Chandigarh, July 29
Four days after he attempted suicide after shooting his wife to death at the Government Multi-Speciality Hospital in Sector 16, the accused UT police constable Anand Kumar was discharged today and arrested in the murder case.

Anand was taken to the police station from the rear side of the hospital, as the family of the deceased girl was protesting outside the hospital and demanding strict action against the accused.

Anand Kumar, on July 25 had killed his wife with his service revolver at General Hospital, Sector 16. Dimple was on duty at the hospital, when she was killed.

The Chandigarh Police are yet to fix responsibility into the allegations of police negligence by the Sector 24 police post and the Sector 11 police station, into the Dimple murder case. Dimple’s family alleged that they had complained to the police innumerable times that the constable used to threaten his wife with the service revolver but the police paid no heed to their complaints.

Panchkula, July 29
In a twist to the rape case involving real estate builder Pawan Bansal, the police today initiated cancellation of the FIR that was got lodged by the victim, a minor, at the Sector 5 police station.

The cancellation proceedings were initiated after the victim approached the Ilaqa Magistrate through the police for again recording her statements under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc).

The victim had got her statements recorded before the magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPc only 20 days ago. It is learnt that the victim in her current statement has reportedly retracted from her previous statements.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Rahul Sharma said, “I have been conveyed by the investigating officer that the victim in her current statement said that she was angry with the wife of the accused and in order to settle scores she levelled those allegations. We have accordingly sent for the cancellation of the FIR.”

Sources said that last week, the victim who was working as a domestic help at Bansal’s house in Sector 7 went to the police station and asked that her statements be recorded again in the court.

Chandigarh, July 29
A month after he was booked, the cyber cell of the UT police have arrested Aam Admi Party (AAP) worker for sending a fake e-mail. The police arrested Manpreet Singh who was booked on June 20.

The police had booked Aam Aadmi Party worker Manpreet Singh after the cyber wing started investigating the complaint that a miscreant had created a fake e-mail Id of AAP Chandigarh central observer Roopinder Dhaliwal and also sent her resignation letter. Dhaliwal lodged a complaint against Singh. The party had complained to the Senior Superintendent Of Police that the Id, roopinderdhaliwaal@gmail.com, was being used to send misleading and malicious e-mails, including Dhaliwal's resignation. The email saying that Dhaliwal was resigning from the party was sent to national leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. The complaint against Manpreet was lodged by Dhaliwal, who resides in Sector 8. The accused has been an AAP worker for a short period. Apart from slapping charges of forgery and cheating, some offences related to the Information Technology Act 2000 were also slapped against Manpreet.

A case was registered at the Sector 3 police station. 

Dera Bassi, July 29
Village residents living in the remote areas of Dera Bassi, Lalru, Dyalpura and Chhat villages are living in constant fear of any attack by the kala kaccha gang as they have not received any directions to hold ‘thikri pehras’ in their areas from the police as yet.

But the residents of Sanauli, Kishanpura, Nagla, Gajipur, Pir Muchhala, Dhakoli and some other villages are holding ‘thikri pehras’ after the kala kaccha gang struck at a mango orchard and a ‘dargah’ located on the Sanauli-Kishanpura road on July 26 night on the directions of the district police.

Avtar Singh of Nagla village said the police asked him to organise ‘thikri pehras’ during night and coordinate with the local police and night patrolling parties.

“Though villagers are cooperating and guarding their villages even after a hectic day but some of them are finding it hard to conduct night duty,” he claimed.

“The villagers will hold a meeting to decide if the the panchayat can afford hiring two watchmen for the purpose”, he claimed.

Gurinder Singh of Sanauli village, said that following police directions after the robberies in the village, they had sought licenses for keeping arms. Though a few villagers have licensed weapons, but the Administration is not allowing them to carry weapons during the thikri pehras.” Inquiries revealed that the residents of Dyalpura, Naraingarh Jhungian, Chhat, Bakarpur, Bhankharpur, Mubarikpur and many other villages on the outskirts of Dera Bassi and Lalru had not received any direction from the police or from the civil administration.

GS Grewal, SP (D), Mohali, claimed to have directed sarpacnhes of all the villages to hold thikri pehras.

Grewal claimed that police parties on night vigil had been patrolling in the villages on a regular basis and had asked the people on thikri pehras to call them in case of any untoward incident. He claimed that the villagers were armed with batons and sticks, which were enough to counter robbers if any. 

Chandigarh, July 29
Residents, who have been buying vegetables, especially tomato, from hawkers moving around in residential areas or from vendors in nearby markets, are paying more as the actual costs of vegetables are much less in wholesale markets.

With the UT Market Committee having no control over the rates of vegetables in these retail markets and the UT Administration turning a blind eye to the free run by small vendors, a “hype” has been created in the city that the prices of vegetables have risen, said market sources.

The prices of commonly demanded vegetables like tomato, cauliflower, beans, peas are being sold at high prices in the sectors, than those sold in retail at the Sector 26 Grain Market.

The variation in costs from the wholesale to retail counters within the Sector 26 market is also high, as there is no price regulation.

Chandigarh, July 29
Panjab University will now hold student council elections as student parties have agreed to draft their code of conduct for the pre and post elections. The student council election is expected to be will held in mid-September.

Sources said that the authorities were going to hold a meeting with the special committee consisting of party representativesof so that a code of conduct could be drafted. To avoid ruckus on the campus during the elections, PU Vice-Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover has asked all the student parties to draft the norms which they would follow during the elections or else no elections would be conducted by the authorities.

Navdeep Goyal, PU Dean Student Welfare said all student parties had submitted their names of their representatives and soon a meeting would be convened to draft the code of conduct so that the election could be held peacefully.

Chandigarh, July 29
Even as the Municipal Corporation is all geared up to celebrate Teej Festival on August 3, the Congress and BJP councillors are at loggerheads over the issue of finalising the chief guest’s name for the function.

While the BJP councillors are rooting for MP Kirron Kher, the Congress councillors are in favour of MC Commissioner or the UT Adviser.

The MC will hold Teej festival at the Shivalik Garden in Mani Majra on August 3.

Civic body Mayor Harphool Kalyan has already formed a special committee for the Teej Festival, which will meet on July 30 to finalise the chief guest’s name and discuss arrangements for the event.

BJP councillor Saurabh Joshi had raised the demand for MP Kirron Kher’s name in the recent Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) meeting.

“In the past, the MC made former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal and his wife Madhu Bansal as chief guests. So this time, they should make MP Kirron Kher as the chief guest,” said Joshi.

However, countering Joshi’s demand, Congress councillor Mukesh Bassi said, “In the past, BJP councillors had boycotted various functions wherein the MC had made former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal as the chief guest, then a Union minister. How can the BJP propose Kirron’s name when they did not favour Bansal’s name in the past,” said Bassi.

Many Congress councillors are in favour of making any senior woman official of UT or MC as the chief guest. Last year, the function was inaugurated by UT’s Additional Secretary Prerna Puri.

Congress councillor Gurbax Rawat — chairperson of the special committee formed by the Mayor for Teej festival — said, “The committee will meet on July 30 and I will comment after that.”

Despite repeated attempts, Mayor Harphool Kalyan could not be contacted for his comments. 

Chandigarh, July 29
Soon, the city will have its own state-run driver’s training institute.

Acting on the instructions of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the UT has identified four-acre land in the Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Sector 26, for the facility.

The institute — to be set up under public-private partnership (PPP) mode — will offer training courses to trainers, induction training courses to drive light motor vehicles and heavy motor vehicles.

Two private companies — Maruti and TATA — have approached the UT’s Transport Department to set up the facility under the PPP mode.

Discussing the facility, Additional Secretary of the State Transport Authority, Rajiv Tewari, said, “It will provide trained drivers for employment in the government and private sector.”

Those requiring licences to drive heavy vehicles should possess certification of training from the institute. At present, the state-run institutes are in Kaithal, Haryana and Muktsar, Punjab.

This will also check the practice of procuring fake certificates and address the shortage of trained drivers for driving heavy transport buses in the region.

Chandigarh, July 29
Marred by the erratic supply of medicines, the two Jan Aushadhi centres in the city — that faced closure after losing popularity over the past three years — have shown a steep revival in the last six months.

“Following a month’s closure, the centre’s reopened, and the new scheme of outsourcing has increased medicine stocks and the monthly income of the two centres to Rs 1 lakh,” said officials.

While the stocks of all 319 medicines have not been restored, the availability has increased from 30 to 60 varieties of medicines now.

These two centres — which were opened three years ago at the GMCH-32 and GMSH-16, to provide generic medicines (that cost lesser than branded ones) — had lost popularity as the stocks of medicines were not restored after the sale of the first lot.

The erratic supply of medicines had resulted into severe losses and the UT Red Cross Society was not able to even pay salaries to the operators at these centres.

Sources said a total of Rs 30,000 is incurred in paying salaries to the workers.

Panchkula, July 29
Even as the Panchkula Administration has imposed a ban on entering the waters of Kaushalaya Dam on Ghaggar river in rainy season, youths playing in the waters is a common sight during the daytime.

Panchkula, July 29
Seeking speedy investigation in the heist that took place at a jewellery shop on July 13, jewellers from the town would meet the Haryana Director General of Police (DGP), SN Vashisht, at the police headquarters in Sector 6 here tomorrow.

The meeting has been fixed after the Panchkula police failed to make a breakthrough in the case till now.

Robbers struck at the Rajat Jewellers in Mansa Devi Complex, Sector 5, Panchkula, and fled with cash and jewellery amounting to Rs 50 lakh after stabbing the owner of the shop, Aashi Khanna.

"There is no breakthrough in the case so far. No one has been arrested till now. So we all have decided to meet the DGP tomorrow," said Rajat, son of the owner of the shop where the robbery took place.

He added, " We are not big businessmen like PC Jewellers or Tanishq. Our hardearned money of 16 years went in just 16 minutes due to the poor security in the town."

The police said they had got major clues but till date no one has been arrested.

Panchkula, July 29
As many as 171 units were collected during a blood donation camp organised at Hallmark Public School, Sector 15 here.

A medical team from the Rotary Blood Bank Society, Sector 37, Chandigarh, conducted the camp under the supervision of Dr Manish Rai. The donors were awarded with souvenirs and certificates to make the event memorable for them.

As a pre-curser to the camp, this year, Hallmark Public School had added “Importance of Blood Donation”, a 15-day programme, in its curriculum.

School director Jivtesh Garg said, “The idea was to motivate students so as to raise their level of sensitivity towards important social causes.” — TNS

Mohali, July 29
Two youngsters sustained serious injuries after the motorcycle they were riding was hit by a car on the light point near Radha Soami Satsang Bhawan, Industrial Area, here this afternoon.

The injured, identified as Ashwini Kumar and Jeewan Singh, both in their early 20s, have been admitted to the Max Hospital and their condition is stated to be serious.

The police said Ashwini Kumar was driving the motorcycle without helmet. Their motorbike collided with a Polo car being driven by one Ravinder Singh, the police added.

Both Ashwini Kumar and Jeewan Singh are residents of Khera Gajju village. 

Chandigarh, July 29
Fortis Hospital, Mohali, won the Best Multi-specialty Hospital (Non Metro) Award during the first edition of Doc N Doc Gammex Saviour Awards 2014 organised at New Delhi.

The awards ceremony, an initiative of Doc N Doc, saw over 50 awards across several categories covering hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, researchers, innovators, international personalities, campaigns and social development initiatives.

Dr Gurbir Singh, regional medical director, Fortis Hospital, collected the award.

Chandigarh, July 29
The cold war between the UT Education Department and city-based private schools over various issues has deepened further after the appellate authority of the department in its recent observations stated that these schools are covered under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

The observation made by the Deputy Director, School Education-I, who is also the first appellate authority, has left all private schools furious, with some planning to move court against the order.

For the past many years, the Education Department and private schools are at loggerheads over issues such as reimbursement to students admitted under the economically weaker section (EWS) quota, release of EWS quota seats, implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, procedure for allotting land to schools and taking services of private schools for improving the infrastructure of government schools.

Hearing to a case in which the applicant has sought information under the RTI Act, the appellate authority—giving references to the apex court, J&K High Court and Chief Information Commissioner, New Delhi—observed that private schools are covered under the RTI Act, and directed the school in question to make the information available within 10 days.

“This observation is being made on baseless grounds. How can someone overrule the Supreme Court’s verdict? As per the verdict, unaided schools do not come under the RTI Act. In one of the rare cases, the Delhi High Court had asked schools to pass information on restricted queries to a schoolteacher. I have all these orders with me. Private schools will be taking legal opinion. The Deputy Director, School Education, is appointed to look after the department, not to pass such orders,” said HS Mamik, chairman of Vivek High School, Sector 38.

JP Singh, director, St Kabir School, said: “It is a strange decision. How can private schools be covered under the RTI Act. We are not taking a single penny from the UT.”

Maintaining that he had no personal grudges against any of the schools, the Deputy Director, School Education, Chanchal Singh, said: “The observation was made as per documents provided by both parties and on the basis of judgement of the Supreme Court.”

Chandigarh, July 29
Prakriti, the environment society of Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 11, in collaboration with the National Service Scheme unit, celebrated vanamahotsava today. College principal Achila Dogra was the chief guest at the massive plantation drive held on the occasion.

Addressing the students and faculty members, she emphasised the importance of trees, especially medicinal plants.

Around 50 saplings of ashoka, neem, amla, amaltas, chukrasia, kachnar, gulmohar and alstonia were planted by the students and teachers on the college campus.

Dean College and overall coordinator of societies Dr Anita Kaushal and vice principal Dr Beenu Dogra also planted saplings. Students pledged to adopt and take care of the planted saplings.

Chandigarh, July 29
The Central Board of Secondary Education, under its Heritage Education Programme, is coming up with an inter-school quiz to create awareness on the cultural diversity of India.

The Heritage India Quiz will include 25 per cent questions on folk and tribal heritages of the northeastern states of India.

The board has directed all school heads to create awareness about heritage preservation among their staff, students and the community.

The quiz will be conducted in three phases. The first phase—city chapter—will be held from the first week of September to mid-October, the second phase—regional chapter—between mid-November and the first week of December, and the third phase—national semifinals and final—in mid-December.

In the first phase, each school will be represented by three students from Classes IX to XII. In the first stage of this phase, a PowerPoint-based written quiz with 30 questions, to be answered in 25 minutes, will be held. In the next round, an onstage quiz of nearly an hour will be conducted. It will comprise verbal, audio and visual questions for the participants who qualify the first round.

The winner from each group will qualify for the regional finals, where six teams will compete. This quiz will be similar to the second round of the first phase. The top two teams from each region will qualify for the national semifinals.

In this stage, top 20 teams from the 10 competing regions will be divided into five groups of four teams each. The winner from each group will qualify for the finals. Both these stages will be held in Delhi and broadcasted on television.

Welcoming the initiative, Dr Arvind Goyal, a local academician, said: “Such activities will motivate the youth to know and explore the rich and vast cultural heritage as well as abundant natural resources of our country. It will instil a sense of pride for the nation and patriotism in the young minds.”

Chandigarh, July 29
Tomorrow is the last day to apply online for admissions to MEd (Regular), Med (Correspondence) and MEd (Special Education) at Panjab University and Punjab-based colleges affiliated to it.

Students who have qualified the entrance examination but are awaiting BEd results can also submit the online form.

The last date for submission of the form at the CET cell, Aruna Ranjit Chandra Hall, for admission to MEd (Regular) is August 4 and for MEd (Correspondence) is August 5.

The counselling for admission to MEd (Regular) will be from August 11 to 13. Candidates desirous of seeking admission to both the courses should send two separate application forms in separate envelopes marked MEd (Regular) and MEd (Correspondence).

Candidates can submit the copy of their BEd result to the coordinator, MEd Admissions 2014, Department of Education, before or during the counselling. The admission will be done through centralised counselling and every candidate will have to appear in person.