Chandigarh, April 12
Twenty-three-year old civil services aspirant died after a recklessly driven Skoda car hit her scooter on Friday evening at Sector 49.

The girl, a resident of Mohali, Phase X, was returning home from her coaching classes when the accident took place. The accused driver of the car, who fled from the spot after leaving the car, has been identified as Satyajot Singh, a resident of Sector 70, Mohali.

The victim, identified as Sujata Sharma, was seriously injured when a recklessly driven car hit her scooter head-on near Vidhan Sabha society in Sector 49.

Vishnu Kumar, a security guard of the SBI society, who was the witness to the accident, in his complaint to the police stated that the Skoda car was coming from Actor 49 D, when the accident took place. “The car after hitting the scooter dragged the scooter and the girl for some distance”, Kumar told to the police.

The scooter was completely damaged and the victim was lying in a pool of blood when the eyewitness reached there after hearing a loud noise.

Sources stated that the accused was accompanied by some youths who were allegedly drunk. However, Rajesh Shukla, SHO, Sector 34 police station, denied having any such information.

Some passersby rushed the victim to Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, where she later succumbed to her injuries.

The autopsy was conducted at GMCH-32 and the body was handed over to the family. The deceased is survived by her parents and two siblings.

A case under Section 279 (rash driving), 304-A (causing death by negligence) and 337 (causing hurt by act of endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 34 police station and an investigation has been initiated.

car impounded, driver still at large
The Skoda car has been impounded and the police conducted raids at the residence of the accused driver, but he is still at large.

Chandigarh, April 12
The Chandigarh Police today arrested the driver of the Toyota Fortuner who had jumped a “naka” after hitting a Honda city car on the road separating Sector 45 and 46, near Laxmi Narayan temple during wee hours on April 6. Inspector Amanjot Singh of the Chandigarh police, who was present at the “naka” on duty had fired two gunshots to stop the car.

The accused, Gurpreet Singh, has a criminal background with several cases registered against him in Chandigarh and Punjab.

Amanjot Singh and other police officials were on “naka” duty when they saw a white SUV approaching the “naka” hit a Honda City car. On seeing the police party, the accused driving the SUV, reversed his vehicle and tried to drive over the median towards the other side of the road. Inspector Amanjot in a bid to stop the SUV had fired two gunshots, but the accused managed to flee . The police had noted that the SUV had the registration number of Mohali. Police officials stated that a special investigation team (SIT) was constituted and based on the information they had, the police began verifying all the white Toyota Fortuner cars. “The SIT also tried to track mobile locations of all the white Fortuner owners in the area, which led to the arrest of Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Kharar, ”, police officials said.

The police said during interrogation Gurpreet admitted to have been drunk on the day of the incident and he was accompanied by Parminder Singh,who is absconding. The SUV has been impounded.

Has criminal record A case of attempt to murder registered in 2009 at the Sector 36 police station in Chandigarh A case of endangering life or personal safety of others registered in 2007 at the Sector 36 police station in Chandigarh. A case under the NDPS Act registered at a police station in Ropar district, Punjab. Two cases registered at the Balongi police station, Mohali. Two cases registered Two cases under Sections 279 (rash driving) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of ~50) and another case under Sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the IPC have been registered against the accused. Earlier, Inspector had arrested him in 2009 Incidentally, Inspector Amanjot Singh, who had fired shots to stop the vehicle at a “naka” on April 6, had arrested accused Gurpreet Singh in 2009 in an attempt to murder case.

Panchkula, April 12
A youth allegedly created a ruckus late last night and misbehaved with police personnel at Sector 2, here. He was posing as a minister’s son. The youth, who hails from Jalandhar, had come to meet a local girl with a red beacon atop his Toyota Fortuner, when he was stopped by the police.

Karun Pratap Singh (28) had come in chauffeur-driven car wearing a crisp white “kurta” saying that he was the son of some ‘Rudra Pratap Singh’, a minister. The boy was on his way back after meeting the girl (who is a resident of Mani Majra) when he was stopped by the police.

Initially, Singh tried to flee the spot, but a team led by Sushil Kumar, in-charge of the Sector 2 police post, nabbed him.

“He threatened us and misbehaved with the officials at the “naka”. He said that how we could dare to stop a minister’s son. He also threatened to get our “vardi”(uniform) removed,” said a police official.

When the youth took the name of his ‘minister father’- Rudra Pratap Singh -Panchkula police officials became suspicious, as they had never heard such a name before. They then arrested the youth, who during an interrogation revealed that he was lying and he had come the city to meet a girl. He further told them that his father died long ago.

During the investigation it was found that he was running a Hero Honda agency in Jalandhar but had no political connections. The girl was also called by the police but later let off.

The police then issued a challan against the youth for dangerous driving, misbehavior with the police, possessing a red beacon illegally and no RC.

Chandigarh, April 12
The ‘0001’ of CH 01 AX series went for a whopping Rs 7 lakh in an open auction of vanity numbers held at the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA) today. A Sector-33 based property dealer bought the number for his BMW 640-D worth Rs 1.32 crore.

Harinder Singh, who has craze for vanity numbers, wanted ‘0001’ for his high-end car, which he has recently purchased. Singh’s other four high-end cars also have vanity numbers. “I wanted to have ‘0001’ only on my car no matter how high the bid would have gone”, said Singh.

The second highest bid for ‘0009’ was Rs 4.1 lakh. Munish Mittal, an industrialist, bought the number for his Toyota Fortuner. Mittal even participated in the ‘0001’ bid but could not get the number.

Five out the first 10 vanity numbers were bought for SUVs.

Karan Grewal, a resident of Sector 10, bought the ‘0005’ number for Rs 3 Lakh for his Mercedes ML-350. Karan owns four more cars out of which three have ‘0005’ number. “I feel number five is lucky for me that is why I like to have the same number on all my cars”, said Karan. His mobile number also has No.5 five times.

The ‘0003’ fetched Rs 2.90 Lakh. Virender Katania, a resident of Sector 22, bought the number.

The first 100 number of AX series fetched Rs 69.92 lakh. The auction of other vanity numbers will be held on Sunday.

Owners turned up in swanky cars
A variety of swanky cars were seen parked in the parking opposite the RLA office. The proud owners of the cars had arrived to participate in the auction.

Chandigarh, April 12
Providing major relief to city residents, the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) has dismissed a petition filed by the UT Electricity Department for a 21 per cent hike in power tariff.

Now, there will be no increase in the existing power tariff hike during the financial year 2014-15. This is for the second consecutive year that the JERC has rejected the proposal for tariff hike.

The order passed by the JERC reads, “Keeping in mind the approved aggregate revenue requirement for 2014-15 and the reviewed gap of 2013-14, the commission is of the view that there is Rs 74.89 crore surplus; so there is no need to revise tariff.”

Panchkula, April 12
In a major embarrassment to the Panchkula administration, political parties have raised questions on the entire data of voter turnout uploaded on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer.

While the administration has mentioned a turnout of only 5.4 per cent at Sector 6, the Form 17-C records with political parties show that it stood at 62.84 per cent. Similar discrepancies have been found in the data of Sector 7.

As per the online data, at Sector 6, only 126 of the 2,358 voters cast their vote, while in Sector 7, of the 5,187 voters, only 331 turned up at the polling booth.

Political parties say the number of total voters has been mentioned wrongly too.

BJP leader VK Sood said as per his records, one of the booths at Sector 6 saw 767 voters of the total 1,274 turning up to vote, while at another booth, 679 of 1,027 votes were polled.

Senior AAP leader Anand Prakash said, “How can the administration make such a big blunder? My records show a good turnout.”

BJP leader CB Goel said: “While my records show a turnout of 60 per cent at Sector 7, the website shows just 6.81 per cent turnout.”

He said the data of the entire district could not be relied upon.

Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Gurmeet Singh said: “Updating machines at the two sectors might have gone wrong. We will get the data checked again,” he said.

The time of last update on the site was the time the polling ended, i.e. 6pm.

Panchkula Deputy Commissioner SS Phulia failed to respond on the issue.

Mohali, April 12
Mocking at the 'top-class' road infrastructure set up by the SAD-BJP government here, Congress leader Ambika Soni claimed that her new Innova car has turned into a 'khatara' (jalopy) within 20 days of her campaigning in the area.

Soni, the Congress candidate for the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha seat, said, "In the name of link roads, there are 'kutcha' paths in rural areas and that too are full of huge pits. This is enough to show the false claims of Akalis about development in the area."

Soni started her second round of campaigning to woo rural voters in the area. Today, she held meetings with residents of several villages, including Kansal, Machchli Kalan, Teera, Jhanjheri and Mullanpur. She was accompanied by Kharar's Congress MLA Jagmohan Singh Kang.

Soni claimed that people in most of the villages were deprived of even basic amenities. "During my campaign, I found that there was no proper supply of drinking water in many villages. Farmers are being given electricity free of cost but they have to face harassment of several months to get a power connection. Their crops are not being lifted for several months and as a result, they are forced to sell their product on cheaper rates," claimed Soni.

She also claimed that rural people were fed up with the Akalis.

Soni said she would be campaigning in rural areas for the next few days and later, she would meet people in urban areas.

Mohali, April 12
The SAD candidate for the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha seat, Prem Singh Chandumajra, today accused his rival from the Congress, Ambika Soni, of misleading people by distorting facts.

Chandumajra said Soni was misleading people by saying that she was contesting elections for the first time and he (Chandumajra) had always lost the elections. “I won the elections thrice and made the Congress biggies bite the dust,” he claimed.

Chandumajra said in 1985, he defeated Lal Singh of Congress from the Dakala Assembly constituency and served as a minister in the Akali Dal government headed by Surjit Singh Barnala.

“Thereafter, I made it to the Parliament in 1996 from Patiala seat by defeating Sant Ram Singla. In 1998, I defeated Captain Amrinder Singh from the same constituency,” he added.

Lashing out at Soni, he claimed that Soni was a serial loser and her security deposit had been forfeited in the two Lok Sabha elections she had contested.

Prof Chandumajra said Soni had contested from Chandigarh in the 1980 Lok Sabha election on the Indian National Congress (Urs) ticket and had finished fourth. Her security deposit was forfeited then, he added. “Soni’s next stop was Meerut from where she contested the 1984 parliamentary election on the Janata Party ticket. There too, she finished fourth,” claimed Prof Chandumajra.

“The people of Punjab in general and Anandpur Sahib in particular would make her lose the security deposit for the record third time,” he claimed.

Chandigarh, April 12
The third national heart failure summit and live workshop and symposium on interventional cardiology began here today. The highlight of the workshop was two live demonstration sessions held on the ways to use various types of heart failure devices that was beamed live from Fortis Hospital to summit site at JW Marriot Hotel.

The workshop was on the topic of “intervening to save hearts”. Renowned international cardiologist Dr HK Bali organised it under the aegis of the Heart Foundation, Chandigarh.

Dr Bali conducted both sessions in Cath Laboratory of Fortis, which doctors at JW Marriot saw live and also asked live questions to Dr Bali. Complex coronary angioplasty via radial route was demonstrated at the symposium.

A 79-year-old man who suffered heart attack three weeks ago had been taken up for staged Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI). He suddenly became hemodynamically unstable and subsequent angiography revealed critical disease of the left-sided major artery. He underwent a life-saving angioplasty for the above mentioned. During the procedure, two medicated stents were deployed in the artery. Steps of the procedure were discussed with the chairperson and the panelists. Intracoronary imaging showed pristine stent deployment.

In the second case, a complex carotid angioplasty was performed. A 70-year-old former Army man had a minor stroke three weeks ago. Left carotid artery angiography revealed an unstable ulcerated plaque causing severe narrowing of the artery. If left untreated, this would have led to a massive paralytic stroke causing significant debility. Using a brain protection device, a self-expanding stent was deployed to treat the culprit vessel.

Dr Bali said it was the largest ever conference held in the city with 113 faculty and 550 delegates attending it. World famous cardiologists from Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and abroad have landed.

Dr HK Bali said the first session included experts talk on various aspects of heart diseases, including latest in treating heart attack, severe coronary artery disease, heart failure, carotid artery disease, abdominal aortic aneurysms, aortic dissections, arrhythmias, and this will continue till April 13.

An important aspect of the event is a lecture on the management of heart disease in patients with diabetes, kidney failure and peripheral artery disease. Experts will deliberate on steps to be taken to prevent heart disease in Indians, particularly in youths. Latest guidelines in managing hypertension, lipid disorders, heart attack and heart failure will be discussed with particular emphasis on their relevance to Indian patients.

Mohali, April 12
A doctor couple posted at the Mohali Civil Hospital and the Civil Surgeon have approached the police following counter-allegations of misbehaviour and harassment.

The doctor couple, Dr Bobby Gulati and Dr Sonia Gulati, have accused Civil Surgeon Dr Rajiv Bhalla of harassment, misbehaviour and using foul and unparliamentary language against them. While Dr Sonia Gulati has written a complaint to the Punjab Health Minister in this regard, her husband gave a written complaint to Mohali SSP Gursharan Singh Sandhu.

In his complaint, he alleged that Dr Bhalla had manhandled and abused him in front of two doctors, Senior Medical Officer Dr Andesh Kang and Dr Manraj, in his office on April 4.

On the other hand, Civil Surgeon Dr Bhalla also lodged a complaint with the SSP stating that Dr Bobby Gulati misbehaved with him and one more official on April 4 after storming in his office at around 1 pm. He further claimed that Dr Gulati had been accused of misbehaviour during his stint in other hospitals as well.

"I had also called up the PCR at 1.18 pm that day and later, gave a complaint to the Mohali SSP," said Dr Bhalla.

Mohali Superintendent of Police (City 1) Swarndeep Singh said Sub-Inspector Rajiv Kumar, Phase I SHO, was asked to hold an inquiry in this regard. "After the inquiry, we would initiate legal proceedings on the complaints of both the parties," said the police officer.

Mohali, April 12
An Assistant Sub-Inspector of the Punjab Police has been running from pillar to post for the past two months to get a police case registered in Chandigarh.

ASI Balwinder Singh said his son Manpreet Singh had sustained injuries in an accident on February 12 and since then, he had made repeated attempts to get a case registered but to no avail.

The ASI alleged that cops at the Sector 24 police station, Chandigarh, had told him that they were not going to do anything in this regard.

Giving details, Balwinder Singh said his son Manpreet Singh, a BTech student at Panjab University, sustained injuries when an Innova car driven by one Lakhbir Singh of Dhanas hit the former's motorcycle on the road separating Sectors 24 and 25 in Chandigarh. “My son received a fracture in his left arm besides sustaining several injuries in other parts of the body. Then, Lakhbir Singh said he was ready to bear the cost of treatment of my son. But later, he stopped responding to our repeated calls. I approached the Chandigarh Police but they have failed to take any action on my complaint," said Balwinder Singh.

When contacted, a senior police official at the Sector 24 police station said he would look into the complaint and do the needful immediately.

Chandigarh, April 12
The Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi gave the city residents a different slice of entertainment as they staged their play “The Clown’s Cry for Moon” at the Tagore Theatre here today. Not only the professional actors performed, but also invited the audience to join them on the stage to re-enact the play.

Proving that there is a hidden actor in every soul, director and writer VK Singh from Khilona Group, Delhi, scripted one of the most innovative plays where the audience, right from the time when the curtain of the stage was raised, was made to participate in every scene of the play.

The musical interactive play seemed more like an adaption of "Alice in Wonderland" in Hindustani version.

The USP of the play remained the interactive session, which the onstage characters had with the audience. The storyline of the play revolved around a little girl who is the single child of working parents. Since she has no companion, she creates her own fantasy world with various characters, where one night after her dinner she goes for a stroll to a forest. There she meets the clown who is starving and claims that he would eat the moon if he is not fed with food. However, the little girl pleads to the clown to spare her friend the moon and assures the clown that she would get him food. From there the script, with lots of interesting twists and turns, starts to build up.

The pinnacle of the play was when the director asked the audience to come on the stage and re-enact the entire play.

The children who had turned up in large numbers didn’t miss the opportunity to exhibit their acting skills as they walked on the stage to play various characters.

Chandigarh, April 12
Ironically, Panjab University is giving a step-motherly treatment to the School of Punjabi Studies, one of the oldest departments for research, as it has not allocated a single penny to it in the financial year 2014-15.

Even Bhai Vir Singh Studies in Modern Literature Chair is also sailing in the same boat with no funds for the research.

While going through the figures of the budget, it is revealed that in the past also the Punjabi Department was not allocated any fund for the seminar or workshop, publication of two annual issues of research journals and purchase of books and journals from year 2011 to 2014.

Sources in the department revealed that due to the paucity of funds, two major research projects were held up for more than 20 years. The third volume of the History of Punjabi Literature has not been published since 1980. Another project, the third volume of Punjabi Literary Kosh (dictionary of Punjabi), which needs to be revised, has not been undertaken for the past 20 years.

Even the publication of two issues of magazines, which were prepared in 2013, has not been launched yet as there are no funds available with the department.

Yograj Angrish, a Senator and a Punjabi professor, raised the issue in the last meeting that the department does not have funds for the purchase of stationery for the quarter from January to March as the Finance Department has not released funds on time. He also raised the vital issue as to why there is a wide gap in the allocation of funds to the Arts and Science Department by the PU authorities.

Sukhdev Singh, chairman, Punjabi Department, said the department was suffering due to the shortage of funds for a long time. The issue had been brought to the notice of the Finance Department and the higher authorities a number of times, but to no avail.

He said this year also the Finance Department had given an assurance for the timely release of funds, but cumbersome paper work had to be done before getting the funds released on time. 

paucity of funds
While going through the figures of the budget, it is revealed that in the past also the Punjabi Department was not allocated any fund for the seminar or workshop, publication of two annual issues of research journals and purchase of books and journals from year 2011 to 2014.

Chandigarh, April 12
A week-long workshop on robotics conducted by experts from IIT-Bangalore concluded at RIMT World School, Manimajra, today.

On the concluding day, Jaspal Singh from IIT-Bangalore in his address to the students said: “For every sector in the economy, availability of skilled people and technology has become a prerequisite for attracting investment. Till the time we do not impart such knowledge at grass-roots level, it is impossible for us to compete in the global market”.

Singh said the schools should invest in robotics labs, research and technology and include it in the curriculum to tap huge potential of the younger generation.

The event concluded with an exhibition and a seminar where over 300 students participated and displayed around 80 projects.

Speaking on the occasion, Poonam Katoch, principal of the school, said: “This is our first step towards providing a platform to explore imagination. We strive to provide research opportunities to faculty as well as students, which will further assist in curriculum upgradation in the school. We are confident that such events will tap huge potential of the younger generation, which is our motive behind this event”.

“It is a practical way of teaching students of what they have learnt throughout the year and rather in an interesting manner,” she said. — TNS