IT Chandigarh

Chandigarh: It was a day of double disappointment today as most cricket fans not only failed to get their tickets for the upcoming India-Australia ODI, some fans also had to bear the brunt as police lathi charged them outside various bank outlets selling tickets.

Only 33 per cent of tickets, 9,500 in number, were sold on day one at the four branches of Union Bank of India and Chandigarh State Cooperative Bank ticket outlets appointed by the Haryana Cricket Association (HCA).

Surinder Singh Baijee, an HCA official, said, “We wanted to sell only 33 per cent tickets on the first day because it is important for us to identify a responsible ticket counter so that tomorrow we can increase the number of tickets at that counter.”

The rush was maddening as people had thronged the ticket counters as early as 9 am even as the sale of tickets started only at 12.30 pm (against the official time of 10 am). However, the sale ended soon and hundreds of dejected fans had to go back disappointed.

Lot of chaos and confusion was seen in front of the Chandigarh State Cooperative Bank Sector 17 branch. The main reason was that the Students’ Block tickets (Rs 75) were being sold from this counter. Hundreds of students had gathered to buy tickets. However, the counter was shut after some time and the students started protesting.
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SAS Nagar: The Board Of Directors of the Punjab School Education Board have decided to revive the board’s autonomy in a meeting held today. Presided over by chairman Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon, it was decided that a committee would be constituted to discuss amendments in the Punjab School Education Board Act 2005 with the Chief Minister of Punjab. Dr Dhillon will chair the committee consisting of two members Virsa Singh Valtoha, MLA, and Harish Rai Dhanda, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Punjab.

Another important decision taken was regarding the amendment in the pass formula for Science subject in the matriculation examination. According to the new formula, the passing mark has been fixed at 33 per cent, for both theory and practicals, in order to qualify for the subject. Earlier, the pass mark was only 30 per cent.

It was also decided that the contractual appointments of ETT and C&V (Drawing) of the Adarsh Schools being run by the board will continue for the whole session. “The salary of contractual employees and seasonal staff will be released as early as possible. For this purpose, a committee will be formed to take up the matter with the government,” the chairman said.
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SAS Nagar: MLA Kharar, Balbir Singh Sidhu, today alleged that the elections for the chairman’s post in Punjab State Cooperative Bank was a fraud as Punjab Cooperative Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh had manipulated them to get the post for his son Jasjit Singh Bunny.

Sidhu said other candidates were neither given any time to file their nominations for the post nor was an election conducted. He alleged that similarly, no election was conducted in any of the zones, as was required under the rules and the minister had misused the government machinery to nominate the directors of the bank. He said that had there been elections, the results would have been different.

Sidhu alleged that the followers of Captain Kanwaljit Singh had forcibly taken the signatures of Director, Marketing Processing Society, Kharar, Pandit Madan Lal on the proceedings to show that the elections had been held. He said the Punjab government should reject the election and hold it under the supervision of impartial officials.

Captain Kanwaljit Singh, however, refuted the allegations and said that the election was totally impartial and if Sidhu wanted to contest the election, he should have done so. He added that even in that case the result would have been the same.

Source: Exxpress News Service

Chandigarh: The Women and Child Support unit of Chandigarh Police has started investigations into two complaints of dowry harassment. Two separate cases have been registered at Police Station, sectors 36 and 39.

Based on the complaint of one Sunita Devi, a resident of Sector 38 C, the police have registered a case against her husband Chaman Lal and her in-laws under sections 406, 498-A at Police Station Sector 39. In her complaint, Sunita Devi has alleged that her husband and in-laws harassed and mistreated her for dowry.

The second complaint of dowry harassment was lodged with the Women and Child Support unit by one Subdeep Kaur, a resident of Sector 43 B, against her husband Gurbachan Singh and her in-laws, all residents of Sector 37.

Source: Express News Service

Chandigarh: In a major blow to R M Gupta’s case, suspended District and Sessions Judge (DSJ), Chandigarh, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, today turned down the petition seeking stay over his disciplinary proceedings.

A Division Bench of the High Court has ordered the disciplinary proceedings to continue, but the final orders will not be pronounced till January 15, the date by which the case pending against Gupta is likely to come to an end, as stated by the defence counsel.

Gupta was suspended after allegations of seeking illegal gratification through former Judicial Magistrate S S Bhardwaj came to light. A criminal trial against Bhardwaj and Gupta is pending in the

Court of Special CBI Judge Jagdeep Jain.

Gupta had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking quashing of a communique dated April 22, 2004, whereby his request for staying disciplinary proceedings during the pendency of criminal trial was turned down. Aggrieved by this, Gupta moved the Court seeking stay over the disciplinary proceedings in pursuance of the charges levelled against him on March 8, 2004.
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Chandigarh: Today, the biggest challenge before BSNL is to provide Internet broadband connections to applicants on the waiting list. According to the BSNL officials, at present, there are more than 1,500 applicants awaiting a connection. “We will provide the connection in phases. All connections will be provided within two months,” said Naresh Sharma, Principal General Manager Telecom (PGMT), Chandigarh. He said that the installation works of disclamps (equipment for broadband connectivity) at various exchanges would be completed soon.

The promise made by the officials, however, is not being taken seriously by the applicants, as many of them are reportedly switching over to other broadband service providers.

Retaining existing subscribers and attracting potential customers is another challenge before BSNL. Sudhir Garg, a Sector 26 resident who had applied for a broadband connection in July this year, said, “I was under the impression that they are unable to provide connection due to delay in installation of equipment. I know it is beyond BSNL’s capacity to give new connections. I might take it from other service provider.” He said that one of his colleagues had already taken an Airtel connection.

Besides, BSNL is facing stiff competition from their rival groups. The officials, however, are not worried about the competition. “It will take some time to sort out technical glitches. Even if we lose a few customers due to this delay, there is a possibility that they will come back to us as we provide 2MB broadband lease line connection,” said an official.
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