of Finance have been circulated by the UT Administration to all the heads of departments. The letter issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, a copy of which is with the Chandigarh Tribune, reads: “In the context of the current fiscal situation where there is a tremendous pressure on government resources, there is an urgent need for rationalisation of expenditure and optimisation of available resources with a view to improve the macroeconomic environment. With this objective, some measures for fiscal prudence and economy will come into force with immediate effect.” The finance ministry has stated that there will be a ban on holding of meetings and conferences at five-star hotels. Besides, holding of exhibitions, seminars, and conferences abroad is strongly discouraged except in case of exhibition for trade promotion. The letter stated that utmost economy shall be observed in organising conferences, seminars, and workshops. Only such conferences, workshops, seminars, which are absolutely essential, should be held and even there is a 10 per cent cut on budgetary allocations for seminars shall be effected. The letter states that the purchase of vehicle is banned until further orders, including against condemned vehicles. On foreign travel, the letter reads: “It will be the responsibility of the secretary of each department to ensure that foreign travel is restricted to most necessary and unavoidable official engagements based on functional necessary and extant instructions, including on the number of visits, are strictly followed.” “Where travel is unavoidable, it will be ensured that officers of the appropriate level dealing with the subject are sponsored instead of those at the higher levels. The size of the delegation and the duration of visit will be kept to the absolute minimum. Proposals for participation in study tours, workshops, conferences, seminars, presentation of papers abroad at Government cost will not be entertained except those that are fully funded by sponsoring agencies,” the letter further reads. The ministry has also directed the UT Administration that no amount would be released to any entity, including state governments, which has defaulted in furnishing utilisation certificates for grant-in-aid released by the Centre government without prior approval of the ministry of finance. The letter mentioned that no fresh financial commitments should be made on items which are not provided for in the budget approved by Parliament. A senior official of the UT Administration said that after receiving the directions from the Ministry of Finance, the instructions have been issued to all departments.
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Good news for IT professionals
Chandigarh, July 26 Civil work at the Entrepreneur Development Centre was completed in 2009 and the building was declared ready to use. However, since then the file pertaining to issues like how the centre would be used and which body would be its nodal agency has been shuffling among various offices of the administration. A senior official of the UT Administration said the Administrator approved the policy last week. After getting the clearance from the UT Administrator, they would now invite expression of the interest from young professionals to set up their enterprises. He added that the UT Administration would allot space for three years and the Administrator had clearly stated that the policy should benefit young professionals and it should be economical. The centre was conceived by the Chandigarh Administration to expand the software export from Chandigarh and to assist young professionals in setting up their enterprises by providing shell space or space with plug-and-play facilities. About the Entrepreneur Development Centre
The four-storey centre, built at a cost of Rs 18 crore and inaugurated by the then UT administrator, Gen SF Rodrigues (retd), in November, 2009, was originally meant to provide office space at comparatively lower rates to young and upcoming IT entrepreneurs, who, otherwise, couldn't afford capital investment to purchase or take on rent offices at the IT park. The EDC would be a state of the art building where small and medium-sized IT companies would occupy built-up space for software development, research and development and other high-value export-oriented services.
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Renovate public toilets: Sulabh
Mohali, July 26 Estimates for renovating public toilets are being prepared by the engineering wing of GMADA and it is expected that more than Rs 40 lakh would be spent to give a makeover to these amenities. In a communication with GMADA officials, AK Singh, controller of the Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, pointed out that a joint inspection of the public toilets in Mohali was carried out on June 26 during which it was seen that most of the toilets were not in a satisfactory condition. Many of these were being maintained by market associations. Sulabh authorities had prepared a report on the state of the toilets and submitted it to the development authority. It was pointed out that most of the toilets did not have electricity connections, there was no provision of water lifting and storage of water in the overhead tanks, electrical fittings were damaged, some doors were required to be changed, sewer chambers needed covering and there was no attendant room available for 5 am to 11 pm service. Sulabh requested GMADA authorities to prepare a comprehensive plan to restore these amenities to the proper condition before handing these over to any agency for operation and maintenance. The controller of Sulabh further stated that possible ways of operation and maintenance could be discussed after the renovation work got completed. There were 25 public toilets in various parts of the town. There were three toilets in Sector 55, two in Sector 54, four in Sector 60, one in Sector 58, four in Sector 59, three in Sector 56, three in Sector 61, one in Sector 63, three in Sector 64 and one in Sector 65. Sulabh International had proposed to take over the operation and maintenance of the public toilets on “pay and use” basis, provided the condition of the toilet blocks was in working order
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Mohali, July 26 For Rajni and her husband, it was the God’s gift to see their three-month-old child survive the odds and come home from the neonatal ICU of Fortis Hospital. Briefing mediapersons Dr Sunil K Agrawal, consultant and head, neonatology, said babies with a weight less than 500 gm have a bleak chance of survival. Rajni’s baby, born on April 21, nearly three months prematurely, required respiratory support (ventilation) for nearly 15 days before she could breathe on her own. ”Thereafter, we had to put her on artificial oxygen for another 12 days, apart from providing intravenous nutrition for the first two weeks, till she became stable,”€Dr Agrawal said. She was able to start drinking from a spoon only after about 10 weeks of the birth. He said there was no reported survival of a baby of this weight in India. “The earlier record, based on various reports published in this regard, was of a baby weighing 495 gm from Pune in October 2010,”¯he claimed. It’s too early to know how she will fare when she grows up. She did not have any major complications,€¯ he said. Rajni, who is in her mid-thirties, got lucky the fourth time after having undergone three failed pregnancies. — OC
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CBI to question nine accused
Panchkula, July 26 The 10 accused in the case are in judicial custody. The shelter home landed in a controversy when a team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) raided it on May 9 and rescued its inmates. Apna Ghar is a shelter home run by the Bharat Vikas Sangh, an NGO, headed by Jaswanti Devi in Shrinagar Colony of Rohtak city. The inmates have posed serious allegations of rape and human trafficking against Jaswanti Devi and other accused. As many as 103 inmates, mostly women and children, have now been shifted to various places. — TNS
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Tributes paid to Kargil martyrs
Panchkula, July 26 A homage-paying ceremony was organised at Maj Sandeep Shankla War Memorial, which was attended by about 300 persons. Prominent among the veterans were Gen VP Malik, who was the Chief of Army Staff during the operation, former Army Vice-Chief Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, Lt Gen Harcharan Singh, Lt Gen GS Sihota, Air Marshal Randhir Singh and Air Marshal GS Punia. During the ceremony, Maj Gen Raj Mehta (retd) delivered a motivational talk on the heroism of Indian soldiers. A poetry session was also held where recitations were made by Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri recipient, Sardar Anjum, and other poets. A candlelight vigil was also held in the evening where residents, including veterans, lit candles in memory of the martyrs.
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Memorial to come up in Mohali
Mohali, July 26 This was stated by Harbhajan Mann, chairman of the District Planning Committee, at a function organised to pay tributes to those who had laid down their lives for the country. He said a museum would be set up in the park where photographs of all those who had lost their lives during the Kargil war from Mohali district would be displayed. He said a meeting of the family members of the Kargil martyrs would be called to discuss the type of memorial that should be built. He also met the family members of the Kargil martyrs and assured that priority would be given to the work of the family members of the martyrs, so that they did not face any harassment.
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Boy rescued from ditch
Panchkula, July 26 “It was around 11 am when Rahul was going home and he fell into the ditch. In the first place, people did not come to know from where the cries of a child were being heard. It was after Rahul shouted for help that the nearby residents came for help,” said Kuldeep, a resident of the colony. The residents of the colony said several complaints had been made to the municipal corporation and Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) to cover this ditch, but no action was taken. “Soon the ditch will be closed,” said a HUDA official. — TNS
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No 'backdoor entry' this time
Chandigarh, July 26 A fresh advertisement for recruitment to about 650 JBT posts and 219 TGT posts is expected to be issued by the first week of August, according to DPI (Schools) Upkar Singh. This was decided in a high-level Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan society meeting held here on Wednesday. In the recruitment held earlier for the posts of the junior basic teachers through an advertisement issued in March this year, the administration had flouted the NCTE norms by inviting applications from candidates qualified through the eligibility tests of Punjab as well as Haryana in addition to the candidates who had cleared the Central Teachers Eligibility Test (CTET) conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education. This issue went against the administration when about 53 CTET candidates filed a joint petition against the said advertisement in the Punjab and Haryana High court in April. The court asked the administration to withdraw the advertisement and call for fresh allotment of the posts. On July 17, the Chandigarh Administration informed the court that it had withdrawn the advertisement. Advocate APS Shergill, main counsel for the petitioners, said as per the amended guidelines of the NCTE, every state would have to adhere to its own state eligibility test for the recruitment of teachers. Since, the Union Territory of Chandigarh was without any legislature, it would have to follow the CTET for the recruitment of school teachers, he said. Shergill alleged that the administration officials in the previous attempt had tried to accommodate their favourites from the states of Punjab and Haryana in the city schools. "The administration will have to confine to the CTET candidates only," he said. Ruby Ahuja (24), a petitioner, said the whole issue created an unnecessary delay. More than 70 per cent of the seats were filled with candidates who had appeared for the Haryana eligibility test, and the candidates who had cleared the CTET were marginalised in the merit list of the JBT posts, she said. It was despite the fact that Punjab and Haryana eligibility tests were far easier than the CTET, Ruby said. "When Punjab or Haryana does not entertain the CTET candidates, there was no need for the UT to call for candidates from nearby states," Ruby added.
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College teachers will be invited for research at PU, says new VC
Chandigarh, July 26 Grover said the university was planning to devise a strategy as per which college teachers would be encouraged to contribute towards research in the university. "Teachers will be asked to join PU departments for research, and if the college management refuses a paid leave, then PU would pay a particular amount similar to the salary of that teacher till the teacher pursues research on the campus," Grover said. Grover made it clear that all the teaching posts lying vacant in the university will be filled at the earliest to meet the staff crunch and to give an opportunity to the existing faculty to pursue research. The VC said that PU needed a department for research planning for keeping a record of all the research that took place on the campus. Grover stressed on holding research-related seminars in all the departments at least once a week, for which faculty members and even senior researchers in the department could be resource persons. He said these seminars should be a part of the curriculum.
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PU-affiliated colleges to offer MPhil
Chandigarh, July 26 A committee led by Dean University Instructions BS Brar decided that colleges will be able to offer MPhil in the particular subjects for which it has attained the status of a research centre from the academic session starting in 2013. The research scholars who have to go through a six-month course work before starting with their doctoral thesis will also have the facility of pursuing the course work at the nearest college having the status of a research centre in that particular subject. Dalip Kumar, a member of the committee, said the college needed to have a minimum number of three teachers with a PhD in the particular subjects for which the college wanted to start an MPhil program. One of these teachers should be an associate professor, he said. "The committee that would give affiliation to the colleges will include the dean of faculty, principal of one of the colleges, a nominee of the Vice-Chancellor, and two subject experts including one from the university," Kumar said. Kumar further said earlier the affiliation fee for attaining the status of a research centre was planned to be Rs 10,000, however, the committee decided to reduce it to Rs 5,000.
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Sports trials again tomorrow
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 26 After the protest, the party also submitted a memorandum to the university authorities to address various issues. The memorandum included the demand to allot regular hostel seats to the students who were allotted hostel accommodation on temporary basis. PUSU leader Sumit Gokhlaney said the continuous reminder for installation of an upgraded Wi-Fi system on the campus, which is not looked upon with keenness by the authorities, was also a part of the memorandum. "It included the demand for making the Wi-Fi system efficient and competent so as to keep up the reputation of the university and for the welfare of the students," Gokhlaney said.
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Ensure safety in school buses: STA
Chandigarh, July 26 STA Secretary Balbir Singh said the operators and drivers, who had assembled for the passing of their vehicles, were given detailed information about the guidelines. The STA officials told the operators to brief their drivers and conductors to ensure that all students safely alighted from buses. — TNS
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