Panchkula, October 28
Fearing something bad had happened, Sahil’s elder brother Ricky kept on calling on his cellphone not knowing that he had died.

Even during the birthday bash, Ricky called Sahil and asked him to come home immediately.

A passer-by noticed Sahil’s cellphone ringing and informed Ricky his brother had been killed in the accident. Celebrations turned into sorrows for Sahil’s family after hearing the tragic news. Ricky said Sahil had told him that he would come home after the party. “It will be a black Diwali for us as Sahil used to celebrate the festival in a grand way,” said Sahil’s relative. Navrattan and Sahil had asked their friends to accompany them to Zirakpur, but they refused as it was getting late.

Chandigarh, October 28
A six-member committee of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has proposed to hire consultants from Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to assist the civic body to manage waste generated in the city.

The report prepared by the committee will be tabled in the next General House meeting of the MC. The objective of the study is to develop a comprehensive municipal solid waste management plan for the city. It also includes development plan for environmentally sound management of the existing dumpsite and the new landfill site. The report was under consideration for the past one year.

Recently, Chandigarh Tribune had highlighted the problem of poor sanitation and garbage segregation and disposal system in the city in its ‘Better Chandigarh’ campaign. Confirming the development, MC Joint Commissioner Rajiv Gupta said they would table the agenda in the house meeting on October 31.

The agenda was prepared last year after former Mayor Raj Bala Malik, BJP councillor Davesh Moudgil, nominated councillor Surinder Bahga and MC officials went to study the waste management plan at Nagpur. As per the initial plan, the cost of the project would be around Rs 60 lakh. The first phase would include developing overall plan for the management of the municipal solid waste generated from city. In second phase, it would assist to MC in the evaluation of tender documents.

Chandigarh, October 28
The Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) suffered a loss of around Rs 3 crore as its long route buses could not complete the scheduled kilometres allowed under the reciprocal agreement with other states.

Due to curtailment of kilometres owing to shortage of operating staff and withdrawing of buses from long routes, the CTU could not earn the projected revenue.

Under the reciprocal agreement, buses owned and operated by the state transport undertakings of the two states are allowed on inter-state routes.

During the 2011-2012 fiscal, the audit department found that due to the shortage of staff, the CTU had to bring down the operational kilometres by 10 per cent.

In depot number 1, the percentage of non-operational kilometres increased to 21 per cent in March 2012 as compared to 6 per cent in April 2011. This resulted in a loss of Rs 1.55 crore.

In depot number 3, the CTU could not cover 13.86 lakh kilometres out of the total 127.77 lakh permitted, resulting in the loss of Rs 1.21 crore.

The CTU ended up paying Rs 12.56 lakh as special road tax for operating buses between Chandigarh and Shimla. A review has been sought for similar tax paid for other inter-state routes that were not fully operated.

The CTU has an ageing fleet of 167 buses. Out of these 78 are running on long routes to Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Punjab. Only 20 long route buses are presently running to different destinations in Punjab.

Panchkula, October 28
A court today asked an insurance company to pay a claim of Rs 15 crore to the family of accident victims.

A Panchkula industrialist and his family were killed in a road mishap at Balachaur.

Ashwani Aggarwal, a resident of Sector 17, Panchkula, was on his way back to Panchkula with his wife Pooja, son Dhruv and Archit in his car when it was hit by a truck at 1.30 am on October 30, 2009. Ashwini’s nephew Archit and driver Pawan Kumar were also killed in the accident.

The insurance firms has been asked to pay Rs Rs 6.33 crore for Aswhini’s death, Rs 8.33 crore for Pooja’s death, Rs 1.5 lakh for Dhruv and Archit and Rs 16 lakh for Pawan’s death.

The claimants were Ashwani’s daughter Madhvi, a student of Class 12, and her grandmother.

The relief comes just a day before the fourth death anniversary of the victims. Ashwani was living with his parents and elder brother in Sector 7 before shifting to his newly constructed house in Sector 17 a few months ago before the accident.

The truck driver, who had fled, was arrested and awarded two-year imprisonment.

Chandigarh, October 28
The sensitive ecosystem of Sukhna Lake has been put at stake for promoting tourism through regular cultural activities in the area. The last few months have seen a spurt in the number of such cultural activities, mostly organised by CITCO and the Department of Tourism. By succeeding in the endeavour of attracting residents and tourists, these fests are disturbing the eco-sensitive zone.

The just concluded Chandigarh Street Art and Food Festival saw a heavy footfall and a plethora of noisy activities, such as live music performances, besides traffic and parking chaos.

Additional Director, Department of Environment, PJS Dadwal says the lake has been declared a silent zone, but when big cultural functions take place, it becomes impossible to keep a check on the noise limit.

City-based advocate Ajay Jagga, who recently raised the issue through a complaint to the Adviser to UT Administrator, KK Sharma, says these functions were in complete violation of the silent zone rules fixed for Sukhna Lake by the local administration. He says, ironically, the government departments are the biggest violators.

“It is not only creating problems for the joggers, but also affecting many exotic migratory birds at the lake,” he said.

City-based birdwatcher Narbir Singh said the lake should not host any fair that attracts too many people. He says, sadly, it has become a regular affair.

“The administration should strictly ban any function at the lake, especially from October to March, when migratory birds visit the lake. During the remaining year, only simple affairs, such as exhibitions, street plays and awareness campaigns, should be allowed, that too at the cafeteria end,” says Narbir Singh.

Rima Dhillion, member of the NGO Avian Habitat and Wetland Society, Chandigarh, says people have started disturbing the ecosystem at the regulatory end of the lake as well.

“The need of the hour is for the administration to designate a proper area for recreational activities at the lake, with proper dos and don’ts,” she says.

Former principal of the Chandigarh College of Architecture Professor Rajnish Watts says all the cities need public spaces where residents can come together for collective celebrations. He, however, cautions against the celebrations going overboard.

Chandigarh, October 28
The 18th CII Chandigarh Fair concluded today with an overwhelming response. All the pavilions at the fair attracted huge crowds who purchased a wide variety of fine garments, Diwali gifts, decorative items, latest electronic gadgets, unique handicrafts, antique pieces, carpets, footwear, personal care, health & beauty products, kitchen appliances, home furniture, vehicles, Pakistani items, real estate products and a host of other items.

David Lelliott, OBE, Deputy High Commissioner, British Deputy High Commission, also visited the fair today with his team and purchased a few handicraft items from the Social Expo. A wide range of new launches at the 18th CII Chandigarh Fair received tremendous response from the visitors.

The Realcon pavilion, too, attracted a lot of queries for the latest and discounted offers on various newly launched projects. Sushma Chandigarh Grande by Sushma Builders, Escon Arena Township, Sanawar Hills in Kasauli, Canal View in Ludhiana by JLPL Builders and Hyde Park by DLF in New Chandigarh were some of the most sought-after new launches.

“Events like CII Chandigarh Fair are a win-win situation for both buyers and sellers as on the one hand, sellers get an access to a large number of consumers, while on the other buyers get a variety of products to choose from,” said Sagar Mangal, area head, Sales, Philips-Electrolux.

Chandigarh, October 28
A high drama was witnessed outside the Sector 26 police station today, when family members of a man who was reportedly killed in an accident alleged that the deceased was murdered and the police was shielding the accused.

The relatives also handed over the man who was with the deceased on the fateful day to the police, alleging that he was the murderer.

The body of an unidentified person was found near the UT guest house on Saturday. It was later identified to be that of 20-year-old Roshan Kumar, a resident of Colony Number 4. He had come to the city from his native village in Bihar in search of work, five months back.

The victim’s kin today gathered outside the Sector 26 police station, accusing the police of conducting a shoddy investigation.

They brought along Vikas Kumar, also a resident of Colony No. 4, alleging that he killed Roshan after a dispute.

The police, on the other hand, claimed that the preliminary investigations indicated that Vikas and Roshan were together on a motorcycle, when they met with an accident. Vikas told the police that he was riding the motorcycle, with Roshan on the rear seat, when his two-wheeler skidded and they fell on the road. Vikas got scared and ran away from the spot with his vehicle, leaving behind Roshan Lal in a pool of blood, said the police.

Roshan’s kin raised slogans against the police and dispersed only when senior police officials assured them of prompt investigation.

Mohali, October 28
The news of the rescue of three persons from Punjab kidnapped at Hong Kong brought a sigh of relief to the family and friends of the Mohali-based victim, Satwinder Singh Mavi.

A close friend of Mavi, on the condition of anonymity, said they got a message that Mavi, along with the other victims, would take a flight to India at 6 pm today.

“We all gave a sigh of relief as the ordeal finally came to an end,” said Mavi’s friend, who resides in Mohali as well.

He said Mavi’s wife did not want to talk to the police and media in this connection. The couple has a five-year-old son, he said.

He said Mavi, who works with a private bank in Chandigarh, was a very religious person.

“I was not aware of his plan to visit Hong Kong,” he said.

Mavi reportedly shifted to a new rented accommodation at Sector 71 a month back. Earlier, he resided at Phase VII.

The Mohali police, meanwhile, said it received no complaint about the kidnapping.

“We came to know about the kidnapping of two local residents, Mavi and Gurinder Singh Dhillon, through media reports,” said DSP (City 1) Rajinder Singh Sohal.

He said the Samrala police, too, had no contact information of the two victims.

Panchkula, October 28
No security norms have been followed at the Diwali trade fair which is being held at Sector 5 parade ground, Panchkula, putting lives of the visitors at risk despite of the fact that the site selected is a vulnerable place for the bad elements to act ahead of the festival. Not even a single police official is deployed at the site of the fair.

The Diwali trade fair that kicked off on October 25 is organised by the Red Cross.

Vijay Lakshmi, an official of Red Cross, as to whether the Police Department was approached, she said, “We had written to the Panchkula Police Department for providing security. But, a PCR keeps patrolling around so security is there.”

Hundreds of visitors are witnessed at the fair daily. No metal detectors have been put up at the fair to check any bad element.

“Such places where crowd comes are usually targeted by the miscreants especially ahead of Diwali. It is a highly vulnerable place and police officials should be deployed for the safety of the visitors and to avoid any mishap,” said Ragini Dua, a visitor.

She further added, “When blasts are taking place at other places, already high alert should be declared here and police should do regular checking at such places.”

Nazneen, another resident of Sector 14, said, “Anyone can target such places during festive season. Adequate security arrangements should be made.”

Panchkula Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ashwin Shenvi could not be contacted.

Mohali, October 28
An accused in the case of attack on the Naya Gaon police station on January 10, Amit Kumar Saini, today alleged he and his acquaintances were implicated in a false case by the Mohali police.

Amit, who claimed to have recorded the incident on his mobile phone, said he along with some friends and relatives had gone to the station to see a friend, Sandeep Sandhu, who was detained by the police.

“When we tried to argue for his release and contacted mediapersons, the police registered a false case against us,” said Saini in a press conference in Chandigarh.

Refuting the allegations, Mohali DSP (City 1) Rajinder Singh Sohal said they had to summon extra force when the accused attacked the police station.

“They are lying to save themselves. Why didn’t they produce the video recording in the court?” said DSP Sohal.

The police had registered a case under Sections 307, 450, 353, 186, 224, 225, 506, 294, 355, 440, 427, 148 and 149 IPC read with Sections 3 and 5 of the Damages to Public Property Act 1984 against Saini, Sandeep Sandhu, Pritpal Kaur Pawan Sandhu and others.

Chandigarh, October 28
The UT Food and Supplies Department today raided shops at the Sector 15 rehri market and seized 10 domestic gas cylinders being used for commercial purposes illegally.

Separate cases under the Food and Supplies Act have been registered with the police. The raids would continue in the coming days, said the officials.

Chandigarh, October 28
After running from a community centre in Sector 4 for more than a decade, Panchkula Municipal Corporation is all set to move out. For, the Haryana Urban Planning and Development Authority have finally allotted land for establishing the MC office in Sector 3 Panchkula.

As a petition filed in public interest on the issue came up for resumed hearing before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the state counsel claimed that HUDA had allotted 1.85 acres in Sector 3. He also told the Bench that in another two years' time, the construction would be over.

The Panchkula civic body was upgraded to the status of Municipal Corporation in August, 2011, but its officials continued to operate from the makeshift office in the community centre.

The development is significant as initially HUDA had short-listed land for the Municipal Council in Sectors 3, 4, 20 and 21, but could not finalise the same. Otherwise also, the MC officials have all along been claiming that they had requested HUDA several times to allot land for constructing the building.

The failure of the MC officials to vacate the centre had led to resentment among Sector 4 residents.

Mohali, October 28
A 28-year-old woman today accused three persons of raping her. A resident of Phase I, the woman alleged that the main accused, Paramjeet Singh, alias Pamma, had been raping her for past several months, while making false promises of marrying her.

In her complaint, the woman also named Pamma’s friend Ravi and another elderly person.

The woman has an eight-year-old child from an earlier failed marriage. She also accused Pamma of taking her jewellery to acquire a loan to start a business.

The police was yet to register a case till the filing of this report.

The station house officer (SHO) of the Phase I police station, inspector Dharampal, confirmed that he had received a complaint in this regard.

Chandigarh, October 28
As part of its ongoing founder’s week celebrations, students of the junior wing of Vivek High School, Sector 38, presented a play “Alice in Wonderland” at the school auditorium here this evening.

The dramatisation of Lewis Carrol’s 1865 novel “Alice in Wonderland” was a runaway hit. The students of class III brought the stage to life.

The quick pace of scenes, catchy tunes and splendid dialogues, all entwined to breathe an air of freshness into this adaptation.

The underlying message in the play is about personal growth, as we learn a great deal from a girl who goes through wonderland, trying to solve its mysteries and answering the inquisitions.

The concept of a wonderland is a place wherein extraordinary things can happen and open up all kinds of possibilities. Alice was an incredibly giving story with a lot of room for imagination and individuality.

The script, direction, sets and costume were done by the staff and the little actors, who enjoyed every minute of the preparation and presentation.

An exhibition titled “Indradhanush” displaying the art work produced by the students concluded today.

Chandigarh, October 28
Engineering students of Chitkara University have designed a navigation glove for visually impaired persons. The glove is fitted with ultra-sonic sensors that alert the disabled person if there is any object on the direction of the hand in the range of 3 meters.

A team of Chitkara University students, including Abhinav S Verma, Anchal Gupta, Kartar Kaur, Chirag Rajpal and Gursimrat Singh Bhullar, has come up with the glove.

Team captain Abhinav said the glove named as “Live Braille” designed by them would help the visually impaired people in knowing any obstacle in the view of 180 degree.

“The person wearing the glove will come to know about objects in the range of up to 3 meters through vibrators and audio feedback installed inside it,” he said.

The vibrator is installed in all the fingers of the glove, which will vibrate on the finger opposite to which an object is detected.

Anchal, another team member, said: “With its advanced algorithms and coding, the glove is intelligent enough to guide a blind person right through a series of obstacles at blazing fast speeds and yet being reliable”.

“The device has waterproof ultrasonic sensors to know the distance of the obstacle in front and vibrators to tell the blind the distance of the obstacle,” she said.

The visually impaired can get a tailor-made customisation of the code or the hardware to meet his special needs. Till now, many features such as staircase sensing and phone dialling have been incorporated into the unit.

The team spent around Rs 50,000 in the research and development of the glove that will cost around Rs 2,500 per piece once introduced in the market.

The students said the glove was gaining international exposure and it had already been honoured as the Asia Pacific’s second best innovation for the blind at an event held in Hong Kong. It also got the first prize in a start-up competition held at IIT-Delhi.

Chandigarh, October 28
As part of its efforts to harness solar power, St John’s High School, Sector 26, installed 10 solar-powered lamps on its premises with the help of KPMG, leading providers of risk, financial and business advisory and corporate governance.

This initiative is another step in the direction of the school’s continuous efforts for environmental conservation.

Atul Gandhi, partner, KPMG, unveiled the plaque.

“The solar lamps will light the sprawling grounds and help in reducing the energy consumption of the school and create eco-friendly environment,” said Kavita Das, principal of the school.

Mohali, October 28
A two-day cultural extravaganza began at Manav Mangal Smart School here today. The event, Panache 2013, began with the school presentation followed by a prayer dance.

“Tamanna”, a dance portraying the plight of a young boy caught between the turmoil of earning a day’s wage or pursuing his dream to study, was presented in contemporary form. A mime relating to corruption depicted the freedom struggle in the country and the plight of the common man in the present scenario.

Among other items were a dance, “Khwahishein”, a Punjabi skit, “Sau din Chorke, Ik din Saadh da,” a fashion show designed on the VIBGYOR theme, and western dance.

Nearly 450 students from classes VII to X participated in the event.

Mohali, October 28
Live sketching, real-time portrait designing, clay modelling, live digital painting, 3D graphics designing, live photography, 3D gaming, face painting and mask painting competitions marked International Animation Day on the Chandigarh University campus today.

Students of the University Institute of Animation & Multimedia (UIAM), along with 750 participating students from 25 different animation institutes, colleges and schools of Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana, witnessed a live demonstration of various aspects of the animation industry. Multimedia-backed stalls depicting animation history, preproduction process involved in film production, post-production involving editing, sound mixing, lighting and rendering, 3D character designing, game designing and graphics designing in the print media attracted the students.

Harminder Singh, general manager, Prime Focus Studios, a leading MNC in the field of animation in India, along with Shaswant Sharma, HR Manager, Prime Focus, inaugurated the photo and animation exhibition, which showcased the creative projects of students of UIAM, Gharuan. Harminder Singh said the future of animation professionals from the Punjab and Chandigarh region was bright as two mega projects had been announced by the Punjab Government - an Animation Park at Mohali and the upcoming Film City at New Chandigarh.

Media cartoonist Sandeep Joshi, along with graphics designer Manpreet Jodhan, judged the performance of the participating students.

Onkar Singh, Chandigarh University, won the Best 3D Animation Clip and Sangeet Samrat won the Best Prop Design contests. Karan Rana won the Best Character Design, while Jaipartap Singh won the Best Spot 3D Photography competition. Sandeep Singh from Kala Academy was top in the contest in the Best Architectural Render category. Cash prizes and certificates of merit were given away to the winners by Rajinder Bhandari, Prof, Panjab University.