Chandigarh, April 16
Reckless driving by two PU students, who were in separate vehicles, led to a major accident on the Panjab University campus in which one of the vehicles landed in a pond opposite the administrative block. Both students were reportedly racing on the main road of the campus towards the university market.

Eyewitnesses said a boy and a girl, both students of the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS), were driving at a high speed towards the PU market when the girl, Gurvir Kaur, who was driving a Honda Civic car, hit an Innova from the rear side. The Innova was being driven by Amiteshwar, also a student of the UILS.

“It appeared that the girl was trying to overtake the Innova and while doing so she lost control over the car and hit the Innova. The Innova was then hit by an Estilo car, which was coming from the side of the VC's office. The Innova then rammed into another car and a motorcycle, injuring the motorcyclist. The motorcycle was damaged,” said an eyewitness.

The Honda car, after hitting the Innova, entered the park opposite to the administrative block after breaking a fence and finally landed inside a pond after moving around 50 metres outside the road. Fortunately, the girl driving the Honda car escaped unhurt.

The motorcyclist was taken to the PGI for treatment where his condition is said to be stable. Five vehicles, including a motorcycle, were damaged in the accident.

Shiv Lal Yadav, in charge of security at the PU, said the girl was a second-year student while the boy was a fourth-year student of the department. “The vehicles were moving at a high speed despite speed humps having been installed on the road,” he said.

Yograj Angrish, a Senate member who has remained a member of the traffic committee at the PU, said the incident had once again exposed the issue of growing traffic on the university campus and rash driving by students.

The PU authorities have referred the case to the police, which has started an investigation.

After preliminary investigation, the girl and the boy have been challaned for rash driving. The boy is the son a Punjab police official.

Chandigarh, April 16
With a record fall in the prices of gold since July 2011, city residents were seen rushing to jewellery stores, brining the daily sales up by 50 per cent in the past two days.

As the prices of gold slid by Rs 1,250 within a day, with Cyprus offloading its gold reserves, residents have been making the most of the opportunity to invest in gold, according to jewellers in the city.

“This is an unprecedented fall in the prices of gold in the past four years. Our day-to-day sales have shown a remarkable improvement. There has been a 50 per cent hike in the sales over the past two days,” said Neeraj Jain, owner of the Nikka Mal Baburam jewellery store.

“We are mainly seeing two types of buyers purchasing gold. There are some who are rushing to purchase gold, fearing an increase in the prices in the coming days. These people are generally purchasing lighter jewellery made of pure gold. There are some others who are purchasing gold for investment purposes, keeping in mind the high resale value when the rates go up again in future. These people are generally buying heavier articles,” Jain said.

According to Rakesh Talwar, president (North), Gems and Jewellery Foundation, the prices of gold are likely to go down further in view of the major economies planning to offload gold reserves and invest in the share market.

Panchkula, April 16
The ban on smoking in a public place was made a mockery of by none other than the enforcers of the law. Policemen were found smoking "beedis" at a sacred place like the Mansa Devi temple during their duty hours.

A police official smokes on the premises of the Patiala temple at the Mansa Devi shrine on Tuesday. Tribune photo: S Chandan

The nine-day Navratra festival (from April 11 to April 19) is under way at the Mansa Devi temple. More than 950 policemen have been deployed at the temple to ensure security and safety of devotees. Thousands of devotees visit the temple daily.

The policemen were so busy smoking that they did not even realise that they were sitting in a temple.

Certain policemen were found smoking near the main entrance while the others were smoking near the yagyashala at the temple.

Panchkula City Magistrate Vandana Disodia said: “Smoking in a public place and that too at a place like temple is very disappointing. It is not at all allowed. Action will be taken against the defaulters who are identified.”

Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashwin Shenvi took a serious note of the matter and said: “Relevant action will be taken against the guilty on the basis of evidence or photographs. Smoking while on duty in a place like temple is totally against disciplinary norms.”

“The authorities keep preaching not to smoke in public places and the policemen have not even spared a place like temple. You can feel the smell of smoke all around where previously you used to get the fragrance of ‘agrabatis’,” said Vimla Dahiya, a devotee. 

Passive smoking kills 6 lakh every year
According to a study, around 6 lakh people, including 1 lakh children, die every year due to passive smoking. Passive smoking is a situation in which non-smokers breathe in smoke carrying active benzene, ammonia and other hazardous fumes.

Chandigarh, April 16
While the UT Administration is yet to give any compensation to the family of 33-year-old Harpreet Singh Sodhi, who died in a road accident involving stray cattle, a councillor today initiated a noble cause by announcing that he would give his one-month salary to the family. The councillor, Mukesh Bassi has also requested to all the 36 councillors (elected and nominated) to contribute to the noble cause.

On Bassi’s proposal, nominated councillor Sat Paul Bansal has also come forward and agreed to give Rs 50,000 in addition to his one-month salary. Mayor Subhash Chawla also gave his consent for giving his one-month salary to the victim's family.

If all the councillors agreed to give their one-month salaries to the family, then they would get a total of Rs 1.92 lakh as contribution from the councillors. Each councillor gets Rs 5,000 monthly honorarium. The Mayor gets Rs 15,000, Senior Deputy Mayor Rs 6,500 and the Deputy Mayor gets Rs 6,000 as honorarium.

Appreciating Bassi's initiative, Harpreet’s mother Jagwinder Kaur said they were thankful that a councillor had appealed to all his fellow councillors to provide monetary help to the family and was pressing for compensation and a job to his next of kin.

Nominated Councillor Sat Paul Bansal said besides financial help, he would be always ready to provide help to the family. The BJP councillor, Arun Sood, said they welcomed Bassi’s initiative. They would raise the issue of more compensation and a job to the victim's next of kin at the coming House meeting.

The letter sent by Mukesh Bassi to all the councillors reads: “I shall also request you to join hands and contribute to this noble cause. Awaiting your response on the same so that we can all make a meaningful contribution to the welfare of the deceased's family. Though this financial help is nothing in terms of loss suffered by the family, in addition to that we all MC councillors will fight jointly for compensation and a job for his next of kin.”

Victim's wife seeks job, compensation

Gurpreet Kaur, the victim Harpreet Singh Sodhi's wife, on Tuesday made a legal demand representation to the office of the Mayor and Municipal Commissioner. The representation says: "The failure of the authorities to curb the stray cattle menace in the city, is the single prominent cause of the untimely death of the 33-year-old Harpreet.” She has demanded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh and a government job for her. 

Adviser not available despite appointment

Members of Harpreet Singh Sodhi's family had gone to meet the UT Adviser but they failed to meet him as he was attending a meeting. They said the Adviser’s office had given them an appointment for today but despite that there was nobody to meet them. 

Chandigarh, April 16
Around 200 passengers of Chandigarh-Srinagar SpiceJet flight had a harrowing experience at the Chandigarh Airport today where they had been stranded for more than two hours. The passengers of the SG 151 flight, after the delay of half an hour against the schedule time of 1:10 pm, were asked to vacate the aircraft, which had developed some technical fault and was unable to take off. All the passengers were asked to get their boarding passes reissued from the airlines authorities.

After some time, the authorities informed the passengers that owing to the technical fault there would be further delay of an hour in the flight take-off. The passengers protested and demanded that the authorities should clarify whether they will be able to board the flight today.

The worst effected were the passengers from Mumbai who arrived at the airport in the morning and had to board their connecting flight to Srinagar from Chandigarh. Adding to the passengers' woes was no refreshment had been arranged for them by the staff.

A representative of SpiceJet, Manmeet Singh, said there was an apprehension of a technical fault in the aircraft, but after an inspection of the plane by engineers no fault was found.

A 52-year-old passenger, Sanjeev Malhotra, complained that it was a sheer mismanagement on the part of the airlines staff that they did not even bother to provide refreshment to the stranded passengers. It is strange that no information was given to the passengers about the re-scheduling of the flight timings by the airline. He said according to the ticket issued to him, the departure time of the flight is 12:50 pm whereas it was revised to 1:10 pm.

Another passenger, Sanjeev Sarin questioned as to who will compensate for the harassment suffered by the passengers, especially the children who were kept waiting for so long.

Chandigarh, April 16
The whistle blower in the sector 41 market booth scam, Dinesh Sood, has alleged that despite his repeated representations, the Estate Office has failed to issue him the copies of the reports of inquiries conducted by PS Shergill and a three-member probe committee, which submitted its action taken report to the UT Adviser.

On the other hand, the Estate Office has asked him for the details of the alleged beneficiaries in the booth scam. "I have already submitted the details to the inquiry officer. Now, I am being again asked to submit the same details," he said.

The three member committee has initiated proceedings in the case of eight allotments that have been found to be made in violation of the terms and conditions laid down for the allotment of booths in the Krishna Market, Sector 41.

The whistle blower stated he had given a list of the booths that were either sold on the GPA or had been rented out by the allottees in violation of the terms and conditions for allotment.

Chandigarh, April 16
The Central Government has drafted a revised senior citizens policy, which is under consideration and will be approved by the Centre soon. This was stated by Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Kumari Selja on the occasion of the 17th foundation day of the Chandigarh Senior Citizens Association (CSCA) and the launch of a unique project, ‘Kalpana’. The project will especially benefit the girls of the weaker sections of society. It has been aimed at supporting them financially in getting higher education.

Former president of association Keshav Chander stated that the association would shortlist girls of from classes X and XII in the tricity, who had constantly performed excellently in exams but faced problems in getting higher education due to financial constraints. He said the association would assist these girls in continuing their higher studies whichever stream they opt for. 

Panchkula, April 16
Commuters were a harassed lot when around 2,000 members of the Sarv Karamchari Sangh blocked traffic on the main Panchkula-Chandigarh route for about three hours to press for the fulfilment of their demands.

The protesters, who were going to meet the Haryana Chief Minister, were marching from the Yavanika park in Sector 5 to Shakti Bhawan Chowk. They were to take the route towards the sectors 17/18 chowk, but seeing a police naka on the route they went towards the Kalka-Chandigarh highway and blocked the traffic.

A huge police force was present at the spot. At around 4.30 pm, the police dispersed the protesters and they were not allowed to cross the Panchkula border.

The agitators, mostly clerks, alleged that they were not getting salaries on a par with their Punjab counterparts.

"I had to reach Chandigarh for an important assignment. We were not aware that some kind of procession is being taken out by people," said Rishi Ahuja, a commuter. 

Mohali, April 16
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, will visit Punjab for the annual convocation of the Chandigarh Group of Colleges (CGC) to be held on the Landran campus on April 18.

A spokesperson for the CGC said today that degrees would be conferred on 1,500 students of the engineering, computer applications, pharmacy, business management, hotel management, biotechnology and BEd courses.

In addition to the presentation of degrees, Dr Kalam, who would be the chief guest, would also honour the students of the Chandigarh Group of Colleges who had excelled in academics, sports and other activities.

Chandigarh, April 16
The Education New Zealand and the Immigration New Zealand have come together to help expand awareness on New Zealand Specialist Agents (NZSA) among the students planning to pursue tertiary education in New Zealand.

In a joint interaction, officials of New Zealand highlighted the role of NZSA in the student visa process.

The New Zealand Specialist Agent programme is administered by the Education New Zealand in partnership with the Immigration New Zealand within the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

NZSA agents were selected and accredited by Education New Zealand only after undergoing thorough training and a rigid assessment programme encompassing various parameters, said Jugnu Roy, education marketing manager.

Mohali, April 16
Punjab Industry and Technical Education Minister Anil Joshi yesterday said the state's new industrial policy would be announced by April-end.

The minister, who was speaking during the inauguration of the state-level Punjab Placement Fest-2013 organised by Chandigarh Polytechnic College, Gharuan, in association with the Punjab State Board for Technical Education, said special concessions would be given to entrepreneurs to set up their units in the "kandi" and border areas of the state.

Joshi said the government would reduce "inspector raj" for getting approvals from various government agencies. Approvals for setting up industrial units in Punjab would be made transparent and a single-window approval and time-bound system would be introduced to boost investor confidence and project the state as an investment hub.

The minister announced a special grant of Rs 2 lakh for Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Gharuan, to facilitate the setting up of science laboratories.

The fest on its inaugural day saw IBM conducting its placement drive on the campus of Chandigarh University in which diploma engineering students of various streams from polytechnics participated. During the 10-day fest, more than 25 MNCs would offer more than 1,000 vacancies to diploma engineering students of the state.

Chandigarh, April 16
Two earthquakes each of 3 to 5 richter magnitude hit Chandigarh, its adjoining areas. Though no loss of life and property has been reported so far, panic was triggered all around the city.The Indian Meteorological Department, Chandigarh, confirmed having recorded two earthquakes,

The first quake was of three Richter scale and hit the region at 2 pm. It had its epicentre in the Arunachal Pardesh. Since the earthquake was mild, it was not felt by many residents. The second earthquake that hit the region at 4.14 pm was so powerful that it forced people to come out of their houses. It had its epicentre in Pakistan-Iran border region.

The director of the Indian Meteorological Department, Surinder Pal Singh said that the two earthquakes recorded today did not affect the city much as the epicentre was far away from the city because of which its intensity far lesser.

Veena, a resident of Sector 50, said that she felt a sudden shaking of her chair. "The fan on the roof was also swinging. Sensing that it was an earthquake, I immediately rushed out of my house". Many residents of the city raised alarm and ran out of their houses. Some even drove their cars away from houses. Panic remained in the minds of residents. Resultantly, many residents living in high-rise buildings are planning to spend the night with friends and relatives, living on ground floors.

Chandigarh, April 16
Continuing their drive against the misuse of water, the teams of the Municipal Corporation today issued as many as 35 challans to violators. In the last two days, the MC has issued 80 challans in all to the violators, who were found wasting drinking water by washing cars and watering lawns.

In addition to that the MC has disconnected water meters of 60 defaulters in last five days, who have not cleared their dues. In Manimajra, the MC officials have even submitted police complaint against three defaulters, who were using water from supply line, despite their connections were disconnected.

The Mayor, Subhash Chawla said that the defaulters had started paying their dues. During the last one-week, they have received around Rs 20 lakhs from the defaulters. The MC, Vivek Pratap Singh said that this year they had started the drive earlier as compare to last year. — TNS

Mohali, April 16
Students of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) continued their protest here today in support of their demands. The students said no representative from the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers had come to meet them to resolve the issues.

Expressing lack of confidence in the NIPER authorities in sorting out their problems, the students said: They will consider calling off their protest only after a ministry representative meets them”.

Sources said the institute authorities had invited the students twice during the day for a meeting on their demands, but they did respond.

The demands of the students include the appointment of a regular director at NIPER; a probe into the alleged bungling of funds at the institute; UGC recognition of degrees like MS (Pharm) and Phd awarded by NIPER; better hostel facilities; appointment of dedicated placement officers; an optimum student-teacher ratio at the institute; improvement in medical facilities; and the release of research funding in a timely manner.

The students had yesterday begun the protest after a gap of 15 days. They had earlier on March 28 staged a protest against the termination of services of Prof Parikshit Bansal by Director Dr KK Bhutani. The protest went on for a few days and was suspended following meetings between the authorities and the students to solve the problems.

Chandigarh, April 16
More than 4,000 students of BCom-II at PU-affiliated colleges in Chandigarh and Punjab might have to appear again for the cost accounting examination as the referral committee of experts, which was constituted by Panjab University to look into the complaint made by students regarding the goof-up in the question paper, has recommended to the examination branch that the exam should be conducted again.

Based on the recommendations of the committee, the Board of Control (BoC) will take the final decision on April 25.

Recently, the question paper of cost accounting, which was supposed to carry both theoretical and numerical-type questions, was completely theoretical in nature, following which the students made a complaint to the university.

The committee in its report has observed that paper setters didn’t follow the guidelines for setting the question paper, which led to such a situation.

The committee said the exam should be conducted again and the students should get a fair opportunity to score marks.

Sources said the committee had also suggested the date on which the exam could be held.

Parvinder Singh, Controller of Examination (CoE), PU, confirmed that they had received the report of the committee suggesting the re-examination.

“The issue will be discussed in the BoC for the final decision,” Singh said.

PU officials said the option of giving grace marks was not feasible. Out of the total 80 marks, there was supposed to be 40 marks for theoretical and the equal marks for numerical-type questions. However, the paper setters didn’t even give a single numerical-type question.

“The university can’t give a grace of 40 marks to each student as the students who have not attempted even a single theory question will pass in the exam by scoring 40 marks,” officials said.

PU officials said: “Once the BoC approves the re-examination, the students will be informed about the date of the examination”.

Chandigarh, April 16
The ICSSR North-Western Regional Centre, Panjab University, in collaboration with the Department of Public Administration, PU, and Senior Citizens’ Council for Human Resource Development, Chandigarh, today organised a seminar on “Education Development - Public Private Partnership” at Panjab University. The two-day seminar will conclude on Wednesday.

Professor Shital Parkash introduced the programme and highlighted the achievements of Professor CM Behl, in whose memory the seminar was organised. He was the founder director of the Computer Centre, Panjab University.

Professor BS Ghuman, while introducing the theme, emphasised that the biggest challenge in India was to convert demographic dividends into advantage of the country and for converting this challenge into opportunity, higher education would play a pivotal role.

He also referred a couple of problems of higher education such as low access, mediocre quality, low level of funding, over regulation and low employability.

Professor GK Chadha, President, South Asian University, New Delhi, in his keynote address, opined that education played a significant role in the development since the Independence.

Chandigarh, April 16
The UT police today gave appreciation certificates to students of the PEC University of Technology who participated in a door-to-door campaign conducted recently by it under the title “Young Heroes of the Safe City”. The programme was organised at the PEC auditorium.

Through this campaign, residents of the city were sensitised on security measures and security gadgets at their residential as well as commercial places for the security purpose. DIG Alok Kumar, who was the chief guest on the occasion, distributed appreciation certificates among the students. The students who took part in the drive shared their views and experiences during the function. They also appreciated the initiative taken by the Chandigarh police to sensitise the residents of the city on their security. — TNS