New Civil Surgeon takes over amid controversy
Surinder Bhardwaj

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 30
Dr Jagpal Singh, who had been working as the Deputy Medical Commissioner at local Civil Hospital joined as the new Civil Surgeon of Fatehgarh Sahib here today in place of Dr. Jai Singh. Dr. Jai Singh was caught red-handed by the Vigilance Bureau while accepting bribe from Ajmer Singh president District Sweet Maker's Association.

His appointment was strongly criticised by the District Sweet Maker's Association and urged the Health Minister to appoint some honest doctor as a Civil Surgeon, whereas he was also involved in forcible collection from sweet makers and others along with Dr. Jai Singh.

While talking to the media persons Ajmer Singh, district president Sweet Maker's Association said that in a complaint to the SSP Vigilance, Patiala, a few days ago he had mentioned that Dr. Jagpal Singh, Deputy Medical Commissioner posted at Civil Hospital along with one Lukhy, a class four employee, who collects bribe from all the sweet shops in the district, was harassing them unnecessarily and demanding bribe monthly basis.

He has also mentioned that Dr. Jagpal Singh had taken sweets and desi ghee from his shop worth thousands of rupees and had not paid. Whenever, he asked for payments, he would blackmail and threatened him to implicate in adulteration case. He said Lukhy, a class four employee, had been making rounds of the shops of sweet makers and grocery shops and forced them to contribute monthly to avoid food sampling.

He expressed surprise on how the corrupt official, who had been extorting money, was appointed Civil Surgeon. He apprehended that his appointment would affect the case against the outgoing Civil Surgeon Dr. Jai Singh.

Meanwhile Varinder Rattan, president District Beopar Mandal has urged Madan Mohan Mittal, Minister for health to take stern action against the corrupt officials and to appoint honest and dedicated health officials.

Doorstep service for taxpayers
Surinder Bhardwaj

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 30
Inspite of inclement weather long queues of taxpayers were witnessed at the kiosk set up by the income tax department at Sirhind town here today. Hundreds of tax payers particularly employees turned up in large number to deposit their tax returns at the Kiosk.

Rahul Dhawan, Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, Mandi Gobindgarh range said that the decision of the department to set up tax kiosks and the introduction of mobile vans was getting over whelming response. It has yielded good results and also encouraged voluntary compliance amongst small and marginal taxpayers.

He added that as the last date for filing the tax returns was nearing, these innovative steps were an attempt to provide tax related services at the doorsteps of tax payers. He said that the mobile vans and kiosks were being manned by the department officials and they are not only accepting the returns but also helping tax payers to fill their returns.

Meanwhile, the district Beopar Mandal, pensioners employee's associations and other tax payers hailed the decision of the income tax department to introduce mobile vans and to set up kiosk. Varinder Rattan, president District Beopar Mandal said that the step of the department has benefitted all those tax payers, who face problem in visiting the IT office at Mandi Gobindgarh particularly senior citizens, pensioners, lady employees and physically challenged.

Even in the remote rural areas the tax payers came in large number to fill their tax returns.

25-year-old youth dies on his birthday
Manish Sirhindi
Tribune News Service

Ambala, July 30
A 25-year-old youth lost his life after he bumped his head into a pillar as his bike jumped off due to an unmarked speed breaker here last night. The youth has been identified as Saras Sharma. Saras, who was returning home after celebrating his 25th birthday, became the victim of an unmarked speed breaker on the Ambala-Hisar road.

His friend, Rishab, who was pillion riding with him, escaped with minor injuries. Rishab said they were not familiar with the road and the speed breaker appeared from nowhere. “Even as Saras tried to slow down the bike, he lost its control after the bike jumped off the breaker, which was not visible from a distance,” he said.

The death has prompted a Patiala based lawyer, Dinesh Sharma, to file a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High court seeking directions to the authorities to follow norms.

Dinesh, a relative of the victim, said Indian Road Congress (IRC) guidelines state the ideal speed-breaker should be four inches high and 11.5 feet wide. However, most speed breakers in the city do not comply with these guidelines and quite a few accidents are reported from time to time.

The lawyer said that there was an urgent need to file a PIL in the High Court so that no more lives are lost due to negligence of others.

He said that as per the norms, the road authorities should put up a warning sign 40 mts ahead of the speed breaker along with marking the speed breaker either with yellow or white lines.

"If the government would have followed the norms, it might have not resulted in the Saras’s death,” he said.

Illegal construction on choe
Flood-like situation apprehended in nearby villages
Parmod Mehta

Dera Bassi, July 30
Residents of some villages near Lalru have expressed fear of flood due to the illegal constructions on the beds of choes here. Along with other illegal constructions, a brick kiln owner has constructed a bridge on the choe, which falls between the Aganpur and Gholumajra link road. The bridge was constructed for an easy access to his Aggarwal BKO Aganpur, brick kiln without any permission of drainage and other concerned department.

The bridge was constructed one year ago but surprisingly, now brick kiln owner was not allowing the heavy vehicles to pass on this bridge. On the other hand, Aganpur and Bhagwasi residents had expressed fear of flooding due to the construction on the bed of choe which had caused the slow flowing of rainwater. The residents also protested against the rude behaviour of brick kiln owner.

Former sarpanch of Aganpur, Balbeer Singh and Jatinder Kumar Nambardar of Bhagwasi said that construction on the bed of choe could cause flood in the nearby fields and houses.

The SDO of the drainage department, Kuljeet Singh, said the construction of bridge on choe bed would be checked as no construction is allowed there by private people. When brick kiln owner, Kamal Goyal. was contacted in this regards, he used rough and threatening language and did not give any sufficient answer regarding the construction on choe bed.

‘Empower youth to promote national integration’
Tribune News Service

Patiala, July 30
While delivering the first “Sadhbhavna” lecture at the local Khalsa College here today, Baltej Singh Mann, Professor and Head of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur National Integration Chair at Punjabi University, Patiala, emphasised the need for educating and empowering the youth to promote national integration in India.

Asserting this as an important obligation to the nation, Dr Mann said education could strengthen and nourish communal harmony for the coexistence of all great religions in the country. Dr Mann said the changing scenario in the country due to globalisation, rapid technological advancement and the emergence of India as the global economic power had necessitated a review of the existing National Youth Policy of 2003.

“The draft Youth policy at the national level should be guided by the principle of providing targeted employable skills to different youth segments in line with the Prime Minister's Skill Development Mission, apart from identifying varied segments based on socio-economic, gender and geographical parameters as specific targets,” Dr Mann added.

Youth held for raping minor, sent to judicial remand
Our Correspondent

Kalka, July 30
A youth was arrested today for raping a minor girl, who is slum dweller of Bharon Ki Ser village adjacent to Kalka. The police sources confirmed that Ankush, father of the victim, has lodged a complaint in the police station that Dev Anand, his neighbor has repeatedly been raping his minor girl for the past more than six months on the pretext that he would marry her.

In the complaint, he also interpreted that he came to know about the crime, when the doctor of some near by private hospital told that she was pregnant for 20 weeks. On the complaint of Ankush, the father of the victim, the police has arrested the accused and produced in the court, which sent him on judicial remand for 15 days, the police sources added.

One dies as truck rams into grocery shop
Our Correspondent

Dera Bassi, July 30
One person was crushed to death while an engineering student sustained severe injuries after an uncontrolled truck rammed into a grocery shop, situated at Malakpur village on the Lalru-Handesra road, here this evening. The injured student had been shifted to the PGI, Chandigarh, from Lalru where his condition is said to be critical.

The driver fled from the spot after the incident.

As per reports, the truck drive lost his control over truck at a sharp turn in Malakpur village. The truck rammed into a roadside grocery shop before hitting a pedestrian and a BTech student of a nearby engineering college.

The pedestrian who was crushed by the truck, died on the spot. The Lalru police has sent body for postmortem examination and started investigations.

Murder in sector 22
Court extends custody of accused
Tribune News Service

CRIME

PUSU state ‘president’ held for involvement in shootouts
Tribune News Service

Mohali, July 30
The Mohali police today arrested the main accused, Baljit Chaudhary, of the three shootout cases in Mohali and two in Chandigarh. Chaudhary (about 35) claimed to be state president of Panjab University Students Union (PUSU) and was the main hitman in the five shootouts, involving groups of the PU students.

Though the senior officials were tightlipped over the arrest of Chaudhary, sources said the police has also recovered the weapon, which was used in all the incidents.

Notably, two of the incidents have taken place at Sector 69 recently (on June 20 and July 10) and that too, in a span of 20 days, while the third shootout incident had occurred at Phase VII market in February. The other two incidents had taken place in Chandigarh.

In the incident that took place on July 10, a former member of SOPU, Prabhjeet Singh, had received shot in his abdomen and was shifted to a hospital in Mohali in a critical condition. While in the incident on June 20, two PU students, Pankaj and Jaswinder, had sustained minor injuries when fired shots by Chaudhary had just brushed past their necks.

Sources claimed that Chaudhary was the person who had shot fires in all the incidents.

After Chaudhary’s arrest, only two more accused have been left to nab in shootout cases here, said the sources.

Gang of vehicle thieves busted, 3 held
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
The UT Police today busted a gang of vehicle thieves who used to target vehicles of couples hanging out in parks and gardens of the city and steal their two-wheelers. The police has recovered nine motorcycles and one car from their possession.

It arrested Mandeep Sharma, Dharambir Singh, both residents of Kansal village, Mohali district, and Vikas, a resident of Mohali.

Inspector Neeraj Sarna, SHO, Sector 3 police station, said the vehicles that had been recovered from their possession had all been stolen from outside Bougainvillea Garden, Leisure Valley and Shanty Kunj which were the popular hang out places for couples.

"A total of nine motorcycles and a Maruti Zen have been recovered. The police has solved three cases of vehicle thefts reported at the Sector 3 police station, two cases reported at the Sector 17 police station and a case of theft reported at the Sector 11 police station," said Sarna adding that remaining vehicles were being verified, which had been stolen from Chandigarh and neighbouring states.

After stealing the vehicles, they disposed of those with the help of a mechanic, Dharambir, who further modified the vehicles in order to change their appearance.

The accused used to sell the vehicles in the nearby villages surrounding Chandigarh to prospective buyers at cheaper rates. The money they received after selling the vehicles was used in buying branded clothes and other accessories. Two of the accused, Dharambir and Mandeep, have studied up to Class XII and the third accused, Vikas, is a school drop-out. Vikas is a drug addict and his father runs a tea stall.

All the three accused were produced in the court and are in police custody.

Two more eve-teasers held

Mohali, July 30
The local police claimed to have arrested two more accused in the Kurali eve-teasing case here today.

The accused have been identified as Davinder Singh alias Vicky (24) and Rajit Rana alias Lala (19), both residents of Kurali.

“Both the accused were staying at Mongolpuri in New Delhi along with a woman, who is the girl friend of one of these accused,” said Bhullar.

Notably, the police has already arrested three accused in the case, involving around 12 youngsters in eve-teasing followed by attack on the parents of the victims.

Last week, a group of about 12 youngsters, most of whom are drug addicts, had attacked Manoj Kumar and Sunil, who had raised objections following teasing of their daughters by these miscreants. Manoj and Sunil, who were badly thrashed by the youngsters, carrying swords and rods, were shifted to hospital. — TNS

Clash leaves eight injured
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
Eight persons sustained injuries following a violent clash in Daddu Majra Colony late last night. The police has registered a cross case on the complaint of both the parties. Four persons, including a woman, were arrested for the attack and efforts are on to arrest the remaining accused.

The two groups hurled bricks and stones at each other resulting in a bloody clash.

Naresh, a resident of Daddu Majra Colony, Chandigarh, alleged that Madan and his wife, Vicky, Sunny, Bunti, Shyam Lal, alias Lava, and residents of DMC, Chandigarh threatened and assaulted him. Two of his relatives, Raju and Sonu, sustained injuries and were admitted to hospital. A case under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 307, 506 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 39 police station.

Ramesh Kumar, who was also beaten up by Naresh reported to the police that Naresh, Rajesh, Deepak, Raja, all residents of Daddu Majra Colony, threatened the complainant. Inspector Charanjeet Singh, SHO, Sector 39 police station, said Naresh and Ramesh were known to each other and enmity was learnt to be the reason behind the clash. They have been involved in similar ruckus in the past too. 

BILLIARDS TOURNEY
Sumit outdoes Rajat to win first tournament
Tribune News Service

Local football team emerge victorious
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
Brining laurels to City Beautiful, the local football team bagged the title of Bajaj Allianz All-India Junior Football Tournament, at Pune, here today. The team, while playing under the supervision of Gurpreet Bedi won their maiden title after defeating Kerala Komets by 1-0.Surash Singh ensured team’s victory.

Earlier, in the league matches the local side lost to Bangalore Burners by 1-0 while the team successfully managed to win the other league matches against Pune Phantoms, Delhi Driblers, Mumbai Movers, Hydrabad Havocks, Kerala Komets.

Adding another feather to city’s football history, local player Akshay Shekhar Sharma, for performing well in tourney has been selected to make his maiden visit to the Bayern Munich Football Club in Germany.

Three local players including Krishna Pandit of St. John’s School, Karamvir Singh of Coaching Center, Sector 17, and Konsom of St. Stephens School were awarded a cash prize of Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 15,000, respectively.

Mohd Hassan, Farheen bag titles in carrom tournament
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
Carrom players, Mohd Hassan and Farheen of St Stephen’s School bagged the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles titles, respectively, in the 15th St Stephen’s Carrom Ranking tournament concluded, here today.

Hassan defeated Gagandeep in straight two games by 23-11, 22-19 while Farheen outclassed her sister Tuba in a three games set. Farheen managed to snatch the first game by 25-17 before going down in the second game by 15-24. In the third game Farheen clinched the final game by 21-10.

Manu Gupta, who won her maiden sub-junior title yesterday, also bagged the girls’ singles junior title defeating her rival Gulshan. Sahibpreet Singh won the Boys’ Sub-Junior (Singles) title after defeating Yishu Sharma by 2-21, 18-07, 12-05.

8-wicket win for Satluj team