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Arrest warrants against HP MLA
Panchkula, December 21
The police today named Chaudhary and his three accomplices in an earlier FIR registered under Sector 302 of the IPC against unidentified accused. Chaudhary’s accomplices include Dharampal, Gurmeet and Paramjeet. All are on the run. Jyoti (24) was found murdered at Sector 21 in Panchkula on November 22. Jyoti’s father Buti Ram said she was handling Chaudhary’s financial matters during Assembly elections. After issuing arrest warrants, Haryana Police personnel went to arrest the MLA and his three accomplices at his residence at Sandholi in Baddi today. “We raided the residence of the MLA, but we could not arrest him,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Virender Sangwan. He added: “Chaudhary was sent notices to join the investigations, but he did not respond.” Sangwan said: “We have given a copy of warrants to the SP, Baddi, so they can arrest Chaudhary.” Chaudhary was seen thanking his supporters after the victory in Assembly elections on Thursday. Gurmeet and Dharampal are nephews of Chaudhary and Paramjeet is his friend. During investigations, it had come to light that Chaudhary and his accomplices were in touch with Jyoti before she was killed. Chaudhary had also attended the wedding of Jyoti’s sister in 2009 at Hoshiarpur. Jyoti was putting up as a paying guest in Sector 21-D, Chandigarh, and was pursuing her BEd course from a private institute in Mohali. She was also working in a security agency in Mohali. Jyoti’s father Buti Ram had alleged threat to his life saying that he was offered Rs 50 lakh to settle the case near a Hoshiarpur village. “I want the killers of my daughter behind bars. It has been a month and till now nothing has been done in the case,” said Buti Ram.
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Historic rail car comes to a halt
Tourists who were planning to travel by the historic rail car for celebrating Christmas and New Year in the ‘Queen of Hills’, Shimla, will be disappointed as the railway authorities have been forced to discontinue the service. The rail car was also discontinued in August last year due to a technical snag. The authorities have stopped the rail car bookings for a fortnight. Foreigners and domestic tourists, especially from metropolitans heading for vacations to Shimla, prefer to travel in rail car. Officials are hopeful of restarting the rail car service after repairs as trial run is under way. Kalka railway station superintendent Vinay Kumar Arora said the rail car service has been discontinued. “We are hopeful of resuming the service by January 1. The rail car accommodates 14 to 18 passengers. It resembles buses were used during the World War II. Officials said it had become a challenging task to maintain the rail car as its spares were not available. The rail car was introduced by the British between 1927 and 1930. It was the last rail car running on the track as three others had already been discontinued. Officials said that rail car, which looked like buses, were preferred by tourists as it has only a 10-minute halt at Barog on its way to Shimla and vice versa. The four-and-a-half hour journey provides travellers a panoramic view of the Shivalik mountain ranges.
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Students told to bring school uniforms for SAD leader’s sake
Mohali, December 21
Reason: Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia, daughter of former Union Minister BS Ramoowalia, who lost Assembly elections on the SAD ticket from Mohali, had to distribute the uniforms. At 11.45 am, Amanjot Ramoowalia, general secretary of the women wing of the Akali Dal, turned up at the school and distributed uniforms to five-six students before leaving the venue. The Tribune team that visited the school this morning saw several students carrying school washed and ironed uniforms. The school staff also admitted that the uniforms were already distributed, but as the Akali leader was scheduled to come to the school, we asked the students to bring the uniforms. Village sarpanch Avtar Singh said the school staff told him about arranging 10 new uniforms from a local shop for the function. “These uniforms were later returned to the shopkeeper,” he added.
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Bouncers make revellers dance to drug-trade tune
Chandigarh, December 21 Three days after the death of Radhika, a college student, due to drug overdose, the two accused, Gagandeep and Saurabh, have disclosed that they used to sell drugs to bouncers at discotheques. Pleading for extending the police custody of the accused in the court of the
Chief Judicial Magistrate, public prosecutor JP Singh said the accused disclosed to the police that they used to purchase drugs from a supplier in Delhi for further sell the contraband to bouncers in discos. “We need to confront the accused with the bouncers and identify them to get to the root of the nexus. The two used to sell drugs to the bouncers at weekends,” said public prosecutor JP Singh. The court extended the police custody of the accused by three days. They will now be produced in the court on December 24. The police said the two had purchased drugs from a person named Harjot Singh. The two met him outside a discotheque in Sector 9 last week and had purchased six grams of heroin from him. Police officials said they would visit the discotheques on weekend to check the sale of drugs. The police said Kishan Kumar, manager of Hotel Hillview, had deleted CCTV footage in which the two accused were seen along with the Radhika. The court has remanded the hotel manager to three-day custody.
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UT admn violated minority rights: NCMEI
New Delhi, December 21 Directing the UT Administration against interfering with the school’s internal administration, the NCMEI said that the Chandigarh Administration’s orders holding the school principal and an art teacher guilty in an alleged case of promotion of cyber crime and obscenity, and asking the school management to act against them was in violation of the law governing the rights of minority educational institutions under Article 30 (1) of the Constitution. The case relates to a complaint made by Meeta Goyal and TK Goyal, parents of two school students, to UT Home Secretary on November 3, 2009, alleging that school principal Kavita Dass had promoted cyber crime in the school by holding a competition to “hack servers and logins of others” and art teacher Michael Angelo had promoted obscenity by using expressions such as “she fucking hates me” in class. The UT Home Secretary ordered an inquiry against the principal and the art teacher through Director Public Instructions, who held the two guilty and asked the school management to act against them. The school then approached NCMEI, the statutory body charged with the task of protecting the rights of minority educational institutions. The school challenged UT’s orders, saying the UT had no right to interfere with the internal administration of the school, especially when the school had instituted two domestic inquiries into the complaint and found the art teacher and the principal not guilty. The school contended that in the past too, the UT Administration had conducted its own inquiry into a complaint against teacher Reema Talwar and found her guilty of corporal punishment. The UT officers had then asked the school management to terminate her services and the latter had complied. Citing instances related to the instant case, the school alleged that the Chandigarh Home Secretary, District Education Officer and Director Public Instructions had interfered in the school administration in violation of Article 30 (1) of the Constitution which gives minority institutions the right and freedom to administer their affairs. St John’s High School is a minority institution declared as such by the NCMEI under the NCMEI Act of 2005. The NCMEI after hearing both the sides ordered on December 20, “The state can’t under the garb of adopting measures destroy the autonomy of an institution or start interfering with the core of its management to render its right of administration illusory. Such blatant interference is against Article 30 (1) of the Constitution. State can only interfere in case of maladministration and in the case at hand there’s no evidence of maladministration.” The Commission headed by Chairman Justice MSA Siddiqui slammed the UT officers. “Rein of terror was let loose by Chandigarh Administration against the principal and art teacher. Print media was set into motion to undermine the school’s autonomy. During pendency of the case, efforts were made to withdraw provisional recognition to the school. The principal has undergone mental torture at the hands of insensible officers. Protectors of the law have insulted and tormented her,” the Commission ruled.
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Caught
in a crawl 5 Once the crown beauty of Chandigarh, Madhya Marg, now remains chaotic and breathless throughout the day. In the fifth part of the series on city’s traffic chaos, Tribune reporter Vivek Gupta and photographer S Chandan take the road and check out the bottlenecks.
The recent incident of the SP (Traffic) getting trapped in a traffic jam at the Matka Chowk tells the whole story of the chaotic traffic condition on Madhya Marg. The traffic condition on the 6-km stretch starting from the PGI is in a bad shape now. Despite several constables manning the roundabouts, the road remains busy throughout the day. Chandigarh Tribune team travelled on the stretch during the normal and peak hours to find out the problems faced by the commuters who battle the traffic chaos everyday. During the morning hours, the traffic flows to Madhya Marg from all possible directions. While the office space in Sectors 9, 8, 7 and 26 ensures that hundreds of vehicles jostle for space, while the rush of university and college students on two-wheelers makes the fight interesting. The inflow of traffic going towards the Civil Secretariat, Punjab and Haryana High court and the UT Secretariat mounts pressure on Madhya Marg. A constable manning a roundabout on the road said that there was always the pressure of VVIP traffic here.
In the afternoon, school buses in Sector 26, Sectors 8/7, 7/26 and Grain Market Chowk roundabouts lead to heavy traffic congestion. A constable said that to improve the traffic situation on Madhya Marg, there was a dire need to divert the school buses to some other route. He said that the road has been bearing the load of too many vehicles. Even the ambulance rushing towards the PGI gets caught in the traffic jam. The dependence of Panchkula commuters on Madhya Marg, whether it is for education, health or office work, is visible during the morning as well evening hours. A commuter Sunil said, “I think twice before travelling on Madhya Marg during peak hours.” Being one of the most important stretches of the city, the public transportation system is very active on theroad.
Officials wake up from slumber
The issue was highlighted in these columns. A meeting of the senior officials of UT Administration and Municipal Corporation was also held today. The officials also discussed the report of Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) submitted in 2009 to the UT Administration. A senior official of the UT Administration said though they had started the work on the Metro project, to tide over the traffic chaos in and around the city there was a need to start the projects like BRT (bus rapid transport) corridor, improvement and development of pedestrian path and other non-motorised transport, new links and bypasses, traffic signage and lane marking on the critical traffic intersections.
After the RITES report, the UT Administration had proposed to construct 10 bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors in the tricity to ease the ever-increasing traffic congestion.
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CTU staff threaten stir
Chandigarh, December 21 Members of the union said there was no need for the AMC as the CTU had enough staff to look after the maintenance of the buses. Pointing out the anomaly to the Secretary Transport, Anil Kumar, the union threatened to go on a strike. Ranjit Singh, general secretary of the union, said the officials were not only disobeying the orders of the Administrator by favouring low-floor buses which had high running costs, but were also adding the AMC to the purchase agreement. "The companies are already giving a three-year guarantee and the life of the buses is eight years, it is useless paying the AMC for 10 years," said Ranjit Singh.
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Surprise check at Chandigarh Club
Chandigarh, December 21 Though the officials were tight-lipped about the findings, sources said certain discrepancies regarding the commercial activity like putting up advertisements and leasing out space for sale of food items were noticed at the clubs. At Golf Club, around 8,000 expired bottles of beer were found. The excise officials directed the club management to destroy the bottles. The team on visiting the Central Club found no violations. The teams comprising three Duty Magistrates, Rajeev Tewari, Amarinder Singh and DS Baloria, was constituted on the directions of the Deputy Commissioner, Mohammed Shayin. While the Chandigarh Administration is in the process of finalising the lease money of Chandigarh Club, it has already decided about the lease money of Golf Club. A few days ago, the UT's fact-finding report on the nature of violations by the Chandigarh Club had revealed that around 3.75 acres of government land was being misused for organising functions. Apart from the misuse of the government land, certain temporary structures had been raised without getting permission from the UT Estate Office. The Administration has put on hold the approval of the revised building plans of Chandigarh Club and Golf Club till the clubs do not pay the revised lease money, running into crores. Till the clearance of the dues, the office of the Chief Architect has stayed the approval of the building plans.
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Inauguration spree continue
Chandigarh, December 21 During this span, since November 18, the only change that the green belt has seen is the whitewashing of walls at the entrance. Eyebrows are being raised as to why two separate functions were held for the inauguration of the water fountain and the green belt. Mukesh Anand, Superintending Engineer (B&R), Municipal Corporation, refrained from commenting on the issue. SS Bida, Chief Engineer, Municipal Corporation, meanwhile, said only the Mayor could give an appropriate answer as to why she inaugurated both the projects separately. Despite repeated attempts, however, Mayor Raj Bala Malik was not available for comments. Area councillor Heera Negi said that earlier, there was a proposal for a combined inauguration of both the projects, but as the green belt was not ready last month, the fountain was inaugurated first.
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Committee recommends energy-efficient units in Industrial Area
Chandigarh, December 21 The master plan committee of the Administration, in its draft master plan 2031, has recommended the development of industries that are not labour intensive. A senior official of the UT Administration said they had also made recommendations for clean, energy-efficient, low-volume and high-value industries in the phase. The official added that the committee was mulling over introducing the concept of flatted factories for the small scale industries in the area. The flatted factories will be multipurpose industrial buildings with more than one storey. The building subdivided into small units will be used for purposes like manufacturing, assembly, storage and parking. The Administration has earmarked 152 acres for Phase III in Mauli Jagran. In a survey by the UT Administration, it was found that more than 40 per cent of the industrial plots in Phases I and II of Industrial Area that were allotted for setting up of manufacturing units, were either being used to carry out activities other than manufacturing or were lying vacant even after 40 years of setting up of Industrial Area.
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Joining hands to wage a battle against heinous act
Chandigarh, December 21
Students of DAV College, Sector 10, took out a peace march from their college till Sector 17 and raised slogans against the rising crime against women in the country. A student said those involved in the gang rape should be dealt with sternly and the government should take steps to put an end to such heinous acts. A candlelit march was also organised by the student of KV-47. A girl student, Bhagya, said the act had shocked the entire nation. To express pain and anguish over the Delhi gang rape case, students of Sacred Heart organised a candlelit march on the school premises. Teachers opined that it was the duty of society to ensure that women felt secure. Hello Back! Chandigarh, an organisation, pledged to wage a battle against eve-teasing and crime against women. Students filled in pledge forms.
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Missing girl back home
Panchkula, December 21 The adolescent girl, along with a friend from Delhi, had gone to Mumbai to give auditions for a dance show. On the parents’ complaint, however, the police had booked a kidnapping case. The police said the girl had first gone to Delhi. There she and her friend sold their mobile phones to sponsor their trip to Mumbai. —
TNS
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Central secy inspects government offices
Mohali, December 21 Sanjay Kothari visited the Farad Kender, the Suvidha Kender and the District Transport Office. He also visited a Sanjh Kender in Phase XI. Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam told Kothari that Farad Kenders and Sanjh Kenders had also been set up at the sub-divisional level to provide time-bound services to people. — OC
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Man commits suicide
Chandigarh, December 21 Parmod had not left any suicide note. Parmod is survived by his wife Kamla Devi and four children.
Woman attempts suicide
In another case, 30-year-old Leena, a resident of Manimajra, consumed poison last night following an argument with her husband Mukesh. Leena had married Mukesh about one and half year ago. Mukesh is working in the Haryana Government Press Office. The couple has a one-year-old daughter. Leena and Mukesh had an argument over some issue following which the victim went in a room on the first floor of the house and allegedly consumed some poisonous substance. She was immediately rushed to the hospital and is undergoing treatment at the PGIMER.
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ESI Corporation fined
Mohali, December 21 An inquiry has also been marked. "It has to be completed within four months and the report has to be submitted to the court," held the forum
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Induction programme begins for TGTs
Chandigarh, December 21 Among the newly recruited teachers, 25 per cent are male and rest are female. Although the essential qualification for the post was graduation Bed/Ded but 70 per cent of the selected teachers are postgraduate. The selected candidates hail from Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. Officials informed that the induction programme would sensitise these teachers about their role, duties and academic inputs Like CCE, Computer Aided Learning, E-contents. Education secretary VK Singh addressed these teachers yesterday and said the most important aspect of a teacher's job is classroom interaction between students and teacher. Upkar Singh DPI (Schools), Chandigarh, Surinder Dhiya, Director, State Institute of Education Chandigarh, Chanchal Singh, Deputy-Director School Education, and other officials of the SSA were present on the occasion.
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Students conduct road survey
Chandigarh, December 21 Shalika, one of the students said the survey would help to ascertain how the existing road infrastructure was being used to handle the rush of traffic in peak hours. "All the required traffic regulations are being checked thoroughly through the survey, which will continue for the next three to four days,”
Shalika said. “We are carrying out research around Madhya Marg under the guidance of our head Dr Hemant Sood and if required, traffic on other city roads will also be surveyed," she added.
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From Schools
Children of Bachpan, a play school, celebrated their annual day at Prachin Kala Kendra, Sector 71, Mohali, with a fun-filled programme of dance and song on Friday. Parents were overjoyed to watch their children performing on a number of songs. The children of play way group danced on the songs like “sha la la la la”, “bum bum bole” while the students of nursery, LKG and UKG presented bhangra and Rajasthani dance. The children also danced to the tunes of Bollywood songs. Rt Rev Ignatius Mascarenhas, bishop of Shimla-Chandigarh Diocese, presided over the function. The Bishop told parents to exemplify their children by their deeds and actions and not just talk. School games Students of pre-primary wing at Saupin’s-32 participated with enthusiasm in various sports activities such as one-legged race, balancing of balls, hop for candies, dribbling of balls, relay race on Friday. The focus of the games was the overall development of children. Parents also participated in the event. The function ended with a rhythmic dance by the students Annual function
Rainbow International School, Sector 27D, Chandigarh, organised their annual function on the school premises on Friday. Avtar Singh Brar, former Education Minister, Punjab, was the chief guest on the occasion. Nasib Singh Gill, former minister, Punjab, was the guest of honour on the occasion. The programme began with a prayer, which was followed by a welcome speech by the director S Lakhwinder Singh. Students presented various items during the function. Prize distribution function Kendriya Vidyalaya 3 BRD,AFS, Chandigarh celebrated its annual day and prize distribution function on Friday. Air Cmde Suresh Singh, VSM, AOC, 3 Base Repair Depot, Air Force, Chandigarh was the chief guest on the occasion. Sham Chawla, principal, read the report of the vidyalaya's activities. The chief guest appreciated the exhibitions displayed by different clubs and the show of cubs and bulbuls. Doon International School, Sector 69, Mohali, organised an intra-class group dance competition on Friday. The competition was organised to celebrate the spirit of Christmas and to encourage the young students to participate in such events. Parents were also invited to adore and encourage their children perform. Attired in colourful dresses, the students gave impressive performances. Bengali dance by the students of class I enthralled everyone. Christmas celebrated Ashmah International School celebrated Christmas with fervor and gusto at Sector 70, Mohali. The school was decked up with the festive lights, balloons and ribbons. The students had decorated Christmas and wore colourful dresses. As the little ones were dancing to the tunes of jingle bells, the young Ashmians asked Santa for a novel gift of freeing the planet Earth from the problem of global warming and corruption. Golden Bells Public School
Golden Bells Public School, Sector 77, Mohali, celebrated Christmas with energy and enthusiasm on Thursday. The children sang carols. Various activities and events were organised during the occasion. Santa Claus arrived on a red scooter and distributed sweets to the children. —
TNS
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Doaba college students develop all-terrain vehicle
Mohali, December 21 The ATV can be used in fields, deserts and muddy areas. It has a maximum velocity of 80 kmph, peak acceleration of 2.4 m/s2 and deceleration of 38.5 m/s2. Regarding other technical specifications, the ATV operates on a 245 cc, 7.5 kW, 4,000 rpm greaves single-cylinder engine that can use both petrol and CNG and produce a torque of 18.6 Nm @ 2,600 rpm. The bore and stroke of this engine are 86x68, dimensions 376x341x484 and dry weight is 45 kg. Mahindra gio 5-speed (4 forward & 1 reverse) manual gear system and Maruti 800 disc caliper brake assembly have been used for the front and rear wheels. Iron tubes of 3 and 1.6 mm have been used for roll cage and chassis and aluminium sheet for making all types of car clamps. Two types of axles have been used - Maruti 800 front axles and Mahindra gio axles. The total cost of this project was Rs 1.35 lakh. The project was carried out under the supervision of Prof US Kooner, HoD, Mechanical Engineering, DIET. Technical support was also provided by Rajinder Singh, director, Sentech. Some help about suspension, braking, etc, was taken from the Society of Automobile Engineering. The students involved in this project were Vineet Malik, Yagpreet Singh, Vishwanath Thakur, Vishal Singh Thakur, Satnam Punia, Nitash Gaur, Navdeep Singh, Paramveer Singh, Puneet and Vikash Bishnoi. Manjit Singh, executive vice-chairman of the DGC, congratulated the students and announced a special cash prize for them. Dr Daljit Singh, Director-General, DGC, said such projects were intended to inculcate an ability to handle real-world engineering challenges in the students, such as designing and manufacturing a device within the specified parameters and constraints.
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Chandigarh, December 21
As if it was not enough, the school staff reportedly arranged 10 new sets of uniforms from a local shop with a promise to return the same to the shopkeeper after the function. 
Chandigarh, December 21
It is impossible to evade traffic during peak hours on the Madhya Marg. Around 15-20 minutes is wasted here. Auto-rickshaws are a nuisance and take away a lot of our time and energy.
Leave aside office hours, the Madhya Marg remains chocked throughout the day. In the last one year, there has not been a day when I have not been caught in a traffic jam. Dependency of the Panchkula and Mohali commuters on the Chandigarh roads is one of the main reasons for the traffic chaos here. 
Traffic position in the city has become worrisome and it is visible everywhere. It is not possible to pass through Matka Chowk without wasting your time. Various roundabouts en route to Transport Chowk too remain chocked most of the time. 
It is sad to see the city’s roundabouts becoming a major hindrance to the flow of traffic. Makta Chowk, which was once the city’s major attraction, has lost its sheen due to traffic chaos. It seems the city will no longer remain the same. 
