Chandigarh, July 9
Less than a month after an order was passed for applying the reservation policy to SC-category seats under the NRI quota for admission to the MBBS course at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today stayed the decision.

Justice GS Sandhawalia passed the orders during the hearing of a petition filed by Kurrun Singh Sekhon. An NRI candidate, he was seeking admission to the medical course. The case will now come up for hearing on July 21.

Appearing before the court, his counsel had, on the previous date of hearing, contended that there was provision for six NRI seats in the prospectus already issued; and there was no reservation provided against the seats.

A reference was also made to a committee decision dated June 11, wherein it was decided that there could be no reservation for the seats. It was further submitted that thereafter an order was passed on June 19, claiming that some candidates had requested for applying the reservation policy for the SC category to seats under NRI quota.

The counsel had contended that nobody had applied under the SC category of the NRI quota. As such, the decision taken on June 19, once the admission process had started, was not justified. It was further submitted that vide the impugned order, the seat remaining vacant due to the non-availability of the SC NRI candidate was to be filled by an SC Indian resident candidate.

Chandigarh, July 9
While the GMCH-32 had created a sub-category of Scheduled Caste in the NRI-reserved seats for the MBBS course on June 20, a RTI reply issued by the institute two days ago states “no such representation is received till date”.

The GMCH had created the sub-category on the basis of an office noting issued by the Health Secretary on June 19 citing a representation received for creating an SC-NRI seat.

In response to an RTI application, filed by Dr Harbir Sekhon, seeking copies of representations received where prospective candidates had requested for creating SC-NRI seats, which led the Health Secretary to create a seat with immediate effect, the GMCH replied that no such representation has been received. A copy of the RTI reply is with Chandigarh Tribune.

When contacted, UT Health Secretary Anil Kumar said the representation was with the GMCH director.

Director-principal Dr Atul Sachdev, when contacted, said, “We had not received any copy earlier. Perhaps, some representations came today, but I have not seen them yet.”

It is pertinent to note that the GMCH issued a corrigendum on June 20 stating that one of the six seats under the NRI quota has been reserved for SC category. The RTI query was filed on June 27 and the reply was sent on July 7.

As per the provisions in the RTI Act-2005, it is the duty of the public information officer to either arrange for the documents sought from the departments concerned or forward the application to the latter.

Chandigarh, July 9
Due to a weak monsoon in the region, the city has received 50 per cent less rainfall so far in July. The Met Department has forecast that there will be no relief for residents from the dry and humid weather conditions during the next five days as there is no likelyhood of rain in the city.

Records of the department revealed that the city has received 64.4 mm of rainfall in the first week of July this year, whereas the normal rainfall is more than 120 mm. Resultantly, the humidity ratio touched 70 to 80 per cent, which is normally below 60 percent.

Met director Surinder Pal Singh said there was deficit rainfall due to a delay in the monsoon in north-western parts of the country. He said the dry weather conditions would continue and the humidity would increase by July 12.

Chandigarh, July 9
With Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley all set to present the General Budget on Thursday, the UT Administration is hopeful of getting Rs 63.2 crore under the Plan head, which was reduced when the interim Budget was presented in February this year.

A senior UT official said in case the city got the amount, it would be used on various projects of urban development, including construction of government hospitals, schools, community centres and houses etc.

UT Finance Secretary Saravjit Singh said at present, they have not demanded any additional budgetary funds as it could be sought in September when estimates would be revised.

In February, UT's share under the plan head was reduced by 7.21 per cent whereas there was a hike of 4.38 per cent under the non-Plan head.

PGIMER needs more funds to renovate Nehru Hospital

Leaking roofs of wards and operation theatres, huge cracks in buildings, seepage in the offices of the faculty and frequent short-circuits courtesy over 50-year-old power cables.

To improve the condition of the Nehru Hospital, the PGIMER needs a huge budgetary grant. Rs 200 crore were allotted to the institute in the interim Budget. The hospital houses over 1,000 patients at any given point of time.

"The allocation of Rs 200 crore under the plan head was suffice only to purchase some basic equipment. A huge amount is required to undertake complete renovation work," said a PGIMER official, requesting anonymity.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had sanctioned a grant of Rs 200 crore to the PGI for completing the renovation of the Research Block (Rs 150 crore) and the Nehru Hospital, but the budget escalated due to the delay in allotment.

PU expects more funds for infrastructure

The authorities of Panjab University, which was not part of the Union Budget in the past, expect the new government to include their demands in the main budget so that timely grants could be released to them. In this budget, the authorities expect that there would be an increase in allocation of earmarked funds, especially for infrastructure, which was ignored by the previous government. A number of major projects are hanging fire. UT hopes to get back Rs 63.2 crore

The amount under the Plan head was reduced in the interim Budget presented in February

Chandigarh, July 9
From making adjustments in the monthly budget to coping with a frequent rise in the prices of basic food items, commodities and fuel, and hunting for cheaper vegetables across the city, residents are tired of inflation.

A day ahead of the General Budget-2014, a regulation to control the price rise appeared to be one of the main expectations of city residents.

The hope of raising in the IT exemption limit has kept residents motivated and they are eagerly looking forward to an increase in the exemption limit from the existing Rs 2 lakh to at least Rs 3 lakh.

Speculations over the government’s emphasis on increasing the investment of individuals in saving plans by increasing the deduction (tax saving) from the existing limit of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh will be another driving force for residents to be glued to their TV sets to watch the Budget session of Parliament on Thursday, said residents.

Expectations from the Budget

* Periodic, not abrupt, increase in prices

* Uniform taxes

* Higher income tax exemption limit

* Cheaper loans (housing, auto, education)

* Relief from state-wise taxation on fuel prices

* Free-of-cost medical facilities for senior citizens, poor

Chandigarh Tribune speaks to a cross-section of city residents to know their expectations from the Budget

Chandigarh, July 9
Members of the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) today approved the pensions scheme for CHB employees.

In a meeting, it was unanimously decided to start the scheme for CHB employees.

Panchkula, July 9
Residents of Rajeev Colony and Indira Colony in Panchkula held a protest at the Power Colony in Sector 15 against the unscheduled power cuts in the areas.

Residents said they are being deprived of basic facilities despite the fact that wards of Panchkula Municipal Corporation have been constituted to facilitate the public.

A leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, Harinder Saini, assisted them in their protest. As they could not find the exeuctive engineer, the gathering met the junior engineer (JE) who assured them to get a new transformer installed within a time span of 15 days.

“We are on the electoral roll and the basic facilities are our right. We are suffering due to these unscheduled power cuts and the officials are not paying heed to our grievances,” said Bimla Devi, a resident. Over 600 people are residing in the colonies and have been put to bouts of harassment.

“We live in congested areas and due to these power cuts, it becomes really difficult to cope up with the scorching heat,” said Raju.

Initially, the power cuts varied from three to four hours. “But, now we have to bear heat for as long as 12 to 18 hours,” said another resident.

He added, “When we pay the electricity bills on time then why are we denied the facility.”

The AAP leader said, “The transformer is quite old but, the authorities are yet to pay attention to the problem.” 

Panchkula, July 9
Re-carpeting of a road at Industrial Area in Phase II started today.

The road is roller compacted concrete (RCC).

The work has commenced in the area of Deputy Mayor Sunil Talwar.

Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia was also present on the occasion along with other Municipal Corporation officials.

The road that had not seen repair for the last ten years has cost Rs 82 lakh.

Deputy Mayor Sunil Talwar said, “As there was no connectivity, many factories in the area had to close their outlets.”

The completion of the repair work will take around four months. 

Mohali, July 9
The Global Securex Private Limited hired by the Mohali Municipal Corporation, to check prevailing tehbazari (encroachment of places by vendors in markets) and other encroachments started their work today.

Notably, the MC officials were finding it tough to deal with the menace on their own due to their officials’ alleged hand in glove with the encroachers. Following this, the authorities had decided to hire services of the private agency for an annual consideration of around Rs 55 lakh.

The agency has been doing the same job in Panchkula as well.

The MC Commissioner, Uma Shankar Gupta, said the agency would keep an eye on the illegal activities by deploying three multi-utility vehicles (MUV) round the clock. “The private officials would roam around in the town, take photographs of all kinds of encroachments particularly by small-time vendors in the markets and submit their daily report. On the basis of these reports, immediate action will be initiated against the encroachers to discourage them from the illegal practice,” said Gupta.

The agency has been hired for six months on trial basis. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 9
On the first day of the launch of helpline number for various civic problems and stray dog menace, the Municipal Corporation (MC) received over 50 calls. The complaints of non-functional streetlights, poor quality of water, garbage littered in the residential were made by residents on the first day.

The toll free number was started to receive the complaints related to services of Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh. The categories of services regarding which complaints can be lodged have been included building and roads, street light, encroachment on MC land, horticulture, health and sanitation, stray dogs, water supply and sewerage.

The complainant has to dial 155304 which will be attended by an operator of MC and enter the complaint into the online complaint system. A complaint number will be generated and SMS sent to the mobile number provided by the complainant and simultaneously a message would be sent to the officer concerned to redress the said complaint.

The concerned officer will redress the complaint. The status of the complaint can be tracked online with the unique complaint number, which shall be generated and sent by way of SMS.

The complainant can also log on the official website of MC — www.mcchandigarh.gov.in — to file the complaint. 

Chandigarh, July 9
The differences between the Congress councillors came to fore during the launch of the toll-free helpline number for civic problems by Mayor HC Kalyan, as only two Congress councillors turned-up for the inauguration.

Including Mayor there are total 12 Congress councillors in the Municipal Corporation (MC), however, nine were missing from the function.

Congress councillors Gurbax Rawat and Darshan Garg were the only ones who attended the launch. Meanwhile, out of total 35 councilors only 13 attended including Mayor.

Among BJP councillors Senior Deputy Mayor Heera Negi, Satinder Singh, Asha Jaiswal and SAD councillor Malkiat Singh arrived at the launvh of the helpline.

The nominated councillors who attended the function were DS Sandhu, MP Kohli, Babu Lal, Anoop Sunny Gill and Surinder Bagha.

Some of the Congress councillors stated that they were not informed on time following which they got late for the function, while, few councillors claimed that they had meetings at their wards.

A BJP councillor stated that there is some rift going on between the Mayor and Congress councillors following which majority of the councillors failed to arrive.

Congress councillor Darshan Garg who attended the inauguration stated that all the councillors should have attended the function, as it is a move with which the entire city is going to get benefited.

“The residents of all the MC wards are going to get benefit, so all the councillors should have arrived for the launch of helpline number,” said Congress councillor Darshan Garg. 

What to do in case of snake bite

* Reassure the victim

* Immobilise the limb

* Wash the wound with soap and water

* Rush the victim to a hospital

* Get tetanus toxoid injection

* Hydrate the patient

* Keep a close watch on respiration and bleeding

* Intubate and ventilate if needed

* Do not handle the (dead)

* Do not move the limb, do not run

* Do not tie a tourniquet

* Do not cut/burn/suck the wound

* Do not waste time and rush the victim to a hospital

* Do not keep the patient starved

* Do not delay ventilation and dialysis, if needed

* Do not delay administering antisnake venom

Mohali, July 9
A day after a SAD activist Gurjant Singh, alias Jenta, was found murdered, the Mohali police today constituted five special teams to nab the culprits. So far, no arrest has been made in the case.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, SSP Inder Mohan Singh Bhatti said five special teams under the supervision of two DSP-ranked and five inspector-ranked officers have been constituted to nab the culprits, around 10 in number. “These teams have been dispatched to various places,” said the SSP.

All the culprits are stated to have switched off their mobile phones after committing the crime, said a senior Mohali police official. He added that except for one Harpreet Singh, the remaining accused have no criminal record. “The rivalry between the victim and some of the accused started during the election campaign of Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra during the last Lok Sabha election. They had also entered into a scuffle on the day of polling,” said the official.

Notably, Jenta was brutally murdered at a car service station, on the Kambali village road near Phase XI at around 9 pm on Monday.

The police had registered a case under Sections 302, 148 and 149 of the IPC and Sections 25/51/59 of the Arms Act against Kuldip Singh, Roda, Dalli and Kamaljit Singh, all residents of Dharamgarh village, Harpreet Singh Toor of Bakarpur village, Rupinder Singh of Landran, Dalbir Singh and Gaurav of Patiala, Lucky of Khuda Lahora and some unidentified persons. 

Mohali, July 9
Five elected members of the Zila Parishad became members of the District Planning Committee, Mohali, today.

The SDM-cum-Presiding Officer, Lakhmir Singh, said five members of the parishad had presented nomination papers and there were no withdrawals.

Those elected unanimously were Malkeet Singh of Fatehpur Theri village, Kharar; Karnail Singh of Shekhpura Kalan village, Dera Bassi; Gurpreet Kaur Bakarpur, Mohali; Harvinder Singh of Jhingran Kalan village, Kharar; and Karamjit Kaur Jharmari, Dera Bassi.

Among those who honoured and felicitated the new members of the planning committee were NK Sharma, CPS, Industries and Forests, and MLA, Dera Bassi; SAD political affairs in-charge of Mohali Hira Singh Gabria; and Halqa in-charge, Kharar and district president of the SAD Ujagar Singh Badali.

Chandigarh, July 9
As many as 129 freshly recruited constables will participate in the passing out parade to be held at police lines tomorrow evening. All these constables will be undergoing commando training. It is for the first time in the history of UT police that such a large number of constables will be going for commando training.

UT IGP RP Upadhyaya said the new recruits are under 30 years of age and thus it was deemed suitable to send them for commando training so that their services can be best utilised for various units of the UT police. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 9
With the announcement of semi-high speed train from Delhi to Chandigarh in the railway budget, which will cut down the journey time by around one hour thirty minutes , the work on the strengthening of the infrastructure has paced up by the Northern Railway authorities.

Sources said the possibility of running semi high speed project at 160 to 200 km per hour on existing route from Chandigarh to Delhi has already been explored by the railways after the former railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge announced it.

A senior railway official revealed that at present Shatabdi is running at the speed of 110 km per hour on same route and the journey time is 3 hours 30 minutes and to adopt this semi high speed which is 160 to 200 km per hour the authorities will have to strengthen the safety of the tracks.

Sources said the engineering department conducted a survey on this track and pointed out the need of upgrading the infrastructure to required level. But no decision has been taken yet on the report. Official opined that this project is feasible for the city as the high speed projects, have heavy monetary implications on railways, due to which they are usually delayed.

Ambala Division divisional commercial manager Gulshan said that depending on the speed and the stoppages, the time schedule of travelling will be fixed. 

Chandigarh to Delhi

Shatabdi: 110 Kmph; 3 hours 30 minutes

Semi-high speed: 160 Kmph (expected); 2 hours 

Chandigarh, July 9
The staff of MC, Chandigarh, has decided to donate one day’s salary to the family members of the two firemen, who died battling the raging fire at NIELIT in Sector 17. 

Dera Bassi, July 9
A man died in a train accident on the railway track near Mohan Nagar here this morning. The deceased has been identified as Sukhayi, a resident of Uttar Pradesh.

According to railway police, the victim was passing through the railway track and was stuck in the trap of a super fast train number 12983 on the Chandigarh-Ambala route at about 7 am. Sukhayi had gone out on the call of nature to the nearby fields. He sustained injuries on head and leg and no suicide note was recovered from him, police said.

The body of the deceased has been kept at local civil hospital and would be handed over to his relatives after conducting postmortem.

Chandigarh, July 9
The administrative work of the four arts blocks of Panjab University (PU) suffered for the whole day today as around 100 telephones, intercom and internet connections became non-functional due to the damage of underground cables during the ongoing digging work in the backyard of the blocks.

The staff of all arts blocks had to rush to the nearby cyber cafes to operate their official email IDs on which circulars and instructions related to the admissions were sent to them by the authorities. In fact, for petty queries also they had to send their staff to the administrative block as intercom was also not operational.

PU telecom head Davinder Mehta said a communication was sent to the Vice-Chancellor office and XEN to take strict action against the contractor, who is conducting the digging work, for causing major damages to underground cables due to which inconvenience was faced by the arts blocks.

A staff member of a department on the condition of anonymity said as the intercom was not working a number of complaints had been made at the single-window counter that the staff of various arts courses were not responding to the calls. While the fact was the intercoms were not functioning, resulting in a confusion.

During a special meeting today, the anti-ragging committee tried to contact the security staff through the intercom system for lodging complaints, but they failed to do so and later decided to use cellphones to contact them on the helpline service.

Chandigarh, July 9
Panjab University has decided to start a helpline number to immediately entertain complaints of ragging on the campus.

It was decided that a 24x7 helpline number and email address will be available with the security staff and on receipt of any complaint they will immediately initiate action.

A Panjab University spokesman said students becoming victims of ragging should immediately inform the chairperson or warden concerned.

Besides, the students can also complain to the Dean Student Welfare, Dean Student Welfare (W), Deputy Registrar, Chief Security Officer or security officers. Complaint can also be lodged at the Dean Student Welfare’s email - dsw@pu.ac.in. Mobile numbers of the officers concerned are available in the Panjab University Handbook of Information and on its website.

He said ragging could be punished with cancellation of admission, suspension from attending classes and academic privileges, withholding and withdrawing scholarship or fellowship and other benefits, debarring from appearing in any test or other evaluation process.

Those indulging in ragging could be fined ranging between Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh with a rigorous imprisonment up to three years, the spokesperson said.

Dean Student Welfare Prof Navdeep Goyal said in 2013-14, no incident of ragging was reported on the campus and credit for this goes to vigilant students, faculty and staff members of the Panjab University. 

Chandigarh, July 9
While an official confirmation on the Medical Council of India (MCI) approval for increasing seats from 50 to 100 in MBBS course is awaited, BJP officials celebrated their efforts in pursuing the authorites to grant approval.

Hearing the news of sanction for increasing 50 additional seats of the MBBS course in the GMCH, Sector 32, parents of students conveyed their greetings to president of the party’s Chandigarh unit Sanjay Tandon, today, at the party office.

Tandon said the credit for this decision goes to former mandal president SC Gupta, secretary-general Chander Shekhar and MP Kirron Kher, who took up this matter seriously, in an official statement issued on Thursday.

GMCH Director Atul Sachdev said, “I have not received any information yet.”

On June 23, scores of students were left in the lurch when the proposal for increasing the MBBS seats from 50 to 100 was rejected by the MCI.

Kirron Kher, said, “We have been told that the approval has been granted.” The next counselling for additional seats is expected to be held on July 18.

Disappointed over the MCI decision of declining 50 additional seats to the GMCH-32 due to a few shortcomings, the parents gave a representation to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

Pointing out the shortcomings, the MCI had on June 23, rejected the GMCH’s request for increasing the seats to the MBBS course from 50 to 100 this year, leaving scores of students in the lurch as they had left admission options in other colleges in the hope of securing a seat in the GMCH-32.

Mohali, July 9
The Indian School of Business (ISB) hosted Bhaskar Chatterjee, director-general, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, and Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice-chairman, Bharti Enterprises, on its Mohali campus today.

Dr Chatterjee interacted with ISB students and various industry representatives on “The CSR Imperative -– How does it impact us?” The talk session was chaired by Rakesh Bharti Mittal and was organised as part of the Bharti Institute of Public Policy’s distinguished speaker series.

Various aspects of the Companies Act, 2013, and the subsequent notification of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Rules were discussed during the session.

He threw light on companies that were covered under the new rules and how they were gearing up to align their CSR policies with the new rules.

“There are approximately 11 lakh registered companies in the country today and only 14,500 companies out of the 11 lakh come under the ambit of the new CSR rules, which mandate a spend of 2 per cent of the total revenues of the companies towards the CSR,” said Dr Chatterjee.

He said: “The new legislation will imply that the list of the CSR activities undertaken by the companies be put up in public domain and that the corporates reveal the sum spent on the CSR activities. The new CSR legislation has been formulated to bring together the triad of government, corporates and implementing agencies.”

He said: “The Companies Act was a tool that had to be viewed as a fine piece of legislation and, as such, therefore, an opportunity to create new vistas in the sector. Importantly, what we do in the first year, and how we do it, would set a precedent for the years to come. “We hope to create an atmosphere where ideas about the new CSR rules, implementation issues, challenges and opportunities can be discussed and exchanged in a free and safe, academic environment.”

Rakesh Bharti Mittal said: “The attitude towards the CSR needs to change across the country. Section 135 of the Companies Act, which talks about CSR, pushes us to do things which we forget to do and lend a helping hand to those in need and make a difference.”

Mohali, July 9
The protesting members of Inclusive Education Resource Teachers Union, Punjab, today begged on the roads and also polished shoes of people and cleaned cars to mark their protest at Phase VIII, here today.

The teachers are protesting for last one-and-half-month. Earlier, they had resorted to chain hunger strike and fast unto death but the state government failed to redress their problems.

“With our ongoing protest, the study of special children is also being affected. Today, we polished shoes of people and begged but the state 
government seems to be least bothered,” said a teacher.

The union’s demands include full pay grades as other teachers of Sarva Shiksha Abhyan and summer and winter vacations with full pay. 

Chandigarh, July 9
Three students belonging to Panjab University Students’ Union (PUSU) have been arrested for the brawl that took place in the DAV College, Sector 10, here two days ago.

Navpreet Pal Singh, a resident of Mansa (Punjab), had alleged that Gurbaksh Singh of Mansa and Alamdeep Singh and Sarabjit Singh of Faridkot thrashed and threatened him at the college. Navpreet sustained injuries and was admitted to the General Hospital, Sector 16.

On July 7, members of the Student Organization of India (SOI) and the PUSU had entered into a clash near the college auditorium. The incident had taken place on the first day of admissions.

Navreet Pal, an SOI member, had suffered a head injury during the clash while another member Vikram suffered minor injuries. Personal rivalry was cited as the reason for the clash.