Chandigarh, May 22
“Man can tell a lie, but not the record.” With these observations, the Chandigarh bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) today dismissed an application filed by CBI inspector Balbir Singh wherein he had challenged his transfer orders.

In his application, inspector Balbir Singh had submitted that CBI DIG Mahesh Aggarwal had ordered his transfer because he did not bow to his pressure tactics. In his affidavit submitted to the tribunal, Balbir had also alleged that DIG Mahesh Aggarwal was responsible for leaking the information of the CBI raid on the residence of former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla in Sector 28.

While pronouncing the order on the application filed by Balbir, member of CAT Sanjeev Kaushik, said: “Man can tell a lie, but not the record. A perusal of the relevant file makes it clear that on a secret note of the applicant’s colleague, the matter was taken up and a self-contained note was prepared at the Chandigarh office by the in charge, HOZ, Chandigarh, which was endorsed to ADCBI (R), which was ultimately approved by the CBI Director on April 20 who ordered that the applicant be immediately transferred at a far away place from Chandigarh.”

“The record suggests that his transfer has been ordered for the smooth running of the organisation because the allegations against him are serious in nature. So, it can safely be held that before passing the impugned order, there is proper application of mind at the highest level. The respondent, DIG Mahesh Aggarwal, and SP Tarun Gaba, against whom the allegations have been levelled, are neither the competent authority nor they adjust their own blue-eyed boy in place of the applicant,” the order reads.

“In the present case, I find that the applicant has failed to place on record strong and convincing material in support of his plea against private respondents, Mahesh Aggarwal and Tarun Gaba, and the allegations levelled by him in the application do not inspire confidence,” the order reads.

Panchkula, May 22
With assets of over Rs 37 crore, Upender Walia and Dhanender Walia from Ward 18 is the most affluent couple in fray for the Panchkula MC elections scheduled for June 2.

An affidavit filed by Upender Walia states that she owns land worth Rs 4 crore in Mani Majra, has stake in a showroom worth Rs 1.5 crore, owns a house in Sector 21 worth Rs 3.5 crore, another house worth Rs 35 lakh, cash in hand and jewellery worth Rs 33 lakh, besides vehicles.

Her husband Dhanender Walia, who is her covering candidate, has land in Mauli worth Rs 12 crore, 118 kanals worth Rs 4 crore, 54 kanals worth Rs 3 crore , 27 bigahs worth Rs 4 crore, a house in Fatehpur worth Rs 3 crore, Rs 22 lakh in cash, shares worth Rs 2 lakh, , six kanals worth Rs 30 lakh and 27 kanals worth Rs 70 lakh.

Former councillor CB Goel, who is contesting from Ward 9, has assets worth over Rs 10 crore. Goel owns a Ford Endeavour SUV, has 25 per cent ownership in a flat at MDC, Sector 5, worth Rs 30 lakh, a shop-cum-office worth Rs 1 crore, a factory in Industrial Area, Phase I, valuing Rs 5 crore, a 350 square yard house in Sector 7 worth Rs 3 crore, cash in hand, bank deposits and jewellery worth Rs 5 lakh.

Panchkula, May 22
Presiding officers will keep the State Election Commission officials updated through SMSes during the Panchkula MC elections.

The will send an SMS to the officials every hour on the day of the elections.

State Election Commissioner Dharam Vir said sensitive booths would be videographed.

He said they had issued instructions to the Haryana Director General of Police (DGP), SN Vashisht, to maintain law and order in the town.

"Every presiding officer of the area has been asked to send an SMS to the Commission officials. The number of votes polled will also be messaged," said Dharam Vir.

He said, "Action will be taken if any new arms licence is issued during 
this period."

Today, 220 nomination papers were scrutinised by the authorities at Mini Secretariat at Sector 1 in Panchkula.

The officials will release the final list of the candidates tomorrow.

The Panchkula Municipal Corporation elections are scheduled for June 2.

The counting will be done on June 4. The voting time has been extended by one hour from 8 am to 5 pm.

Chandigarh, May 22
With the record-breaking minimum temperature of 26.8 degree Celsius today the city residents continued to reel under heat wave conditions. Records of the Met department revealed that in the past one decade, the highest minimum temperature recorded in the city was 22.2 degrees Celsius on May 14, 2011.

The maximum temperature recorded in the city today was 43.5 degrees Celsius, which was five notches above normal. The minimum temperature was recorded at 26.8 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal.

The Met department said there would be no relief from the heat wave in the coming days. The minimum temperature is likely to hover between 28 and 29 degree Celsius and maximum temperature will remain between 44 and 45 degree Celsius.

In May 2010 and 2007, the minimum temperature recorded in the city was 20 degree Celsius.

The Met department has forecast mainly clear sky on Thursday. The maximum temperature will be 44 degree Celsius.

Chandigarh, May 22
The demand for blood remains endless at the PGI, but over 3,000 units of blood have been discarded by the blood bank in the past three-and-a-half months.

Blame it on the delayed response from the departments at the PGI, or the blood bank authorities, who fail to keep a tab on the supplied units of blood. The unused units are never sent back within the prescribed time frame of 30 minutes, forcing the blood bank authorities to arbitrarily discard the units returned by doctors.

Records at the PGI’s blood bank reveal that at least 30 units of blood are being discarded everyday since February, 2013, due to delay in returning of the unused units.

“As per the rules drafted by the blood bank, the units are to be returned and safely refrigerated within 30 minutes if not transfused. Also, it is mandatory for the departments, where the blood units are supplied, to send a reaction form back to the blood bank. However, these rules cease to exist at the PGI,” said a PGI official.

A few days ago, two units of blood were supplied to the ENT department. As the units remained unused, the officials at the department kept them in the normal refrigerator (maintaining lowest temperature of 16 degrees Celsius, in the absence of low temperature freezer. When the blood units were taken back to the blood bank the next day, they were found completely frozen and hence discarded.

The PGI authorities, on the other hand, claim that the units of blood are never discarded. When contacted, PGI’s official spokesperson Manju Wadwalkar said: “The unused blood units are provided to other patients.”

The blood bank receives as many as 150 new blood units everyday from blood donation camps and stocks nearly 500 units of different blood groups at any given time.

Choreographer Saroj Khan smiles after facing a harrowing time at a school where she got locked in a washroom in Mohali. Tribune photo: Vicky Gharu

...gets locked in Mohali school’s washroom
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, May 22
Risking the lives of hundreds of patients, including newborns, Government Multi-Speciality Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, has been operating its gas plant from the main building of the hospital for the past many years.

The gas plant, Manifold Room, houses hundreds of highly combustible oxygen cylinders and is located adjacent to the labour room. The nursery where the newborns are kept is located exactly above the gas plant on the upper floor.

The gas plant, set up about two decades ago, continues to function from the heart of the building till date. A senior doctor of the hospital is learnt to have sent several advisories to the authorities about the risk involved in operating the gas plant from the main building, but to no avail.

Medical Superintendent of the hospital Dr Rajiv Vadera said, “Following a visit by the UT Adviser to the hospital in October last year, where it was discussed that the gas plant needed to be relocated at the old store unit, we had written to the engineering department to do the needful. We sent several reminders to the department, but it did not respond."

The officials are busy passing the buck. The UT Chief Engineer said the engineering wing was looking into the modalities.

The old storeroom is located towards the corner of the building with one portion of the room completely open towards the ground.

A large number of patients’ attendants can be seen sitting in the waiting area near the gas plant, who are equally exposed to the risk. The hospital is learnt to have proposed expansion of the labour room after relocating the gas plant.

Panchkula, May 22
In another bribery case, an ASI and a “munshi” of the Sector 20 police station have been accused of demanding a bribe of Rs 500 from a local resident for giving a police clearance certificate.

The complaint was filed to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Panchkula, by Sunil, a resident of Sector 20, who further marked it to the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Purnima Singh.

“My brother Pradeep is a businessman and keeps going out on business trips and for that purpose I had gone to meet the police officials at the Sector 20 police station and take a clearance certificate. ASI Ramesh Kumar and munshi Pradeep Kumar said that if I paid them Rs 500, they would give me the clearance certificate,” said Sunil in his complaint.

He further added, “When I told them that I could only give Rs 200, Ramesh said then he would not be able to give the certificate following which I complained to the DCP.”

Recently, two Station House Officers of Mansa Devi Complex and the Sector 20 police station were sent to the police lines when they were accused of taking Rs 10 lakh for letting off bookies (IPL matches) operating in their area.

The preliminary inquiry conducted by ACP Poornima Singh in this case has found both of them guilty.

The departmental inquiry is going on.

Chandigarh, May 22
Marking World Tobacco Day this year on May 31, the UT Health Department is going to promote this year’s theme “Ban Tobacco Advertisement, Promtion, and Sponsorship”.

The Administration had earlier directed that no food substance should contain tobacco or nicotine as its ingredient. The Health Department had collected samples of various “guthka” and “panmasala” brands and sent them for tests to check the contents.

Since tobacco contents were found in the samples, the Administration reinforced the notification prohibiting “articles of food in which tobacco and nicotine are used as ingredients”.

About 40 per cent to 60 per cent of the cancers of head and neck can be directly related to tobacco use, claimed the UT Health Department officials.

As per the rules, there can be no display of any tobacco product at the point of sale.

Chandigarh, May 22
A meeting of the Roads Committee of the municipal corporation was held under the chairmanship of Sat Parkash Aggarwal and attended by other members of the committee. In the meeting, the committee members decided that construction material would be provided in each division of the MC so that emergency works could be executed on time.

The members of the committee asked the officials concerned to prepare estimates regarding emergency works of all the buildings falling under the jurisdiction of the MC, including dispensaries, schools, community centres etc.

Chandigarh, May 22
While the ruling Liberal Party defied prognosticators and pundits to win the fourth consecutive election, nearly a million-strong Indo-Canadian community had its share slashed from five in the last assembly to three in the new assembly elections held last week.

While two of the winners from the Indian community belonged to the NDP — Raj Chauhan and Harry Bains - the only one representing ruling Liberals is Amrik Virk.

Incidentally, both Raj Chauhan and Harry Bains retained their seats while Amrik Virk enters the legislature for the first time.

In the last assembly, Harry Bains, Jagrup Brar, Raj Chauhan, Dave S Hayer and Harry Lalli represented the Indian-Canadian community. While Jagrup Brar lost in a tough fight, Dave S Hayer and Harry Lalli did not contest this time.

In all, 34 Indian-Canadians were in the fray. Both Christy Clark and Michael D Jong - finance minister in the outgoing government — are considered "friends" of India and both have been to India in the recent past.

Pre-election favourite New Democratic Party led by Adrian Dix, too, had its share cut from 36 to 33 in the new assembly. The only consolation for the NDP was that it inflicted a defeat on the Premier Christy Clark in the Vancouver Point Grey riding.

Christy Clark, who narrowly won a byelection in the riding in 2011 against NDP challenger David Eby, the former executive director of the BC Civil Liberties Association, lost to the same rival by over 700 votes. Christy Clark will head a majority BC Liberal government after becoming the first woman leader of her party to stage a stunning come-from-behind victory in British Columbia's 40th provincial election.

Mohali, May 22
A new technique to remove kidney stone has come as a boon to patients. Holmium laser, which has been introduced at Fortis Hospital, eliminates the discomfort and long hospitalisation associated with the kidney stone and prostrate treatment.

Chandigarh, May 22
Slamming the PGIMER for failing to prescribe generic medicines to patients and staff, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has pointed out an excessive expenditure of Rs 1.19 crore on branded medicines by the institution in 2011-12.

Pointing towards the failure of the institution in availing higher discounts offered on generic medicines, CAG in its report stated, "Either the doctors were not aware of generic medicines or they favoured chemists by prescribing branded medicines."

The drug committee of the PGIMER had prepared a formulary in 2008 that prescribes a list of approved drugs with the objective of identifying 'generic names' of medicines for the convenience of doctors. The other objective was to provide guidelines to the PGI pharmacy to ensure the availability of these generic medicines.

The PGIMER had done a rate contract with a with Delhi drug store from February, 2010, to February, 2012, for the supply of medicines at a discount of 28.8 per cent on branded and 70.20 per cent on generic medicines on MRP, stated the CAG report.

The appellate auditing body also pointed out that the scrutiny of records of the staff clinic on dispensary 'revealed that in most of the prescription slips, doctors prescribe medicines by trade name only and not by generic names'.

"The scrutiny of the records revealed that the PGIMER spent Rs 3.05 crore on the purchase of medicines from approved chemist and Jan Aushadhi Centre. Further, Rs 2.84 crore, constituting 93 per cent of the total amount spent on the purchase of medicines during 2010-11 and 2011-12, was spent on branded medicines in violation of guidelines of the drug committee," reads Para 7 of the CAG report 2011-12. The authority then concluded that the PGI authorities failed to follow the directives of the drug committee, incurring excess expenditure of Rs 1.19 crore. The PGI provides medical facility to its staff with the help of the staff clinic.

Chandigarh, May 22
Children studying at various government schools in the peripheral areas of the city are facing a harrowing time due to the lack of proper water supply. With the mercury rising further up with each passing day, these children are at the receiving end.

Children stare at non-functional water coolers at Government High School, Colony No. 4; and (below) Government Model Senior Secondary School, Karsan, Ram Darbar, Phase II, in Chandigarh.

Everyday, between 12 pm and 2 pm, these schools face water crisis. Making the situation worse, water coolers are non-functional in some schools.

A visit to Government Model Senior Secondary School, Karsan (Ram Darbar, Phase II), revealed that water coolers were not functioning for a long time, and the children had to quench their thirst with the warm and unfiltered stored water. Due to the old piping system and lack of water supply, some toilets, too, have been kept closed at the school.

“We are well aware of the situation,” said the school principal, Harbir Singh. “After getting no response from the higher authorities, we have taken some measures to overcome the situation at our own level. The water pressure booster system is updated every now and then, but problems remain. The school is in a dire need of changing the piping system, and for that we have written several letters to the engineering department, but failed to get any positive feedback. The problem has also been communicated to the Director Public Instructions (DPI) office,” he said.

When asked about the non-functioning water coolers, he said, “We have submitted the complaint with the company concerned, and its management has ensured us that new coolers would be made available to the school. We are still waiting for the delivery.”

The lack of water supply in the afternoon at Government High School, Colony No. 4, leads to unattended toilets. These reek of unpleasant odour, and have become home to mosquitoes

A similar scenario prevails at Government High School, Colony No. 4. Although the water coolers do provide cold water, this ‘luxury’ is available only in the morning hours. Even the ground floor of the school fails to receive water. Making matters worse, the lack of water supply in the afternoon leads to unattended toilets. These reek of unpleasant odour, and have become home to mosquitoes. A teacher called it the biggest problem being faced by the school.

“The school faces the problem of lack of drinking water, especially during the afternoon hours. Children do bring their water bottles but serving over 200 students needs a proper system. Students, too, lack hygiene,” said the teacher.

A sweeper at the school said, “The toilets were cleaned in the morning, but as there is no water supply in the afternoon, toilets can not be cleaned again. It is a hectic job to clean these dirty toilets in the evening.”

The primary wing of Government High School, Hallo Majra, is also facing a similar problem. The school is under construction for long. The primary wing students are served water directly from the storage tank. “The situation gets worse in summers as there are no water coolers,” said a teacher. “I will soon submit a request with the authorities for providing us with some water coolers,” said Sadhu Ram, principal of the school.

The water storage, too, is not up to the mark in certain schools. No regular sampling and cleaning record has been maintained by the school authorities. Passing the buck, the school authorities blamed the engineering department, who further put the onus on the Municipal Corporation.

Mohali, May 22
Chairperson of the Punjab School Education Board Tejinder Kaur Dhaliwal today stated that books should be prepared 
keeping in mind the needs of students.

She was speaking at a workshop held to assess matriculation books by experts and teachers. Today was the third day of the workshop.

Dr Balwinder Singh, secretary of the board, laid emphasis on the importance of language skills. He said school books must be made interesting.

Experts felt that the use of CDs during teaching could prove beneficial to students. They said books should be reviewed from time to time. Examples should be given from daily life to explain points while teaching.

Chandigarh, May 22
The faculty of University Business School (UBS) has come out in support of two professors charged with outraging the modesty of an assistant professor.

The staff in a meeting today passed a resolution to support both the professors.

A joint representation sent to the senior police officers and PU authorities states that both the professors are innocent.

A case was registered against chairperson Prof Ak Vashisht and Prof Dinesh Kumar Gupta.

Earlier too, the faculty had sided with the professors. The victim had filed a complaint against the two on April 15. To register a protest, the board of control of the department stalled a group discussion and personal interviews of candidates who had come for admission. It was after the Vice-Chancellor intervened that the group discussion resumed. Both the teachers were on leave today, following which Prof SK Chaddha officiated as the chairperson of the department.

The Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) will hold its executive meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue. PU officials stated that no departmental proceedings would be initiated against the professors until they are found guilty.

The Sexual Harassment Committee at Panjab University, which is probing the matter, has decided to hold a meeting on May 24 and has asked the complainant to bring the witness along.

Chandigarh, May 22
The first ever monthly meeting of the students the with the Panjab University (PU) authorities called as ‘Vidyarthi Panchayat’ was held here today. The students came-up with various problems along with a demand of scrutinising the attendance of teachers in classes.

The meeting chaired by the Dean Student Welfare (DSW), AS Ahluwalia, was also attended by hostel wardens. While the hostel residents raised the issue over the cleanliness in the washrooms at the boys' hostels, many students highlighted that the food at student centre was served under unhygienic condition.

One of the students of the University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (UICET) highlighted the case of an irregular teachers of their department. The issue of non-functional water coolers in the BDS department was also raised by the students. NSUI president Jeewanjot Chahal stated that they would ensure that the issues taken-up by the students during the meeting were addressed to by the authorities.

Chandigarh, May 22
The Sarva Siksha Abhyan (SSA) teachers launched a signature campaign in the city to seek UT Adminstrator Shivraj Patil's urgent attention on their regularisation issue.

The SSA teachers, who gathered under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Teachers' Welfare Association, also requested the administrator to call for an immediate meeting of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Governing Council and address the pending issue.

Arvind Rana, President of SSATWA said there were nearly 1300 JBT and TGT teachers working under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Society here, but despite assurance, their issue was still pending. "In a public hearing session held with the UT Administrator, Shivraj Patil, May last year, the Finance-cum-Education- Secretary had committed to regularise the SSA teachers shortly. But one year has passed since then and the issue is still pending," Rana Added

The association members also raised the issue of delay in submitting the revised proposal of creating the posts in Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)

The members decided that if the proposal would not be sent to the ministry till June 15, the association would launch a mass movement against the delay.

Mohali, May 22
The Gian Jyoti Institute of Management and Technology observed the Anti-Terrorism Day here yesterday.

The day was observed to commemorate the sacrifice of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and generate awareness among the masses about the danger of terrorism, violence and its effects on the people, society and the country as a whole.

JS Bedi, chairman, , administered a pledge to oppose all forms of terrorism and violence and to uphold and promote peace, social harmony and understanding among all human beings.— OC

Chandigarh, May 22
The result of the written test held for the recruitment of social security assistant, has been declared and is available on the website of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO): www.epfindia.com or www.epfindia.gov.in.