Chandigarh, May 29
Acting on a petition alleging that inmates of the Regional Institute for Mentally Handicapped (RIMH) may find themselves facing starvation due to infighting between two rival groups, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the UT Administration to probe the affairs of the institute.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Arun Palli also directed the UT Administration to initiate steps for protecting the interests of the inmates in view of the dispute between two rival groups of parents. The directions came on a petition filed in public interest by advocate HC Arora.

In his PIL, Arora submitted that about 350 mentally challenged children and other inmates were looked after by the RIMH through its project “Samarthan”. The affairs of the institute were managed by the Parents and Guardians Society of Children.

As of now, rival groups, comprising members and parents, are claiming to be genuine office-bearers of the society. As a result, Bank of India’s Sector 31 branch has stopped the operation of the institute’s account. Its president has been told to get orders from some court for allowing the operation of the account.

The petitioner submitted that the national umbrella organisation of NGOs looking after mentally challenged children all over the country, “Parivaar”, too, had levelled allegations against the existing management. The society had been accused of misutilising the funds given to it for holding a function.

It had even demanded back Rs 91,845, indicating that all was not well with the society accounts. He also referred to a demonstration held outside the RIMH by a group of parents, as they were not allowed to hold a meeting inside the premises. Thus, the inmates, children of the warring groups, were as a result living in a state of constant fear and tension.

Taking up the matter, the Bench asked the Administration to look into the ground realities and go deep into the dispute between the two groups claiming to be genuine office-bearers of the society.

The Administration was also asked to consider the contents of the PIL and the documents attached with it before taking appropriate decision for protecting the interests of the inmates. For the purpose, the High Court has set a 15-day deadline.

Chandigarh, May 29
Two fire incidents have been reported from the city. A major fire was reported at a medical store in Sector 32 early this morning. Medicines worth several lakhs of rupees were reportedly destroyed in the fire.

A fire official said a call was received from Kumar Enterprises, SCO 355, Sector 32, at 1.58 am. Two fire tenders each from the Sector 32 fire station and Ram Darbar were rushed to the spot to douse the fire.

The official said the fire was controlled by around 2.30 am. Although the exact loss was yet to be calculated, an air conditioner, a table, chairs, books and medicines were destroyed in the fire.

Area councillor Heera Negi went to the spot in the morning to take stock of the situation.

Another fire incident was reported from a medicine shop, SCO 55, in Sector 17 last evening.

The official said the fire was reported at Johar Brothers at 9.30 pm following which a fire tender from the Sector 17 fire station was rushed to the spot.

The fire reportedly broke out due to a short circuit. Medicines, an air conditioner, a TV and several other goods were destroyed in the fire. Quick action by firefighters helped save medicines worth Rs 50 lakh, the sources said.

Panchkula, May 29
A head constable, Kuldeep Kumar, of the Haryana police reportedly attempted suicide by shooting himself in the temple at Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Sector 3 here this morning.

Hearing the gunshot, a Class IV employee at the stadium rushed to the spot and found a man lying adjacent to the trunk of a tree there. Noticing a firearm in the constable's hand and blood oozing out of his temple, he informed the police.

A PCR rushed Kuldeep Kumar to Alchemist Hospital, Sector 20, where he was operated upon by a team of doctors. The head constable is under observation and doctors said his condition was serious. Police sources said Kuldeep reached the stadium in civilian dress early in the morning in an Indica car. After parking his vehicle outside the stadium, he went inside and attempted suicide at about 10 am.

He was later identified as a head constable with the CIA staff of the district police.

It is learnt that the policeman was upset over a case registered at the Mauli police station regarding a family property dispute some time ago.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashwin Shenvi was not available for comments. Suraj Pal, in charge of the CIA, said Kuldeep was upset over a property dispute in his family.

Suraj Pal said preliminary investigations revealed that the victim fired the gunshot from his service weapon.

"We have called his family members. The cause of the incident will only be known after the victim records his statement," he said.

Chandigarh, May 29
Facing the ire of city residents for failing to provide anti-rabies serum at the civil dispensary in Sector 19, the municipal corporation (MC) has decided to purchase the serum for one year. It has also decided that the serum, which is available in the market for Rs 850, will be available to the residents at a subsidised rate of Rs 50 per vaccine.

The decision was taken during a meeting of the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) held today.

Pardeep Chhabra, Congress councillor and member of the F&CC, said though the UT Health Department was supposed to provide the serum at the dispensary, for various reasons, it had failed to do so for the past around two months, following which the MC decided to purchase the serum. “Initially, it will be purchased for three months and will be made available at the dispensary at the earliest,” he said.

While the MC decided to make the serum available to the residents for Rs 50 per vaccine, Saurabh Joshi, BJP councillor and member of the F&CC, said the vaccine should be provided free of cost to the people. “I will table an agenda in the House meeting, demanding free vaccine to people and will also demand that more anti-rabies dispensaries should be opened in the city in addition to the lone dispensary in Sector 19,” Joshi said.

The committee also approved the agenda to purchase two new dog vans to catch stray dogs for sterilisation. At present, there is only one such van.

A city resident had recently filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the stray dog menace in the city.

According to the affidavit submitted by the MC in the court, 8,199 incidents of dog bites were reported at the rabies vaccination clinic in Sector 19 from January 2013 to April 2014. During the past five years, 6,948 dogs have been sterilised and vaccinated against rabies.

Chandigarh, May 29
The F&CC has decided that registered market welfare associations in different sectors of Chandigarh will maintain and operate public toilets for which the MC will pay Rs 12,500 per month.

The agenda regarding the maintenance and operation of public toilets was tabled before the committee at its meeting held today.

It has also been decided that the market associations operating the toilets will not be allowed to display advertisements on the toilets.

BJP councillor Saurabh Joshi said it had been decided that only the MC officials concerned would allow advertisements on toilet blocks.

Chandigarh, May 29
Despite being solely dependent on the PGIMER for incinerating (destroying) the hazardous biomedical waste generated every day, both Panjab University and the GMCH-32 have failed to pay the cost of incineration to the PGIMER that has risen to Rs 20.27 lakh in the past three years.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its report for 2012-13, pointed out the PGIMER’s failure in recovering the outstanding payment of Rs 19.68 lakh from the GMCH-32 since 2010. Meanwhile, the PU has failed to pay Rs 58,323 since 2012.

“The institute (PGIMER) did not take any effective measure to recover the outstanding amount of Rs 20.27 lakh up to September 2013 and a reply from the institute on this is awaited,” the auditing body noted in the report, a copy of which is with Chandigarh Tribune.

The PGIMER’s biomedical waste management plant is the largest in the tricity region and highly overloaded. In addition to tonnes of waste being generated at the PGIMER’s own departments, it also provides waste disposal service to the PU, the GMCH-32, 30 private laboratories, nursing homes, private hospitals and clinics.

A total of about 2,050 kg of waste is collected from hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, laboratories and civil dispensaries across the city on a daily basis.

The GMSH-16 also has a biomedical waste management unit but its capacity is far less than that of the PGIMER.

Zirakpur, May 29
The Enforcement Wing of the Zirakpur Municipal Council demolished about a dozen illegal structures that had come up along the Old Kalka Road here today.

Led by executive officer Parminder Singh, the team also pulled down a part of the multi-storied building and a dhaba, which came up illegally at the Patiala Chowk, with the help of a JBC machine.

Apart from this, a portion of a godown located at Bhabhat village was also demolished.

The Municipal Council launched the demolition driver with the help of the police. It removed boundary walls, rehris and other establishments, which mushroomed along the Old Kalka Road.

Terming the MC’s operation biased, Bhagwant Singh, a hotelier, and his supporters, lodged a protest against the drive.

Talking to The Tribune, the executive officer said more such illegal structures constructed on the government land or without mandatory approvals would be demolished in the second phase of the drive.

The Old Kalka Road would be repaired and recarpeted so that vehicles coming from Panchkula towards Ambala or Patiala can be diverted near from Yadvindra Bridge to reduce congestion at the Panchkula Chowk on the Ambala-Chandigarh Highway.

“The owners of illegal buildings were given time to pull down their structures or face the music, the executive officer said.

Chandigarh, May 29
City residents today availed of free parking at around 25 paid parking lots in the city.

Vehicles enter the parking lot without being charged the requisite parking fee

In protest against the Municipal Corporation's (MC) decision to charge service tax retrospectively from 2012, contractors of the paid-parking lots in the city today did not charge any fee for parking of vehicles. The move cost them lakhs of rupees.

Parking was free at paid parking lots in different parts of the city, including sectors 8, 9, 17, 22, 34 and 35.

While the MC has asked the parking contractors to pay the service tax on the bidding amount retrospectively from 2012, the contractors are opposing it claiming that since they didn’t charge it from people, why should they pay from their own pockets.

The parking contractors along with their employees today met the MC commissioner and gave him a representation of their demand.

Tejinder Singh, the supervisor of a parking lot in Sector 17, stated that they have demanded that the service tax imposed for the previous years should be waived and the MC, if wants, could impose the tax from now onwards so that they could further charge it from customers.

The parking contractors also met members of the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) of the civic body seeking their intervention in the matter.

Earlier, they had threatened to surrender the parking contract in case the civic body failed to meet their demand.

Mohali, May 29
Hundreds of commuters were left harassed when the protesting staff of 108 Ambulances blocked the Mohali-Kharar Highway near New Sunny Enclave here this afternoon.

Though the police diverted the traffic from the highway to other routes, long queues of vehicles were seen on both sides of the road during the protest, which lasted for around two hours.

The police had a tough time dealing with the protesters as some of them climbed atop a nearby water tank at Desumajra village. The protesters also threatened to jump off the water tank.

Mohali Superintendent of Police (city) Swarndeep Singh pacified the protesters by fixing their meeting with the labour commissioner.

Meanwhile, around 10 protesters fell unconscious at the spot during their protest due to soaring temperature. They were immediately shifted to the Civil Hospital, Mohali, where their condition is said to be stable.

BS Saini, senior vice-president of the 108 Ambulance Employees Association, Punjab, said the employees, who were on a contractual basis, had been forced to work for 12 hours and they were being paid wages of eight hours only.

The association demanded to bring the employees under the Health Department and pay them overtime for their extra four hours duty.

Panchkula, May 29
After the Haryana Government fulfilled the demand for free uniforms, scholarship, fee waver and free travelling facility for girls in government buses, DK Bansal, Panchkula MLA, has now asked it for 50 per cent discount on the purchase of cellphones, laptops and computers.

Apart from this, DK Bansal has also sought interest-free study loans for students from Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda so that the students could pursue higher studies.

DK Bansal feels that these facilities must be provided to the students for their bright future in this era of technology.

Bansal said these facilities were need of the hour. The facility of free travelling in state-run buses should be extended to all students across the state.

He demanded 30 per cent discount for students on the purchase of bicycle, motorcycle, scooter and moped.

The MLA also demanded that driving licences should be provided to the students at their doorstep.

Mohali, May 29
Construction work on the Golf Club and Golf Academy in Sector 65 here will be completed by June-end, said Deputy Commissioner Tejinder Pal Singh today.

The Deputy Commissioner, who was reviewing the progress of work on the Rs 8.52-crore project being carried out by GMADA, said directions had been given to the officials concerned to ensure the completion of the job within the stipulated time.

He said there would also be a gym, restaurant, video and audio room, library, etc, at the club and academy.

Sidhu said the Golf Academy, being near the Chandigarh border, would be beneficial to residents of Mohali as well as golf lovers in Chandigarh and Panchkula. Besides, the club and academy would encourage young players. The academy would provide technically qualified staff and national and international-level coaching.

Chandigarh, May 29
The PGI will organise a foot march on May 31 in continuation of its efforts towards contributing a tobacco-free society.

World No-Tobacco Day is an official campaign marked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and is observed all over the world every year on May 31.

The foot march, being organised by the Department of Hospital Administration, PGI, in cooperation with the Carmel Ex-Students’ Association (CESA), involves the participation from students of Carmel Convent School and St John’s High School, Chandigarh.

The GMCH-32 will also organise awareness programmes on the day in city schools.

Chandigarh, May 29
The Chandigarh Renewable Energy Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST) has challenged the recent decision of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for selling solar power to the UT Electricity Department at a low tariff of Rs 1.13 per unit.

The CREST has filed a review application before the JERC, which will come up for hearing on June 24. In the application, the CREST stated that the JERC, in its earlier order, did not consider the capital cost of the solar power projects. Now, the JERC has been requested to consider the capital cost before finalising the tariff.

The JERC had recently approved selling solar power to the UT Electricity Department at the rate of Rs 1.13 per unit as against Rs 8.75 per unit, which the CREST had demanded in a petition filed on behalf of the UT Department of Science and Technology.

Miffed over the JERC's decision, the UT Department of Science and Technology had also written a letter to the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) urging its intervention on the issue. The Department had stated that the JERC's decision would jeopardise the ambitious model solar city programme of Chandigarh.

In its earlier petition filed last year with the commission, the CREST had sought permission to sell power to the UT Electricity Department at Rs 8.75 per unit. In the past two years, the CREST has installed solar photovoltaic (SPV) power plants on government buildings with a collective capacity of producing 2,790 KWp of electricity.These government buildings include the Model Central Burail Jail in Sector 45, Paryavaran Bhawan in Sector 19, Government Model Senior Secondary School in Sector 46, Government College of Commerce and Business Administration in Sector 42, and the GCG, Sector 11 among other places.

The aim of installing SPV power plants is to produce electricity that could be used in the buildings thus cutting down on the power bills. Grid interactive solar voltage power plants (GISVPP) have been installed in government buildings so as to transmit the extra power generated to the main grid of the city.

Chandigarh, May 29
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I, UT, has directed the Exide Industries, Industrial area, Phase II, Chandigarh, to replace a faulty battery.

In his complaint, Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Sector 44, had stated that in June 2012, he had purchased an Exide battery from Singh Auto Industries, Sector 15 D, Chandigarh, for his car by returning the old battery and paying Rs 4,200. However, the said battery developed problem just after a year and he sought its replacement. Within 10 days, he was asked to collect the new battery sent under his claim for replacement. However, the complainant found the battery was having an old manufacturing code and refused to accept it.

The shop owner had submitted that he gave a new service battery to the complainant for use till the replacement battery was delivered by the Exide Industries.

The forum, in its order, observed that the Exide Industries stated that the battery in question was replaced free of cost with a new battery of the same make and specifications, but it was totally silent about the old manufacturing code, which raised doubt as well as drew an adverse inference against the Exide Industries.

However, since the complainant has already been provided a service battery, it cannot be said that the complainant suffered due to non-replacement of the faulty battery, the forum observed.

In its order, the forum directed the Exide Industries to exchange the faulty battery of the complainant with a brand new one of the same make and specifications having the latest manufacturing code and supply it to the shop owner for forwarding it onward to the complainant.

The Exide Industries has also been directed to pay a sum of Rs 2,500 towards litigation expenses within a period of 30 days from the date of the receipt of a copy of the order.

Chandigarh, May 29
A family of Chandigarh-based industrialists today resorted to Gandhigiri to lodge their protest against the Chairman of the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) for allegedly not deciding on their case pertaining to sealing of their packaging unit.

The industrialists Mukesh Bansal, Ashok and Sham Lal, along with the members of their families, staged a dharna outside the office of the CHB Chairman, Satya Pal, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee, for not deciding on their file pertaining to sealing of their unit in the Industrial Area, Phase II here.

While the CHB chairman was not available for comments, Mukesh Bansal said: "We have been making rounds of his office but to no avail." They lamented that while they were running the packaging unit, their factory was sealed by the Pollution Department. But department officials are not ready to listen to the family.

Chandigarh, May 29
The students of Kendriya Vidyalaya have not only bagged the top spots in the tricity in the Class XII examinations of the Central Board of School Education (CBSE), but have also outshone all other students from private and government schools by registering the highest pass percentage in the tricity.

The overall pass percentage achieved by Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) students in Chandigarh is 99.19, while it is 98.67 in Mohali and 96.96 in Panchkula.

A total of 924 students from KVs had taken the Class XII board examinations, of which, 61 students scored more than 90 per cent.

Educationists say the performance of KV students has proven that they are equally competent and at par with the students of all other private schools.

The officials said private schools had often claimed that they were better providers of education and infrastructure. However, this year’s performance of KVs has set a benchmark for others to follow.

Elated at the success of its students, MP Mahajan, deputy commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Regional Office, Chandigarh, said, “The KV’s have set an example for the government schools to follow”.

“We have produced the tricity topper, Nikhil Sheoran. He is a student of KV-47 and scored 98.2 per cent as well as the medical topper, Ekta Mishra, from Kendriya Vidyalaya 3 BRD. She scored 97.6 per cent,” added Mahajan.

While highlighting the success of the schools, Mahajan said, “The KV’s are producing all-rounders. Our students are excelling both in academics and co-curricular activities. There is better co-ordination among the students and teachers.”

Chandigarh, May 29
Koirobi Biswas and C Krishna Priya, students of GMSSS, Sector 16, have topped among government schools in the humanities stream by scoring 97.2 per cent each.

Both the toppers took no extra coaching and only relied on hard work and self study.

Koirobi is not just a topper but also a voluntary English teacher at Snehalaya — a home for destitute run by UT.

With a dream to bring a difference in the lives of ordinary people, the young achiever said, “If everybody starts contributing towards the society in whatever way they can, the world will become a better place to live in.”

The topper, who aspires to pursue higher studies from the National Law School, Bangalore, said, “Earlier, I had opted for the non-medical stream. However, after getting into Class XII, I changed my stream to humanities as I liked history more.”

A passionate painter and voracious reader, Koirobi clinched the third spot in the National CBSE Heritage Quiz Tournament.

Meanwhile, Sukriti Nehra, student of Carmel Convent School and Northern Brain Bee Quiz champion has bagged the second position in the medical stream in the tricity.

Hailing from an Army background, Sukriti said, “I aspire to become a neuro-surgeon and for that I have been working hard for the past two years.” A passionate swimmer, the young achiever said, “My success mantra was constant hard work.”

Chandigarh, May 29
High drama was witnessed in the girls hostel located in Sector 24 here this afternoon after one of the occupants accused a mess worker of molestation.

The girl complained that the mess worker misbehaved with her on the hostel premises last night. However, no complaint was lodged either with the Social Welfare Department, which owns the hostel, or the police.

When contacted, Social Welfare Department director Rajesh Jogpal said though they had not received any such compliant from the hostel but he would enquire into the matter. A police team visited the hostel. The police claimed that the girls gave them in writing that that they do not want to lodge any complaint about the incident.

Chandigarh, May 29
Panjab University (PU), has declared the entrance test result of BA/BCom. LLB (Hons) 5-year integrated course at University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS), Chandigarh; UILS, Hoshiarpur; and UILS, Ludhiana.

Dashmesh Singh Dhanoa, Sagar Doon and Aman Singh bagged the first, second and third rank in the entrance test, respectively.

As many as 4,768 students had appeared in the test and 3,714 students qualified the exam.

Apart from Foreign nationals/NRIs, there are 120 seats each in BA LLB (Hons) 5-year integrated course and BCom LLB (Hons) five-year integrated course at the UILS, PU Campus.

There would be 87 seats of BA LLB (Hons) 5-year integrated course at the University Institute of Laws, PU Regional Centre, Ludhiana.

There will be 60 open seats in BA LLB (Hons) 5-year integrated course at UILS, Swami Sarvanand Giri, PU Regional Centre, Hoshiarpur.

Chandigarh, May 29
Panjab University (PU), has issued directions to all 192 under graduate-affiliated colleges to adopt the semester system in the first year from the academic session 2014-15.

A majority of the colleges are in a fix without any written communication from the university on the semester system as they had to get their college prospectuses printed.

PU Dean College Development Council Prof Naval Kishore said a communication had been sent to all colleges to avoid any further delay in the printing of their college prospectuses.

Chandigarh, May 29
Panjab University (PU), has decided to allow Hindi and Punjabi medium for the PhD entrance test in the Departments of Music and Indian Theatre at the varsity.

PU Dean University Instructions, Prof AK Bhandari said PU was always eager to promote Hindi and Punjabi languages in the university.

Various departments were given the option to conduct Ph.D entrance tests in the Hindi and Punjabi medium too.

Prof Bhandari said the two departments had given their approval for the same.

“If any other department wants to conduct the Ph.D entrance test in Hindi and Punjabi medium, we will consider the same,” said Bhandari.

Chandigarh, May 29
Panjab University (PU), has notified the admission schedule for the academic session 2014-15.

Students — who have already applied for the entrance test in May/June-2014 — will be required to submit their admission and application forms for all under-graduate and post graduate courses by July 2 in the respective PU departments/regional centre irrespective of the declaration of the result of the qualifying exam/entrance test.

The last date to apply for the diploma & certificate courses will be July 18.

Foreign nationals/NRI candidates seeking admission at PU will be required to compete amongst themselves for the seats allotted to them by appearing in the entrance test if they are in India.

If the candidate is not present in India at the time of the entrance test, they would be exempted from the test.

The foreign candidates would have to comply with visa and other requirements prescribed by the Government of India, UT Administration, Chandigarh, and PU, as prescribed by them from time to time.

For admission to B.Ed and M.Ed. (regular) and through the University School of Open Learning, a separate announcement will be issued by the university.

Ten per cent seats above the total number of regular seats in each course are reserved for foreign nationals/NRI candidates. The decision of the Syndicate/Senate where the seats have already been granted more than 10 per cent seats will also prevail.

Candidates desirous of applying for admission to the University Teaching Departments for the session 2014-15 would soon be able to download the admission forms from PU.

Chandigarh, May 29
Panjab University (PU), will introduce seven new Post-Graduate courses from the new academic session 2014-15.

While one course is of special education, the others are in engineering.

The university will introduce MEd Special Education (Learning Disability), ME (food technology), ME (chemical with specialisation in environment engineering), ME (mechanical engineering), ME (electrical engineering), ME (material sciences and engineering) and MTech (instrumentation).

A PU official said these courses will be started at the Department of

Education, University Institute of Engineering and Technology and Dr SS Bhatnagar University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology, PU.

The official said the courses are professional and will benefit the students in getting jobs in future.

There will be a one-year semester system PG course of MEd. Special Education (Learning Disability) with 15 seats, MTech Instrumentation 13 seats, ME (Food Technology) and ME (Chemical with specialisation in Environment Engineering) 10 seats each, besides two additional seats each for NRIs.

Other courses — ME Mechanical Engineering, ME Electrical Engineering (Power System) and ME Material Sciences and Engineering courses will each have a total of 22 seats, with 2 out of these reserved for NRI students. 

Chandigarh, May 29
For the benefit of the PU-CET (Post Graduate) entrance test-2014 candidates -- who had deposited their fees for the test in time but could not complete their forms online -- Panjab University (PU), has re-opened the website of PU-CET (PG) Entrance Test-2014.

The CET-PG website http://cetpg.puchd.ac.in/ has been opened till June 1. The candidates have been requested to visit the site and complete their forms so that they were able to download their admit cards.

Mohali, May 29
Members of the Inclusive Education Resource Teachers (IERT) Union, Punjab, sat on a hunger strike to press for their long-pending demands in front of the office of the Director General School Education in Phase VIII here.

Varinder Vohra, president of the union, said inclusive education resource teachers, who were working under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), were not getting full pay grades as other teachers (who were equivalent to the) were getting from the SSA, Punjab.

“All employees of the SSA, Punjab, teachers and non-teaching staff are getting full pay grade scales. But we are being ignored for no reasons,” said Vohra.

The protesters also demanded summer and winter vacations with full pay. “We will continue our protest till our demands are met,” said the protesters.