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A repeat of Jyoti murder
Panchkula, November 22 The victim has been identified as Rakesh Kumari (Shikha Thakur as mentioned on her ID card), a resident of the PU campus in Chandigarh, where she lived with her brother, parents and 10-year-old son. The visiting card of an electrician was found in the purse and he was informed about the murder. The electrician informed the woman’s brother about the incident and the her residence was traced. The manner in which the victim was done to death is similar to the modus operandi in the Jyoti murder case involving Doon MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary. The police suspects after strangulating the victim, the assailant(s) in order to conceal her identity tried to crush her face with a heavy vehicle. Coincidently, the victim’s body was found on the same date when Jyoti was found dead in Sector 21 of Panchkula. “It was late last night when a passerby noticed the body lying near the Morni turn,” said the SHO of Chandi Mandir police station, Inspector Arvind. “The call details of the victim’s mobile phone reveal that the deceased had been taken in and around Chandigarh, Banur-Zirakpur and Panchkula,” said a police official, adding that three persons have been detained for questioning. Her husband had died seven years ago in an accident in Barnala. Just a month ago, the victim had joined a job with a property dealer in Sector 37 Chandigarh. She struggled hard before her death, revealed the post-mortem details. The police suspect she was physically assaulted.
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Post-mortem reveals brutal details
Panchkula, November 22
“The ribs were totally fractured, which means someone had jumped on them repeatedly while strangling her. Injury marks have also been found on the body, which can be due to resistance also,” said a forensic expert, Dr Sunil
Gambhir, who carried out the post-mortem examination. He added, “There could be attempts of sexual assault.” The death took place between 16 and 20 hours. The sim card of the victim’s phone has been recovered by the police.
Similarities with Jyoti murder case
Embarrassment to Panchkula police
A few hours after the Panchkula police flagged off a cycle rally on the theme, “Building India Safe for Women”, this murder was reported. Taking serious note of the crime, Haryana Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) K K Sharma, while commenting about the police presence in the city at night, said: “I will check with the Panchkula police and we will do maximum whatever can be done.”
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Students bear brunt of Colony Number 5 demolition
Chandigarh, November 22 The demolition drive has not only rendered more than 5,000 families homeless but has also hit the education prospects of thousands of children studying in government schools in sector 44, 45, 46 and 47. Tajinder Kaur, Principal of the GMSSS-45, said her school had more than 1,300 students from Colony No. 5 but more than 60 per cent of these students have been absent for the last three days. “The tracking of the students will be a challenging job in the days to come since there is no information where the uprooted homeless families are settling down,” she said The government middle school in Sector 45, too, had nearly 500 students from the colony and more than 250 students have not attended the school since Wednesday. Absenteeism rate is also high in the other nearby schools. Standing confused in front of GMSSS-45 where his 10-year-old son studies in Class IV, a parent, Munna, said the family was shifting to Balongi in Mohali and he had no idea how he would make his son continue in the existing school. “The prospects of getting admission in other schools are also thin as more than half of the session is over,” he said. Sita Devi was in tears, seeing her children on the road with the luggage near the demolition site. She said: “We have yet not found a place to settle down. Even our relatives have turned their back. I don’t know where my children will study now.” DPI (S) Kamlesh Kumar said those who were part of the slum but not shifting to Dhanas, the department would ensure that they all got admission in the neighbouring schools wherever they would settle down now. “A special guidelines to all the schools will soon be issued to ensure that these students are not denied admission anywhere.” Nand Lal, father of two sons, studying in class IX in GMSSS-44, said the family had no place to settle down permanently and he did not
know how his children would continue in the existing school.
Anuradha Sharma, who runs an NGO, Hamari Kaksha, in Chandigarh, said the Education Department should immediately enrol NGOs to help those rendered homeless since there was a high chance of dropouts among those children.
Those families shifting in the allotted flats at Dhanas has some sigh of relief since the Education Department has set up a help desk to ensure each student gets admission in the nearby schools.
DPI Kamlesh Kumar said enrolment had already begun in the primary school at the Dhanas flats (from 1825 to1856), being run as a makeshift arrangement till a new school building is constructed there.
For the admission in higher classes, the department has identified schools of that area, including Government Senior Secondary
School-Dhanas, Government Sr Sec School-38 (West), Government High
School-Sarangpur, Government High School-38 and other nearby schools.
According to him, he would make sure that every child shifting from Colony No. 5 would be admitted to one or the other school. “We have also constituted a team that will visit every flat in Dhanas every week to ensure that every child is admitted to school,” he said.
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Demolition drive ends, 17,000 tenements razed
Chandigarh, November 22 Soon after the drive was over by 5 pm, teams of engineering department started fencing the area. Floodlights were put up in the area to ensure that the squatters did not return. Police parties have been put in standby to keep a watch. Barring one structure in possession of one
Santosh, who had got a stay from Punjab and Haryana High Court, all other structures were demolished. Deputy Commissioner, Mohammed
Shayin, said no one would be allowed to encroach upon government land. All the officials have been asked to keep a watch on vacant government land that could be targeted by the persons evicted from the colony. Through out the day, the evicted persons were seen guarding their household goods from unscrupulous elements and rag pickers who were roaming around in the area. Not only targeting the vacant space in adjoining areas of Mohali and Panchkula, the persons evicted from Colony No. 5 have started setting up their “jhuggis” in Kajehri and other nearby areas of UT.
Vote bank splits
After demolition, over 10,000 voters (especially those who have been rendered homeless) have shifted to different areas. Against a consolidated vote bank at one place, the political parties would have do their home work again
Politicians visit Dhanas
Though politicians avoided visiting Colony No 5 during the demolition drive, anticipating backlash from the residents, the BJP and Congress leaders visited the Dhanas colony to see the problems faced by the persons who have been rehabilitated. Even the UT officials were seen supervising the operations there.
Dhawan released
Harmohan Dhawan was released from Burail Jail today. He was arrested on day one of the demolition drive. BJP leader Sanjay Tandon and others greeted him. His supporters were upset over getting little support from senior BJP leaders.
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MC agenda passed ‘without
majority’
Rajinder Nagarkoti Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 22 At the special House meeting held on November 21, which was full of chaos, at the time of voting on the issue of merger of villages, only 33 members of the house (including the local MP and the Mayor) were present, who were eligible for votes. Sources revealed that of 33 members, only 16 supported the proposal whereas 17 were against the move. Those who voted in favour were 11 Congress councillors, including the Mayor, Bansal and four nominated councillors. Senior Deputy Mayor and Congress councillor Rana Kashmiri Devi was out of the country and nominated councillor Sat Paul Bansal was also not present in the House at the time of voting. Those who did not support the proposal were 10 BJP-SAD councillors, two BSP councillors, one Independent and four nominated councillors. BJP Councillor Heera Negi was not present in the House. Nominated Councillor Surinder Bahga, who did not support the move, said just to gain political mileage, the agenda was passed without majority. Anybody can check the video recording and CCTV footage of the House meeting to know that a majority of the members did not raise their hands in favour of the merger, he added. Requesting anonymity, another nominated councillor, said they had planned to put forth their views on the merger but they were not allowed to speak. Some of the nominated councillors had raised points but they were not heard properly. Therefore, they did not raise their hands in favour of the merger, he added. BJP demands fresh meeting
Leader of Opposition Arun Sood said they would demand a fresh meeting on this issue. They will also demand to make public the video recording and CCTV footage of the meeting, he added. BJP councillor Saurabh Joshi said the agenda was wrongly passed and now the Mayor and Congress councillors will tamper with the minutes according to their convenience.
Mayor's take
Mayor Subhash Chawla said the agenda was passed properly and if any member wanted to lodge his protest, he could do so at the time when minutes of the meeting would come up for confirmation.
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All eligible candidates to be called for CTU test: CAT
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 22 An aspirant Amanpreet Singh who was not called for interview had moved CAT as he was eligible for the same but the UT Administration changed the criteria while calling the candidates, it was alleged. The Chandigarh Administration called only those candidates whose percentage of marks in +2 is 72 percent and above of general male category but did not issued the call letter and admit card to the candidates whose numbers were below 72 per cent of general male category. However, no such criteria was mentioned in the advertisement. The CAT directed the CTU to allow the applicants and all candidates in similar situation who applied for post in question but are not being called for written examination on provisional basis by issuing in corrigendum or on the internet. While issuing the order, the CAT stated that “Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and considering that prime facie a case is made out in favour of the applicants, we direct the respondants to allow the applicants who were not called due to the impugned criteria, be called for the date already fixed or any other date. These directions have been issued to ensure justice to poor unemployed candidates who applied for the posts,” stated the order. The CTU had advertised the posts for recruitment of bus conductors. As per the advertisement, the basic qualification was class XII passed from any recognised board/university. The reason for Amanpreet’s application being rejected was only reason is that the respondent has set up selection criteria that “after Scrutiny the eligible candidates on the basis of percentage of marks obtained in 10+2 examination, will be shortlisted in the ratio of 01: 20 of the vacancies in each category for the written test. Confusion over test
With the CAT order coming today, there is still confusion as to whether or not the 5000 candidates who are appearing for tomorrow’s written exam will be allowed to take the test. The Chandigarh Administration moved the High Court later in the evening and the appeal is listed for hearing at 9 am in High Court tomorrow. Only then it will be decided whether or not the test will be conducted.
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Carnival kicks off with tableau parade
Chandigarh, November 22 More than 300 students of different colleges participated in the parade which had over 20 colorful attractive floats, having portraits of from Krishh to Raj Kapoor. The carnival is being organised by the CITCO in association with the Chandigarh Tourism. The Tribune is the media sponsor for the programme. The daylong festivities included the cultural troupe performances across various states by the NZCC, along with clowning acts and special performances by children of various organisations. A special Souvenir Shop and pavilion of Le-Corbusier Centre, and Vintage Car exhibition in Museum & Art Gallery was also a part of the carnival festivity today. The Vintage and Classic Car Exhibition will remain opened for three days on the premises of Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10. There are sketches of film stars in all sides of the carnival village that had stalls made in colourful “mushroom” shape. Interestingly, each of the stalls was named after a movie. For instance, senior citizen corner was named after movie Baghban. The stall of the Alliance Francaise, Sector 36 was named as Ishq in Paris. Today evening, the programmes were decked with high quotient entertainment performances by Amit Sana of Indian Idol singer and Rajan Shrivastav of Laughter Challenge.
Tomorrow’s schedule
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Students upset as chief guest skips guard of honour, gets late by one hour
Chandigarh, November 22 In the welcome school band, 36 students of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 28, were made to stand as early as 10 am to give the guard of honour to the chief guest. As the advisor was late, he skipped the event of the guard of honour and straightaway went to inaugurate the Carnival. “We have no qualm standing here for two hours but he should have at least accepted our honour, said an upset student. With balloons in their hand, the students of primary class of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 22, also waited for almost one hour before the inauguration of the Carnival. Though the inaugural time of the event was 11 am, the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO), the organisers of the event lined up the students at 10 am. On being asked the Advisor, KK Sharma, said he got late due to the inauguration ceremony of a sewerage treatment plant near the 3BRD in the morning. He appreciated the organisers for putting up a good show. Nearly 300 students of different colleges of the city also waited for the carnival parade to begin since 10 am. All their excitement fizzled out by the time the carnival parade began A student of government college, Arun said, “I fail to understand when this VIP culture will be over in India. If the chief guest was busy, he should have intimated somebody else to inaugurate the festival. Last year also carnival parade did not flag off on time” Another student Parul said, “All the big shots think that students have all the time in the world and we can be put to inconvenience as and when they want us to.
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Residents oppose apartment rules
Chandigarh, November 22 Justice SS Sodhi, former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, and a resident of Sector 9, and senior advocate ML Sarin, submitted in their objection that the proposal in the draft master plan-2031 to reintroduce the apartment rules should be dropped as it is illegal, arbitrary to the edict of Chandigarh, without basis or rationale and destructive to the planned character of Sectors 1 to 30. Objection submitted by Justice SS Sodhi (retired) reads, “The reinstatement of the apartment rules is beyond the terms of reference of the master plan committee. The apartment rules have been validly scrapped and no proper reason has been given to reintroduce the apartment rules. The question of re-densification of plots was beyond the scope of the terms of reference of the committee looking into the master plan.” Objection further reads, “Chandigarh and its capitol complex and Sectors 1 to 30 have achieved heritage status and should be preserved and protected in their original shape and not be allowed to change which in turn will lead to the destruction of the City Beautiful.” Senior Advocate ML Sarin said in 2006 they had objected the apartment rules and had submitted their representation to Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Ultimately the UT Administration had revoked the apartment rules. But now it seems that the apartment rules were proposed in the master plan only to benefit the land mafia, who are only one who will gain by such extension, he added. In today’s hearing, personal hearing was given to a total of nine residents, who had submitted their objections pertaining to residential area. The board headed by CHB Chairman Satya Gopal, had received a total 171 objections on master plan. Delegations of residents of Industrial House, Sector 30, and Welfare Association of MIG III flats, Sector 19, submitted that need based changes should be allowed in their houses. Ganpat Rai, a potter, appeared before the board with a request to relocate the potters, who are eligible as per the biometric survey conducted by the UT Administration in 2006.
Draft Master Plan 2031
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Special provisions for buses needed: HC
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 22 He observed that the change made by the authorities was, rather, causing inconvenience. He asked the Mohali SSP to ensure that the buses pick up passengers from the service lane; and added buses would not be allowed to park on main carriageway. He directed SSP to immediately stop the practice. Expressing concern over the safety of hundreds of passengers who had to risk their lives to board the buses near the flyover on the Zirakpur highway. Justice Bhalla also questioned the basis of constructing a bus stand in Zirakpur without even existence of a road. The Court also directed Zirakpur MC to ensure that entry and exit of buses do not interfere with free flow of traffic in Zirakpur. He was also not happy with the bumpy nature of the road in the area; and brought it to the notice of the National Highway Authority of India. The Authority, in turn, assured the Court that it would file its response on the next date of hearing. The Court also directed the authorities to remove any electricity pole on the National highway (NH-22), from Chandigarh to Ambala.
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60 per cent tricity women prefer C-section: Survey
Chandigarh, November 22 Advertisements promoting artificial feeds and delayed initiation in breastfeeding infants were common reasons for reduced exclusive breastfeeding practices. There were no artificial diets for the newborns earlier and mothers were happy to feed their babies. However, now the trend has totally changed. Mothers and family members do not actually want to waste time in breastfeeding the newborn. The need is to make them understand that by doing this, they are making their children prone to diseases and reducing their immunity, observed Dr GK Bedi, life time-member FPAI. Under the mission of ‘Safe Mother, Safe Family’, for the corporate sector, Dr GK Bedi offered educative lectures to these 3,000 women aged between 22 and 35, while involving them in the survey. “To bring down the infant mortality rate, we need to focus on high risk (premature) deliveries, need for ventilators and neo-natal intensive care, advanced life support ambulances, one-stop mother and child hospitals and paternity leave,” he added.
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Rannvijay flouts HUDA norms
Panchkula, November 22 It was after a crew member informed him that he stopped and parked his bike. Similarly, during the last year's auditions, a fine of Rs 20,000 was imposed on the organisers when Rannvijay had driven a bike on the stage. "We have got such an expensive stage. It will be spoilt if a bike is driven on it. A bike is allowed for a display on the stage but not for this purpose," said Estate Officer of the HUDA Vandana Disodia. She said, "The Superintending engineer (SE) can also be asked as he is responsible for the upkeep of the stage." The SE of the HUDA, NK Verma, said: "The stage is worth 6 lakh as we have got rubber flooring done on the same. I will look into the matter." PR Gaurav Sachdeva who said that he would revert after communication by the organisers said, "The organisers informed that when Rannvijay had started riding a bike on the stage, he was stopped from doing so."
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City gets fourth sewage treatment plant
Chandigarh, November 22 UT Advisor KK Sharma today inaugurated the automated STP, constructed at a cost of Rs 40 crores, which requires only one man to operate it. The treated effluent of this plant will be pumped back to the city for irrigation of green spaces and parks. The operation of the plant is based on programmable logic controller (PLC), a digital computer, used for automation of electromechanical processes. Speaking on the occasion, KK Sharma appreciated the Municipal Corporation for providing better facilities for the residents of Chandigarh. He said the UT Administration is regularly empowering the Municipal Corporation by transferring various departments to MC. VP Singh, Commissioner, MC, Chandigarh, said this STP has been constructed on the state-of-the-art Sequential Batch Reactor Technology (SBR) in a period of 24 months. “The treated water from this plant matches the quality of tertiary treated water and the same will be supplied to the city for irrigation purposes,” he said. While addressing the gathering, during the inauguration of STP, Davesh Moudgil, area councillor, said with the help of UT Adviser, the Municipal Corporation is developing all the basic amenities in City Beautiful and he said UT Administration should earmark land for the provision of Sports complex in Sector 48.
What the project entails
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Pvt schools to help improve govt institutions
Chandigarh, November 22 Indications to this effect were given to the Punjab and Haryana High Court during the hearing of a petition filed in public interest on the implementation of the Right of Education Act, 2009. The Bench of Chief Justice, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and Justice, Augustine George Masih, was told that the issue of private schools volunteering to give free help to the Administration to improve the functioning of government schools has already received the State Advisory Council’s attention. The Bench was also told that a sub committee, comprising representatives of government and the private schools, has been constituted to assist in this behalf. The seriousness of the move can be gauged from the fact that the sub committee will be meeting every Monday for the next three months. The High Court is currently hearing the PIL filed by GS Sekhon and other petitioners against the CBSE and other respondents. The High Court has already been told that Central Board of School Education nominee has been made a special permanent invitee to the Advisory Council. The High Court has also been told that Advisory Council’s meeting was held on November 8. An assurance was also given to the High Court that periodic meetings would be held. Besides, the inspection by the CBSE was in progress; and 16 schools have been inspected. “It is stated that there are 88 government schools and, thus, the Central Board of School Education requires some more time where after the status report will be filed before us,” the Bench observed. The High Court had earlier directed all the schools in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana to get themselves registered with the state governments. The Act makes it mandatory for each school to get itself registered with the education department of the state. According to the procedure, the school has to make a self declaration before the education department confirming the compliance of the specified conditions. The Act also provides that the education department could withdraw recognition after following prescribed procedure in case a school is not complying with the condition. The High Court has already asked the Central Board of Secondary Education, Punjab School Education Board and the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education to inform the Bench whether the provisions of the Right to Education Act were being complied with by the schools affiliated to it.
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PU may do away with golden chance
Chandigarh, November 22 In the draft proposal, the authorities have mooted that many a time in the past, chances were given to the students to appear in the exam. But with the semester system this will have to be discontinued. In fact, the authorities were also looking into the re-valuation system of the answer sheets in the semester system. In the draft, another challenge which has been included by the examination branch is that how the colleges will manage the semester system in the first year. Officials believed that there will be overlapping of work for teachers in the colleges, as in April, the examinations of second and third year commence, which usually continue till May and in the same period the university was planning to start the semester system for the first year. Panjab University, Controller of Examination, Parvinder Singh, said the department is holding meetings of the examination branch twice a week to draft the blue prints of the semester system. He said the draft rules will be tabled in the special committee for consideration by next month and later, the senate will take final decision on it.
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150 take part in media fest
Chandigarh, November 22 In the day-long fest competitions were held in only media-related events like scribble pad, catch the glimpse, RJ hunt, news flash, 'taza khabar', documentary, layout mania, frame box and tickle your brain. The biggest draw was the RJ hunt where students tried to copy radio jockeys in FM stations which are now very popular. Not only the participants but also the packed audience at Pulitzer Hall, the main venue of the fest, enjoyed the event.
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