Chandigarh, August 21
The police and the Panjab University authorities have started playing the blame game over security on the campus following the violence between the GGSU and NSUI workers today. With the student council elections around the corner, clashes among student parties have increased.

According to a police report, during the past month and a half, nine incidents of violence have taken place on the campus. Last year, there were seven incidents of violence.

PU chief security officer Jatinder Grover said regular checking was being held to prevent the entry of outsiders’ vehicles on the campus. He said today an identity card was recovered from a student, which appeared to be fake.

He said there was need for increasing police deployment on the campus till the elections were over to avoid any untoward incident.

DSP (Central) Ashish Kapoor said four days ago, he had sent a communication to the PU authorities to tighten security at all gates of the campus and check the entry of outsiders’ vehicles. He said he had suggested that hostels should also be checked and no former senior leaders should be allowed on the campus during the elections.

Chandigarh, August 21
In a judgment that will simplify the procedure for carrying out renovations and modification in houses by co-owners, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that building plans submitted by them cannot be disapproved only because other co-owners have not signed the same.

A Division Bench has ruled that a co-owner is competent to submit building plans. Its non-approval only because the others have not signed it cannot be sustained. The only exception is where a co-owner objects to the action of the other.

The ruling by Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Kuldip Singh came on a petition filed by Dinesh Jain and other petitioners against the Chandigarh Administration and other respondents. The petitioners were seeking directions to the official respondents to approve and deliver the revised building plan submitted by them in September 2011. They had also challenged show-cause notices issued to them.

The petitioners had claimed that half of a freehold residential plot in Sector 19-B was purchased by two persons, whereas the remaining half was purchased by them in November 2006.

The petitioners submitted a revised building plan for modification of the first and second floor in their possession and deposited the necessary fee also. However, the plan was not sanctioned. On the other hand, show-cause notices were issued for removal of violations on the first and second floor.

The petitioners served a notice on the respondents that the condition of obtaining a no-objection certificate from the other co-owners was not warranted. The respondents, meanwhile, argued that sanction of the revised building plan could not be granted as it was not signed by all co-owners.

Taking up the matter, the Bench asserted: “We find that the action of the Administration in refusing to sanction the revised building plan in the absence of consent manifested by signatures of the co-owners is not sustainable under the law.”

“Under the law, one co-owner represents the entire propriety body….. The other co-owners have a right to object to an action of the co-owner. However, once the co-owner is not objecting to an action of the petitioners to seek approval of the building plans submitted, the consent of the other co-owners shall be presumed”.

The Bench concluded: “In view of the law laid down that a co-owner acts in his own right qua his interest but as an agent qua the other co-owners, we dispose of the present writ petition with a direction to the respondent to consider sanctioning of the building plans submitted by the petitioners without insisting upon the consent of the other co-owners and take a final decision within a period of two months...”

Chandigarh, August 21
A 36-year-old safai karamchari employed with the UT’s Public Health Department, Satbir Singh, died after inhaling toxic gases as he came to clean a blocked sewer line near the Lake Club today. Satbir Singh was sitting near the gutter after removing its cover when he inhaled the gas and fell into the 10-foot-deep gutter.

A co-worker, Babu Lal, also felt dizziness when he tried to climb down to rescue Satbir, but turned back and thus had a narrow escape. Babu Lal also made a second attempt to rescue Satbir by fastening his body with a rope, but failed.

The incident took place at around 10.45 am. The body was brought out by personnel of the fire brigade. They tried to enter the gutter by putting oxygen masks on their faces, but the size of the gutter was not wide enough for a man holding an oxygen cylinder to enter.

The victim was rushed to the hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

Kin of the deceased demanded compensation from the UT Administration.

Rampal, the victim’s cousin, said, “The Administration should provide safety gear to such workers.” 

COMMUNITY

Back-to-back burglaries in P’kula
Houses of former ADGP, Punjab, and industrialist targeted in wee hours; valuables worth lakhs missing
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, August 21
Burglars targeted two houses in Sector 6 here, including that of a former ADGP of Punjab, in the wee hours today and decamped with valuables and LEDs worth lakhs of rupees.

Thieves struck at former ADGP Gurdial Singh’s house (No 320) at about 4 am and the house No 176 of Vinod Mittal, an industrialist, at about 2 am.

Gurdial Singh is a son-in-law of former Director General of Police Haryana, HR Swan, who also lives in the same sector.

Interestingly, the office of the Director General of Police, Haryana, is also situated in the sector raising doubts over the alertness of the Panchkula police.

On receiving information, senior police officials, including assistant commissioner of police, the SHO concerned and a team of CIA staff visited the house to take stock of the situation. A team of forensic experts also visited the places but failed to find any clue.

Talking to the Tribune, former ADGP Gurdial Singh claimed that his tenant Praveen Setia’s wife Meena Setia heard commotion outside a window of their room on the first floor at about 4 am. “Meena got suspicious when one of the burglars switched on his torch following which she called me. Noticing the Setias awake, the miscreant escaped,” said Gurdial Singh.

The burglars, who entered the house after breaking the lock of a sliding door of the drawing room, reportedly took away a LED (42 inch) and some silver ornaments from a room, he claimed.

Meanwhile, the Mittal family came to know about the burglary at about 8 am when one of their servants noticed the grill of a window of a room on the ground floor missing. He informed Vinod Mittal, who subsequently found an LED (42 inches) missing. The burglars also ransacked almirahs of the room.

“The burglars seem to be aware of the CCTVs installed in the house as they restricted themselves to the room without any camera,” claimed Mittal.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Rahul Kumar claimed to have registered cases of burglaries at both the houses on the complaints of Gurdial Singh and Vinod Mittal.

Mohali, August 21
A new industrial policy has been launched by the state government wherein huge relaxations have been given for setting up new industry and a single-window system has been started for implementing the same. This was stated by DC Tejinder Pal Singh Sidhu here today during a meeting of members of the Mohali Industries Association (MIA) and various government departments.

Sidhu gave an assurance that the problems of the industrial unit owners would be addressed at the earliest.

Various officials of the Police Department, GMADA, Municipal Corporation, Infotech, NHAI, Excise and Taxation Department, PSPCL, PSIDC and DIC were present on the occasion. — OC

Chandigarh, August 21
A new technique for high-risk bypass surgery in patient with high fat and calcium deposition in aorta has been evolved by city doctors. Under conventional by-pass surgeries, such patients remain at risk of brain stroke after the surgery, they said.

First such surgery using the enclose II-proximal anastmosis assisted device was performed on a city-based patient two weeks ago by doctors at the Max hospital, Mohali.

Dharampal Jangra (55) was operated by a team of surgeons from the cardio thoracic and vascular surgery (CTVS) department of the hospital. Calcified atherosclerotic disease of the aorta is often encountered in patients undergoing bypass surgery. With the passing age, cholesterol keeps depositing on the walls of the blood vessels of the body which affect the aorta. The inner lining of the aorta, which is the body’s largest artery and carries oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the body, can develop fatty deposits (plaques) that harden. This process is called atherosclerosis, said the doctors.

“When the lining of an artery is affected by atherosclerosis, calcium gets deposited in areas of atherosclerosis and this is called calcified atherosclerotic disease of the aorta,” Dr Deepak Puri, Director CTVS, said.

Dr Virendar Sarwal, Director and head, CTVS, said that in traditional procedures or routine surgical techniques, if the aorta was calcified it had to be partially clamped by putting a device which partially constricted the wall of the aorta so that a bloodless area was created for the procedure to be performed. Then graft was put. In such cases, it was very likely that the deposits would crack on the diseased wall and dislodge in the brain thus causing stroke.

The cost of surgery would be Rs 50,000 higher involving the new technique than that in conventional bypass surgeries. Dr Aratatran Nahak, consultant, CTVS, and Dr Ajay Kumar Sinha, principal consultant- cardiac anaesthesia at MSSH, Mohali, were also a part of the team of doctors who operated upon Jangra. 

Chandigarh, August 21
The UT Administration has marked probe into the death of 36-year-old Satbir Singh, employee of the UT Public Health Department, who died after inhaling poisonous gas emanating from a manhole in the Lake Sports Complex, Sector 5, today.

Sources said Satbir Singh was not wearing safety equipment, helmet and gas mask when he entered a manhole to clean the sewerage line.

UT Superintending Engineer (public health) Tarlochan Singh said that the department had allotted safety equipment to staff, which cleaned sewerage lines. The department has marked probe to ascertain if there were any lapses on the part of the department, he said.

Sources in the UT Administration said the victim fell into the manhole, which he had opened, after inhaling the gas. Charan Singh and Dharamveer, UT employees, who had gone with Satbir, had also tried to rescue the victim, but could not enter the manhole due to gas emitting from it. The police was informed, who further called the fire brigade. The victim was rushed to the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital in Sector 16 where he later died.

Sources added that after the incident, blame game has started among the officials of the UT Administration. The UT Administration has now covered the manhole. 

Chandigarh, August 21
On the footsteps of the PGI, now Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, will also hold community kitchen service for patients’ attendants.

Priya Dhawan Gulati, a social worker, has taken up the initiative to start the

service. MP Kirron Kher came to the hospital to launch the service

and served the food to the attendants today.

The service will be available to attendants after 12noon in front of the main gate. “Every time I used to see this service for the attendents outside the PGI, I used to think that I too wanted to do something like this. I am really happy that finally this day has come and the happiness that I see on the faces of everyone here gives me immense satisfaction ”, said Priya.

“I am thankful to Priya to make me a part of this function,” said Kher. 

Chandigarh, August 21
Chandigarh is all set to host India Today’s ‘Mind Rocks Youth Summit’ on August 23.

The event, in its eighth year, brings youths and their role models on one platform.

Celebrities from fields as diverse as politics, music, acting, sport and business will participate in the event and share their experiences with youngsters in an interactive and informal setting.

Apart from several well-known names, the eighth edition of the youth summit will be attended by actors Jimmy Shergill and Esha Gupta and singers Daler Mehndi and Hans Raj Hans. Actor-turned MP Bhagwant Mann will also participate in the event.

The organisers said the event would allow youths to have an intimate dialogue, debate and discussion with celebrities they were until now only able to watch on TV, movies and YouTube.

Dera Bassi, August 21
Family members of Gourav, who died in an accident on his way to school yesterday, are still not able to come out of the trauma.

While his mother Sunita Devi is inconsolable, elder brother Hitesh Kumar, who rushed injured Gourav to the local Civil Hospital, vividly remembers Gourav’s last words, “Papa jaldi aa jao mainu chot lagi hai (Papa, please come fast, I am injured)”, to his father Satish Kumar over the phone.

Mohali, August 21
According to the report of Ministry of Human Resource and Development, every school, total 669 schools, has facility of separate toilets for boys and girls in the Mohali district.

The report is correct as far as the availability of infrastructure is concerned. But when it comes to functionality and adequate in number in proportion to strength of the respective school, the picture is not rosy.

During its random survey in few schools, located in rural belt of the district, the Chandigarh Tribune team found that toilets in several schools were filthy, dry taps, pots with missing drain pipes and unfit for use. The disturbing fact was that toilet for staff members in most of the schools was found up to mark and locked.

“The toilet (for staff), has western seat, is meant for handicapped students but teachers generally lock it for their use only,” said a student of a government school.

In Government High School at Kandala village, there were two toilets for girls only. In absence of any toilet, the boys are forced to go in open to answer the nature’s call.

In absence of water, the toilets were dirty and stinking. Amarjit Kaur, the officiating head mistress of the school, said due to low voltage, they could not lift the water to overhead watertanks. “Otherwise our washrooms used to be clean,” said Amarjit Kaur. The Government Primary School at Jagatpura has three toilets (two for girls and one for boys) for total 214 students. Santosh Rani, headmistress of the school, admitted that three toilets were not adequate for the school. “We have very limited space so there is no scope of construction of another toilet on the premises,” said Santosh Rani.

The story was not different in Government Primary School at Janjehri village, which has just two toilets, completely unfit for use.

There was no water in any of the washrooms. Pipes below the pots were missing. “Some construction work is going on in the school due to which toilets here have become non-functional,” said Gurinder Kaur, headmistress of the school.

The DEO (Primary) Dr Gurjit Singh admitted that there was no provision for maintenance fund. “We have toilets in every school but maintenance is surely a matter of concern. Punjab Director General, Schools Education, has issued a circular in this regard. “The schools would start getting funds for maintenance of toilets very soon,” said Dr Gurjit Singh. 

Chandigarh, August 21
Four months after reports of poor-quality rice being served under mid-day meal scheme in government schools of the UT came to fore, an insect was spotted in the cooked rice being served to students of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 45, here, today.

The food was meant to be served to 700 students of the school. After the insect was detected in the container by the school authorities, during the inspection of the meals before being served to the students, senior UT Education Department officials rushed to the spot to probe the matter. The food is being supplied by CITCO after being prepared at Shivalik View Hotel.

The school principal said a live insect was spotted in the rice-container during the inspection. Soon after spotting the insect, the same was conveyed to the DPI office and further the Health Department officials who along with police teams reached the spot to collect samples of the food.

When the news about the insect being found in the container spread, the entire stock of rice was replaced by CITCO authorities. The General Manager, Shivalik View, Vijay, who is incharge of preparing the mid-day meal for 20,000 students in 43 government schools, did not respond to calls.

“The supplier was asked to change the entire stock of rice. The insect was spotted during the checking of the meal, by teachers, before serving it to students. No student was served the food” said Tejinderpal Kaur, the school principal.

“The Health Department has collected the samples and we are awaiting the report. An inquiry is already been marked against the same” said the DPI, Kamlesh Kumar, who also inspected the mid-day meal in other schools.

KS Rana, Designated Officer, Food Safety Cell, Chandigarh, said, “We received a complaint from someone in the school that the food items had a foreign particle. Our team visited the spot and took the samples of two items. They were sent for examination to the state lab”.

Chandigarh, August 21
Keeping in view the forthcoming Panjab University Student Council Elections, fight to take credit for raising issues concerning students among two student unions was evident today.

During a media interaction, three NSUI girl activists, who sat on a strike for demands related to girls’ hostels, complained that the behaviour of the authorities towards their demands was disappointing.

NSUI chief patron Simranjit Kaur said their demands included provision of gate pass for students going to the library at night, rolling back of increased guest charges, late entry of girls in the hostels, inclusion of one non-vegetarian item in the menu of mess once a week, year-round availability of geysers and increase in the number of guest entries per month.

These demands were submitted by the NSUI in a memorandum to the Panjab University Vice-Chancellor last week. The party supporters said nothing had been done till now in this regard.

Three hours later, another student union, SOI, held a media interaction and blamed the former party for misleading the students for raising some demands unreasonably as they had already got assurance from Dean Students Welfare (DSW) Navdeep Goyal that 12 demands would be fulfilled soon. The SOI members said they had given a day’s time to the authorities to fulfil the remaining six demands.

The demands that are yet to be fulfilled include removal of Wi-Fi charges from the girls’ hostels, extension of entry timings of girls to 11 PM, reduction of charges from residents with mutual consent and sheds in the parking of girls’ hostel numbers 4, 6 and 7.

SOI leaders said the demands for which NSUI members were sitting on a hunger strike were silly and immature.

Chandigarh, August 21
High drama was witnessed in Kishangarh when a former Panjab University student activist, Harpreet Multani, called the police and alleged that two-three persons opened fire at his house. 

Chandigarh, August 21
For the first time, Panjab University will host a five-day book fair from August 25 to August 29 at the ground in front of the library at the university.

PU librarian Dr Raj Kumar said more than 40 reputed national and international publishers and distributors such as Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, British Council, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, and Rampur Raza Library, UP, would participate in the event.

All five days of the book fair will be studded with literary, socio-cultural programmes involving luminaries drawn from respective fields.

An author interactive session by the Chandigarh Sahitya Academy and talks by PGI doctors on eye donation, organ donation, healthy way of living and drug de-addiction are the highlights of the several events during the fair.

He said presentations on rare manuscripts and many more on e-learning and e-books had been scheduled. Faculty, students and research

scholars of PU departments, Chandigarh colleges and institutes, 180 affiliated colleges of the PU and neighbouring states would be visiting the fair.

Chandigarh, August 21
The UT Education Department, which is already reeling under staff crunch, is going to fall short of another 200 Junior Basic Teachers (JBTs) as they are learnt to have got selected for regular posts of JBT teacher in Haryana.

With the teachers planning to move to the neighbouring state, students studying in the government schools in Chandigarh will be at the receiving end. Government schools located in the peripheral areas would be the worst affected.

Government Model Senior Secondary School, Dhanas, where around 15 teachers from the primary wing have qualified for the posts of teacher in Haryana, would be among the schools that are going to be worst affected.

It is pertinent to mention here that under the RTE Act, a single primary teacher takes the classes of all subjects. Hence, with 200 teachers moving out, almost 200 classes would be affected.

Sources said with the teachers joining regular posts in the neighbouring state, the functioning of the UT government schools would come to standstill as almost the schools would nearly lose onto minimum two teachers.

The officials said in January some lectures had resigned from the UT and joined as regular lectures in Haryana.

Authorities from the department said the teachers who had qualified for Haryana had worked in UT schools for over two years and the Education Department had spent crores on their salaries and training.

One of the teachers, who had qualified for the posts of teacher in Haryana, said: “The pay scale is almost the same. But since posts are regular, most of the teachers are opting to join the neighbouring state.”

While reacting to a large chunk of teachers qualifying for the neighbouring state, the president of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Teachers’ Welfare Association, Arvind Rana, said: “A majority of the teachers selected in Haryana want to remain in Chandigarh if they are merged with the Education Department. The department should send a reminder to the MHRD for speedy sanction of 647 posts of master and 728 posts of primary teacher.”

Chandigarh, August 21
The Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET) Employees Union continued its chain hunger strike. Gurpreet Singh, Ram Bahadur and Chandarpal sat on the hunger strike for 24 hours today. Coordination Committee of Government Workers and MC Employees Union co-convenor Raj Kumar came today and passed on the baton to the next shift of agitating employees. A delegation of the CCET Employees Union met UT Advisor KK Sharma.

Sharma assured the delegation members that he would take a decision by the next week for the college, which would be in the larger interest of students and staff who had worked hard for 12 years to make the reputation of the college. — TNS

Chandigarh, August 21
Students of Shri Dhanwantary Ayurvedic College and Hospital, Sector 46, continued their protest for the second day today. The students refused to vacate the OPD and administrative block. The protesting students had bolted the premises from inside yesterday.

College management finance secretary SK Aggarwal today again visited the college to convince the students of the 2012 batch to call off their protest, but they refused to withdraw the protest till the final decision was taken by Panjab University. The students are protesting against the college management for not holding their exams.

College principal SK Thakur said the management had agreed to meet Panjab University Vice-Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover to take up this issue. However, the students alleged that the management had had failed to take up the issue so they were forced to continue their protest for the second day also.

The students said for the convenience of patients, they provided blank patient cards of the OPD service to the Dean Medical Superintendent today so that any patient, who visited the hospital, did not suffer.

The students tried to close the panchvati shop by staging a protest this morning, but the police scuttled their bid.