Chandigarh, February 5
Reflecting shoddy investigations, a local court today acquitted the lone accused arrested in the sensational Dimpy murder case.

The Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Shalini Nagpal, acquitted Jaswinder Singh, alias Rocky, for hatching the murder of UP-based gangster Prabhjinder Singh, alias Dimpy, who was shot down at Sukhna Lake in July 2006.

Groping in the dark for two years, the police solved the sensational case in 2008, with the arrest of Rocky. The police had recovered a .45 bore US Army pistol from Jaswinder Singh Rocky, who was a prime suspect in the case. The police had termed the denial of distribution of ransom money as the motive behind the murder. Prosecution had stated that Dimpy had been denying Rocky their share in the booty despite the fact that Rocky and his associates did the work. They parted ways and later decided to take revenge by eliminating him.

Crime Branch officials had nabbed Rocky of Fazilka with two pistol magazines, seven cartridges of .45 bore and five cartridges of .25 bore from Sector 11 in July, 2008. The police said Rocky and Dimpy were members of the UP-based Mukhtiar Ansari Gang and executed several kidnappings involving business honchos. They demanded hefty sums as ransom. Rocky parted ways from the gang and joined hands with Dhananjay, a UP-based politician. Rocky told the police that he came in contact with another gangster, Ravinder Bhura, who had also left the Ansari gang. Bhura provided shooters to Rocky for killing Dimpy.

Visibly elated after coming out of the court when he was acquitted, Jaswinder Singh, alias Rocky, who is in custody of the Punjab Police in another case, said he was implicated by some political leaders of Punjab in connivance with the Chandigarh Police. "I was in Delhi at the time the police showed my arrest from the city. I even submitted my tower location in the court during the trial to prove my point. Inspector Amanjot Singh, then posted in the Crime Branch, and inspector Kuldeep (now retired) made a false case to gain mileage as they had received flak for not solving the case," he said. Rocky faces 17 cases ranging from murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, extortion, criminal conspiracy, illegal confinement and violation of the Arms Act. On January 24, 2012, he was booked in an attempt to murder case filed by a BJP activist in Fazilka.

Dimpy belonged to a landlord family of Chand Bhan village in Faridkot district. He entered the world of crime in 1985 when his name was associated with the murder of the then student leader of Panjab University, Makhan Singh. Having a large landholding, Dimpy, the only son of a widow mother, expanded his contacts in the world of crime and politics. Though his name did not surface prominently during terrorism in Punjab, he associated himself with various criminal gangs, whose heads went on to become MLA and MPs.

After joining well-known gangs in Uttar Pradesh, he took to contract killing, kidnapping and looting. He allegedly used to act as a henchman for a section of politicians in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.

Eight years of shoddy police probe

July 7, 2006: Dimpy gunned down by shooters

July 9: Vishvapreet Singh Cheema, former OSD to the then Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, quizzed

July 12: Harveen Kaur, lone eyewitness in the case, quizzed

July 13: Gurmeet Singh Bawa, right hand and close aide of Dimpy, questioned

October 15: Dimpy's family met Punjab Governor seeking speedy probe

April, 2007: Harneev taken to Gandhinagar for brain mapping and narco test.

July 2008: Rocky arrested

October 2008: Police file chargesheet

January 2009: Court frames charges

September 2012: Rocky jumps bail, declared PO

November 2013: Rocky arrested in Fazilka

February 5, 2014: Rocky acquitted

There was only one circumstantial evidence in the shape of recovery of a pistol from the accused Rocky. The CFSL had opined that the pistol recovered from Rocky was the same from which bullets had been fired to kill Dimpy. During the trial, the mere recovery of pistol from the accused could not establish the murder conspiracy in the court as there was a huge gap between the date of occurrence.

Although the police had filed a chargesheet against Rocky, they could not gather any evidence against any of the other suspects, including UP-based MLA Mukhtar Ansari. The chargesheet had absolved the alleged main accused, Mukhtar Ansari, even though his name figured as a suspect in police files. As per police case, Rocky admitted to have conspired to kill Dimpy, along with Sunil Kumar and Ravinder, alias Bhau, on the directions of Ansari. Sunil and Ravinder had allegedly pumped seven bullets into Dimpy before fleeing the spot. Ravinder and Sunil, who are believed to have killed Dimpy, were lodged in one of the jails in Uttar Pradesh at the time of the murder. The police could not gather any evidence against any of the accused and they were never arrested.

Notorious gangster Prabhjinder Singh, alias Dimpy, was shot dead at Sukhna Lake by motorcycle-borne youths on July 7, 2006 around 8.55 pm. Dimpy was with his 'friend' Harneev Kaur and they were on their way to the latter's house in Sector 8 after having dinner at the club. As the duo drove down in a blue Swift car, two assailants rode right next to the car and opened fire at the duo. Forty-year-old Dimpy suffered bullet injuries in stomach and chest. Harneev Kaur (36), who also suffered injuries, survived the attack. She reached her house and then called up the police. 

Chandigarh, February 5
The otherwise fund-starved civic body does not baulk at wasting public money when it comes to study tours.

This time, councillors and civic officials are going to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. The strange thing is that the officials went to Thiruvananthapuram in October 2010 and this year, too, they want to go to the same place.

The MC did not implement any project post-tour. Mayor Harphool Kalyan met councillors and officials on Tuesday and decided that the Mayor office staff would seek councillors' views.

The UT Administration has already given its consent. Twenty councillors and officials will go on the study tour from February 9 to 16.

Every year, the Municipal Corporation spends lakhs on 'futile' study tours. In the past 10 years, the Municipal Corporation has spent more than Rs 1 crore on such study tours, but the body does not have any record of the projects being implemented in the city post-tours.

From October 18, 2010, to October 25, 2010, a group of 14 councillors and two officials stayed in Thiruvananthapuram. The tour cost the MC Rs 15,81,600.

This year, the MC had planned to spend Rs 15 lakh on the study tour of 20 councillors and five officials accompanying them to various cities in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The MC had proposed that the councillors would get to know about the functioning of the civic bodies in the South.

Chandigarh, February 5
The auction of commercial properties by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) turned out to be a flop show.

Of the 145 booths, only two booths were auctioned.

Sixteen bidders came forward and only two were declared successful bidders.

Booth No.1011 situated in Sector 38 (W) was auctioned to Dr Preeti Dhillon for Rs 61.13 lakh while Booth No. 41 situated at Mani Majra was auctioned to Ajay Matto for Rs 60.25 lakh.

The auction, which was conducted after four years, was over in 30 minutes. CHB officials said the auctions conducted by the Estate Office, MC and Chandigarh Housing Board in 2009 had received a poor response. They said two booths were sold on the first day which was not bad.

CHB secretary Mandeep Kaur said they would auction the remaining plots in the next two days (February 6 and 7).

The reserve price of the booths was so high that even banks could not afford to participate in the auction.

Two officials of the State Bank of Patiala had to return disappointed. 

Mohali, February 5
The plan to introduce the paid parking facility in the town has started rolling, with the Municipal Corporation inviting bids for 19 parking lots in five markets.

The Phases X market will have four parking lots, Phase IX will have four lots, three lots will be developed at Phase VII while Phases III B2 and V will have three and five lots, respectively.

The parking lots will be made operational after February 17.

The corporation has fixed Rs 5 as fee for four-wheelers, including taxis. The monthly pass in a particular parking area for such vehicles will be Rs 100. For two-wheelers, the fee will be Rs 2, with the monthly pass costing Rs 50. Those depositing helmets with contractors will have to pay Re 1.

Electronic ticketing machines will have to be used by the contractors. Besides, parking attendants will have to wear uniform bearing their name plates.

No parking fee will be charged from the differently abled, three- wheelers that enter lots for dropping passengers, cycles and rickshaws. Besides, vehicles of government and civic officials will be exempted from fee.

Corporation Additional Commissioner (Technical) BD Singla said it would be mandatory for the contractors to install CCTV cameras at entry/exit gates for recording the registration number of vehicles.

The corporation stated that the contractors would be held responsible for thefts. However, they will not be responsible for the theft of any article kept in the vehicle or for any damage caused to the vehicle. They will not be blamed for any theft/damage to the vehicle before and after the parking hours.

To keep chaos off the parking lots, the contractors will ensure that all vehicles are parked in a proper manner. When there is no vacant parking space, they will have to put up a board at the entry point that the parking area is full.

The corporation has introduced penalties for various violations. If an attendant is not in uniform, a fine of Rs 1,000 will be imposed on the first occasion and Rs 5,000 on the fifth occasion and thereafter); overcharging of parking fee will attract a fine ranging from Rs 5,00 to Rs 5,000; misbehaviour by a contractor or his employee will cost them Rs 500 to Rs 5,000. A fine ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000 will be imposed for the misuse of parking area for commercial activities while parking in unauthorised areas or haphazard parking will cost a violator 10 times the parking fee. 

Chandigarh, February 5
The enforcement wing of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation towed away 20 cars, four trucks from the Motor Market at Mani Majra.

The team also seized seven hydraulic jacks, four oxygen cylinders and 15 toolboxes.

Kashmira Singh, superintendent, enforcement wing, said they challaned 50 violators. Sunil Dutt, inspector, enforcement wing, said police personnel accompanied MC officials.

An MC official said they would carry out drives in other markets as well. The violations were brought to the notice of the MC officials many a time, he said. 

Chandigarh, February 5
Writer and journalist Khushwant Singh has high hopes from the younger generation, who are better educated and aware of what is going on in the world. Mobile phones, Twitter and Facebook, about which we know nothing, will create a revolution. These views were expressed by Khushwant Singh through a written text during a seminar at Panjab University today.

Khushwant Singh’s son Rahul Singh represented his father and read the text during a seminar “Khushwant Singh: The Writer, Historian and Journalist” here. The seminar was organised by the Department of English and Cultural Studies of Panjab University to felicitate and celebrate the genius of Khushwant Singh, who has entered the centenary birth year on February 2, 2014.

Khushwant Singh described education and welfare of the girl child as the two most important areas of his concern.

In his text message, he touched all serious aspects of the present day society. Without mentioning the recent incident in Delhi involving Arunachal Pradesh student Nido Taniam, Khushwant Singh said it was disgraceful that even today those from the North-East were facing discrimination.

Taking on the superstitions, Khushwant Singh said the so-called Godmen, astrologers and faith healers were constantly making fools of us.

He said “worship is not work, it is work that is worship”. His aim in his writings is to inform, provoke and occasionally raise a laugh.

During his text, Rahul Singh narrated various incidents regarding Khushwant Singh with Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), West Bengal assembly and LK Advani.

Paying tributes to Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia and Khushwant Singh on their common birthday, PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Arun Grover recalled their contribution. He traced the relation between PU and The Tribune, at the same time acknowledged Khushwant Singh’s contribution to literature, history and journalism.

Rahul Singh said Khushwant Singh was not a good student. He got third division in studies. He said Khushwant Singh was a politically foolish who spoke from the heart.

Rahul said the growth of intolerance and fundamentalism of all religions disturbed Khushwant Singh. He called upon the youth to combat this menace as society was to develop and grow as a secular society.

Professor Indu Banga, in her paper, threw light on various aspects of Punjabi and regional nationalism and Sikh identity, Hindu-Sikh relations and also on the Sikh history as documented in the historical works of Khushwant Singh.

In the second session “With Malice towards One and All”, there was a panel discussion with Gulzar Singh Sandhu, Professor Kapil Kapoor and Professor Sharda Kaushik participating in it. Going down the memory lane, Sandhu shared his personal experiences with Khushwant Singh.

Professor Sharada Kaushik, in her paper, emphasised on different aspects of translations and Khushwant Singh’s views on the art of translation.

Chandigarh, February 5
On the one hand, the UT Electricity Department has proposed a 21 per cent hike in power tariff for the next financial year 2014-15, while on the other, it has failed to check 'kundi' connections in various parts of the city, especially in colonies, villages and residential houses falling outside the ‘lal dora’.

A visit to Colony No. 4, 5, Sanjay colony, Burail, Hallo Majra, and Mani Majra etc. revealed that the UT Administration had turned a blind eye to the illegal kundi connections. Every year, the UT Administration is running into loses of more than Rs 7 crore from these unauthorised connections.

In the colonies, residents are using kundi connections and steal power from the supply line. The UT Electricity Department has failed to stop them from doing so. No regular checks are conducted by the power officials, so the stealing of power goes unabated.

Recently, a private contractor who was supplying power in Colony No. 4 had also submitted a complaint to the Electricity Department and to the UT police about the kundi connections in the colony. The complaint had even named people who were stealing power in the colony, but to no avail.

A colony resident said that when they could easily use power supply without paying a single penny to the government through kundi connections, then what was the need to get a power connection?

The kundi connections have made it difficult for the Administration to prepare an estimate for the actual power requirement for the city. In the end, it is the common man who suffers as he has to face regular power cuts.

MP Singh, Superintending Engineer (Electricity), said they were conducting raids regularly to detect power theft in various parts of the city.

Chandigarh, February 5
To contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Chandigarh on the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) ticket, a total of 19 aspirants filed their applications today.

Three main ticket contenders who filed their applications are BJP president Sanjay Tandon, former MP Satya Pal Jain and former Union Minister Harmohan Dhawan.

It was for the first time that the party election committee had decided to invite applications from the aspiring candidates. It has been done in response to the party in-fighting.

BJP general secretary Prem Kaushik said city BJP president Sanjay Tandon, former MP Satya Pal Jain, former Union Minister Harmohan Dhawan, councillor Asha Jaswal, Senior Deputy Mayor Heera Negi, Deputy Mayor Davesh Modgil, former vice-president Purshotam Mahajan, Mata Ram Dhiman, former councillor Ranjana Shahi, BC Puri, Santosh Sharma, Gurpreet Singh Dhillon, Vinod Aggarwal, Mahesh Gupta, Harjeet Singh, Krishan Kumar, Sada Sawan Lehri, Deepak Sharma and Charanjeet Singh Chadha have filed their application.

At the last party workers meeting, which was called by the Chandigarh unit of the BJP on January 29 to seek the views of the workers on the party candidate, the workers had clashed with one another. At the meeting, it was proposed that the party would suggest four names to the workers and they could select one of them. The names were those of city BJP president Sanjay Tandon, former MP Satya Pal Jain, former Union Minister Harmohan Dhawan and Bollywood actor Kirron Kher.

Thereafter, on February 3, the election committee decided that any BJP worker could file an application along with Rs 11,000.

Chandigarh, February 5
As former Union Railways Minister and sitting MP Pawan Kumar Bansal and his family members are busy holding rallies in the city, former Deputy Mayor and youth Congress leader HS Lucky, has also decided to hold rallies, functions and group meetings with city residents. Lucky held a meeting along with his 40 supporters today in which it was decided that in the days to come, they would organise rallies, meetings etc. wherein they would appeal to the public to join the Congress.

For the first time in the past 15 years, six people had filed application seeking Congress ticket from the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat. Lucky was the first to his application and had demanded that a fresh face be projected from Chandigarh instead of sitting MP Pawan Kumar Bansal.

Lucky held a meeting along with his 40 supporters today in which it was decided that in the days to come, they would organise rallies, meetings etc. wherein they would appeal to the public to join the Congress.

Sources said in today’s meeting, it was also decided that instead of targeting Bansal and his family members, Lucky and his supporters would only focus on spreading Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s vision for the country and welfare schemes started by the Central Government for common man.

A Congress worker, who had attended the meeting, said in the meeting, Lucky also told his supporters to stop posting negative comments on social networking sites against Bansal and his family members.

When contacted, Lucky said they would only hold meetings to increase the Congress vote bank in the city. 

Cyber war had started among Congress workers

Mohali, February 5
The spurt in crime incidents in the district, the recent one being the shooting incident at Nayagaon, has spread panic among residents of the area besides raising concern over the deteriorating law and order situation here.

The Mohali Police is yet to make a headway in a number of cases, including a loot where a jeweller was shot at Nayagaon, a robbery at Phase IIIB1 and theft at Phase VII last night, have virtually caught the police napping.

“What is going on here? Criminals are carrying weapons and are roaming freely without any fear of the police”, said former MC councillor Kuljit Singh Bedi, a resident of Phase IIIB2.

Manjit Sethi, a resident of Phase IIIA, said,” Three incidents occurred at different places within a few hours, which indicates that all is not well here.” Manjit Sethi had lost his nephew in a shooting incident at Phase III-A in February last year.

“Roaming of criminals during night hours shows that the residents are not safe. The law and order situation has deteriorated here”, he added. Congress leader Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha said people were not feeling safe, especially after the sudden spurt in crime incidents. On January 15, three unidentified robbers had taken away a new Innova car after injuring its owner on the Kharar-Landran road. The police are yet to identify the accused. 

Chandigarh, February 5
The Metro project in the Tricity now seems to get further delayed as the representatives of Haryana Government failed to turn up at the meeting organised to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) among the stakeholders.

UT Advisor KK Sharma said the Ministry of Urban Development had today organised a meeting for the representatives of UT Administration, Punjab, Haryana and Centre, but the Haryana officials failed to attend the meeting. The next date of meeting will be decided by the Centre in the coming days, he said.

Recently, officials of the UT Administration, Punjab and Haryana had decided that the cost of the project would be borne by Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and the Centre. Earlier, the project was to be implemented under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode. However, Punjab and Haryana were not ready for it. Later, the UT altered the MoU of the project so that the stakeholders could reach to a consensus for the execution of the project.

Chandigarh, February 5
As a matter of grave concern for a highly literate and cosmopolitan city like Chandigarh, abandoning of baby girls continues to be a practice. Records available with hospitals, police and social welfare department tells as many as 44 abandoned baby girls were found in city last two years, 2012 and 2013, from various slums, hospitals and other areas of the city.

An abandoned 15-days-old baby girl was found in wee hours in the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, about two weeks ago, lying near the water storage tank.

While officials in the Department of Social Welfare, UT, claim there was adequate mechanism for taking care of abandoned babies, and many of these were adopted by affluent families, there hardly exits a system for tracking the parents of these children.

Chandigarh Tribune spoke to officials and experts to find out the possible causes of abandoning of baby girls and solutions for handling the issue.

Dr Amarjeet Singh, Professor, Department of Community Medicine, PGIMER, said as the figures suggest, in 2013, out of total 26 abandoned babies, 22 were girls. It gives an indication that the prohibition of sex determination under the PCPNDT Act could be one possible reason for abandoning of more baby girls.

For handling this issue, the best and basic solution is to follow a foolproof Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS). It is a name-based tracking system (being put in place by Government of India, MoHFW) whereby pregnant women and children can be tracked for their ANCs and immunisation along with a feedback system. Given its better infrastructure, defined area and other amenities, Chandigarh could have emerged as a model city in implementing the MCTS. There can be no substitute to the system for reconciling the abandoned children with their mothers. Also, for gauging the real magnitude, cause of the problem and drafting solutions for the problem, MCTS is the root.

When contacted Rajesh Jogpal, director, Social Welfare, UT Administration, said there are a variety of factors forcing parents or a mother to abandon a child. Sometimes extreme poverty and ill-health of a baby forces parents to abandon the child. Also, our society as yet does not provide social acceptance to unmarried mothers to walk up to health centres and avail facilities. Hence, tracking also becomes difficult. Chandigarh has a well established system of policing and facilities of childcare; it can be a possibility that people from neighbouring areas drop them here.

Our major focus after finding an abandoned baby or child is to first ensure his or her health. When a child or baby is spotted, the police contact us and we make provisions for healthcare facilities of the child or baby. Later, routing through the child welfare committee we shift these children to Snehalaya, Sector 39, or Mother Teresa Home, Sector 23. We hold awareness camps for empowerment of women regularly. 

Chandigarh, February 5
Police Inspectors today demanded an orderly for themselves from senior officers at the Sampark Sabha at police lines in Sector 26. The Inspectors asserted that the orderly was withdrawn from them five years back and in their hectic schedule they require a help at all times.

Police Personnel from all Police Stations and units - PCR, Communication, Community Relations Unit, PO and Summon Staff, Crime Branch, Mounted Staff, and Police Lines have attended this interaction session. The DSPs, SHOs, In-charges of units were present in Sampark Sabha.

An open interaction session was conducted where grievances and suggestions were raised by police officials regarding house allotments, promotions, departmental enquiries, CTU fares, crèche for children of policemen, up-gradation of police hospital. SSP heard their grievances and assured that appropriate action will be taken on the problems listed and necessary order will be passed.

Chandigarh, February 5
The senior government officials from Commonwealth countries of Asia today convened aseminar of Commonwealth Youth Program (CYP), Asia Region, Sector 12, Chandigarh, to review their priorities for youth development.

Representatives of Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka attended the two-day long regional meeting.

The meeting follows last year’s commonwealth heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka, at which leaders vowed to put young people at the heart of policymaking for sustainable development. ‘Magampura’ commitment to young people focused on renewing efforts to develop and empower young people, and on tackling issues such as unemployment and lack of meaningful voice.

Katherine Ellis, Director of Youth Affairs at the Commonwealth, said the programme will continue to be a driving force for the development of youth. It will support governments and youth-led organisations in policy-making and programming,” she added. 

Chandigarh, February 5
Folk singer Jagir Singh mesmerised the audience during the Dr MS Randhawa Utsav at the Punjab Kala Bhavan, Sector 16, here today.

Jagir Singh passed his Master’s Degree from the Panjab University Music Department. Presently, he is doing PhD from Panjab University.

He is a folk music (vocal) artist from the All-India Radio, Jalandhar, and performs in different categories of Punjabi music such as Punjabi folk songs, ghazals, shabad and Sufi music, classical and group songs. He sang Punjabi folk songs, Sufi and gazals, which were lauded by the audience.

The programme was organised in collaboration with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. — TNS

Planned efforts required to curb accidents

In the current scenario, where accidents are increasing in Chandigarh, there is an acute need to take some well-planned steps to ensure a substantial reduction in the number. In this matter, various NGOs can prove to be very handy as they can help in spreading awareness about the precautions for reducing accidents through campaigns, plays, etc. As NGOs are more connected to the common people, they can even take up the task of making a short film or cartoon sketches on accidents. Such productions can be promoted through online social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. The Chandigarh Administration should take NGOs and other social activists on one stage where they can work together to solve the accident related problems and spread awareness among every section of society.

Chandigarh, February 5
Panjab University is going to introduce a school of language and communication from the next academic session.

Panjab University Vice-Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover made this announcement while speaking at a seminar, “Khushwant Singh: The Writer, Historian and Journalist”, here today.

He asked the Department of English, PU, to draft a course and put up the proposal before him for approval.

Rahul Singh, son of Khushwant Singh, said the professionals needed to have good command over the English language in this era of competition.

The Vice-Chancellor pointed out that researchers of India were not so proficient in communicating in English as compared to the students abroad.

He suggested the Department of English to introduce short-term courses for the students of all streams for better communication.

The representative of the English Department assured the VC of preparing a blueprint of the language school and sending it for his approval so that it could be introduced from the next session. 

Chandigarh, February 5
“Aao Gaon Chalen”, a project of the Indian Medical Association, HQ, in association with Desh Bhagat University, Desh Bhagat Radio 107.8 FM and NGO “Hara Punjab Khara Samaj” observed World Cancer Day here today.

An awareness campaign was arranged at Saunti village. Dr Zora Singh, Chancellor of Desh Bhagat University, participated as the chief guest.

Speaking on the occasion, he said cancer was a fatal disease but, if detected at an early stage, was curable.

He said some parts of Punjab were badly affected by this disease. In order to tackle this problem, the government had created a special cancer fund and hospitals were being opened for its treatment.

Tajinder Kaur, Pro-Chancellor of the university, said the increase in the pollution was one of the important reasons of cancer. Tajinder asked the people to plant maximum number of saplings.

A panel of doctors examined over 100 people. Free medicines were provided to the needy patients. — TNS

Mohali, February 5
The Punjab Government, Punjab Technical University (PTU) and the Punjab Unaided Technical Institutions Association (PUTIA) will jointly organise the state’s biggest-ever Technical Education and Skill Development Summit here on February 8.

JS Dhaliwal, president, PUTIA, announced this at a press conference held today at SAS College.

More than 50,000 students of private universities and colleges are expected to participate in the mega event to be held at the Indoor Sports Complex, Sector 78, in Mohali.

Dhaliwal said 95 per cent of the education in Punjab was being provided by private institutes. Students were being given technical education in order to provide them with employment.

Anshu Kataria, convener, PUTIA, and chairman, Aryans Group of Colleges, said several committees had been formed for the summit, which would be inaugurated by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Satnam Singh Sandhu, chancellor, Chandigarh University, said when Punjab became an industrial hub, technical experts would be required. The aim of the summit was to provide the industries of the state with skilled manpower.

Manjit Singh, chairman, Doaba Group of Colleges, said Punjab was emerging as an education hub. Earlier Punjabi youth preferred to go abroad for higher education, but now foreigners were coming to the state for further studies. — TNS

Mohali, February 5
Three students of the Doaba Group of Colleges, Kharar, have secured top positions in the BTech (seventh semester) examinations held by Punjab Technical University (PTU).

Gagandeep Kaur of the Doaba Institute of Engineering and Technology (DIET) secured the first position in the semester examination securing 92 per cent marks (872/950).

Supinder Kaur of the Doaba Women Institute of Engineering and Technology bagged the second position in BTech (ECE) examination with 91.15 per cent marks (866/950), while Devan Verma (DIET) secured the third position in the BTech (Mechanical Engineering) examination with 86.5 per cent marks (865/1000).