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No more fountains for city
Chandigarh, July 2 There are 36 fountains in various gardens, green belts and other parts of the city, which come under the MC. The decision of the UT Administration was conveyed by UT Adviser KK Sharma to city Mayor Subhash Chawla and MC Commissioner Vivek Pratap Singh at a coordination meeting between the UT Administration and the MC today. Confirming the development, the Mayor said in case fountains were required for tourism projects in any part of the city, the MC could install these after taking approval from the Administration. In small green belts and other parts, the Administration had banned the installation of fountains, he said. The MC Commissioner said officials of the Administration were unhappy as they felt that the MC was installing fountains at places where there was no logic for these. During the past two years, there was a race among councillors for installing fountains in their respective wards. The MC was spending money ranging from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 80 lakh on the installation of these fountains. SAD councillor Malkiat Singh said if it was a policy decision, it was a welcome step. The MC should not adopt a policy of installing fountains in wards of ruling party councillors while ignoring wards of the councillors belonging to the opposition. Green paver blocks At a meeting of the coordination committee, the UT Administration also advised the MC to encourage the installation of green paver blocks instead of the normal paver blocks in the city. At present, green paver blocks have been installed at Paryavaran Bhawan, Sector 19, and in Sector 17 behind the RLA office. Green paver blocks ensure not only a green cover but also allow rainwater to percolate down into the earth, recharging the groundwater.
Ill-maintained fountains After having spent crores of rupees on the installation of fountains in different parts of the city, the authorities seem to be paying scant regard to their maintenance. A number of fountains are either not working properly, or have stopped working completely. In some areas, fountain parts have been stolen.
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Panchkula realtor gets extortion call from Ambala jail
Panchkula, July 2 The police traced the call to Ambala Jail and found that it had been made by Kuldeep, alias Manga, who is serving a jail term there. The police suspects that the gangster is running an extortion racket from the jail. “Investigations are under way to find out how the prisioner managed to get a mobile phone in the jail. We are coordinating with the jail authorities in this regard and necessary action will be taken,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ashwin Shenvi. Manga is a sharp shooter of the 45-member Nishan gang and had executed the Bobby murder case. Manga was involved in a firing incident at businessman Anil Bhalla's residence in Sector 4, Panchkula, in September 17, 2011. At that time also, he had made an extortion call from Central Jail, Ambala. SHO of the Kalka police station Dalip Kumar said a case had been registered against Manga and he would be brought on production warrants from the Ambala jail on July 6. “Chaman Lal got a call from Manga, who demanded Rs 5 lakh from him and threatened to kill him if he failed to do so. Manga told him that he would come out of the jail within three months and would eliminate him if he failed to meet his demand,” the SHO said, adding that the cyber cell traced the call to Manga. On September 17, 2011, Manga had made an extortion call to Anil Bhalla, a businessman based at Sector 4, Panchkula, demanding Rs 10 lakh from him. Bhalla refused to pay the amount. However, when he went back home from a friend’s place, he saw a bullet mark on his Skoda car parked at his residence. Police investigations revealed that the shot was fired by Manga’s accomplices. Munshi who turned gangster Panchkula, July 2 Nishan Singh is also lodged in a jail. He was in the news recently for
kidnapping Shruti, a resident of Faridkot. Involved in three murder cases, six dacoity cases, four attempt-to-murder cases and several kidnapping and cheating cases, Manga was a sharp shooter of the gang. The gangster is suspected to be operating from the Ambala jail through mobile phones. Sources said he was in contact with a few members of his gang. In 2010, Manga was also involved in firing on Dakshin Marg in Chandigarh between the Nishan gang and the Ambala CIA. However, Manga had managed to escape.
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Close shave for passengers in bus fire
Chandigarh, July 2 Minutes after the bus, plying on the Sector 43 ISBT-PGI route, left the bus terminus, its engine caught fire. The driver stopped the bus near the rotary of Sectors 43 and 51 and called up the fire station. Sources said this was the third such incident this year. The bus was part of an ageing fleet of low-floor buses which are about to be condemned. The CTU plans to condemn around 100 such buses, but has been forced to run these due to a shortage of buses. Senior UT officials are learnt to be looking into the matter. “A bus catching fire with passengers on broad is a serious matter. Such incidents should not happen,” said an official. The official said a technical committee would probe the reasons behind the fire. CTU Workers Union president Bhupinder Singh said due to the failure of the Chandigarh Administration to procure new buses, the safety of passengers was being comprised with.
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Man gets 2-year jail for kidnapping minor
Chandigarh, July 2 The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Shalini Nagpal sentenced the convict, Nathan, to two years' imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on him. He was, however, acquitted of a charge of attempt to rape. The victim and her father had turned hostile in the court during the proceedings of the case. The UT police had arrested Nathan in a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on March 8 on a complaint of the victim's father. The police had booked Nathan on a charge of attempt to rape the daughter of his tenant after kidnapping her. According to the allegations, Nathan had taken the six-year-old girl on the pretext of taking her to a hospital to meet her mother and attempted to rape her. The victim, while testifying before the court, had denied that she was sexually assaulted by Nathan, adding that he had taken her along with him to meet her mother, who was admitted to a hospital.
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Hooda, top officials made to sweat
Panchkula, July 2 Enquiries from the officials of HUDA revealed that the compressor had been non-functional for the past three or four months, leading to inadequate cooling in the auditorium. Ashok Raina, Executive Engineer of the electrical wing of HUDA, said: “In fact, the compressor of one of the two chillers has not been working for the past three or four months. We have written to the higher authorities and even the estimates for the same are ready.” Estimates worth Rs 24 lakh have been prepared to repair the system. Panchkula HUDA Administrator Sharandeep Brar said: “The compressor will be made functional soon.” Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda presided over the function. Chairman of the State Human Rights Commission Justice Vijender Jain, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Samir Mathur and Director-General of Police SN Vashisht were the special guests. It is for the second consecutive time that the Panchkula administration had to face embarrassment during the Chief Minister’s visit. On June 26, when Hooda was here to preside over a function to felicitate physically challenged children at Sector 12-A, the cashew nuts meant for him were found covered with cobwebs. Police should protect every citizen’s rights: Haryana CM
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said today that the police force must not only be sensitive to people's rights, but also be responsive to them in our democracy. The police force should be sensitised to protect the rights of every citizen. Hooda was delivering an inaugural speech during a seminar on human rights organised by the Haryana Human Rights Commission at Panchkula. He said the police must protect the rights and interests of all, especially of the weaker sections of society such as women, children, the elderly, workers, juveniles and the convict as well as the under-trial. Steps have also been taken to protect prisoners' rights. Our approach to the issue is guided by the principle that a prisoner does not cease to be a citizen just because he has become a prisoner, he added.
Policemen jostle for refreshments
Policemen jostled for refreshments at the function. Arrangements for Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and other dignitaries were made on the second floor while for the other police officials refreshments were available on the ground floor. Police officials, including Inspector and DSP rank officials, could be seen jostling for the refreshments.
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Rain brings respite from humid weather
Chandigarh, July 2 The day began on a warmer note, with the minimum temperature settling at 28.9 degrees Celsius and the maximum 36.9 degrees Celsius. For tomorrow, the Met Department has predicted partly cloudy sky. "There is a possibility of rain within the next 24 hours. However, it will not affect the temperatures drastically. The weather conditions are likely to remain similar. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to oscillate between 36 and 34 degrees Celsius," said a met official.
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UT DIG shifted to Arunachal Pradesh
Chandigarh, July 2 During his tenure the Ministry of Home Affairs created a new post of DIG, UT Chandigarh. He was the first officer from the AGMUT cadre to be appointed the first DIG of the city following his promotion. During his tenure, he had taken many steps for the modernisation of the police, welfare of police personnel, infrastructure development and initiated projects of the traffic police.
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Cop dies in harness at Mohali
Mohali, July 2 “We will conduct a post-mortem of his body tomorrow,” he added. Davinder Singh, a resident of Bathinda, was unmarried and was appointed on compassionate grounds a year before after his father Jasvir Singh’s death.
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Allegations against me false: Lawyer
Chandigarh, July 2 Advocate Arvind Thakur today filed an application in the court of JMIC Parvesh Singla, seeking the dismissal of the petition being not maintainable. Thakur has stated in the petition that the woman has filed a false and frivolous complaint against him with a view to tarnishing his image and to blackmailing him. He alleged that her motive was to grab his money.Thakur, in his application, has accused advocate AS Chahal of conspiracy owing to a dispute over case fee. Thakur alleged: “Chahal had to pay him money as fee received from abroad for defending the accused in the Beant Singh assassination case. The money was received through illegal means and once I made it public, Chahal conspired to falsely implicate me,” he alleged. Advocate AS Chahal has denied the allegations.
Court asks UT officials to give status report Taking cognisance of a Nariangarh resident’s complaint against UT top police officials, accusing them of failing to register an FIR, a local court had summoned the status report from the UT police regarding her complaint. She has alleged that she had filed a complaint with the UT police in April 2013, accusing a city-based lawyer, Arvind Thakur, of domestic violence and raping her, but the police has failed to register an FIR so far. The victim had sought directions to summon UT police IGP RP Upadhyaya, SSP Naunihal Singh and other top officials.
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More files of Parsvnath case missing
Chandigarh, July 2 Two separate FIRs have been lodged with the Sector 17 police station in this regard. According to the UT officials, a reader of the SDM (East) and the assistant to the ADC have been chargesheeted. While one of the files pertained to the Parsvnath case, which was with the ADC’s office, another one pertained to a border dispute with Panchkula over land allotment to Parsvnath. Incidentally, the hearing in the arbitration case of Parsvnath is resuming tomorrow. The files that went missing from the CHB building pertained to the appointment of three contractual staff who had handled the work of the Parsvnath projects.
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Cheque donated for flood victims
Chandigarh, July 2 It includes a donation of Rs 2.5 lakh made by the Grain Market Association, Rs 1.70 lakh by the office-bearers of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, Rs 50,000 by the Market Welfare Association of Sector 46, Chandigarh, and Rs 30,000 by the Progressive Traders Association. A delegation of the senior functionaries of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal was led by president Charanjiv Singh and comprised Vinod Joshi, general secretary, and Diwakar Sahoonja, chief patron. Speaking on the occasion, Charanjiv Singh assured the Deputy Commissioner that the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal would carry on with the tradition of coming forward to provide relief to persons hit by a calamity.
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PGI staff accused of carelessness
Chandigarh, July 2 Rakesh stated that Yash Gupta came to PGI from Patiala for her PET scan as she was suffering from cancer. He said she was asked by the doctors to use the washroom before the test where she went alone and fell as she was feeling very weak. He alleged when the women members of the family, who accompanied her, requested the doctor concerned to be with Yash Gupta in the waiting room, the staff refused to allow them in the room. Rakesh alleged that no staff attendant in the ward assisted her despite she complained of weakness due to the medication given to her before the test. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the PGI, Manju Wadwalkar, stated she had not received any complaint from the family members about the incident so far. She said if any complaint is made by the family members, the authorities would definitely look into the matter. — TNS
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Power consumers face harassment
Mohali, July 2 Atul Sharma, president of the Mohali unit of the BJP Yuva Morcha and a resident of Phase II here said he had gone to deposit his power bill at around 1 pm. He was told by other consumers there that the counter was closed at 1 pm, which should have been shut down at 1.30 pm. The counter is again opened from 2 pm to 3 pm and as such he waited there so that he could make the payment. As the counter did not open after lunch, he had to return without depositing the bill. He said there were many others like him who had to return without making payments. They were reluctant to deposit their bills at the automatic machine counter because a large number of consumers were already standing in the queue. Even the counter set up at the Phase I compliant centre was found closed today. Sharma said there was no official present in the office to guide the harassed consumers. Certain employees allegedly behaved in a rude manner when the consumers tried to make enquiries about the payment counters. Senior Executive Engineer of the PSPCL AK Sharma was not available for comments.
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Rs 2.90 crore transferred to 14,478 beneficiaries
Chandigarh, July 2 The number of transactions reported for Chandigarh under the DBT is among the highest till date. The Chandigarh Administration has already notified Aadhaar letter as a valid proof of address and proof of identity for various welfare schemes being run by departments, boards, corporations, public undertakings and agencies under the administration. The administration has also facilitated the Aadhaar enrolment at its Sampark centres. More than 10.02 lakh residents have been enrolled, out of which 8.41 lakh residents have been given Aadhaar numbers in the city. — TNS
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All set for panchayat poll today
Mohali, July 2 In Mohali, candidates would contest 312 seats of sarpanch and 1,147 seats if panch in 356 villages. So far, a total of 44 sarpanches and 977 panches have been elected unopposed in 44 villages of the district. Of the unopposed elected sarpanches and panches, 16 sarpanches and 377 panches are from the Kharar block while in the Majri block, 20 sarpanches and 329 panches have been elected. The number of such candidates in the Dera Bassi block is eight sarpanches and 271 panches. Now, there are a total of 844 candidates in the fray for the seats of sarpanch and 2,511 candidates for the seats of panch in the entire district. We have issued guidelines and directions to the officials on duty, added Sidhu. “As many as 1,708 officials have been deputed at a total of 427 polling booths in the district. The number of supervisory staff is 100 and 200 officials have been reserved for emergency duty,” said Sidhu. Mohali SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said his focus would be on hypersensitive booths, the number of which was 37. “As many as 92 booths have been declared sensitive while the rest have been put in the normal category,” said Bhullar. “All policemen have been given clear instructions for holding fair and peaceful elections,” said Bhullar, adding that four SP rank officers, along with five DSPs, would supervise the proceedings in the district tomorrow. The election would take place from 8 am to 4 pm.
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Tricity scan Janta Land Promoters Limited managing director Kulwant Singh has donated water coolers, TV sets, ACs and ceiling fans to Mohali-based Ambedkar Institute of Careers and Courses of the Department of Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes. Rajwinder Kaur, principal of the institute, said he had been associated with the institute for the past seven years and helping the students with things needed at the institute. New team installed In an impressive ceremony held at Hotel Sip ’n Dine, Chandigarh, the new team of Rotary Chandigarh Shivalik for 2013-14 was installed with Arvinder Bedi taking over as the president of the club from Sham Rawal. Dr Yogesh Chawla, Director, PGIMER, was the chief guest on the occasion. Dr Chawla was highly appreciative of the values and principles that Rotary instilled in its members. Keeping in view the tragedy in Uttarakhand, Rotary Chandigarh Shivalik decided to scale down the ceremonies this year.
Dance extravaganza
Dance is the perfect depiction of emotions and the rawest form of entertainment. Rockstar Academy’s “Summer Funk 2013” was a golden leaf in the history of the tricity with some record-breaking performances by students. A mega dance extravaganza, which saw over 250 Rockstar Academy students set the stage on fire, was organised at AKSIPS Smart School on Sunday evening making it one of the most memorable evenings for over 1,000 people present at the event. One of the largest school dance shows “Summer Funk 2013” showcased over 25 dance performances of students dressed in colourful hues. It was a scintillating affair with students in the age group of 3 to 25 years dancing to some of the best melodies of Bollywood and the west. —
TNS
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PU declares BEd admission schedule
Chandigarh, July 2 Brahamrishi Yoga Training College has 20 BEd seats, Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, has 200 seats, Government College of Yoga Education and Health has 20 seats, Government College of Education has 300 seats and the Regional Institute of Mentally Handicapped has 25 seats. “Candidates with at least 50 per cent marks either in the bachelor’s degree or in the master’s degree or any other qualification declared equivalent would be eligible for admission to the programme. There will be a relaxation of 5 per cent marks in favour of SC/ST/BC candidates. Candidate with less than 45 per cent marks belonging to these categories will not be eligible,” officials said. Announcing the admission policy in the colleges of Chandigarh, PU officials said out of the total sanctioned intake of the institutions, 60 per cent seats would be filled from among the students of Chandigarh and 40 per cent seats would be for the General Pool, which would be filled from among the students who pass their qualifying examination from the recognised institutions other than those located in Chandigarh or otherwise. The officials said last date for the submission of information on the website to generate the bank challan would be July 9. The students would also have to deposit the fee in any branch of the State Bank of India using website-generated challan and its last date would be July 10 till 4 PM. “Last date for the submission of fee details like journal number, branch code and date of deposit given by the bank and uploading of photograph, signature with the rest of the information on the website will be July 11”, the officials said. The tentative merit list would be displayed on July 12. The students would be given one day to point out any discrepancies in the tentative merit list. The final list would be displayed on July 15. The first counselling would be conducted from July 17 to July 19 and the second counseling would be conducted on August 2 and August 3.
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Over 7,000 students deposit fees
Chandigarh, July 2 The students who were allotted seats are supposed to deposit their fees by tomorrow evening. The classes will begin from July 4. As per information, GMSSS-Mani Majra emerged the favourite choice among students in the science stream as its cut-off increased to 9.8 CGPA. GMSSS-16 stood at the second spot with the highest cut-off for commerce and humanities. GMSSS-35 was another coveted school for various streams. Officials said more than 7,000 students deposited their fees today. There are a total of 39 government model senior secondary schools in Chandigarh.
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French dept Prof tops PU law entrance exam
Chandigarh, July 2 Prof Anthony said it was a pleasant surprise for her as she didn’t believe that she had topped the entrance exam. “I appeared for the entrance exam after so many years. I was expecting that the younger generation will score better than me, following which earlier I was also reluctant to appear for the entrance test,” she said. Prof Anthony said she would join the course in the evening shift. The results for admission to LLB are available on the university website. There are 202 seats in the morning shift as well as the evening shift of the course in the department. The students qualifying the Common Entrance Test for LLB can apply for admission forms for the first semester of LLB till July 6. PU officials said the provisional merit list of the candidates for interview for admission to the course would be put on the notice board of the department on July 14 at 6 pm. The officials said the provisional merit list of all reserved categories, except the sports category, would be put on the notice board of the department on July 16 at 6 pm. For the sports category, the provisional merit list would be displayed at 6 PM on July 18. The selected candidates of the general category will have to deposit the fee for admission to the first semester of LLB on July 18 till 4.30 PM, while those of the reserved categories, except sports, will have to deposited the fee on July 19 till 1 PM. Meanwhile, the candidates selected under the sports category will have to deposit the fee on July 20 till 12 noon.
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Colleges denied nod to start new courses
Chandigarh, July 2 The committee authorised by the Syndicate held a meeting on Monday and denied the approval to the start these courses. There are various colleges from Punjab and Chandigarh that had applied for new courses. One of the committee members said it had also been decided that the colleges, which were already running these courses, would have to shut these from the next academic session if they failed to fulfil the compliance criterion. “The admission to first-year in these courses will be denied if the colleges fail to fulfil the compliance,” sources said. The committee has also decided that a three-member committee of the Senate members will be constituted to visit the colleges, which have sent the compliance report to check whether they have actually fulfilled the compliance or not. A committee member said the colleges that applied for MA in English had also been denied the permission to start the new course. These colleges even didn’t have teachers to teach English to BA students. It’s for the first time the university has denied approval to the colleges to start new courses before the beginning of the academic session. Earlier, the colleges after admitting the students to new courses used to apply for the approval and the university had to give the temporary approval to the courses keeping in mind the future of the students already admitted by the college in these courses.
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