IT Chandigarh

Chandigarh: A con man, Arjun, who duped eight girls by marrying them for looting their money and jewellery, finally fell into the net of the local police here today.

The modus operandi of the accused was that after marrying the girls, he used to make them unconscious by giving them sedative-laced food at hotel rooms during the honeymoon and then vanished with their valuables. The police arrested him at the Sector 43 bus stand on the basis of identification details provided in a complaint made by one of his wives.

A resident of Khuda Ali Sher complained against Arjun, alias Aswini, alias Rajiv, alias Vikram, alias Sagar, two days ago. In her complaint, the victim alleged that her husband, who had married her on May 17 this year, left her in a hotel room at Chintpurni immediately after their marriage.

Before leaving the hotel, he also took away Rs 15,000 along with 70-80 gm of gold jewellery belonging to her. She alleged that the accused solemnised marriage on the false pretext that he was an employee of the general post office in Sector 17.

He also claimed that before joining the GPO, he had served in the Army during the Kargil war. As he got injured there, so he retired prematurely, she added. During interrogation, the accused revealed that he had cheated seven other girls in the same way.

Chandigarh: A motorcycle expedition of a team from Chandigarh Adventurers’ Association was flagged off from community centre, PGI, here today. The team will also hold a blood donation camp at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical, Srinagar, to spread the message of peace, love and brotherhood.

The expedition, under the leadership of Captain S M Soni (retd), shall conclude on June 30.

“The bikers look quite enthusiastic about the whole expedition and especially about the wreath laying ceremony that will take place at Kargil war memorial,” said Dr Raj Kumar, secretary of the Association, while flagging off the rally.

“The bikers will also visit Tolelong Heights and Tiger Hills, if permitted by security forces,” he said.

The motto of the expedition is ‘Donate Blood Not Shed It’.

Chandigarh: Hundreds of commuters bear the brunt of slow pace of work at the dividing road between Industrial Area phase-II and Sector-31, with a diversion in the middle of the road because of a temple there, that adversely affects the flow of traffic.

The diversion also adds to make the road highly accident prone as it bears a heavy load of traffic. The traffic, which comes from the Tribune roundabout towards Industrial Area Phase-II leading to the Phase-III sectors and Mohali, has to be diverted along the temple wall. In the process, the traffic spills over to the other lane and there is a grave danger of a head-on collision with the speeding vehicles coming from the opposite direction.

In a recent decision, the Chandigarh administration had approved a policy in principle for all unauthorised religious structures in the city. The management of these structures will be asked to part with the area hampering development work, while only retaining that portion which does not come in way of the progress of public works in the city.

The shivshakti temple, which is now located at the dividing road near Industrial Area Phase-II, had also agreed to give its land so that four laning of this road could be completed. Officials say that since the management has agreed to give the land required for the four laning of the road, the work has been initiated.

Chandigarh: AFTER finding that fake degrees from universities located outside the state were being increasingly used to get bar council licences in Punjab and Haryana, the Bar Council of India has now decided to take the help of University Grants Commission (UGC) for the speedy verification of degrees.

As the State Bar Council has started the process of scrutinising the degrees of advocates practising in the two states, around 50 such cases have came to light and FIRs have already been registered against 37 advocates.

Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman S Gopakumaran, during an interaction with mediapersons here today, expressed serious concern over the rising number of such cases in Punjab. “This is a serious menace in Punjab. Such problems may be existing in other states too,” he said, adding that the Bar Council of India was taking initiative to hold a joint meeting with the chairmen of bar councils of all the states to discuss the issue.

Rajender Reddy, general secretary of the BCI, was also present on the occasion. He said the process of verification of degrees submitted by the applicants was very slow and that he would take up the issue with the UGC to get the process speeded up.
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Chandigarh: SHOPKEEPERS at Janta Market in Sector 27 D say that the building housing their shops, constructed in 1984, is in a dilapidated condition and that there is a constant threat of it collapsing. Broken pillars and iron rods can be seen all over the place and point towards the neglect in the upkeep of the complex.

A delegation of shopkeepers from the Janta Market, led by area councillor Davinder Singh Babla, had met Deputy Commissioner R K Rao on Tuesday. The shopkeepers said R K Rao had assured the delegation that he would constitute a committee to look into the matter and that officials would the market on Wednesday. “We kept waiting the whole day for the Deputy Commissioner and other officials but nobody turned up at last,” said Randhir Singh Bhalla, president of Janta Market Association.

He said the building might collapse as the concrete had lost its grip and iron rods used in the structure were also lying exposed. He added that in past the shopkeepers in the complex had got some repairs done at their own level as the authorities concerned had failed to do the needful.

D C Deewan, another shopkeeper in the area, said the staircase leading to the first floor was in a dilapidated condition and was falling apart.

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Chandigarh: Chandigarh Police’s lame excuses and shoddy alibis for not registering a case of assault and criminal intimidation against Punjab Congress MLA Sukhpal Khera’s son Mehtab Khera and his accomplices stand exposed after revelations by victim’s uncle. Uday Mahajan’s uncle Sanjay Mahajan told Newsline that he got Uday’s X-ray report merely 15 minutes after the X-ray examination was conducted at GMSH-16 on Thursday night.

What a common man could achieve in 15 minutes, the city police express their failure for not being able to achieve even after more than 72 hours. When asked, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (Central) DSP SS Randhawa said, “I checked up with the concerned SHO, Inspector Ramgopal about the medical report, and he told me that he has not been able to get it as yet”.

On the other hand, when Newsline contacted Sanjay Mahajan, Uday Mahajan’s uncle, he said, “When we got Uday medically examined at GMSH-16, the doctors asked us to get his x-ray done. It took just 15 minutes for the doctors to have a look at the x-ray film and they told us that fortunately there were no fractures. I fail to understand what is holding back the city police from registering a criminal case against the accused. The ones who assaulted my nephew were professionals, not youngsters but grown up men who came armed and assaulted him badly”.

“Uday’s father is not presently in town. He is expected to return in a day or so. I am waiting for him, after which we would pursue the matter with senior police officials”, Sanjay added.
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Chandigarh: FOLLOWING the UT Education Department tying up with Stri Shakti, a Delhi-based NGO, for providing mid-day meals to the government schools in the city, the city institutes, which are also engaged in doing the same, have come under pressure to cut down the rates at which they supply the meals. The Delhi NGO is supplying the meals at Rs 2 per meal. The three city institutes include Food and Craft Institute (Sector 42), Ambedkar College (Sector 42) and Hotel Shivalikview in Sector 17. They are providing meals at Rs 8 per meal and have been directed by the UT Education Department to cut down the rates.

According to the source in the Education Department, the heads of these institutes have been issued directions and have been asked to prepare a new menu, which is more cost-effective. In a meeting held recently, the officials of the three institutes had put explained to the Education Department that at best their rates could be brought down to between Rs 5 to Rs 6.

The institutes are preparing a new menu which will be presented to the officials in the Education Department in a couple of days. An official from one of these institutes, speaking to Newsline, said, “We are assuring quality and cannot lower our rates to Rs 2 in any case. We are trying to delete a few items from the menu to make it more cost-effective as demanded by the Education Department. The new menu is being worked upon and is expected to be ready soon.”
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Like his idol Mike Tyson’s soft and squeaky voice, Surinder Singh’s 5-3″ 48 kg frame is often misleading. Always a small kid, on the lean side, Surinder was never a natural contender for a boxing title.

Fifteen-year-old,Surinder has won 2 silver medals and 2 bronze medals at the National Sub-Junior level. It all started two years ago, when he enrolled at the Boxing Coaching Centre, Sports Complex, Sector-42, Chandigarh. By the time he won a silver medal at the National Sub Junior Championship held at Spatu in 2005, his hunger to strive for best performance had begun. Later on he followed up with another silver at the National Championship held in Chattisgarh and bronze in the National Sub Junior Championship held in Jharkhand in December 2006.

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Chandigarh: WITH money flowing in for research projects, the PGI has begun an internal auditing process in a bid to check the quantity and quality of research. A research index is being compiled with data regarding projects, various funding agencies, amount of funds received by different departments and the number of publications/citations or the impact factor of the research being done.

The amount of funding at PGI has increased significantly over the years. From Rs 4.6 crore in 2004-05, extra mural research funding has gone up to Rs 12.2 crore in 2006-07.

Notably, the auditing follows a directive from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to compile all this data right since the institute’s inception. “The ministry directive was for both AIIMS and PGI,” said Prof K K Talwar, Director PGI, refuting the fact that the Ministry was concerned over the decline in quality of research at PGI.

Interestingly, a 2006 study co-authored by Prof Talwar had claimed that research publications in PGI were going down, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

The article ‘Time Trends of Medical Research in PGIMER, Chandigarh: A Reason for Pride or A Cause for Concern?’ was published in the March issue of the PGI Bulletin. It notes a decline in the quality and quantity of publications in 2000-01 as compared to 1990-1991.

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Chandigarh: HIGH drama took place in the Sector 44 market this morning, when an auto-rickshaw driver was caught allegedly molesting a minor girl in his auto-rickshaw by the shopkeepers of the area. The girl child was rescued by the shopkeepers, who not only assaulted the auto-rickshaw driver but also blackened his face and dragged him throughout the marketplace before the police could reach the spot. The girl is the daughter of a nearby road-side tea-vendor. The driver was arrested on the charges of molestation and lodged behind bars at the Sector 34 Police Station.

During the incident, Sub-Inspector of UT Police Bant Singh, also had an altercation with the mediapersons as he allegedly tried to shield the auto-rickshaw driver and showed a lax attitude.

The incident took place at about 10 am. The auto-rickshaw driver Ramnath, usually stopped at the tea-vend in the marketplace and have his morning tea. Today morning too, Ramnath stopped at the tea-vend and was having tea, when the tea-vendor’s daughter stepped into the auto-rickshaw and started playing. Ramnath, allegedly started molesting the child, when he was seen by one of the shopkeepers. He called the other shopkeepers and rescued the girl as well as inform the police about the incident.

SI Bant Singh, who is posted at police station-34, reached the spot and entered into a heated argument with the mediapersons. Later in the day, a protest was lodged against SI Bant Singh by a section of mediapersons to the UT Senior Superintendent of Police. The SSP has asked the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (South) DSP K I P Singh to probe the role of Bant Singh in the entire episode.