Panchkula, April 20
It was a night Neha will dread thinking about all her life. Stuck in a car in a 60-foot-deep gorge in a dense jungle in Morni without any mobile network, the injured girl, who survived the mishap, lost her friend, Saman Dhanak, after a long struggle.

The absence of mobile towers in Morni added to their agony as they failed to reach out to anybody for help the entire night, leading to Saman’s death in the morning. The girl desperately kept trying to call someone from her mobile, but there was no network.

Neha was stuck in the leg room of the car, while Saman was stuck in the driver’s seat with blood oozing out from his body.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Neha said, “I tried hard, but there was no mobile network. In the dense jungle, nobody heard our shrieks. The phone could have helped, but it didn’t work.”

The victim called out for help a number of times, but no one responded. After that she fell unconscious.

Chandigarh, April 20
Ten people were injured, two of them seriously, after an auto carrying around 15 persons overturned near the Kala Gram light point here this morning. The victims, members of the auto driver's family and their relatives, were on the way to the Mansa Devi temple.

According to the police, Hari Ram, along with his family and that of his brother-in-law Dharamraj, wanted to pay obeisance at the temple, but met with the accident on the way.

Victims were on way to Mansa Devi temple

The victims, members of the auto driver's family and their relatives, were on the way to the Mansa Devi temple.

Chandigarh, April 20
Denial of insurance claim continued to lead in all categories of complaints filed in the consumer forum during the last financial year (April 2013-March 2014) followed by real estate and banking.

The insurance, housing and banking sectors were responsible for almost 60 per cent of the cases before the Chandigarh consumer courts during the period.

658 cases in 2013-14

A total of 2,710 cases were filed from April 2013 to March 2014, of which 658 cases were related to wrongful denial of insurance claims, 324 pertained to deficiency in service by banking institutions and 303 complaints were against builders and housing service providers.

Chandigarh, April 20
Even as the crisis intervention team of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, has been able to reach out to a significant number of needy families in the past few months, it still lacks support from the UT police.

Set up by the Department of Psychiatry at the hospital, the team has been treating mentally ill patients from the last seven to eight months.

However, lack of cooperation from the area 
police has affected the team’s functioning and has limited its role.

Medical experts said the police’s perception of mentally ill patients was ‘quite narrow.’ They usually picture a shabbily-dressed person as suffering from a mental disorder.

Patients, who appear ‘normal’ during brief conversation, are not perceived as mentally-ill by the cops.

“We need to educate the police as well as the judiciary about various illnesses and characteristics of mentally-ill patients,” said Dr BS Chavan, Head, Department of Psychiatry, GMCH-32.

Going by a few instances recorded by the crisis intervention team, the police needs to be sensitised about its role as mentioned in the Mental Health Act-1987.

Sample this: The crisis intervention team received a call from a resident of Mani Majra last week. The man sought help claiming that his wife, suffering from a mental disorder, had locked herself along with their two children inside the house and was not willing to open the door. A team of experts reached the spot and called up the local police to help them break open the door. However, the police allegedly withdrew ‘as it did not relate to any criminal act.’

“In a majority of cases, when our team sought help from the police, they either refused or reluctantly visited a few spots. They, however, withdrew themselves terming it an ordinary case due to their inability to identify the patient’s illness,” added Dr Chavan. 

Chandigarh, April 20
Bringing the winning streak of PC Sanghi — chairman of the Federation of Sector Welfare Association (FOSWAC) for five consecutive terms — to an end, Baljinder Singh Bittu won the elections for the post of chairman in the FOSWAC elections held here today.

Bittu’s panel also bagged the remaining two posts of the vice chairman and general secretary in the Federation of Sectors Welfare Association of Chandigarh (FOSWAC) elections.

Bittu, a businessman, had contested the FOSWAC elections for the first time. He emerged as the winner by bagging 171 votes, while Sanghi secured only 127 votes. Two votes were declared invalid.

The 324 office-bearers of the 60 Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) affiliated to the association included the voters.

Sanghi, a retired chief engineer, had been the FOSWAC chairman since 2004. However, differences between the RWAs led to his defeat.

JC Verma defeated JS Multani and was elected as the vice-chairman. While Verma got 161 votes, Multani managed to secure only 137 votes. Three votes were declared invalid.

With 153 votes, JS Gogia won the elections for the post of General Secretary. He defeated PS Bajwa, who secured 144 votes. Four votes were declared invalid.

An elated Bittu said, “Our prime agenda will be to ensure development in the city and empowering the RWAs. We will also address other problems plaguing the city with the UT Administration, Municipal Corporation and Chandigarh Housing Board.” 

Chandigarh, April 20
The ongoing CII Coolex 2014 Expo — which entered its third day on Sunday — attracted a large number of visitors from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and the city. These included residents, hoteliers, industrialists, factory owners, professionals, representatives of large commercial establishments and corporates.

The Tribune-sponsored expo saw people from commercial establishments making full use of the new launches, schemes and discounted prices of the cooling systems.

As per CII officials, a number of companies had displayed gadgets capable of reducing power bills by 25-30 per cent. The expo will conclude on Monday.

Chandigarh, April 20
Rajesh Walia, president, Property Consultants Association (PCA), today announced its executive body by nominating Subhash Sharma as the new chairman. Sunil Kumar will be retained as the general secretary whereas Davinder Kumar will be the new treasurer. 

Fact file

* SAD candidate Prem Singh Chandumajra is canvassing along with his entire family, including his wife, two sons, two daughters-in-law and nephews, and supporters. Even his six-year-old granddaughter is seeking votes for him.

* Congress candidate Ambika Soni's husband and son are also supporting her election campaign. Mohali and Kharar MLAs Balbir Singh Sidhu and Jagmohan Singh Kang, respectively, are working full throttle to ensure Soni's win.

* Surprisingly, BSP candidate KS Makhan, a popular Punjabi singer, is yet to begin his election campaign in this area of the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency.

Mohali, April 20
To provide treatment to poor farmers suffering from cancer without charging any cash, the Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital, Banur, has introduced a scheme 'Cashless cancer treatment'.

Under the scheme, the patient's family will have to give foodgrains for the value of treatment expenses. The foodgrains received would be either given to poor or used to prepare 'langar' at religious places.

Giving details of the scheme, Dr Barjinder Singh, chairman of the hospital, said the hospital would receive foodgrains instead of cash as treatment expenses and that too, when the patient's family was able to give it. The scheme was introduced to prevent farmers from taking loans on high interest for treatment of the deadly disease, he added.

"The idea of launching the scheme came to my mind when a member of a cancer patient's family enquired about the expenses of cancer treatment so that they could take loan from a private moneylender," said Dr Barjinder Singh.

He added that to avail of the scheme's benefit, the patient's family had to get a written note from the sarpanch of their village. The note should mention the duration of the patient's stay in the village and the character he bears. "After getting the note, the hospital would bear the cost of treatment," said Dr Barjinder Singh.

Besides, the hospital has also launched a health insurance scheme for poor people belonging to rural areas. Under this scheme, the hospital, panchayats and the beneficiary would share the amount of insurance premium. 

Attending social functions during the elections cost Congress candidate Pawan Kumar Bansal dear as the Election Department added a substantial amount of expense — incurred on the birthday party of a Congress leader — in Bansal’s poll expenditure as he was present at the bash.

No word about policy decisions

The UT’s top brass has been holding to the tradition of keeping policy decision pending till the last moment. A classic case in this direction is UT’s excise policy for the fiscal year 2014-15. With only 10 days left, there is no word about the policy from the UT officials. This is not the lone case. Files regarding public issues keep on shifting from one officer to the other.

Expensive pets

Before you think of buying a dog, make sure that your pockets are loaded with cash. Buying good breed dogs has become an expensive affair nowadays. Recently, a dog breeder had put a price tag of ~2 lakh for a Pitbull pup. The bidding started at ~1.5 lakh for a pup and went up to ~2 lakh. The pups, specially brought from the US, were sold like an exclusive designer label. They were advertised in newspapers and across social networking sites. Though the pups failed to hit the headlines, they did find mention in the classifieds and were sold at higher tag prices.

Slap drama in police presence

The UT Police was once again caught napping in the court. This was evident as a high-voltage drama took place on the day, the quantum of sentence in Khushpreet’s murder case was to be pronounced. It was only after the women relatives of the five-year-old child as well as the accused slapped each other several times that the police swung into action and controlled the situation. More than 100 police personnel were deputed, making the court resemble a heavily-guarded fortress.

6-year-old campaigns for grandfather

Six-year-old Rehat attracts all the attention when she holds a microphone to campaign in support of her grandfather, Prem Singh Chandumajra, the SAD candidate from the Anandpur Sahib constituency. The Class I student of Yadavindra Public School has been participating in the election campaign. Rehat has won many hearts through her innocent gestures. The family is hopeful that Rehat will grow up to be a political leader in future.

Derogatory comments on politicians

The District Administration was left red-faced when some mischievous elements wrote objectionable and anti-state government comments on the display board meant for the administration’s ‘Signature campaign’ to encourage people about exercising their right to vote. The objectionable comments included ‘Badal chor (thief)’, ‘Kejriwal bhagora (absconding)’, ‘Chitte bagule, neele mor, eh vee chor te oh vee chor’ (cranes are white and peacocks are blue, all politicians are thieves). Following this, the administration decided to leave the campaign midway and lifted the board from the Administrative Complex immediately. However, a senior official claimed that the board was lifted as it was full to the brim.

Campaigning for Assembly elections too!

We should appreciate the efforts of both the media and the Election Commission in conducting the recent polls. To ensure active the participation of all, many alternatives were suggested and successfully implemented as well. But unfortunately, many voters were unable to cast their votes due to lack of documents. The election staff is not entirely at fault. The voters should have prepared their documents in advance. The guidelines were very much clear and communicated well in advance to all the residents. If the election staff has hindered the casting of votes at some booths then the feedback needs to be sent to the authorities. The authorities can then trace the root cause of the problem and ensure that such incidents do not happen again. The polling staff should also be empowered to take decision on a case-to-case basis to facilitate voting. With the IT technology and mobile communication, the polling staff can seek clarification/guidance from their seniors.

Dharam Pal Wason, Chandigarh

Impart training to the polling staff

A huge voters’ turnout was witnessed this time, thanks to the power of the media. But the lack of clarity among the officials at the polling booths regarding the documents that a voter is required to carry created chaos at the polling booths. As a result, a number of voters had to face harassment and some could not even cast their votes. I think the staff deployed at the polling booths should be imparted proper training so as to prepare them to face any situation. They should also be handed over informative circulars during the training session. The polling personnel should coordinate with the Election Department and tackle the problems collectively.

Dr Shruti K Chawla, Chandigarh

UT Election Department deserves appreciation

The UT Election Department deserves applause for conducting high-tech polling process and taking pro-voter initiatives. This has not only motivated the city residents but also motivated them, especially the youth, to exercise their franchise. Traders, industrialists, youngsters, social organisations and the media have encouraged all to cast their votes. Even the senior citizens, were provided free-of-cost pick and drop facility and provided wheelchairs to cast their valuable vote. Even a helpline number was launched to help the voters. SMS facility and other measures also proved a boon for voters in the region. Besides, NSS volunteers were also deputed at all the polling stations to assist the voters. Even after putting in so many efforts, the department failed to plug a few loopholes. The department should have not allowed political parties to pitch tents near the polling booths, as the voter slips were already provided to all the eligible voters at their doorsteps. The department should have also exercised a strict vigil to check frequent distribution of liquor, drugs and money among the public. The Tribune had very rightly highlighted the issue of frequent distribution of liquor on April 9. Besides, the political parties had also flooded the colonies and villages with ‘election gifts’ which comprised matchboxes containing Rs 1,000 each to woo the voters. Feasibility of mobile ballot boxes remains to be explored.

SK Khosla, Chandigarh

Reward system should be adopted

In a country such as India, minor discrepancies and errors are bound to happen during the Lok Sabha elections. But it is a matter of concern if a voter fails to cast his or her vote due to lack of information. There are 6,13,939 voters in Chandigarh and 519 polling booths were set up to facilitate the process. The Election Department had provided rigorous pre-poll training to thousands of polling officers, presiding officers and other concerned staff for the smooth conduct of elections. However, due to the alleged ignorance of the polling staff, some voters could not exercise their franchise. The Election Department definitely deserves kudos for the successful completion of the electoral process in Chandigarh. But voters, particularly in colonies and villages, should be educated so that not a single person is deprived of his or her right to vote. Though pre-poll training is provided to the staff, the learning skills of officials should be checked after the training is over. Best polling officers should be rewarded to encourage other polling staff to perform well.

Ravinder Nath, Chandigarh

Unemployed should be deployed at polling booths

A majority of the government employees are not willing to perform election duty, which eventually affects the polling work. I think deploying unemployed/needy youth by giving them some extra remuneration and requisite training can help in the smooth flow of the whole process. Also, the instructions to be followed by the staff members should be made available in writing. Upgrading the current system to an online system will help garner more votes. If implemented successfully, this would not only reduce the expenditure but also the manpower required by the Election Commission.

Kohima Goyal, Chandigarh

A voter must do his homework

Usually before conducting any general or assembly elections, four rounds of mandatory training are imparted to the staff. The presiding officers are given statute books to get acquainted with the procedure. Under such circumstances, it is difficult to believe that the election staff was not clear about the documents that a voter was supposed to carry to the polling booth. Also, advertisements on television and newspapers had been spreading awareness among the voters about the documents required and agents of the contesting candidates had also visited houses to apprise the voters of the process personally. Despite all the efforts, if voters faced difficulties, then it is plainly unfortunate. It could either be ascribed to the ignorance of the voters or the polling officers were not serious during their training session. I believe it has become a common practice to criticise the government for virtually everything. A voter must do his homework before exercising his/her franchise and the government can conduct awareness camps at booth-level to avoid any future inconvenience to the public.

Dr Gurdev Singh, Mohali

Update voters’ list

It is unfortunate that a voter has to face harassment and is often not allowed to vote due to lack of information. The Election Commission needs to take some measures so as to ensure that no voter is denied the right to vote. First, the commission must ensure that the voter slip is handed over to the voter in his house in advance. Secondly, voter s’list must be updated on a regular basis. Lastly, a new voter, whose voter card has not been made due to some reason, should be allowed to vote as per the latest orders of the Supreme Court, provided he/she fills the voter form in the polling booth, along with the proof of residence, date of birth certificate and two passport sized photographs. These instructions must be advertised clearly before the elections.

Colonel RD Singh (retd), Ambala Cantt

Staff should be educated

Efforts put in by the Election Department and the media during the Lok Sabha elections deserve acclaim. Due to the collective efforts, the city witnessed the highest ever polling percentage this time. It is, however, unfortunate that a number of voters were not able to cast their vote due to lack of clarity among the election staff. The Election Department should educate the staff to avoid such incidents in future. The Election Department must also launch an awareness campaign to encourage more residents to exercise their franchise. Active participation of all the media, government, MCs, village panchayats, schools and colleges can also help in improving the present polling system.

Vidya Sagar Garg, Panchkula

Set up booths in villages to tackle heavy turnout

Upgrading of the system by the Election Department has minimised the extent of harassment faced by the voters. Issuance of slips with photographs and verifying the list on a computer has made the voting process smooth and transparent. The authority must, however, set up polling booths in villages and colonies in future to handle the rush. The department must also reduce the tenure of election process in the country.

Sukhpal Singh, Chandigarh

Info must be printed in both Hindi, Punjabi

The Election Department should print information in both Hindi and Punjabi languages on the back side of the voters’ slip. It will serve as a guide-book for the voters and ensure the smooth flow of the entire process.

Varun Arora, Chandigarh

Staff must know intricate details

The election staff is requisitioned from various government departments for poll duties and is given intensive training before the election date so as to conduct the polls fairly. A supervisory staff is also deployed for overseeing the entire progress. In addition, polling agents of various political parties are also present to keep a watch on the conduct of polls. Generally, a slip is issued in advance on the basis of which the casting of ballots is facilitated. A voter is supposed to carry the slip and a voter identity card, issued by the Election Commission of India, to establish the genuineness of the voter. To ensure that polling is done harmoniously with the active participation of the electorate, the trained staff should be well acquainted with the intricate details of the whole process.

Gurmit Singh Saini, Mohali

Token system should be followed

Approximately three-fourth of the registered voters of the City Beautiful exercised their right to vote on April 10. The awareness campaign by the Chandigarh Administration was a good attempt but it could have been better. A few more awareness tips could have done the magic. The Administration, along with the help of the Election Department, should have informed the people through print, electronic and other mediums about the documents to be carried along while exercising their right to vote. While distributing the electoral slips, the Election Department could have also informed voters about the documents they should carry on the day of voting. Furthermore, a token system should be adopted so as to avoid inconvenience to voters standing in long queues.

Wg Cdr Jasbir Singh Minhas (retd), Mohali

Voter awareness should be updated

Our endeavour should be towards achieving 100 per cent voting. Achieving 73.86 per cent turnout is not an achievement. We must strive for 100 per cent voting. Lack of clarity among the polling staff on duty about documents that were supposed to be carried to the polling booth may be a reason for debacle but evasiveness among voters is also a matter of concern. There are people who avail the holiday announced for polling and want to enjoy citizenship rights but view voting wih low esteem. According to certain dailies, there are various Indian septugenarians and octogenarians who have never voted till date. Despite being criticised, India has a channelised franchise mechanism, appreciated by foreign nations. To improve the system, training of the polling staff should be made more specific to make them broadminded, courteous and informative. Voter awareness and facilitation should be updated. The constitutional rights of the habitual franchise evaders should also be curtailed.

MPS Chadha, Mohali

Name must be mentioned in voters’ list

There should be no doubt about carrying the documents to the polling booths. A voter must know that it can be either a voter card or some other identity card. It is the responsibility of the voter to do his homework. He must get the required documents to the polling booth to exercise his right to vote. However, the department must ensure that the name of the voter is mentioned in the voters’ list. The names of the candidates should be displayed outside every booth, in the same serial order as in the EVM, so as to help the voter trace the name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote. The practice was followed earlier and saves time effectively.

IPS Anand, Chandigarh

Staff, voters both need to be educated

Proper training should be given to the election staff. The voters should also be educated and informed about the required documents, needed to exercise their franchise. The best way would be to instruct people through the media, both electronic and print. People who are not very educated should be educated through loud-speaker vans. If these simple methods are followed, the election process will definitely become hassle-free for both the election staff and the voters.

Priya Darsh Growar, Mohali

Chandigarh, April 20
The entrance examinations for the postgraduate courses, being offered at the newly-opened Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD), Sector 12, will be held on May 4.

The institute that replaced Commonwealth Youth Programme, Sector 12, announced the series of postgraduate programmes available from this session onwards for the interested students.

Students can enroll themselves in courses including MA youth empowerment, MA career counseling, MA gender studies, MA local governance, MA life skills education, MA development practice, PhD (interdisciplinary specialising in youth work).

The regional director, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Chandigarh, JS Kunoor, said after the entrance examinations of the newly-introduced courses, the session will commence from July 1.

For more information, applicants can log on at www.rgniyd.gov.in.