Chandigarh, November 5
Traffic snarls and chaos were witnessed at the entry points to the city as followers of Sant Rampal held commuters, including train passengers, to ransom for over five hours today.

Vehicles stuck in a snarl-up at the entrance to Chandigarh on Wednesday. Tribune photo: S Chandan

Since last evening, the followers of Sant Rampal started converging on the entry points to the city, including the Chandigarh railway station, ahead of a hearing in his case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court today.

The presence of a large number of followers of Sant Rampal created a stampede-like situation at the Chandigarh railway station.

Hundreds of commuters were forced to walk for up to 3 km to reach the station from the railway light point and other parts with their luggage as the police had put up barricades in the area.

Passengers faced problems in boarding trains as hundreds of followers were sitting on the platforms. As the platforms were jam-packed, seven followers, most of them senior citizens, fainted there.

When the followers came to know about the orders for the arrest of their head, they blocked the track on the periphery of the station due to which the Chandigarh-Lucknow Express was delayed by half an hour to the city. The Chandigarh railway authorities delayed the departure of the trains by five to 10 minutes to accommodate passengers who got late in reaching the railway station due to the inconvenience caused to them.

Message that triggered confusion

At 12.30 pm, a message was received by some followers on their mobiles that their head had called them to his dera and they should immediately board the Jaipur Inter-city Express, which was to depart at 12.45 pm from the station. They boarded the train, but later got a message that no such instructions had been issued following which they had to pull the emergency chain to stop the train and again reached the railway platform. Of the 437 passengers scheduled to travel by the afternoon Shatabdi, 150 could not board the train. Due to overcrowding at the station, four trains got delayed.

Traffic snarls

The UT police did not allow vehicles and buses carrying followers of Sant Rampal to enter the city, but they managed to reach the railway station. The Zirakpur-Chandigarh road and the road leading to the city from Panchkula witnessed traffic snarls. The presence of traffic policemen at intersections was of little help.

What commuters say

Lata Malik (60), who started from her place at 10.30 am, had to carry her luggage and managed to reach the station just in the nick of time to board the Shatabdi at 12 noon. ML Batra, another passenger who was on board the Shatabdi, said it was strange that no prior information was given to them about such a huge gathering at the station so that they could start early to reach for the train on time.

Chandigarh, November 5
Fifteen years after a bomb blast in Sector 34, the UT police today procured the production warrants of dreaded terrorist Rattandeep Singh and brought him to Chandigarh from the custody of the Punjab Police. He was produced in court and remanded in police custody for eight days where sleuths of the operation cell will interrogate him.

After he was arrested by the Punjab Police on September 18, the Chandiagrh Police had moved a request seeking the custody of top terrorist Rattandeep Singh, the main accused in the bomb blast which took place on June 30, 1999, outside the old passport office in Sector 34.

Rattandeep Singh, the accused, was identified by the Chandigarh police on July 5, 1999, from the scooter which was used for planting the bomb. Rattandeep had slipped away from the hands of the UT police by opening fire at them at Jind on July 3, 1999. However, his co-accused Sher Singh was arrested by the police. Another co-accused Gurbakash Singh was also arrested in the case. While Sher Singh and Gurbaksh Singh were sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years, Rattandeep was declared a proclaimed offender (PO).

According to police sources, Rattandeep had come to the city a day before the blast on June 29, 1999, and had left the city immediately after the blast. The explosive, RDX, was planted in the glove box of the Bajaj Chetak which was sold and resold seven times. Rattandeep had borrowed the scooter from Sher Singh, a resident of Rohar village in Jind district, on June 28. Sher Singh had bought the scooter on June 25.

“The chassis number and the registration number of the scooter, which was used as a carrier of the bomb, was intact. From the chassis number, it was found that the Registration and Licensing Authority of Panipat had registered the vehicle on number HR 06 A 5079,” said DSP (Operations) Satbir Singh, who was then an Inspector.

Chandigarh, November 5
A 30-year-old man committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan after allegedly strangling his wife to death at their residence in Ramdarbar this morning.

Shalu (27) was found dead in her room while her husband, Sandeep Kumar (30), a driver, was found hanging in the other room.

The police said the incident came to light at around 6 am when the couple did not respond after being called out by family members. The family raised the alarm following which local residents gathered there.

A police team rushed the couple to the GMCH, Sector 32, where doctors declared them “brought dead”.

No suicide note was found from the spot. ASP Urvija Goel said it appeared the couple committed suicide, but nothing could be said with certainty till the postmortem report was received. The postmortem would be conducted tomorrow. “We haven’t registered a case as yet. Investigations are under way,” the ASP said.

The family members of Shalu alleged that she was being harassed by her husband and he killed her.

They told the police that Sandeep was an alcoholic. The couple got married around three years ago.

Shalu had earlier submitted a complaint of harassment against her husband to the women cell of the police.

Lalru, November 5
The Honda City car that met with a freak accident, killing its four occupants, on the busy Ambala-Chandigarh highway near here the previous morning was moving on a high speed.

The mangled remains of the Honda City car that met with an accident near Dera Bassi on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway. A Tribune photograph

The impact of its collision with the road divider was so huge that its front tyre on the right and the engine got detached before the vehicle landed on the opposite side of the highway and hit the bus, said Sukhdev Singh, the driver of the Haryana Roadways bus involved in the accident.

Talking to the Tribune, Sukhdev Singh said on seeing the car land on his side of the highway after tossing in the air, he raised the alarm to alert the passengers and even applied the brakes, but it was too late.

“I could not prevent the collision as the car got stuck on the road in the absence of a tyre and the engine,” he said.

“Everything happened within seconds. Besides the bus conductor, Rajesh, nearly four passengers also sustained injuries. Had I not raised the alarm, more passengers would have been hurt,” said Sukhdev Singh.

There were nearly 45 passengers on board when the mishap took place.

Senior Haryana Roadways officials today visited the police station and provided documents demanded by the police.

Four persons, including three members of a Chandigarh-based family of industrialists, died in the accident, while returning from a wedding in Delhi, near the Punjab Warehousing Corporation’s godown in Dappar village.

Chandigarh, November 5
A large number of allottees of Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) flats took out a rally to lodge their protest against flat cancellation/resumption notices being issued regularly for violation of building bylaws.

The protesters held the rally from Sector 45 C to the BJP office in Sector 33 where they submitted a memorandum of demands to the BJP city president, Sanjay Tandon. The protesters demanded that the CHB authorities should stop issuing such notices.

Tandon reportedly assured them that he would take up the matter with the Union Home Minister at the earliest.

Rajat Malhotra, the press secretary of the CHB Residents’ Federation, said about 30 per cent of the CHB allottees have used portions of government land to make need-based changes in their dwelling units.

Panchkula, November 5
Demanding action against the municipal councillor of Ward No. 13, who alleged misbehaved with the executive officer (EO) of the Municipal Corporation and passed caste-based remarks against him on Tuesday, employees of the civic body suspended official work and staged a day-long dharna in front of the office here today.

The protesters also demanded registration of a case under the SC/SC Act against the councillor, Ravi Kant Swami.

Protesting against the BJP, as the councillor is associated with the party, and the district administration, the EO, SK Chauhan, sat on the dharna the entire day.

Expressing solidarity with the EO, representatives of various Dalit organisations, former councillors of the community and all the safai karamcharis joined the protest and raised slogans against the BJP and the local police for shielding the councillor.

While talking to the Tribune, Chauhan alleged that Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia and others tried to suppress his voice and discouraged him in filing a written complaint against Swami before the Deputy Commissioner and the local police.

“I have filed a complaint against Swami in the Sector 14 police station and seeking registration of a case under provisions of the SC/ST Act, and his termination from the BJP,” the EO claimed.

Dalit leaders, including Dalbir Valmiki, Dr Ram Prasad, Hari Prakash, Sandeep and Mukesh, have threatened to gherao the house of the local BJP MLA, Gian Chand Gupta, if his party did not expel Swami.

Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Dr SS Phulia visited the dharna site and tried to pacify the agitators assuring action against the councillor.

Chandigarh, November 5
Among a host of neurological disorders bringing irreversible losses to patients owing to paucity of advanced neurological treatments in India, recently, TB in the brain has emerged a leading factor causing permanent vision loss to patients.

Consider this: Of total 450 patients reporting at the PGIMER with the problem of neuro opthalmology in last three years, 100 suffered permanent damage to the eye and loss of vision. “Sadly most were aged between 25 and 40,” said Dr Vivek Lal, head, department of neurology, PGIMER.

“Mostly, these patients reach us after having tried a variety of anti-biotics (self-medication) and often misdiagnosed at local centres or having followed the advice of quacks,” said Dr Manish Modi, assistant professor from the same department.

Lack of proper diagnosis by most medical professionals and ignorance of symptoms in patients are both responsible for the complexities, they said.

Raising these concerns, the neurologists from the PGIMER announced the launch of a mega four-day continuous medical education (CME) programme on clinical neurology that starts on Thursday (November 6).

The CME by the Indian Academy of Neurology titled IANCON 2014 will undertake the theme neuro-ophthalmology and participation of over 1,500 delegates is expected. Neuro-opthalmology deals with inflammatory disorders of the optic nerve and disorders of vision secondary to eye and brain diseases. This is a very important and treatable cause of blindness and visual morbidity across the world, including India, Lal and Prof. Amod Gupta, chairman of ophthalmology, said.

“This field of neurology which has remained largely unexplored and the PGIMER, Chandigarh, is one of the few centres which impart formal training in neuro-ophthalmology. IANCON 2014 will help young talents face challenges in the management of neuro infections,” the experts added.

There are numerous trials going on to gauge the effectiveness of stem cells in the treatment of a variety of diseases. But until the trials are completed, nothing can be said about it. Stem cells are hyped.

— Dr Vivek Lal, head, Neurology, PGI

Zirakpur, November 5
Employees of the Zirakpur Municipal Council and the NHAI, led by local MLA NK Sharma, today launched a cleanliness drive under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Holding brooms, banners and placards, the employees along with some children assembled near the local bus stand and marched till the Chandigarh barrier.

Parminder Singh, executive officer of the civic body, revealed that the stretch (starting from the UT barrier till the Patiala traffic light) of the highway was cleaned.

The trash accumulated on the road divider and berms was picked and transported to the municipal dumping ground.

Apart from municipal councillors, NHAI project director OC Mathur was in attendance. — TNS

Chandigarh, November 5
The Kalka-Katra train that was announced in the Railway Budget will start plying from November 11. Ambala Division Divisional railway manager Anil Kumar Kathpal confirmed that from next week the train will ply as the division got a formal approval from the Northern Railway for it.

As per the railway schedule, train number 14503 and 14504 will ply biweekly on this route. The tentative schedule of the Kalka-Katra train was part of the train timetable released by the Railways this year. It will depart from Kalka on Tuesdays and Fridays at 7 pm and arrive at Katra the next day at 7.50 am. It will leave from Katra on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 9.30 pm and reach Kalka at 4.45 pm.

The 53-kilometre Jammu-Udhampur line is already operational and 25-kilometre stretch between Udhampur and Katra is also completed. This train will be beneficial to those visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine.

The train was among the many trains announced in the Railway Budget last year. While several other trains have already been started, commencement of this train is awaited.

The Kalka-Katra train will pass through Chandigarh.

Chandigarh, November 5
Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, is going to hold two diabetes and eye-screening camps on November 9 and 16 respectively in different areas in the city as a part of diabetes week that will begin from November 13 and culminate on November 20.

Chandigarh, November 5
As many as 400 participants from across the country are likely to attend the 41st Jawaharlal Nehru National Science, Mathematics and Environment Exhibition for children (JNNSMEE) at Leisure Valley, Sector 10, from November 11-17. The exhibition is organised by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

The organisers said this was the first time that the city was hosting the exhibition. Nearly 200 exhibits, including 28 from the city, will be displayed during the event.

They further informed that the exhibition was being held to provide a forum to children to pursue their natural curiosity and inventiveness to quench their thirst for creativity, besides laying emphasis on the development of science and technology as a major instrument for achieving goals of self-reliance and socio-ecological development. “This will create awareness among children about environmental issues and concerns and inspire them to devise innovative ideas towards their mitigation,” they added.

Rakesh Dahiya, one of the members of the organising committee, said, “The exhibition enables students and teachers to generate scientific ideas for addressing various problems of society and environment.”

He further said the main theme of the exhibition was scientific and mathematical innovations and areas of display, including agriculture, energy, health, environment and resources.

The organisers informed that the accommodation for outstation JNNSMEE participants was being arranged at DAV Model School, Sector 15 and IS Dev Samaj Senior Secondary School, Sector 21.

Lauding the move of the NCERT, Dr Arvind Goyal, a local academician, said, “The exhibition will create awareness among students regarding various aspects of science, mathematics and environment. The innovative nature of the exhibits will bring forth the talent and curiosity in children.”

“It will provide a big opportunity to students in and around Chandigarh to witness talent from across the country. The cultural events associated with the programme will instill a sense of national integration in the minds of students,” he added.

Chandigarh, November 5
A delegation of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), UT, met Director Public Instructions DPI (S) Kamlesh Kuma, seeking immediate relieving of Shekhar Chandar, headmaster at GMHS, Sector 26, who is on deputation from Punjab.

The committee members informed that the headmaster had already availed the extension of two years as per the Punjab government rules up to October 31, 2014.

The members alleged that despite the DEO Chandigarh Administration relieving the headmaster, he was still occupying the post, which is illegal and unjustified.

Swarn Singh Kamboj, RTI activist-cum-president, UT Cadre Educational Employees Union, Chandigarh, claimed that though the headmaster had retired on October 31, and the department had already issued his relieving order the same day, he continued to serve on the same post. Till date, Chandar has been marking his attendance while defying all orders of the department, he alleged.

The delegation including Bhag Singh Kairon, convener, appealed to the DPI to relieve the headmaster immediately. The members claimed that the DPI assured them that Chandar would be relieved at the earliest.

Chandigarh, November 5
As part of the ongoing celebration of their annual techno-cultural fest —APRATIM 2014— Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology organised a roadshow here today. As many as 500 people took part in the event.

The fiesta commenced from Sector 26 and continued till Panjab University crossing, while passing through sectors 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 on the way. — TNS

A youth paints a picture at the event

Chandigarh, November 5
The Telecom Sector Skill Council should offer skill-oriented courses designed exclusively for the participants of the Abilympics as well as specially-abled persons across the country. This was announced by Lt Gen Dr SP Kochhar (Retd.) AVSM, chief executive officer, Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC).

He was the chief guest at the valedictory function of the 4th National Abilympics held at the NITTTR, Chandigarh.

The National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the TSSC for skill development in the telecom sector.

Meanwhile, the MoU was signed by Dr MP Poonia, director, NITTTR, Chandigarh, and Lt Gen Dr SP Kochhar (Retd), CEO, TSSC.

Chandigarh, November 5
The 90th founder’s day celebrations of Vivek High School concluded with a march past by the students of four Houses here today.

As many as 500 students of the school displayed their dancing skills on the ground. The students were trained by well-known choreographer Uma Shankar from Mumbai. The students danced on Michael Jackson’s classic song ‘Heal the world.’

The second dance performance was inspired by Lord Krishna and the message given in the Bhagvad Gita.

Students of the junior wing enthralled the audience through their dance performances on Gujarati music such as dandiya and garba, besides the Maypole dance.

The Suryakiran team of aero modelling also gave a live demonstration of their model airplanes. The ta ek wondo and karate students also displayed their skills.