Members In shock: Members of the Central Club have accused the authorities of going back on their assurance of not sealing the club till Monday.

Administration shouldn’t adopt two sets of rules: Members

Thirty club employees rendered jobless

Kamla Devi, an employee of the club, in tears.

Not only the members of the club were in a state of shock on finding the club sealed on Saturday morning, but the action also sealed the fate of 30 employees of the club who were earning their bread and butter by working there. Kamla Devi, who has been working at the club for the past many years, was in tears while saying, “I do not know what grudge has the officials against the club. It is feeding our families,” she said. The president of the club, Vinod Talwar, said many of the staff members had been with the club for many years. The electricity bills and salaries of the staff were paid through the daily earnings of the club, he said.

Mohali, September 22
The police has registered a case of attempt to murder against a gunman of a local Congress leader after the former opened fire at a Superintendent of Police following the SP had heated arguments with the leader at a marriage function at SR Farms located on the Kharar-Landran last night.

The constable, Daljit Singh, has absconded.

Police sources said Daljit, Congress leader Rajwant Singh’s gunman, was with the leader at a function held in connection with the marriage of Manvir Singh Benipal, owner of GILCO Valley. Jasdev Singh, Superintendent of Police, Ladha Kothi (Punjab), was also there. Over a minor issue, Jasdev and Rajwant engaged in arguments which turned sour when Daljit opened fire at the SP with his official weapon.

Daljit was reportedly in an inebriated condition. — TNS

Chandigarh, September 22
Copying material for PhD thesis from researches already done across the world would not be possible anymore as Panjab University has purchased a software to detect plagiarism. The software, named Turnitin, is adept at identifying plagiarism from all the researches available online. The university has spent over Rs 2 lakh on the software.

Turnitin is a leading academic plagiarism detection software and is utilised by teachers and students to avoid plagiarising and for ensuring academic integrity. Officials said that the software, which is used by all prominent universities across the world, is capable of detecting the material copied from any research which is available online.

The university has purchased 100 licenses of the software and would install it in all the teaching departments where teachers could use it to check theses and other material submitted by students as part of their research. The PU is also organising training programs for the faculty to make them aware about the functioning of the software. “The software can detect copied material, but it would be the teachers who would decide whether the copied content can be termed as plagiarism,” PU officials said.

Interestingly, the software will only be able to detect plagiarism in theses written in English. The research conducted in departments like Hindi, Tibetan Studies, and Punjabi (where theses are written in Hindi, Punjabi etc) will not be benefited from the software.

The proposal to have a software that can detect plagiarism was made after three PhD students were caught copying research thesis a couple of years ago. Two of the students were from the history department and one from the political science department.

The content of PhD theses submitted from now would be cross checked from the software before awarding degrees to research scholars.

Mohali, September 22
The district administration asked the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) to increase its reach within the district by introducing new bus routes. The CTU is said to have agreed to start the new routes soon.

In a recent meeting between Mohali Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam and CTU Director TPS Phoolka, Roojam stressed upon increasing bus routes to cater to the growing needs of the local residents. The district is yet to start its own local bus service and largely depends on the CTU buses for local public transportation. “I have asked the CTU officials to increase the frequency of buses and to add new routes in the city map. We have discussed about starting special direct-route buses to various colleges and Panjab University in Chandigarh from different phases of Mohali,” said Roojam.

The other new routes that have been discussed, includes special buses to Mohali Industrial Area during morning and evening hours. Apart from that, new buses will be introduced to cover newly developed sectors, including Sectors 66, 67, 68, 69, 70 and 71 along with Phases 5, 3B2 and Fortis Hospital. “We have also discussed about introducing some new routes to those areas which are yet to be connected with the local public transportation,” said Roojam. “We were told that we would get a fleet of 100 new buses by December and then we would get many new routes in the district,” said Roojam.

Chandigarh, September 22
As many as 700 people gathered at the Sukhna Lake here today to take part in ‘Walk for Fun’, an annual event organised by the Chandigarh Police and the Chandigarh Senior Citizen Association.

Many in their eighties covered a maximum distance of two-kilometres during the event.

School children joined the walk to bridge the generation gap. After the walk, children took part in games like tug-of-war and musical chair. The winners of both events were awarded certificates of appreciation.

At the end of the event an interaction between the senior citizens and the officials from Chandigarh Police was held where several senior citizens said stricter enforcement of traffic rules, especially for two wheelers and school rickshaws, was required. Check on PG accommodation, provision for community parking in sectors, ban on loud music and synchronisation of lights at roundabouts were other concerns that the senior citizens pointed out.

Seventy-five year old Dr Tej Pal Singh Cheema said the PCR staff should be given training on first aid so that they can help people in case of an accident, before rushing the injured to hospitals.

Tarsem Mittal, another senior citizen, said indecent behaviour of youngsters in parks or parking lots should be checked.

The senior citizens, who are also acting as Traffic Marshals, said the police do not inform them about special nakas well in advance. They demanded that the police should intimate them about these a day before or in the morning so that they can work accordingly.

Panchkula, September 22
Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), which is supposed to remove encroachments and to enforce rules and regulations, seems to be blind when it comes to violation of rules around its own office at Sector 6, Panchkula.

Around eight to ten ice-cream and juice vendors carry out their business just around the HUDA office. “It is a shame for HUDA. They claim that they have removed encroachments in various parts of the township but what about the encroachments around its own office,” said Amit Pal Singh, a resident of Sector 7, Panchkula.

He added, “This is the main roundabout of the city and vendors surround it. People stop at the roundabout to eat and drink that result into traffic.”

Even the HUDA officials themselves eat from these, alleged another resident.

“HUDA officials have turned a blind eye to the encroachment, which is just under their nose, for reasons best known to them. HUDA is not practicing what it preaches,” said Raj Binder, a resident of Sector 6, Panchkula.

Nakul Sharma, a resident of Sector 11, said, “The HUDA official remove some of the encroachers and leave others.”

Estate Officer of the HUDA said, “These vendors may not be permanent. But I will still look into the matter and get it checked tomorrow.

Mohali, September 22
A team of experts from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, has advised the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) against repeated re-carpeting of roads.

The IIT team is in the city on the invitation of GMADA to solve waterlogging problem, which the city faces during the monsoon. "With the repeated re-carpeting of road, the level of road increases in comparison to the level of houses in the area. This leads to entering of water in the houses as well as waterlogging," said the team members.

While talking to the mediapersons, Dr Kapil Gupta, head of the Department of Drainage Management, IIT, Mumbai, said the drainage system of the town also needed to be upgraded.

Dr Gupta said with the drastic change in climate, the rainfall pattern had also changed. "We witnessed heavy rain in less time nowadays," he said. "Drain pipes in the city are small and the drainage system is old. The size of the drain pipes should be increased,” said Dr Gupta.

He added that automatic rain gauge equipment should be installed at a distance of 4 sq km in the city. He also suggested that the drainage system should be cleaned before March 31. He also said a boundary wall should be constructed along the choes, passing through the city.

The GMADA officials said they would adhere to the suggestions and would do the needful within two months, before the team visits again in November.

Panchkula, September 22
Following the controversy over granting of bail to an accused drug trafficker, the Panchkula Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) today has sent two policemen of Crime Investigating Agency (CIA) to lines.

The two, in-charge of the CIA Inspector Karamvir Singh and Surjit Singh were sent to lines after it was found that they did not comply with rules. It was recently that the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered for CBI probe into case. Praveen Kumar, accused in drug trafficking case, allegedly got relief by paying Rs 37 lakh. The High Court also expressed suspicion on the involvement of Panchkula Police officials in contentious case.

Chandigarh, September 22
In a bid to address the grievances of the Panjab University students residing in the university hostels, the Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC) is going to launch a program "Students Council at Doorstep". Under the programme, students will be asked to report their problems to the student council based on which a report card of each hostel will be prepared.

PUCSC president Satinder Singh said that through this program, the council aims to reach out to hostel inmates and ensure that all the problems are addressed.

"The university authorities will be asked to meet the demands of the hostel inmates based on the the complaints received," the PUCSC president said.

The students council has decided to form flying squads to check the quality of food in hostel messes, canteens, department canteens and students centre. Also, a team would be actively working to check the proper functioning of the offices, wifi's and other necessary infrastructure.

"The PUCSC has decided to work towards the improvement of education standard in the university along with the betterment of living standard in hostels," SOPU president Manoj Lubana said.

PUCSC general secretary Kuldeep Sheoran said that they would make all efforts to improve the world ranking of the university. "We would come up with proposals to ensure that Panjab University gains respect across the world," he said.

The PUCSC had also launched a similar program in 2009 when Amit Bhatia, a SOPU candidate, won the elections and got elected as student council's president.