Chandigarh, December 4
In a setback to reforming the policing system in the city, the UT Administration in a surprise move has now communicated to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that it will not be able to spare DSPs (deputy superintendent of police) from Chandigarh for posting in other union territories of the country.

The UT Administration’s reply is in response to the MHA’s move to merge the DSP cadres of the Chandigarh police with the Delhi Andaman Nicobar Island Civil Services (DANICS) cadre.

Incidentally, it was the UT babus of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre who had few years ago proposed merger of the DSP cadre with the DANICS.

Justifying the move to retain the UT DSPs, UT Advisor KK Sharma said the Administration was already facing a shortage of officers so they were unable to send them to other union territories on deputation. At present, there are already 12 posts of DSPs lying vacant in the UT police, he added. ]

He further said that in the near future, the DSPs would not be transferred out from Chandigarh. But the administration was open to the idea of the DSPs from other UTs coming on deputation to the city. Already, three DSPs from Punjab and two from Haryana are on deputation with the Chandigarh Police.

The UT’s latest stand of not sending the DSPs out of the city has raised many an eyebrow. In the past, the well-entrenched police officers have been using their connections in the MHA to scuttle similar moves. “The officers are not indispensable. If the DSPs from outside can come, then the local officers can also been sent outside.”, remarked a senior official on condition of anonymity.

Chandigarh, December 4
The UT Administration’s move of keeping the sitting DSPs intact on the saddle has come as a shot in the arm for the seven Chandigarh police DSPs, many of who are suspected of having developed vested interests by staying on in the City Beautiful for the last several years.

The proposed merger of the UT police DSPs into the DANICS cadre, which was hanging fire for many years, has been a topic of heated debate in police circles and had evoked strong reactions, both for and against, even as the entire DSP brigade of the Chandigarh Police had been unanimous in resisting the move.

The UT police has been blemished with accusation faced by several police officers, known as property sharks and also known to have amassed wealth by unfair means. Over the years, the UT police has developed an image of a divided force with some of the DSPs openly seen arguing to the point of defiance with their seniors.

While it was the fight for dominance amongst DSPs from Haryana and Punjab in the past years that was the cause of rifts, the trend witnessed a change with the entry of officers from Punjab on deputation to the Chandigarh Police last year. The deputation was not welcomed by the UT police DSPs, many of whom felt threatened of losing their “hold” on the city. This led to further groupism in the police force.

There is stagnation in the force. Its image has been steadily marred by corruption. A policeman who joined the UT police as an ASI (assistant sub inspector) usually became a DSP without serving outside Chandigarh. The only “transfer” that any Chandigarh police official ever faces is between the 11 police stations and 17 police posts in the city in addition to various departments of the Chandigarh Police. In other words, the Chandigarh policeman’s worldview is confined to the city’s 63 odd sectors and nine colonies.

With the seven DSPs, a pivotal post in this police force, moving in a limited circle, “players” in the city have no option but to ensure they appease these officers. This has gradually led to a rise in power play and amassing of wealth in addition to a rise in defiance. What has also emerged is a gradual nexus and patronage among some of the officials of the Chandigarh police with politicians, businessmen and even some senior bureaucrats and top police officials of the neighbouring states. Recently, Deshraj Singh, an IPS officer serving as the SP (City), was caught taking bribe from a SHO of Sector 26 police station by the CBI. The Inspector chose to approach the CBI rather than the city’s police vigilance cell reflecting on the breakdown in trust within the force. Verbal spats in public between DSPs and Inspectors with IPS officers posted in the city have been a regular occurrence. 

Panchkula, December 4
Most of the Kashmiri students who were allegedly harassed and assaulted at Panchkula Engineering College, Barwala, yesterday, have decided to leave the city and go back to their native place fearing for their lives.

It was yesterday when 30 Kashmiri students at Panchkula Engineering College, Barwala, were reportedly harassed and assaulted at their hostel by some students of the college itself along with some outsiders.

“After the incident, we have decided that we will go back to our city because we are not feeling secure here,” Varshid Shah (name changed), a student of the BTech (second year) of the college, said.

He further added, “We are just waiting for our examination to get over.”

“The way the students were asking us to come out of our rooms, we thought that we will surely be killed. The situation is still very tense because these students didn’t want us to inform the administration about the incident,” said Amir (name changed).

Another student on the condition of anonymity said, “After yesterday’s incident, even our parents don’t want us to stay here any more.”

Nazneen Bhasin, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rural), Panchkula-Ambala Commissionerate, also visited the spot today and ensured that protection would be provided to all Kashmiri students.

“Security has been provided to the Kashmiri students. The police was here the whole day today,” said Pooja Mittal, placement officer, at the college. Shravan Kumar Gupta, chairman of the college, assured that action would be taken against the guilty.

It was yesterday when the students hailing from Kashmir alleged that they had to take shelter in their rooms when 70 students, including outsiders, had attacked them on the hostel premises.

A minor scuffle among juniors had led to the incident and Kashmiri students were forced to lock themselves in their rooms.

Chandigarh, December 4
A member of Rajya Sabha and northern region in charge of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), KD Singh, has encroached upon an open space, including the road berm, by constructing a car shelter in violation of the building bylaws outside his house in Sector 9 here.

Such is the extent of encroachment that the entire open space in front of the Sector 9 bungalow of the politician has been conveniently converted into a large parking lot to park his swanky cars. At least 10 cars always remained parked on the concrete parking covered with expensive poly carbonate sheets.

The pillars have been erected from outside the boundary wall of KD Singh’s residence, House Number 159, Sector 9, for the car shelter. Not only this, the shelter is made in such a way that no vehicles from outside can be parked in the public land exclusively meant for his cars.

The enforcement agencies have turned a blind eye to the encroachment in the area. “The officials are scared to take action, as he is an influential man. They would have taken action by now had the land been encroached upon by a common man,” said a resident of the area on condition of anonymity.

When contacted, MC Additional Commissioner Lalit Siwach said that they would comply with the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and would remove the encroachments from the government land irrespective of the person and the position he holds. He further added that tomorrow the officials of the MC enforcement wing would visit the spot and take action accordingly.

Rahul Gupta, Assistant Estate Officer (AEO), UT Administration, said that no encroachment on public land was allowed. 

Chandigarh, December 4
City shooter Smit Singh hit a purple patch on Tuesday as he won two medals in the prestigious shooting competitions being held in New Moti Bagh Palace on Tuesday. In teams event Smit combined with Mairaj Khan, and Man Singh to clinch silver medal for India in the ongoing second Asian Shotgun Championship at the New Moti Bagh Palace in Patiala. He then represented the New Moti Bagh Gun Club along with Mairaj Khan and Man Singh to a silver medal in the Grand Prix event being held along with the Asian Championship.

"It's a great feeling to win a medal for India. I am improving and if I keep shooting like this, I hope to do well in near future," said Smit, who uses a Beretta DT-10 shotgun.

Incidently, 22-year-old Smit had shot down a gold medal in the junior men’s category of skeet event in the 53rd National Shooting Championship at the very same venue in 2009.

He claimed silver medal (men's skeet) in the ongoing 55th National shotgun championship at the Karni Singh Shooting Range, Tughlakabad recently.

Smit shot into limelight in South Asian Federation Games in 2008 when at the tender age of 17 he won a bronze medal for India. In November 2008 Smit claimed bronze medal in the skeet category of the fourth South Asian Shooting Championship at Gun Club in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Chandigarh, December 4
After a gap of 59 years, residents of Cheap Houses in Sector 15 D have a reason to smile as the Municipal Corporation today started the re-carpeting work of internal roads in their area.

Darshan Singh, Member Resident Welfare Association, said that earlier, the road construction proposals had never materialised despite requests. But today, the MC officials started the work.

Residents of Cheap Houses were not only facing the problem of bad roads but cracks had also appeared in their houses. A resident, Urmil Kumari, said that they had conveyed their grievance to the area councillor that the presence of road gullies, along the outer walls of houses, was the prime reason for the cracks and weakening of the houses.

Councillor Saurabh Joshi said that it was for the first time since 1953 that the corporation had undertaken the work of re-carpeting of the road in the area. Earlier, they had installed paver blocks on these roads, he added.

He further added that he had made several visits to the Cheap Houses and taken note of the problems being faced by the people living in them. There are several houses here that have developed cracks and fissures. He assured that he would give a grant of Rs 6 lakh from his ward development fund for shifting and re-construction of the road gullies, he added. 

Mohali, December 4
With GMADA acting against the encroachers in Sectors 76 and 80, the development work in the sectors will be started soon.

"So far, GMADA has removed encroachments spread over 42 acres in the sectors," claimed the officials. The land was being used by the encroachers for agriculture purposes.

"Several residents of Sohana and Mauli villages had been using the land owned by certain litigants, who had denied to give their land (about 104 acres) to GMADA for the development of new sectors. These litigants did not accept the acquisition money, offered by GMADA and moved the court," said Satwinder Singh, SDO (building), GMADA. The case is still in the apex court.

He added that under the garb of these litigants, several other residents of the villages had encroached about 75 acres of land (claiming that they were also litigants) and were using it for agriculture purposes.

"We have uprooted their crops and have taken the possession of the land. Now, the work on roads will be started soon," said Satwinder Singh.

"We have already taken the possession of about 42 acres. We are yet to remove encroachments spread over 33 acres. We are hopeful of getting rid of all encraochments by December 14," said Navjot Kaur, Estate Officer, GMADA, while adding that the land would be fenced to check encroachments."

Panchkula, December 4
The dog sterilisation project in Panchkula has hit a roadblock as the contractor concerned has left the work and fled. He has done this for the second time.

The cases of dog bite have witnessed an increase in the town. It was a month back when the Panchkula administration was euphoric as the contractor, who was not satisfied with the payment and had left, had agreed to undertake the work. Under the project, five dogs were sterilised everyday.

As per a survey conducted by the MC, there are 4,000 to 5,000 stray dogs in the town. The corporation had hired a private contractor for sterilising the dogs at Government Pet Clinic, Sector 3. But he left the job as he was paid peanuts.

Sources said the contractor had not turned up for days together. Going by the dog bite cases reported in the township, around 20 cases are reported at the General Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula, everyday.

"We have received over 200 cases in one month. Most of the cases are from Sectors 9, 11,15, Haripur village, Abhaypur, Sector 4," said a doctor.

"Last month, I became a victim of dog bite. Despite bringing the matter to the notice of the MC officials, nothing has been done," said Bindu Wadhwa (42), a resident of Sector 11,Panchkula.

"We have started avoiding venturing outdoors due the fear of stray dogs. We have complained to the authorities, but it seems that they are not interested in doing their bit," said Vishu Verma, a resident of Sector 2, Panchkula.

A few days ago, an elderly person fell a prey to a stray dog outside his residence in Sector 9. Dr MR Singla, in-charge, Government Pet Clinic, Sector 3, Panchkula, said, "I spoke to the executive officer of the municipal corporation and told him that the contractor had left the job."

OP Sihag, executive officer of the civic body, said, "We are looking for another contractor. The project will be started soon."

Chandigarh, December 4
A day after the armed gunpoint robbery of Rs 6 lakh in Mani Majra, police investigations revealed that the amount of Rs 6 lakh was meant for shopping for a wedding ceremony of one of the relatives of the businessman.

Armed robbers had looted Rs 6 lakh from a father-son duo. The two were on their way home in NAC, Mani Majra, last night.

The police said Vijay Bansal's son-in-law had handed over the amount to them for shopping for the marriage of their relative to be held in Jind.

In his statement to the police, Nikhil Bansal, son of Vijay Bansal, said they got the bag yesterday.

Sources said Nikhil's statement was recorded for ascertaining the source of robbed money.

Nikhil and Vijay were intercepted outside their house by two armed robbers and one of them had trained a revolver at Nikhil, and another snatched the bag containing Rs 6 lakh last night.

The cellphone of Vijay, which was also in the bag along with cash, is switched off since the robbery and mobile number has been put on surveillance.

The police also scrutinised the CCTV footage at the Fun Republic lights, but the cameras were found to be not functioning.

Chandigarh, December 4
While the CBI has submitted a closure report in the sensational murder case of the owner of Sham Fashion Mall on November 27, a gang of robbers busted the next day by the police provided some clues to the murder case.

With the closure report yet to be accepted by the court, the CBI sleuths said they would procure the custody of the robbers to find out if they were actually involved in the murder case.

On November 27, the CBI had filed a closure report in the Sham Fashion Mall murder case in the court. On November 28, the UT Police busted a gang of six robbers that confessed to have shot Amarjeet Singh, owner of Sham Fashion Mall, outside his residence in Sector 35 in 2009.

Two motorcycle-borne robbers had shot Amarjeet Singh in May, 2009. After the police failed to make any headway, the CBI took over the investigations of the case from the police in 2010 and the victim’s family had also announced a reward of Rs 20 lakh to anyone who could provide any clue.

The police had arrested six members of the gang, hailing from West Bengal and Bihar, for their involvement in over 100 cases of snatching and robbery across the country.

Their questioning revealed that two of the gang members identified as Manu Gawala and Rahul Gawala, hailing from West Bengal had shot Amarjeet Singh while the remaining four robbers had conducted a recce of the house. They tried to snatch his bag and as Amarjeet resisted they shot him.

However, both the CBI and the UT Police said the robbers' confession needed to be established with strong evidence.

Zirakpur, December 4
Parking of trucks on the service lanes along the Zirakpur-Ambala highway is leading to traffic chaos here.

During a random survey, this correspondent found several trucks parked on the service lane along the highway near the sales tax barrier in Zirakpur. On the Panchkula-Zirakpur road, several auto-rickshaws were also seen parked on the road.

BS Goraya, a local businessman, claimed that the illegal parking of trucks not only caused traffic hazard and inconvenience to commuters, but also resulted in several accidents and quarrels.

The parking of trucks leads to blockade of the narrow service lanes, leading to minor accidents. “Some trucks remain parked here for as long as three to four days,” said Goraya.

Another businessman Yogesh Kumar claimed that these trucks are mostly not even waiting to cross the sales tax barrier, which is at a reasonable distance. “We have even requested these truck drivers not to park their trucks on the service lane, but they never pay heed to our requests,” said Yogesh Kumar.

“Even the traffic policemen seem hesitant to take any action against these offenders,” alleged the businessmen.

Auto-rickshaw drivers, too, flout the rules by parking their vehicles on the roadside while waiting for customers.

“The policemen on duty hardly bother to address the issue,” said Rakesh Kumar, a local resident.

Traffic in charge Davinder Singh said that they used to issue challans to trucks parked along the highway. “At times, we are unable to find the drivers of these trucks, so it’s difficult to issue challans,” he said. Last month as many as 10 challans were issued for parking on the service lanes and 36 challans were issued for wrong parking on the highway, he informed.

Chandigarh, December 4
The Central Social Welfare Board is contemplating on a proposal to hike the funds allocated for the nutrition of children in crèches and raising the honorariums of the counsellors at family counselling centres.

This assurance was given by board chairperson Prerna Cariappa to the Chandigarh board chairperson, Kamlesh, during a meeting yesterday.

In the meeting, Kamlesh had raised the issue that since 2003, the funds allocated for the nutrition of children in crèches had not been revised, due to which it had become very difficult to meet their dietary needs. Although around three years ago, a proposal was mooted to revise the diet rate to Rs 8 per day, authorities have taken no action on it.

Central Social Welfare Board chairperson assured her that before the preparation of the budget by the Union Ministry of Social Welfare, she will take up all these issues with Union Minister Krishna Tirath, so that the budget could be earmarked as per the present day requirements.

Kamlesh also pleaded in the meeting that each helper was getting only Rs 1,000 per month as honorarium for nine-hour long duty in crèches, which should be revised in order to recruit professional helpers.

The issue of low honorariums to the counsellors of family counselling centres was also taken up by the chairperson. She informed Prerna Cariappa that each counsellor is hired at an honorarium of Rs 5,000 per month, which was too little to attract professional counsellors. This was leading to lack of response from the public, she said.

Chandigarh, December 4
The inquiry report dealing with the allegations of sexual harassment, made by a senior female employee of the Education Department in August this year, remained inconclusive.

The report states that the incident of sexual harassment, as alleged by the complainant, might have happened, but the complainant was unable to provide any circumstantial evidence. The report also states that the alleged incident occurred after the office hours and outside the place of work. The committee, therefore, was not in a position to give any views on the occurrence of the incident, stated the report, a copy of which was obtained under the RTI Act.

The victim, who is a senior assistant in the department, had submitted a written complaint on August 14 in which she stated the incident occurred on July 12.

The inquiry report observed that both the complainant and the defendant, also a senior assistant, had given contradictory statements during their personal hearings.

While the report was submitted in September, the officials said that the complainant had submitted no further application for the review of the findings of the inquiry.

Mohali, December 4
A subsidy of Rs 20 lakh has been provided for the installation of solar water geysers in Mohali district.

A spokesman of the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) said that the government was granting the subsidy in order to encourage people to use gadgets running on the solar energy, which were not only economical but also helped in checking pollution.

The spokesman further said that last year solar water geysers with a total capacity of 45,000 litres, against the target of 25,000 litres, were installed in the district at a cost of Rs 60 lakh. A sum of Rs 20 lakh was given as a subsidy for such installations.

PEDA also encouraged the installation of biogas plants and gave a subsidy of Rs 8,000 on such such plants. Last year, 68 biogas plants were installed in the district for which a subsidy of Rs 5.44 lakh was given. 

Chandigarh, December 4
Panjab University students, who had recently launched a massive agitation against the hike in food rates on the campus, alleged during a press conference today that the university had failed to stick to its promises made to them.

Members of the Students for Society (SFS) said after the recent protest over the issue, the PU authorities agreed to provide a subsidy of Rs 2.50 to the hostel residents who would ask for it. However, in a new circular issued by the Dean Students Welfare (DSW), it is said that the students, in addition to writing to the warden for the subsidy, must also get it verified form the department and only those students would be given subsidy who were eligible for the forthcoming exams.

SFS general secretary Sachinderpal Singh said: “As per the notice, anyone who wants subsidy must write an application to his respective warden”.

“When the SFS launched a campaign to write a collective application to the warden of every hostel, around 800 signatures of the applicants were collected on November 26. In response to this, the DSW office issued a new circular on the very next day saying that the applications must be tested by the respective departments and the students must be eligible to take the forthcoming exams. This circular is a violation of the agreement that was reached at the end of the protest. This has been deliberately done to frighten the students who are applying for this subsidy,” he said.

DSW AS Ahluwalia said the clause had not been incorporated for the first time. Every time students availed subsidy, they had to get it signed by their department.

“This is not a new clause. The students, who availed the subsidy earlier, know it very well that their minimum attendance should be 75 per cent,” the DSW said.

PU officials said the students who didn’t get the minimum required attendance were not eligible to appear for the exams. In that case, they were not entitled to avail the subsidy.