Mohali, February 20
High drama was witnessed on the Mohali District Courts Complex when a middle-aged woman attacked a woman constable and tore her uniform today. The incident took place when the constable was trying to stop the woman from creating a ruckus in the waiting room of the complex.

The police arrested the woman, Bhupinder Kaur, a resident of Phase 3B1, after registering a case under Sections 353 and 186 of the IPC at the Mataur police station here this evening.

The incident occurred at around 1.45 pm today. According to the victim, Manpreet Kaur, a constable of the Punjab Police, the woman, who was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, created a ruckus all of a sudden in the waiting room of the court complex.

Chandigarh, February 20
Violating rules meant for the use of community centres in the city, a film production unit shot a film at the Community Centre in Sector 27. The unit was given permission for a get-together.

The MC rules do not permit religious and political functions, and commercial activities at the community centres.

Darshan Aulakh, who runs a production house, had sought permission for two days (February 20 and 21) for a get-together at the Community Centre.

However, the film crew shot a Punjabi movie at the Community Centre throughout the day with the MC authorities turning a blind eye to the violation. Each Community Centre has a supervisor to look after the property and to ensure that no illegal activity takes place there. However, nobody objected to the film shooting.

Aulakh said it was a low-budget Punjabi movie and hiring a bigger hall was not possible for them. “Fearing that rain may delay the shooting, we booked the Community Centre,” Aulakh said.

Chandigarh, February 20
While providing assistance to the Sikkim Police, who were in the city today to arrest a murder accused on the run, the Chandigarh police posed as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers wanting to buy a huge consignment of brooms in Mani Majra. The police, on a tip-off that the accused was working with a broom contractor, made the best use of the party symbol and finally managed to arrest him.

The accused, Badrul Mohammad, was taken to Gyalshing in Sikkim by the police team, headed by DSP SK Shreshta of the crime branch, Sikkim. The DSP thanked the local police for assiting them in arresting the murder accused.

Badrul had allegedly murdered a 36-year-old woman, Rekha Tiwari, at her house in Gyalshing on July 13 last year and decamped with jewellery. He was on the run since then. The Sikkim police, who were on the lookout for him, received secret information that he was hiding with a broom contractor in Mani Majra. They, however, were ignorant of the identity of the contractor when they sought help from the Mani Majra police.

Inspector Charanjeet Singh, SHO of the Mani Majra police station, deputed Sub-Inspector (SI) Surinder Kumar, who went in civil clothes to a popular broom contractor in the area and told him that he was an AAP worker in search of a large supply of brooms for the party.

The SI spoke to all workers there and finally managed to identify the accused, Badrul Mohammad, on the basis of his photograph. Badrul was working as a supplier there since last month. He used to frequently change his place of hiding.

Badrul Mohammad hails from West Bengal. He was produced in a court here for transit remand.

Chandigarh, February 20
Installation of streetlights on all roads will top the Municipal Corporation’s agenda this year.

The issue of defunct streetlights was raised in the MC General House meeting on February 19, following which the decision was taken.

Pointing towards the civic body’s apathy in repairing the streetlights, BJP councillor Desh Raj Gupta said, “Twelve streetlights in my ward are non-functional from the last two years and I have failed to get these repaired.”

Questioning the functioning of the MC’s electricity wing, Gupta, councillor of ward no. 26, said, “Every year, crores of rupees are spent on the city’s development. But the civic body has failed to get 12 streetlights repaired in my ward.”

Speaking on similar lines, BSP councillor Jannat-Jahan, said, “The streetlights in my ward have not been repaired from the last few months. The MC officials told me that the civic body was facing shortage of bulbs.”

Congress councillor Gurbax Rawat demanded that covers should be put on streetlights in parks to prevent miscreants from damaging them.

BJP councillor Davesh Moudgil also proposed that junction boxes of streetlights should be installed at a height to prevent theft of copper wires.

MC Commissioner VP Singh said, “Special emphasis will be given to the installation of streetlights on all roads. We will try to upgrade streetlights in the city as we have provision of funds.”

The civic body has also made a proposal of Rs 6 crore in the budget for the installation of LED streetlights in sectors falling on the Dakshin Marg.

Chandigarh, February 20
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) North-West Frontier celebrated its 8th Raising Day here today.

Several events were organised to mark the occasion, which was attended by former ITBP personnel.

Inspector General, North-West Frontier, Arvind Kumar, was the chief guest.

On the occasion, Deputy Inspector General Prem Singh was presented the Tenging Norgay National Adventure Award for his outstanding achievements in the field of mountaineering, rafting and rescue operations.

He has scaled Mount Everest twice.

Eight officers, 17 subordinate officers and 19 other ranks from this frontier — who were conferred the Director General’s Disc and commendation letters for their achievements — were also honoured.

The North-West Frontier was raised on February 20, 2007, and currently comprises three Sector Headquarters and 13 units in Ladakh, Kashmir Valley, Jammu-Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. It is mandated to guard the Sino-Indian border and undertakes internal security duties.

Mohali, February 20
In a major relief to telephone subscribers, the Permanent Lok Adalat, Mohali, headed by Jagroop Singh Mahal, today ruled that when a telephone subscriber moved an application to discontinue the service, the same would be deemed as discontinued and the service provider would not be entitled to usage/rental charges after the close of the billing period during which, the said application had been moved.

The Lok Adalat dismissed three applications moved by Tata Teleservices Limited and imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on the company.

Tata Teleservices had filed three applications under Section 22-C of the Legal Services Authorities Act to recover the amounts of Rs 4,008, Rs 3,991 and Rs 4,078 and Rs 1,000 as legal charges in each case from Checkmate Facility and Electronics Solutions Private Limited.

On a notice to the respondent, they demanded the bill details, which the applicant, Tata Teleservices, was unable to provide.

The contention of Checkmate Facility was that all telephone bills had been paid and they had requested the applicant to discontinue the service with effect from March 31, 2011.

The telephone connections at all other stations were discontinued except Mohali.

On receipt of the bills, the respondent resented the issuance of bills and informed the Mohali office that the service had been discontinued. However, the applicant did not agree and filed the present applications.

The Permanent Lok Adalat found the applications frivolous as the stand taken by Checkmate Facility was found to be correct from the e-mails exchanged between the parties.

The applications moved by Tata Teleservices were subsequently dismissed with Rs 10,000 as the litigation cost in each application. 

Chandigarh, February 20
Expressing concern over the rising unemployment among educated youth, the National Forum for Youth Welfare today emphasised on channelising their energy in the right direction.

Addressing a seminar organised by the Punjab Irrigation Retired Engineers Association here today, former director, Punjab Technical University, Dr RP Bhardwaj, said, “No concrete policy has been formulated to channelise the energy of the youth.”

Presiding over the seminar, former Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Technical University NK Pathak, said, “The current situation demands that educational experts, intellectuals and professionals should join hands and find a solution to the current crisis for the betterment of the youth.”

Chandigarh, February 20
A roadside tea vendor opposite Elante Mall in Industrial Area alleged that he was thrashed by policemen after an argument with an MC enforcement wing Sub Inspector yesterday and suffered injuries.

The vendor, Vijay Kumar, was admitted to the Emergency of Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32 with fractured ribs.

The incident occurred yesterday afternoon during an anti-encroachment drive of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. Vijay was asked by Sub Inspector Bhupinder Kaur of the MC enforcement wing to remove his “rehri” as it was encroaching upon the government land.

Vijay, a resident of Hallo Majra, alleged that when he requested the enforcement official to let him retain some of his belongings following which a heated argument began and the police was called.

The police took Vijay into custody where a constable at the Industrial Area police station beat him up all night, he alleged.

Angry residents of Hallo Majra and fellow vendors gathered at the Sector-32 hospital. He also claimed the police got a paper signed from him after inflicting injuries that these were not an outcome of police thrashing.

Bhupinder Kaur said “We informed the police when the vendor insisted on keeping his utensils with him. After that we are not aware what happened, as we left the spot.”

The vendor was admitted to GMCH 32 with stomach and rib injuries.

The vendors were led by Chandigarh Congress Colony cell president Shashi Shankar Tewari who gave a complaint demanding action against the police for thrashing the vendor.

Anjita Chepyala DSP (East) said they had received a complaint from the vendor against the MC officials and a probe had been marked to look into the matter.

Chandigarh, February 20
Double standards of the BJP came to the fore when Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, both BJP councillors, took 25 complimentary parking passes each from the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.

Last year, the same BJP had targeted Congress Mayor Subhash Chawla, Senior Deputy Mayor Kashmiri Devi and Deputy Mayor Satish Kainth, for pocketing 100, 25, 25, complimentary parking passes, respectively.

On many occasions in 2012 and 2013, the BJP councillors had disrupted General House meetings only on the subject.

Last year, all BJP councillors had even surrendered their complimentary passes (five each for the councillors) to the Municipal Corporation.

But this year, when the BJP won two seats - Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor - they forgot everything.

When contacted, BJP president Sanjay Tandon said that he had no idea about the BJP councillors getting complimentary parking passes. He assured that he would talk to the Senior Deputy Mayor and the Deputy Mayor in the subject.

Senior Deputy Mayor Heera Negi said the decision not to take passes was only for one year, so this year she took passes.

But exposing Negi’s claims, another BJP councillor Satinder Singh said the party had unanimously decided not to take complimentary passes whether he/she was a councillor or on any other post, so he and a majority of BJP councillors did not take complimentary parking passes this year.

Deputy Mayor Devesh Moudgil said he did not avail complimentary passes, which was for the councillors, but only availed those passes that were meant for the Deputy Mayor and there was no harm in doing so.

Leader of opposition Arun Sood, who had raised the subject in the MC house meetings, said he had no idea about Negi and Moudgil availing the complementary passes. He said he had not taken complimentary passes from the MC. 

Chandigarh, February 20
Rose Garden is decked-up for the three-day Rose Festival that will begin tomorrow. At the festival, 825 varieties of roses including hybrid teas, floribunda and polyanthus will be showcased.

For the first time “Hasya Kavi Samelan” will be held on Day I, followed by Sham-e-Ghazal on Day II and a musical evening on the concluding day. The events will be held between 5 pm to 7 pm at the festival venue.

Flower competitions will be held for different categories. Addressing a press conference, MC Joint Commissioner Rajiv Gupta said various activities would be organised throughout the day to entertain visitors. “A magic show and puppet show will also be organised to entertain the crowd”, he stated.

Several other activities will be held at Leisure Valley. Arvind Malhotra, CITCO General Manager (Tourism) said the visitors could enjoy different cuisines at “CITCO da veda”. “There will an amusement park that will have variety of games for the visitors”, he stated.

Chandigarh, February 20
More than a month after receiving the battery-operated golf carts the PGIMER has finally put three of the total four carts to use. The carts have started ferrying patients from near the Emergency Unit (near gate 1) to New OPD Block (Near Gate No. 2).

Available after a gap of 10 minutes at both the pick and drop points, these environment-friendly carts have the capacity to carry eight to 10 persons at a time.On January 1, the State Bank of India, through its branch on the PGIMER campus, donated four battery-operated golf carts to the institution. However, these were lying unused, in the absence of drivers for running the carts.

Three vans have been made functional while the fourth one has been kept as a standby vehicle. Each vehicle runs for six hours. 

Chandigarh, February 20
A fountain was inaugurated today at Industrial Area, Phase II, in the ward of Deputy Mayor Davesh Moudgil.

The fountain was inaugurated in the presence of the BK Dhawan, Executive Engineer, Public Health, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh.

The fountain costs Rs 13.62 lakh. It is convertible and is operated in two stages with multiple colour lights. “The fountain is another feather in the cap of the City Beautiful as it will beautify the industrial area”, said the Deputy Mayor.

The Deputy Mayor further stated that the development works and beautification would continue in the city.

Chandigarh, February 20
A 30-year-old woman, Pankaj Joshi, went missing under mysterious circumstance after she left home to drop her daughter at school on Thursday.

The Chandigarh Police today registered a case of kidnapping against unknown persons after her husband Rajinder Joshi reported the incident. A resident of Sector 27 here, Rajinder told the police he suspected that his wife was kidnapped. She went to drop her daughter but did not return. — TNS

Chandigarh, February 20
In view of the Lok Sabha elections, Panjab University (PU) has prepared a tentative examination schedule for the current session.

The Controller of Examination (CoE) has issued instructions to all examination superintendents that the date sheet for the examinations would be changed if there was any clash with the polling dates.

Sources in the Election Commission of India said during pre-poll meetings with the state government representatives, all such sensitive issues would be discussed and the decision would be taken keeping in view all the aspects.

PU Controller of Examinations Dr Parvinder Singh said: “After the elections are announced, the date sheet will be changed by the university, if required”.

At a recent meeting of the screening committee of the university, during which the date sheet of the undergraduate and postgraduate courses was prepared, the CoE was empowered to change the date sheet if the examinations clashed with the polling dates.

Sources said the committee also decided that the examination schedule would be officially out by next week, as it was expected that the election dates would be announced by then.

The official said to avoid any delay in the result of the third-year students of all courses, the authorities had drafted the date sheet in such a manner that all main exams would be over in April.

The records of the university revealed that in 1992, the PU had to conduct examinations in two phases as the Election Commission had directed it to have a compulsory break of 15 days because of the elections.

Chandigarh, February 20
The DPI (Schools) has withdrawn chargesheets and FIRs registered against four members of the Joint Action Committee of Teachers here.

The department has taken back the complaints against Kushali Ram Sharma, Savinder Singh, Ranbir Singh and Swarn Kamboj. The FIR was registered against the teachers for obstructing the faculty development programme of the UT Education Department last year.

The Joint Action Committee termed the decision of the DPI (S) historic and a step towards winning the confidence of the teaching community.

The DEO has assured the delegation that a compensatory leave would be granted to those teachers who would be on duty on the second Saturday of the next month due to Class IX examinations. — TNS

Chandigarh, February 20
Panjab University is going to introduce one-year LLM (master of law) course from the 2014-15 session in the department of law by replacing the existing LLM two-year courses.

This proposal will be placed for approval in the coming meeting of the Syndicate, which is scheduled for February 22.

The faculty of law has already approved the LLM one-year course under which there will be two semesters rather than four in the previous course.

The Dean has also proposed to start the LLM course in the evening.

Sources said the UGC had issued directions for the introduction of one-year LLM course in universities. Following the instructions, a few of the national law universities have already started the LLM one-year course.

But there is no state university which has introduced this course so far.

The Dean (Law) said after getting the approval of the Syndicate, the department of law would prepare the syllabus, course content, fee structure, rules and regulations for the approval of the Board of Studies.

Sources said the proposal was mooted in the meeting of the Syndicate held in May last year. But as the session had already started, the authorities kept it pending for the next session.

Sources said this year, the department had started the process to get approval from the Syndicate before time so that it would be introduced in the coming session.

A senior law faculty said in Europe and America the LLM was of one year, while in India, students had to spend two years for it. Keeping this fact in view, the UGC also introduced the one-year course that would be beneficial for students.

Chandigarh, February 20
A two-day national seminar on “contexts and concern; Punjabi language, literature and culture 21st century’s first decade” started today at Panjab University. The seminar is being organised jointly by the Department of Guru Nanak Sikh Studies and the Sahitya Akademi of India.

PU VC Prof Arun K Grover, Punjabi University, Patiala, VC Prof Jaspal Singh, Kuruksetra University VC DDS Sandhu, Punjabi University Patiala Prof Deepak Manmohan Singh, eminent Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, scholar Dr Satinder Singh and other eminent personalities participated in the seminar.

Dr Satinder Singh, former GNDU Pro-Vice-Chancellor, delivered the keynote address. Dwelling upon the theme of the seminar, he said along with the existing emphasis on historic and development dimensions of Punjabi writing, philosophic and quality cultural dimension could not be ignored in the 21st Century. Similarly, integration of the present century with the past and the coming decades was equally important. DDS Sandhu said Punjabi literature should make room to focus on the contribution made by new writers in addition to acknowledging the contribution made by great writers from the past. Prof Jaspal Singh said the Punjabi language was accredited with international recognition largely due to the liberal, dynamic and enterprising outlook of Punjabis, which was receptive to pluralities and diversities. Prof Arun K Grover said the future of positive growth of the Punjabi language, literature and culture was inextricably linked up with the improvement of standards at PU. — TNS

Chandigarh, February 20
Jagannath Pahadia, Governor of Haryana, today felicitated 51 youth, including 19 girls, of  the state for their performance in various fields. These included 26 NCC cadets and 25 NSS volunteers.

The NCC cadets, which included six girls, were from the Ambala and Rohtak NCC groups who had participated in the recently concluded national-level Republic Day Camp in New Delhi. The NSS volunteers  are being awarded for the first time.

The Governor lauded the cadets for imbibing the good qualities of character, discipline, leadership, camaraderie and the spirit of patriotism.

He presented a certificate of merit, a memento and cash award to these young ambassadors of peace and discipline.

Jagannath Pahadia urged them to work towards a strong and  united India.

He appreciated the efforts of the officers and instructional staff in grooming the cadets in preparing for the  month-long Republic Day Camp and congratulated the cadets for their achievements at the national level.

He encouraged them to further improve their performance as this region had the tradition of producing leaders in different spheres.

The Additional Director-General NCC, Maj-Gen GS Chima, said the Republic Day contingent comprising 166 cadets had stood fifth among the NCC’s 17 directorates.

He said in the ensuing year, thrust would be laid on shooting, mountaineering activities and institutional training.