IT Chandigarh

Chandigarh: The torch of the forthcoming Military World Games began its journey to Kanyakumari from Leh. The torch will be carried by a team from the Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) who will pedal across the country.

The torch was handed over to the leader of the expedition, Maj Vishal Ahlawat by the minister of state for defence, M.M. Pallam Raju yesterday. The 15 member team is scheduled to reach Kanyakumari in just 20 days after covering a distance of about 4,250 kms. The games’ mascot, Bravo, is also accompanying the expedition.

The expedition will try to set a new national record of cycling from Leh to Kanyakumari, presently held by Harishankar Yadav, who had traversed the distance in 21 days in November 2003.

The flame will reach New Delhi on August 5. It will pass through Patseo, Tangland La, Charchu, Manali, Agra, Jhansi, Sagar, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Kurnool, Hosur and Salem before reaching Kanyakumari.
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Chandigarh: Police beat boxes look like “showpieces” as even during peak hours, police personnel are hardly found on duty.

The beat boxes, set up with a view to providing a helping hand to residents, have not been of much use. There have been many incidents in the past when a crime took place but the beat staff was absent.

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A deserted police beat box in Sector 38, Chandigarh, on Monday.

A resident of Sector 15 rued, “On Madhya Marg, a beat box has been set up near the petrol station but I have never seen it occupied by any police personnel. It has turned into a ‘rest room’ for stray dogs and beggars.”

A Chandigarh Tribune team noticed that many beat boxes were unmanned in the morning and afternoon. People around the area said it was not a new thing.

Sarup Chand, a senior citizen of Sector 38, said, “The police beat box remains vacant when the staff goes on rounds and there is no way a person in need can get in touch with them. There should be at least one or two persons available at all times.”
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Chandigarh: Ration card-holders, including women and senior citizens, jostled with one another at the sweltering food and civil supplies office in Sector 17, without water or fan.They were there to get ration cards updated.

People climbed over one another to reach the service counter and hand over the ration card copy.

Said a rather exasperated superintendent at the office:” The UT has prepared cards for kerosene supply to 12,000-odd families.We are taking fingerprints for the same.

“The rush today is incomprehensible because the beneficiaries can get the verification done till August 31. We have a separate line for women. We thought of getting fans installed but because of the rainy season, we didn’t want to risk a mishap on account of a short circuit”.

Contrary to the claims, there was no queue for women in the morning hours. Many women were carrying children, who, terrified at the chaos, kept wailing.

There was no queue for senior citizens either. Dhani Ram said: “I retired about six years back. I have been in queue since 7a.m. I was repeatedly pushed back.There is no official to manage the crowd”.
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Chandigarh: Expecting a pronouncement on the quantum of sentence on six terrorists convicted of assassinating chief minister Beant Singh inside the high-security Burail jail courtroom today, the jail authorities and the Chandigarh police seemed in a tizzy.

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CBI and defence counsel brief the media outside the Burail jail in Chandigarh on Monday.

Even as the prosecution and defence lawyers battled it out in the courtroom, another tug-of-war was seen outside the jail premises- between security agencies and mediapersons.

Relatives of those convicted in the case were also denied entry to the jail premises.

Stung by media criticism, the security agencies today seemed to have left nothing to chance. A temporary picket on the way leading to the main entrance had been raised. It was manned by jail staff and local police personnel.

There was an altercation between some mediapersons and jail deputy superintendent Subhash Chander. All reasoning failed to carry favour with the officer.Finally, DSP(South) K.I.P. Singh, on instructions from senior officials, led the media to the main gate, where they talked to the defence and prosecution lawyers.
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Chandigarh: Top seed Gagandeep Singh stormed in to the men’s quarter final by defeating Rajkumar 20-8, 25-12 on the third day of the 17th Chandigarh State Carrom Championship being organised by the Chandigarh Carrom Association (CCA) at St Stephen’s School here on Monday. Unseeded Tuba clinched a 25-10, 1-25, 16-15 victory over seeded Kudrat in the girls’ junior category.

Earlier in the day, Asif Iqbal defeated Piyush Sood 24-7, 25-4 to move in to the quarter final of men’s category. Mohammed Saquib also moved in to the quarter final by defeating Arif 25-4, 21-18. In the boys’ junior pre quarter final, Rajkumar defeated Nikhil Grover 25-2, 25-6. In another match Kartik thrashed Yishu Sharma 25-0, 25-0 in a one sided match while Mukul defeated Tassavar Ali 25-11, 25-01. Gulshan defeated Prachi 25-0, 25-3 in a girls’ junior pre quarter final match. In the same category, Farhin defeated Neha 25-0, 25-0 while Bhanu defeated Harlin Sadana 25-1, 25-0. In the women’s singles pre quarter final, Tuba defeated Amanjot 25-4, 25-10 while Gulshan defeated Kiran 25-0, 25-1. Farheen scored 25-4, 7-11, 25-0 victory over Bhanu in the same category. The finals of the various categories will be played on Tuesday at St Stephen’s School.
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Chandigarh: A fine display of bowling by bowlers helped Shri Shri Academy, Panchkula thrash St Xavier’s School, Sector 44 by 79 runs in match of the ongoing U-11 CCA Gold Cup being played at Guru Nanak Public School , Sector-36, Chandigarh, on Monday.

Shri Shri Academy won the toss and elected to bat first. Their decision to bat first looked good after the openers gave them a confident start. Shri Shri Academy scored 128 runs for the loss of five wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Harshit was the top scorer for Shri Shri Academy playing a knock of 21 runs. He played a careful innings while scoring 21 runs giving Shri Shri Academy a good start. Arvind took the prized wicket of Harshit.

Priyankit (21), Hohin (14 n o) and Mohit (10 n o) were the other main scorers for Shri Shri Academy. For St Xavier’s Arvind and Monty took one wicket each.

In reply, St Xavier’s School were bundled out for 49 runs in 18 overs. None of the batsmen could get past single figures.

Mohit, Sidharth and Pryankit took two wickets each for Shri Shri Academy. They bowled in tandem and bowled tight spells to contain the batsmen.
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Chandigarh: Reena and Jyoti, students of Class X and Class VI respectively at the Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 20 have been missing since last Thursday. The parents of the missing girls blame the police for inaction in the case.

Reena’s mother, Geeta, a sweeper at GMSSS-20 said, “We have been trying to locate Reena for the past few days, but have not succeded.” She added that the police has not provided any help in the case.Reena’s father, Satbir is a Rickshaw Puller. Jyoti is a resident of Mauli Jagran, her mother, Kamla is a sweeper at a government school.

Geeta said that she had received a call from Jyoti on Thrusday saying that she will come home late.The Duo have not been traced since. Satbir said, “Nearly four days have passed but the police are yet to make any headway in the case.

The case would have been solved if a rich kid went missing. I visit the police station everyday, but the matter is hushed by the police officials.” Both girls had gone to school from Mauli Jagran on Thrusday and have been missing since. Reena had gone to her sister’s place in Mauli Jagran and had boarded the school bus with Jyoti.

Source: Express News Service

Chandigarh: The UT Education Department has invited applications for recruitment under the Nursery Teacher Training (NTT) programme, however, there is resentment among those with one-year diploma in the nursery teacher’s course as their cases have been rejected by the department in favour of those who have done a two-year degree course.

The candidates, who have been rejected, had acquired their diplomas before 1995 when this one-year diploma course was recognized by the Chandigarh Administration. However, the administration and the education department have now taken a complete U-turn on the issue by rejecting these candidates.

Kiran Vir Singh, one of the applicants, says, “Why are we being made to suffer? When I did this course in 1993 there was no provision of a degree course. It is only after 1995 that the degree course was introduced, but no one is paying any attention to this fact and the officials in the UT Education Department have rejected my application as I do not have a two-year degree.” Echoing the same thoughts another applicant, Anuradha added, “This is discrimination and if the officials in the UT Education Department do nothing on the issue we will protest.”
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SAS Nagar: Two children have died in Madanpur village, under Mohali MC, reportedly due to diarrhoea. However, the cause of their death could not be ascertained as the body of one of the deceased, Hena (5), was taken to her native place in Uttar Pradesh, while the family of another child, Kamalpreet Singh (7) said the deceased had a high fever and he died on the way to PGI.

Civil Surgeon Mohali and a team of doctors visited the village on Monday and took three children for a check-up at the Civil Hospital Mohali for suspected case of diarrhoea. According to doctors, the children are safe and responding well to the treatment.

The conditions in slum areas of Mohali are not safe and the health officials have issued directions to the civil hospital to make adequate arrangements for treatment of patients with water-borne diseases. Some of the areas on the health department list include, Jagatpura Colony, Badmajra Colony, Balongi Colony, Mataur village and Kumbra villages. The samples of drinking water in some of these areas have failed the health test.

When contacted, Civil Surgeon Dr MS Toor said the health department has also written to the Mohali Municipal Council to provide safe drinking water in the slum colonies. He said teams of doctors would regularly visit these colonies to prevent cases of water-borne disease.

Source: Express News Service

SAS Nagar: A Scrap dealer has seriously injured his labourer on Sunday when he took a small break from work to drink a glass of water. Satya Narayan, a resident of Balongi village told Newsline today that his employer, Bhim Lal, had directed him and one more person to load scrap in a vehicle at Industrial area. He said that after finishing the work he was taking rest, when Lal came looking for them. On seeing that he was sitting on a chair, he got infuriated and picked up an iron rod and started beating him.

Narayan said Lal hit him on his arms and one of his arms was broken while he was trying to save himself. He also received serious injuries on his other arm. Narayan said when he approached Police Station Phase I to file a complaint, the police instead of sending him for medical examination, called him the next day for a compromise with the scrap dealer.

The labourer said that on his insistence, a constable was sent to call the scrap dealer to the police station but he did not turn up till late in the evening. Narayan said, “When I said that I want to file a complaint and I do not know how to write one, I was told to get a written complaint against the scrap dealer from outside. I don’t even know the name of the shopkeeper.” However, when contacted, SP City Varinderpal Singh said that he would personally inquire into the matter. He said action would be taken as per the law.

Source: Express News Service