Dera Bassi, May 2
In a sensational incident, the mother of two children was allegedly raped, filmed and blackmailed by a youth of Meerpur village and his sister-in-law.

The incident occurred almost two and a half months ago when Gagan Deep (24) called the woman (32), who was known to him, to his house on the pretext of some work. When she reached the house, the youth raped her as his sister-in-law allegedly filmed the act with a mobile phone.

Tilak Raj, ASI, who is investigating the case, said the victim told the police that the youth took her son to his house and when she went there he raped her. His sister-in-law recorded the act with a mobile phone, she alleged. The duo threatened her of dire consequences if she disclosed the matter to anybody, the ASI said.

The victim, however, broke the silence when the youth uploaded the video on WhatsApp, a social networking site, the ASI said.

The police got her examined at the local Civil Hospital today. A case under Sections 376, 364, 506 and 452 of the IPC has been registered against Gagan Deep Singh and his sister-in-law. No arrest has been made so far. 

Chandigarh, May 2
A 16-year-old school student died in an accident after her “scooty” was hit by a private school bus in Sector 19 here today. The driver of the bus escaped after dropping the injured at the hospital. However, he was arrested after the girl succumbed to injuries in the evening.

The victim, Kirti Devi, was a resident of Sector 19. Her father had died five years ago and she was the youngest of there sisters. Her mother Seema works as domestic help.

The mishap occurred at 11.30 am when a mini bus, ferrying mentally challenged children, hit her “scooty” on the right side. The girl fell and her head was crushed under the wheels of the bus. She was returning from the market where she had gone to purchase something.

Kirti was a Class X student of Government Model Senior Secondary School-19 and had recently appeared for her annual exam. An engineering aspirant, she had also appeared for the JET exam.

Eyewitnesses told the police that the bus driver rushed the victim to the GMCH 32 and she died at 7 pm in the evening. The bus driver, Balbir Singh, was arrested in a case of causing death due to negligence.

Chandigarh, May 2
Just about a week after Worldhotel Turquoise was sealed, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today rapped the hotel owners before asking them to remove violations till Monday. The High Court also warned them against carry out commercial activity until the UT Estate Office gave its clearance.

As the case come up for a resumed hearing this morning, the Division Bench of Surya Kant and Justice Lisa Gill came down heavily on the owners for carrying out construction, violating the UT building bylaws.

The rap came after UT senior standing counsel Sanjeev Sharma provided a list of violations, along with photographs, showing conversion of the basement into a restaurant.

Sharma said a show-cause notice was served on the hotel owners last year but they failed to turn up before Assistant Estate Officer. The court was also told that the hotel owners started commercial activities without obtaining approval from the Estate Office.

The Bench orally observed: “We will not allow even a single inch of land for the use of commercial activity, which is not permitted to the owners. The act of hotel owners to convert the basement parking into a restaurant is totally unjustified. Till everything is done, there is no question of commercial activity at the site”.

The Bench further observed: “In such circumstances, action taken by the UT Estate Department is fully justified under the provisions of law…. The UT administration is directed to issue a supplementary notice to the hotel owners and the owners are directed to reply to the notice accordingly”.

The owners of Worldhotel Turquoise, Industrial Area, Phase II, had moved the High Court seeking the cancellation of the sealing orders.

The hoteliers in the petition have contended that the officials sealed the hotel without issuing a prior notice. The UT Estate Office, on the other hand, has alleged violations of the building bylaws.

Chandigarh, May 2
After the UT Estate Office unearthed a nexus between its building branch officials and commercial property owners in the city, the UT Administration has now directed the municipal corporation (MC) to check if there was any such nexus in the MC building branch.

A senior official of the UT Administration said numerous complaints had been received from residents and councillors regarding the functioning of the MC building branch officials. The UT has asked the MC to inspect commercial buildings and check their building plans, he said.

The official said the MC had also been asked to submit a report on the posting of officials in the building branch, including duration of their posting and any complaint or inquiry pending against them.

Last year, the CBI had arrested a patwari of the MC building branch while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 for submitting a site verification report that enables an applicant to get an NOC for the transfer of ownership of a house.

The Patwari had given reference of MC Joint Commissioner Rajiv Gupta while settling the bribe amount with the complainant. But during the investigation, the CBI did not find anything against Gupta and his name was not included in the charge sheet. The complainant, Jaspinder Singh, is a resident of Mani Majra.

In a recent report submitted to the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Estate Officer, Mohammed Shayin, the inspecting teams of the Estate Office have pointed out the manner in which the Rule 5 of the Punjab Capital Development and Regulation Act was misinterpreted to pass on the benefit to commercial property owners. Erring officials, while getting the approval for “non-compoundable violations” from the Plan Approval Committee (PAC), Upper, presented the facts in such a manner that the approval for the non-compoundable violations was given by charging the fee meant for compoundable violations, thus causing financial loss to the state exchequer.

Panchkula, May 2
For the last fortnight, Vikram Sharma has been shuttling from one office to another in the building of the Municipal Corporation (MC) here to get a marriage registration certificate issued but in vain.

It has been over 16 days that services at the MC building in Sector 14 here have been suspended due to a technical snag. Resultantly, birth certificates and marriage registration certificates are not being delivered and redressal of complaints about stray dogs, garbage, sanitation, faulty streetlights etc are not being addressed.

Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia said the online work was held up due to a technical snag. “I will ensure that the work starts by tomorrow.”

Subash Paneja, a resident of Sector 16, said, “The worst thing is that you can’t even tell your problem because the Jan Suvidha Centre where grievances are lodged is also not working.”

Pritam Vashisht, a resident of Sector 17, said, “For the last seven days, I have been visiting the MC office to get birth certificate of my granddaughter issued but the officials there daily say that the work would start tomorrow.”

He added, “Visiting the office day after day is taxing. The officials should make it clear when the problem at their end would be resolved.”

“When MC officials were not sure if the system has properly set up in the new building, why did they shift there?” asked Honey Chauhan.

It may be mentioned that Chandigarh Tribune had highlighted that during the shifting to the new building, officials were fighting for best-located cabins in the building. Visitors complained of congestion and inadequate sitting arrangements. For the elderly and handicapped, there was no provision of ramps or any other facility as one had to climb stairs to enter the building.

Meanwhile, MC officials discussed various civic issues with the Deputy Commissioner SS Phulia during a meeting held here today.

Mayor Upinder Ahluwalia said they would coordinate with an NGO for sterilisation and vaccination of dogs due to tackle the stray dog menace.

Chandigarh, May 2
The Commissioner, Municipal Corporation (MC), Chandigarh, has marked an inquiry into a complaint that an undue favour was allegedly given to the Outdoor Communications by not taking advertisement fee from them after they were allotted tender for maintenance and operation of 25 public toilets on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.

In his complaint submitted with the Joint Commissioner in March, Ashok Kumar stated that the MC extended favour to the company that was allotted the five-year contract in February 2010 by not charging advertisement fee/tax. The complainant stated that as per the rules, the company was supposed to submit the licence fee of six months in advance. However, the company instead paid the fee on monthly basis.

While the company was allotted the work of maintenance and operation work of 25 public toilets for five years, it surrendered the work in the fifth year.

On April 29, MC Commissioner Vivek Pratap Singh marked an inquiry into the complaint to the Additional Commissioner, Sunil Bhatia, and submit his views.

It may be mentioned that MC officials are already under CBI scanner for allegedly giving undue advantage to M/s Selvel Media Service Pvt Ltd in allotting tender for advertising and maintenance of 86 public toilets between 2007 and 2012.

Chandigarh, May 2
Five persons, including four children and a woman, were injured after parapet of a house collapsed in Hallo Majra this evening.

Eyewitnesses said two children, who were playing on the terrace of the house, fell along with the parapet and sustained injuries. A woman and two children, who were standing below, were injured as the rubble fell on them.

Nandini and Shivani, around two-years of age, fell from the first floor of the house. While Shivani suffered injuries on her face, Nandini suffered a minor injury in her back.

Neha (14), who was standing outside the house, suffered injuries as bricks fell on her foot.

Manju (32), who was standing below the parapet, suffered a head injury and the infant, Sandeep, she was carrying received minor injuries.

The victims were rushed to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, in a police vehicle.

Officials from the UT Administration also reached the spot to take stock of the situation.

Chandigarh, May 2
After crisis for about three months, supply of 54 out of a total of nearly 100 medicines (provided free of cost) has been restored at hospitals and health centres in the city.

The shortage of medicines ailed patients at the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, and civic dispensaries across the city. Of the total 100, stocks of only 10 medicines were available until now. Patients coming to buy medicines for headache, pain in abdomen and blood pressure control besides life-saving drugs, including injections, were being directed to chemist shops on the hospital campus.

The stock of life-saving drugs, which are to be provided to patients in emergency within the first 24 hours of admission, were also exhausted.

Poor patients were the worst affected due to the shortage of medicines.

“We have received molecules of 54 categories, which will cover all the basic medicines,” said Dr Satbir, acting medical superintendent, GMSH-16.

Chandigarh, May 2
The UT officials today discussed the recommendations submitted by the ‘Board of Inquiry and Hearing,’ which was constituted by UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil, to look into the objections and suggestions received on the draft master plan-2031.

After holding a number of hearing sessions in November and December 2013, the board had recently submitted its recommendations.

Today, the meeting was chaired by UT adviser KK Sharma.

Officials said the suggestion was discussed and it was decided that the final plan should be submitted before the UT Administrator at the earliest for approval.

The Urban Planning Department had received around 170 objections and suggestions.

The draft will be notified only after getting a clearance from the administrator on suggestions received to be incorporated in the Master Plan.

The board, headed by Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) Chairman Satya Gopal, comprising of UT Chief Architect Sumit Kaur, UT Secretary (Information Technology) Prerna Puri, UT Chief Engineer SK Chadda, former mayor Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Ravinder Singh Pali, MC Commissioner Vivek Partap Singh and Chief Planner of the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).

Mohali, May 2
As in the case of the SAS Nagar segment of the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency, the number of male voters outnumbered female voters in the Kharar segment too, in the polls held on April 30.

According to the voter turnout report of the Election Commission of India, a total of 1,42,231 voters exercised their franchise in the Kharar segment. The number of male voters was 77,177 while the turnout figure for females was 65,054.

However, at two polling stations women marginally outnumbered men while casting their vote. At Government Elementary School, Desumajra (middle side) polling station, there was 256 male voters and 266 females while at Government Elementary School, Jhingran, the number of male voters was 445 and that of female voters was 473.

There were a total of 224 polling stations in the Kharar segment.

The largest number of voters (1,115) turned up at Government Elementary School, Nada (left side) polling station. Other polling stations which recorded a higher voter turnout included Government Elementary School, Santemajra (1,050); Government Elementary School, Khanpur- middle side (1,018); Christian Senior Secondary School, Kharar- right side (983) and Government Elementary School, Kansal- middle side (973).

The lowest voter turnout of 287 was witnessed at the polling station located at Government Elementary School, Nagal. The other stations which had a low voter turnout were Government Elementary School, Bhagatmajra (302); Government Elementary School, Choti Bari Nagal (322) and Government High School, Kubaherhi- left side (331).

Panchkula, May 2
Three persons, including two servants of the victim Karam Singh and a customer, today deposed before the court and informed that Karam told them that he was going to have a talk regarding the job but after half an hour they received the news about his death.

Karam Singh had a barber’s shop. Two servants Satpal and Ramesh and one customer Dinesh gave the evidence today.

Satpal and Ramesh told that they were at the shop when Karam said that he was going to have a conversation regarding the job. However, after half an hour, they got to know that he was no more. Counsel Vishal Narwana said even the victim’s son, Rajender, had to depose before the court but only three witnesses could be examined. The date of next hearing is June 6.

Karam Singh, former sarpanch of the Kambopura village of Karnal was found dead on June 7, 2011, a day after he had lodged a complaint against former transport minister OP Jain and former chief parliamentary secretary Zile Ram Sharma, for allegedly duping him and his relatives of around Rs 13 lakh with the promise of providing them government jobs. After CBI booked the two ministers and Jain’s personal assistant Rajender, they surrendered before the Panchkula CBI court.

Panchkula, May 2
Surinder Pal Singh, AAP candidate from Ambala, expressing solidarity with Dr Dharamvir Gandhi, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from Patiala who was injured in an attack on the polling day on April 30, joined the protesting party activists at Patiala.

SP Singh first joined the AAP volunteers at Zirakpur where they held a protest and then participated in a dharna being organised in Patiala seeking strict action against the perpetrators of violence.

The AAP leaders and workers have demanded registration of an FIR for attempt to murder against the attackers.

In a press note, Singh alleged that the police was biased towards the ruling party in Punjab and hence was not registering the FIR under appropriate sections.

He demanded strict action against the Superintendent of Patiala police for adopting delaying tactics in an effort to hush up the case. — TNS

Chandigarh, May 2
The UT Administration today selected two HCS officials for inter-cadre deputation. The Administration selected Satish Kumar Jain, a 2004-batch HCS officer, and Sarita Malik, a 2002-batch officer, from the panel of HCS officials sent by the Haryana government. The officials will soon join the UT Administration.

Sarita Malik is the daughter of former Haryana DGP MS Malik. 

Chandigarh, May 2
The UT Estate Office staff today razed the illegal construction of Hotel Jalandhar in Sector 18. Recently after the directions of the UT DC, the Estate Office had sealed the hotel for violations in its building. It had constructed eight rooms as against the six sanctioned on the first and second floors. At the same site the construction plan for the second floor did not conform to the one that was sanctioned.

Besides, an unauthorised construction was made on the building's terrace to accommodate a power generator and solar panels, which did not comply with the building bylaws. — TNS

Chandigarh, May 2
Amid slowdown in the bullion market, the festival of Akshaya Tritiya also could not revive momentum in sale of gold, at least in the city. A dip of 50 per cent in gold sales was seen on Akshaya Tritiya here today, compared to the previous year.

Jewellers in the city said the increased cost of the yellow metal from Rs 25,000 last year to Rs 28,200 (for 22 carat gold) this year was one of the leading causes for the dip in sales.

“The response was not at all encouraging for us. Already, there is a slump. The festival had brought hopes, especially for the small-scale jewellers but this year we sold half of what we have sold last year,” said Vinod Talwar, president, Jewellers’ Association, Chandigarh. Rakesh Talwar, Regional Chairman, All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Foundation, said lack of new designs due to shorter supply of gold in markets was also a reason for low sales.

“The ban on imports has brought down yearly imports of gold in city from 1,000 tonnes to merely 300 tonnes. If the government does not do away with such restrictions, it may give rise to illegal trading of gold,” he said. — TNS

Chandigarh, May 2
Sunita Sharma, a female multipurpose worker of the School of Public Health, PGIMER, has been selected for the National Florence Nightingale Award 2014. The President of India will be giving away the award on May 12, 2014, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

Sunita is working as a health worker in an urban resettlement colony in the Urban Health and Training Centre under the Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, PGIMER,

She has been working in the field for the past 18 years. The colony comprises mainly migrants from various states and most of them belong to lower socio-economic class. Its population is around 27,000.

“She developed an excellent rapport with this community and people identify her as one of their family members. People of different age groups and gender approach her for their health-related issues due to the trust developed in her and the immediate medical help provided to them by her,” said a PGIMER official.

She has been motivating beneficiaries for vasectomy, tubectomy and helping the community in registration of the newborns and the dead.

She also motivates people for drug de-addiction, cancer screening and immunisation.

Chandigarh: SRL Diagnostics Limited, the largest diagnostics network in India, announced the launch of a new lab test- ST2, to help predict risks of coronary diseases by finding a specific biomarker in the bloodstream. It is available across India at all Fortis Labs/ SRL Diagnostics Labs and its collection centres.

Berkeley Square brings larger space for offices

Berkeley Square brings to city the most advanced office space located at Industrial Area phase- I, five level parking space, round the clock security, 100 per cent power back up, two glass capsule and two regular lifts, 2,00,000 sq feet of built up area and office spaces starting from 400 sq ft to 12,000 sq ft and many other amenities to facilitate the demand .

Abbott launches ‘quick cooling action’ Digene

Abbott announced the launch of its new Digene range with ‘quick cooling action’ and enhanced taste profile which provides quick relief from symptoms like acidity, gas, heartburn, bloated stomach and related uneasiness.

Starling wire introduces Magic Corner

Starling wire, a well-known name in kitchen products, introduced a new product named Magic Corner. Made up of pure stainless steel, Magic Corner is a product which utilises every corner of modular kitchen. — TNS

Chandigarh, May 2
High drama was witnessed at Government Senior Secondary School, Dhanas, here today as parents of Class IX students, who had failed to clear their reappear examinations, exchanged heated arguments with the school authorities and blamed them for the poor result of the students.

The parents who had come to the school refused to see the answersheets of their wards and instead accused the school authorities of failing their children. The situation went out of control when the school authorities called the police to intervene.

Navkiran, a member of the All-India Student Association, who had accompanied the parents, said: “Initially when the arguments started, only five male police personnel came to the spot and they were not accompanied with any female staff. They mishandled the parents and students.”

She said: “One of the head constables misbehaved with a girl student. He also used vulgar and crude language with the agitators.”

Later, inspector Malkit Singh apologised for the conduct of his men. But the parents refused to call off their protest.

To pacify the agitating parents, CPI (ML) leader Kawaljeet also stepped into the debate. Amid chaos, the parents sought public apology from one of the teachers whom they alleged had passed a comment that led to the debate.

Seema, deputy principal of the school, tried to explain the parents about the new CBSE assessment process “Comprehensive Continuous Evaluation” (CCE) system for Class IX evaluation, which makes it mandatory for the students of Class IX to score a minimum of 25 per cent marks in both Summative Assessments (SA) 1 and SA 2 combined to qualify for Class X.

However, the parents refused to understand the new system and kept blaming the authorities. The matter was rested when a senior teacher from the school apologised in front of the protesters.

The CPI (ML) leader said the agitators would not stop their protest here. They would take up the matter with the higher authorities of Education Department.

He said parents from other government schools whose wards had failed in Class IX would also join the protest.

Mohali, May 2
Wipro selected 14 diploma engineering students from Chandigarh Polytechnic College, Gharuan, during a placement drive. It was organised by Chandigarh Polytechnic College on the campus of Chandigarh University, Gharuan.

Diploma engineering (computer science, IT, electronics and electrical courses) students of the 2014 passing-out batch with more 60 than per cent marks were eligible to take part in the placement process. A total of 262 students from Thapar Polytechnic, Patiala, CCET Polytechnic, Chandigarh, Guru Nanak Dev Polytechnic, Ludhiana, and 15 other polytechnic colleges in Chandigarh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana participated in the placement drive. — OC

Chandigarh, May 2
Raghav Nauhria brought laurels to the city and his school, Hansraj Public School, by bagging third position in Class X in the All-India Mathematics Scholarship Examination conducted by Dreamworld India.

Around 73,000 students from across the country appeared for the examination. Raghav won a bronze medal along with a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh. — TNS

Chandigarh, May 2
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today set a month’s deadline for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairman to take a considered decision on uploading answer keys of the All-India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) on the CBSE portal.

The directions by the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Arun Palli came while disposing of a petition filed by city resident Dr Arvind Goyal. He was seeking directions for uploading the answer keys of the AIPMT on the CBSE website before checking of OMR sheets. Directions were also sought for making a provision to invite objections from the candidates on ambiguous or erroneous questions and answers.

He appealed that a provision should also be made to consider the objections by the subject experts so that corrections, if any, could be made in the answer keys before initiating the evaluation of OMR sheets.

The petitioner claimed a number of controversial and ambiguous questions in the biology section of the AIPMT had been asked during the past few years, confusing the candidates in the process.

He told the Court that representations had been made to the CBSE for uploading the answer keys of the AIPMT on the CBSE website before carrying out the checking of OMR sheets and also to invite objections from the students. But, the CBSE had not taken any decision on his representations.

Chandigarh: Student members of the Sohanjana Eco-Club of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 46-D, along with Yuvsatta and the Department of Environment, Chandigarh Administration, observed “Conserve Water-Save Fuel Day” on the school premises. While giving information about the programme, Sohanjana Eco-Club in-charge Baljinder Kaur said a painting competition was organised on the topic “Save Water and Fuel for Future Generation”. A green quiz was also organised.

Autism Awareness Week

Sri Guru Harkrishan Senior Secondary Public School, Sector 40-C, in accordance with the CBSE guidelines regarding “Inclusive Education”, conducted an “Autism Awareness Programme” to observe Autism Awareness Week. The workshop aimed at promoting awareness among parents, students and staff to recognise and facilitate special children with autism disorder. Dr Archna Sharma, clinical psychologist from the GMCH-32, was the guest speaker.

Red Day celebrated

Kindergarten students of Green Castle Public, School 47-C, celebrated Red Day. The students as well as teachers came to the school dressed up in red attires. The students recited rhymes based on red colour. Chairman of the school Rajesh Kapoor appreciated the efforts of the teachers and motivated them to do such activities in future also.

Students win medals

Neha Thakur and Shrishti of Class VII brought laurels to their school, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sector 31, by winning gold and silver medals, respectively, in tae kwon do during the Poomsac and Taegeuks Tournament-2014 held at Paragon School, Sector 71, in Mohali.

Labour Day observed

Government High Smart School, Sector 50-B, observed International Labour Day. The aim of the celebration was to make the students aware of the importance of the day.

Sqay championship

Panchkula: The 6th Panchkula District Sqay Championship was declared open at The British School, Sector 12, here on Friday. The competition witnessed a large number of martial arts exponents from various schools of Panchkula district. Over 300 young children from different schools and belonging to different weight categories participated with enthusiasm. Sanjay Sethi, director of The British School, inaugurated the tournament. Students of the host school bagged the first position in the U-11 and U-14 categories. In the U-17 and U-18 categories, Alpine School won the first prize and Panchkula Sqay Club bagged the second spot. — TNS