Chandigarh, December 6
The economic offences wing of the UT police today arrested a fraudster who was wanted by the police of six states.

The accused, 30-year-old Gurpreet Singh, hailing from Jalandhar, cheated various persons to the tune of Rs 2.1 crore. The accused used to dupe copper, brass and aluminium dealers.

The police said the accused frequently changed his names and was also known by the names of Shanty, Sumit Arora, Sumit Kumar, Gurcharan Singh and Bindra.

The UT police had registered two cases of fraud against him. He was also wanted by the Punjab Police (Ludhiana police), Delhi Police, Uttar Pardesh Police (Ghaziabad police) Gujarat Police, Ratlam police, Indore police and Raipur police (Chattishgarh). The accused is married and has a three-year-old son.

The police said the Gurpreet used to surf Internet and identify dealers in Gujarat, Ratlam, Indore, and Raipur. He used to get material on the terms and conditions of the dealers by sending them e-mails from different accounts and used the mail ID only once.

After the dealers fell in his trap, he used to ask for consignments in trucks to be delivered in on the outskirts of Chandigarh. Since he was having the phone number of the truck drivers, he used ask them to give delivery of the consignment at a place of his choice. He then used to dupe the truck drivers either by giving them fake demand draft or by stating that their truck was too small for the consignment for further journey. He then used to load the consignment and flee with the material in another truck arranged by him.

The accused used to destroy the phone and SIM card used once he committed the crime and used new phone and SIM card for another crime. He disclosed that he had used more than 40 SIM cards, but he does not know the numbers. He also used to shift his residence frequently as he knew that police was chasing him.

DSP Anil Joshi said the accused also opened fake bank accounts and used to give fake cheques/DDs. He stayed in Faridabad, Mohali, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar where he was dealing in sale of water purifiers.

Crime record PO in Chandigarh: The accused got the delivery of steel water taps amounting to around Rs 5 lakh in Sector 42 in August 2009. He has been declared a proclaimed offender by a court. In another case, the accused took the delivery of steel taps in Sector 26 sent from Gujarat Punjab: Took delivery of steel water taps worth around Rs 5 lakh in Ludhiana which were sent from Tamil Nadu Delhi: He remained in Tihar Jail and managed to get bail on fake guarantees and then jumped bail. He was declared a proclaimed offender by a Delhi court Madhya Pradesh: Took the delivery of copper wires worth Rs 6 lakh in Ludhiana which was sent from Dhar (MP). He is also wanted by the MP Police Maharashtra: The accused took the delivery of copper wire worth Rs 11 lakh in Zirakpur which was sent from Ratlam Gujarat: Took the delivery of brass rods worth Rs 40 lakh in Faridabad which had come from Gujarat. Three persons were arrested, but he managed to escape He also took the delivery of steel water taps in Delhi sent from Mohali in 2011 and sold the taps in Delhi

Chandigarh, December 6
Candidates appearing in the PGIMER’s MD/MS entrance exam, rescheduled for December 8, would have to ensure their entry to the exam centre one hour before it begins. To avoid last-minute checking, the institution has decided to disallow entry after 9 am. The exam would start at 10 am.

A senior official of the PGI confirmed that bug detectors and metal detectors had been procured for frisking candidates at all 10 centres. “We will be in a better position to check and round up suspicious candidates,” said the official.

A total of 7,364 candidates will appear in the rescheduled exam. On November 14, the institution decided to cancel the exam held on November 10 and rescheduled it for December 8 after the Central Bureau of Investigation unearthed a cheating scam after it raided various centres and arrested several fraudsters.

A total of seven candidates were caught using sophisticated devices for cheating. The CBI has also identified some more beneficiaries from among the candidates who appeared in the exam on November 10.

In the absence of any security arrangements at the exam centres, another group of suspected candidates escaped the vigil easily. This resulted in the cancellation of the exam.

The CBI had raised serious questions on the admission process of the premier institute. The entrance examination at the PGIMER is considered one of the toughest examinations in the country.

The bug detector, which costs nearly Rs 25,000 per unit, can detect the hidden devices easily during the scan even when the device is on off mode. The bug detector scans cellular signals and frequencies and possesses real time GPS tracking system.

“The bug detector will overcome the limitations of metal detectors in locating the non-metallic hidden devices. Some candidates act smart by turning off the devices during the scanning process at the entry of the exam centre. The bug detector has a special feature which can locate even the deactivated hidden cameras or other devices,” said an official.

The PGI had earlier confirmed that the admit cards issued to the candidates during the previous exam held on November 10 would be considered valid during the exam on December 8.

COMMUNITY

Ramoowalia continues to misuse public park
Tribune News Service

Mohali, December 6
Former Union Minister BS Ramoowalia continues to misuse a public park by dumping construction material in Phase IX, here.

The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), which has developed the Children Park, also failed to clear the nuisance from the public property so far.

“We have sent officials concerned to check the situation there. Yes, rules are being flouted by the leader, who assured us of removing the material from the park immediately,” said Navjot Kaur, Estate Officer, GMADA.

While talking to The Tribune on November 26, Ramoowalia had also claimed to remove the construction material very soon.

“We have no other place to put the construction material. I promise that the park will be restored to its original position soon,” Ramoowalia said at that time.

A visit to the site by Chandigarh Tribune team today revealed that the SAD leader had made no efforts to remove the construction material so far. Almost half of the park, meant for playing and walking, is being used by the leader to put the material, including steel bars and soil.

Not only the park is being used as a dumping ground but also a portion of the railing installed around the park has been broken to make way for labourers and workers, who use it to park their vehicles.

Though residents of the area said they had been facing the nuisance for the past four-five months, the leader said the material had been dumped there for only past few days.

“Earlier, the park was being used for walk by elders. Children of the area used to play there. Now, we don’t allow our children to go there as steel bars, soil and other construction material are scattered all around. We are fed up with this nuisance. Neither the authorities nor our welfare association do anything on the issue for obvious reasons,” said a resident of the area.

Satwinder Singh, SDO (Building), GMADA, said he had sent his junior engineer at the site today. “We will start removing construction material from tomorrow,” he added.

Chandigarh, December 6
The slack approach of the officials of the municipal corporation has delayed the multi-level parking project in Sector 17.

The MC officials are claiming that they are waiting for environmental clearance for the project, but the committee which is to give the permission does not exist and had completed its three-year tenure in August this year.

Had the MC officials applied before August for the environmental clearance, the work would have been started by now. The project was approved in the MC house in March, but after that the MC officials failed to apply for the environment clearance.

In order to check environmental degradation caused by the upcoming projects, the Union Environment and Forests Ministry had constituted two regulatory bodies in Chandigarh in 2009. The Union Territory Environment Impact Assessment Authority (EIAA) and the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) were formed. The committees were formed for three years.

UT’s Chief Conservator of Forest and Director Environment Santosh Kumar said the tenure of both the committees ended in August this year. To form the new committee and issue a fresh notification, the matter has been forwarded to the Environment Ministry and Law Ministry in Delhi. "The new committees will be formed after we get the permission," he added.

Vishal Gupta, Executive Engineer of the civic body, said they had applied for the environmental clearance around 20 days ago, but were yet to receive the permission.

The parking is to come up at Gurdev parking lot. Two months ago, the MC officials were planning to inaugurate the project, but then they realised that the environmental clearance was a must for the project.

Nominated councillor Surinder Bahga said the MC was dealing with a number of projects, but there were no consultants with the MC. The civic body should engage consultants for projects who could help in getting environmental and wildlife clearances. "The delay in projects will ultimately increase the budget of the projects," he added.

Chandigarh, December 6
The electricity committee of the municipal corporation today decided that a uniform policy would be framed for the installation and augmentation of lights in green belts, parks and streetlights in Chandigarh.

Members of the committee decided that glob lights would be installed in parks and green belts while high-mast lights would be provided in market areas.

The committee members also suggested that the Mayor should take up the issue pertaining to the appointment of one nodal officer from the electricity department, UT Administration, with the officials.

The committee also discussed the action taken report at length during the meeting and asked the officials to speed up the process of various projects. The report regarding the working of streetlights in the city was tabled during the meeting.

As per the report, 87 per cent of streetlights are functional while the others are being repaired. The report says 100 per cent lights were functional in some areas.

Among others present included Harjinder Kaur, Subhash Chawla, Sat Parkash Aggarwal, Anoop Sunny Gill and Babu Lal.

Chandigarh, December 6
The "Police Station Visit Week" began at the Sector 17 police station today.

The CLG members of Sector 16/17/22/23, members of the Market Welfare Associations, Resident Welfare Associations and senior citizens visited the police station. Schoolchildren also visited the police station.

Mohali, December 6
Despite it being winter, unannounced power cuts are back, making residents' lives miserable.

Over the past one week, residents have been facing inconvenience due to outages. Although no official intimation about the power cuts is being given to consumers, the electricity department is resorting to rotational cuts throughout the day.

The duration of each cut is about half-an-hour.

Although residents are not making as much of a hue and cry over the power cuts as they usually do during the summer, they feel inconvenienced as they get stuck in the midst of their daily chores.

Gurinderjeet Kaur, a resident of Phase III-A , said she was expecting some guests last evening. While she was making arrangements, the power supply got disrupted.

She had to leave all the work midway and look for candles as her inverter was not working.

People, who are dependent on power supply to earn their livelihood, including electricians and those running machines which cannot be run on an inverter, are a worried lot. They have to either work overtime or be satisfied with their decreased earnings.

An official of the Punjab State Power Corporation claimed that the power cuts were being imposed only for short durations. Today, there was a power cut from 3.35 pm to 3.50 pm. He said power cuts were imposed only for about 45 minutes yesterday. These were from 7.15 am to 7.45 am and later from 5.12 pm. to 5.27 pm. However, on

December 4, power was disrupted for about two hours and 15 minutes during the day. Further disruptions in the power supply could have been due to other reasons, he added. 

Chandigarh, December 6
Overcoming all the speculations, the UT Education Department has finally come up with a helpline number to redress the grievances regarding admission in the local schools. The landline number will function from 9 to 5 am on all working days and the district education officer will directly deal with all the queries.

“We have come up with the helpline to help students and parents. Parents can file their queries and grievances through the helpline and we will help them in solving their problems,” said Uppkar Singh, Director, Public Instructions, UT Education Department. The helpline was about to start two years ago after queries on various provisions of the Right to Education Act, 2009, and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). “The project has been waited for long and now it has started and hopefully it would help the residents to overcome their problems,” said Uppkar Singh. Apart from providing information relating to schools (both government and private), the helpline will also respond to queries, pertaining to specific schemes and subjects. Besides, providing the information, the service will also maintain a database of callers.

The service will help in the analyses of information, sought by people.

Chandigarh, December 6
Bringing an end to the debate over exempting teachers from PhD entrance test, the university has decided that the regular teachers, teaching in the colleges, affiliated to PU, need not to appear for the test and the fixed number of seats will also be reserved for the teachers in Phd programme in the each department of Panjab University.

A high-powered committee, which had the PU Vice-Chancellor and Registrar as members, has taken the decision to exempt the teachers from appearing in PhD entrance test. Among others who attended the meeting, included Dean Research Madhu Raka, Dean College Development Council (DCDC) Naval Kishore, AS Ahluwalia, BS Ghuman, Dalip Kumar, PS Gill and Gurmeet Singh.

The decision brings an end to the debate over the recommendations by a standing committee, which was constituted to consider the demand of the teachers, who had sought exemption from the entrance test. The committee had recommended that there was no need to reserve seats for the teachers. The committee had stated that the teachers were experienced in their profession and could perform better in the interview. The recommendations were tabled before the Syndicate, which decided to review the recommendations and had formed another committee over the issue.

Dalip Kumar, a Senate member, who was part of the committee that took into the decision, said PU was going to exempt teachers from the entrance test. “The university has also decided that at least one or 20 per cent of the total number of seats in PhD programme in each department will be reserved for the college teachers," he said.

Officials said the percentage of seats reserved for teachers would be in addition to the total number of seats in a department. DCDC Naval Kishore said the rule would only be applicable to the regular teachers, teaching in the affiliated colleges.

The decision is expected to be discussed in the Syndicate meeting, scheduled for December 15. Earlier in July, Dinesh Talwar, a senate member, had written to the University Grant Commission (UGC) as well as to the Vice-Chancellor, demanding that the teachers should be exempted from the entrance test as well as from the course work. The issue was then tabled before the Syndicate in September and a committee was formed to look into the issue.

Chandigarh, December 6
Everyone respects his or her mother but what is the exact reason behind such respect. The line may sound strange but this was highlighted by 170 students of The Tribune Model School, Sector 29, through a play at the Tagore Theatre, Sector 18, this evening.

( Left) The play, Maa, being staged; and students play the role of martyrs Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at Tagore Theatre in Chandigarh on Thursday. Tribune Photos: Vicky Gharu

The evening witnessed a wonderful stage show "Maa", which was preformed by the students. The play was directed by Vijay Kumar. The play highlighted the rich cultural heritage of India. The play showed how mother is worshipped in India since time immemorial.

The story of Bal Ganesh (Ishan) and Parvati (Isha) was one of the highlights of the play.

Love for one's country emerged beautifully through the story of shaheed Bhagat Singh (Yogesh Ghai). A live yoga performance and the quawali, Maula Mere Maula, entertained the gathering. Later, principal Vandana Saxena congratulated the students and teachers for their hard work.