IT Chandigarh

Punjab police on Tuesday claimed to have got some “vital clues” in the Ludhiana cinema hall bomb blast in which six people were killed and 25 others were injured.

“We have got vital clues in the case,” Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Chandershekhar told PTI while adding that revealing details would hamper investigations.

He said that a dedicated team, under the command of DIG (Ludhiana range) Ishwar Singh, had been constituted to further investigate all probable angles in the case.

“People with complete knowledge and experts are working out on various theories to reach the conclusion and everything will be clear soon,” he said.

He said that once it was clear what kind of chemicals and explosives were used it would become easier to reach a logical conclusion.

He said that “the situation is still unclear about the kind of explosives and chemicals used to trigger the blast.”
(more…)

Chandigarh: The State Information Commission has directed the Punjab government to implement all the provisions of the Right to Information Act within two months.

A few days back, Rajan Kashyap, Chief Information Commissioner, Punjab, and Information Commissioner Lt Gen PK Grover (retd), acting on a complaint of Hitender Jain of Resurgence India, observed, “Taking a holistic view, we observe that the public authorities and the public information officers have not, as yet, taken action mandated under the Act for providing complete information to the public. We observe that suo motu disclosure, as required under Section 4(1)(b), should have been completed by October 12, 2005. That it has not been done even two years after the stipulated date is a matter of concern.”

“The 12,000-odd panchayats in the state and other public authorities concerned merely need to place in the panchayat ghars simple information such as the names of PIOs and their addresses. This would not require more than a couple of hours. What is clearly lacking within the state government and other public authorities is the seriousness in implementation of the provisions of the Act. If all this information is available on the government’s website, in addition to the hard copies with the public authorities concerned, it will help the public. It will also simplify the task of the PIOs of all these authorities when the information is demanded,” the directions said.

“We suggest that the Chief Secretary, Punjab, should personally direct all the administrative departments in the state to complete the tasks in a time-bound manner,” the directions added.
(more…)

Chandigarh: The District Consumer Forum directed ICICI Bank to pay Rs 25, 000 to a complainant who was unduly harassed by the bank by not transferring money to her savings account. The bank held that it could not credit the amount to the complainant’s account as the name on the cheque was different from that of the account holder’s.

Complainant Krishna Katyal said she had deposited a cheque for Rs 60,000 on July 2005 for encashment and crediting the amount to her account with the bank’s Sector 9 branch in Chandigarh. Later, the bank gave her the account statement in October and she learnt it then that the cheque had not been credited to her savings account.

On enquiry, the bank maintained that the cheque could not be credited due to mismatch in the account holder’s name and asked her to furnish the Indemnity Bond along with the counter foil of the pay-in slip. The amount was credited only after receiving the Indemnity Bond by the bank. However, the complainant suffered due to this lapse and delay during this time.

The bank had stated that the mistake occurred because the depositor’s name was mentioned as Krishna Katyal where as the cheque was in the name of Krishna Kumari. However, it admitted to have realised the amount of Rs 60,000 but did not credit it to the account of the complainant.
(more…)

Chandigarh: Chandigarh Police today initiated an inquiry on the complaint of a Nayagaon resident, who alleged that she was sexually harassed by two Chandigarh Police personnel posted at Sector 17 Neelam Theatre police post. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Madhur Verma has been entrusted with the task to hold the inquiry and pinpoint the police personnel, whoever it is, if found guilty.

The incident dates back to October 13 night when the complainant, who works as a sales executive at a showroom in Sector 17. She alleged that she was on her way home around 10 pm after her duty hours when two motorcycle-borne youths snatched her purse and sped away.

Her plight aggravated when she reached the Sector 17 police post to lodge a complaint. In her complaint lodged at the police headquarters, she alleged that rather

|than taking action on her complaint, the two police personnel posted at the police post misbehaved with her and on the pretext of dropping her to her house in Nayagaon, made her sit on the motorbike between both of them.
(more…)

Chandigarh: Two years after a local resident was booked on charges of murder and attempt to suicide, Gurdeep Kaur was today held guilty by a local court.

It was alleged that Gurdeep had killed her two minor daughters by drowning them in Sukhna Lake and attempted suicide. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced later this week.

A case under Section 302 and 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Gurdeep Kaur in August 2005. She had jumped into the lake along with her two daughters.

Though she was saved, her daughters - four-year-old Jyoti and two-and-half-year-old Manpreet Kaur - died by drowning. Financial problem coupled with the attitude of her mother-in-law were cited as the reason for taking the extreme step.

As per the prosecution, Gurdeep was extremely temperamental and was in a strained relationship with her husband and in-laws as a result of which she took the extreme step of jumping in the lake along with her daughters. As per the police’s version, Gurdeep had said that her mother-in-law was not allowing her to lead a peaceful life and that is the reason she tried to kill herself.

On the contrary, Gurdeep and her family had refuted all the allegations. Terming the incident as an accident, she had told the court that she had gone for a stroll to the lake where her daughters slipped and fell in the water. She had maintained that she had jumped in the lake to save her daughters and never attempted to commit suicide.

(more…)

Chandigarh: With more than five dozen vital installations and dozens of VVIPs staying and working in the city, the police’s anti-sabotage team, including the bomb-disposal squad and dog-squad consists of a meagre 16 personnel. The anti-sabotage team, which is working round-the-clock these days due to the festive season and also has access to intelligence alerts apprehending disruption of law and order in the city, has onlythree bomb-detection devices and a Labrador in its arsenal.

Equipment with Chandigarh Police

The Chandigarh Police’s anti-sabotage squad purchased its bomb-detection equipment in 1996, which included three ‘hi-tech’ machines viz Explosives Vapour Detector (EVD)-3000, a Deep Search machine and a Super Broom (non-linear junction detector) to detect bombs and explosives in the city. These are the resources the Chandigarh Police use to prevent any untoward/terrorist incident in the city.

Explosives Vapour Detector-3000 is used to detect explosive material hidden in any place. EVD-3000 is one of the most trusted equipment presently in use by various security forces in the region.

Deep Search machine- A machine used to detect hidden metallic objects in the ground. The machine is basically used to detect land mines or underground explosives.

Super Broom- The device is used to detect remote-operated devices, which is triggered on with the help of a junction or detector.

(more…)

Chandigarh: The UT education department has decided to participate in the comprehensive health programme initiated by Central Board of Secondary Education. The education department will form a team consisting of a child counseller and a dietician to make the students aware of the ill effects of junk food.

A Comprehensive health programme aimed at teaching students a healthy way of living is also being planned by the department.

DPI (S), SK Setia said, “Though we have banned the school canteens from stocking junk food, these food items are easily available outside the school. The team will educate students and parents on the effects of junk food”.

The education department has decided to conduct awareness camps for students and parents.Under the comprehensive health programme, the students will also be given tips for maintaining a healthy life style.

Experts believe that most health problems in children due to improper life style and unhealthy eating habits.

Sudha Khurana, a dietician at PGI, says, “Junk food causes obesity leading to diseases like cancer, diabetes, etc. in the long run. The parents must also be aware of the food items needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”

In the lectures the experts will also lay emphasis on the use of different colours.
(more…)