Chandigarh, December 23
About 100 teachers from north India participated in the brainstorming session of the Udaan Workshop for Mentoring the Mentors held at Dolphin (PG) College of Life Sciences in Chunni Kalan, near here, yesterday.

Ashok Goyal, syndicate member of Panjab University, Chandigarh, while inaugurating the workshop, stressed upon the need for training science teachers.

R.K. Sharma, president, CareerAid, stressed upon the need to make traditional values a part of academics.

The first session was presided over by Dr Vinod Mittal, MD of the Dolphin Group of Colleges. Mayank J. Kumar spoke on 'Technology Facilitating Sciences'.

An eminent science scholar Dr Biswas gave a presentation in the second session. He spoke on 'Width of Biology'. Sanjay Suri (MBA marketing) of Kataria Chemistry Classes, Chandigarh, gave stress busting tips in the third session.

The fourth and concluding session of the workshop witnessed Dr Bharat Bhushan, manager, planning, SBoP, speaking on ‘Mentoring the Mentors’. He highlighted the urgency of updating of the knowledge of teachers.

Rajiv Anand, DGM of Reliance Industry, while chairing the workshop, appreciated the efforts of the college for this venture.

Chandigarh, December 23
The two-day engineering entrepreneurs’ conclave organised by the Punjab Engineering College Old Students’ Association (PECOSA ) concluded on the college campus in Sector 12, here today.

Nearly 550 alumni, along with their families, came from India and abroad to become part of this gala event. Families of the alumni enjoyed themselves by participating in rangoli competitions and other games. Alumni of 1969 batch - Ajit Singh and Inderjit Singh - did not find much change in the campus environment. J.P.S. Madan and R. Verma, both of 1975 batch, remembered the times when they used to visit sweet shops at Sector 11.

Col R.N. Bedi (1965 batch) and Wing Commander S.D. Narula (1967 batch) came all the way from Poona to find the thin crowd comparing with the meet held at Delhi. Paramjot Bedi (1987 batch), now with Ford at USA, came to the campus after 20 years and was thrilled to meet his old batchmates Vikram Sareen and Manoj Wadhwan.

PU vice chancellor Prof R.C. Sobti was the chief guest. He emphasised on the need for greater synergy between Panjab University and PEC. He also urged the gathering to look back and contribute extensively to the alma mater. In response to the presentation made by Dr Dhawan of Centre for Computational Engineering (CCE) located at PEC, the vice chancellor expressed the desire for a stronger working relationship between PU and CCE.

Chandra Mohan, chairman, board of governors, PEC, mentioned that the engineering fraternity was the builder of the nation and it was, therefore, necessary that technical education was in line with the future needs of the industry. The alumni from the batches of 1973, 1983 and 1993 were individually honoured by the chief guest. A vote of the thanks was proposed by Prof S.K. Suman and the next date for the alumni meet and conclave was announced as December 20 and 21.

Chandigarh, December 23
Tiny Tots Preparatory School organised its 10th annual function at Government Museum and Arts Gallery, Sector 10, here. A variety show was presented by students. The show included items like rhymes, Desh Rangeela Rangeela, ‘Azadi Ke Diwane’ and bhangra.

FUNCTION: Guru Gobind Singh Public School, Sector 35, celebrated their annual day yesterday. Punjab minister for cooperatives Capt Kanwaljit Singh was the chief guest. He gave away prizes to the students who excelled in academics and extra curricular activities and announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the overall development of the school. 

Chandigarh, December 23
Castigating a policeman for allegedly lending a loan to another person without bringing it to the knowledge of his department, a local court today acquitted the defendant in a cheque bounce case.

Hira Lal, a policeman, had claimed that he had given Rs 1.6 lakh as loan to Prem Singh and the cheque given by the borrower had been dishonoured by the bank due to insufficient funds. He had then filed a case against Prem Singh.

Taking a strong note, a local court stated: “While advancing a loan of Rs 1.6 lakh the complainant has not disclosed it to his department in spite of being a government servant and has not shown the same in his income tax return, because no such loan was ever given to the accused, as alleged.”

The court further added that the complainant had failed to prove that Rs 1.6 lakh were withdrawn by him from his account to be given to the accused as loan.

The court held: “Therefore, the point is determined against the complainant and in favour of the accused and the accused stands acquitted of the charge of Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.”

The plaintiff, Hira Lal, had alleged that the accused, Prem Singh, had taken a loan of Rs 1.6 lakh for the marriage of his son in 2000.

He stated that in order to discharge partial liability, Prem Singh, a resident of Sector 22, had issued cheque for Rs 30,000 drawn on Vijaya Bank, Sector 17, in favour of the plaintiff.

Thereafter, on the request of Hira Lal the cheque was not presented in the bank.

A legal notice was served on Prem Singh on September 24, 2003. Hira Lal claimed that on receiving a legal notice, the accused issued a cheque for Rs 1.7 lakh in his favour. The plaintiff alleged that the cheque was dishonoured by the bank owing to “insufficient funds”.

A case under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act was registered against Prem Singh.

The counsel for the complainant argued that the cheque was issued by the accused to discharge his loan liability.

The defence counsel argued that the loan was taken in 2000 whereas the complaint had been filed in 2003.

Furthermore, the date and month of borrowing the loan had not been mentioned on the legal notice.

The defence counsel further stated that the accused didn’t know the plaintiff.

He added that Prem Singh was in cahoots with a money lender, Vijay Kumar Kakkar. Prem Singh borrowed the amount from the money lender and gave him two blank cheques as security.

The defence counsel said: “There are several frivolous cases of cheque bounce pending in the courts. Some steps should be taken to curtail the increasing number of such cases.”

Chandigarh, December 23
A local court today remanded Vinod Kumar, who allegedly shot at a youth in tavern in Mani Majra last night, in judicial custody.

According to the police, the victim, Vijay of Indira Colony, is still struggling for life at the PGI. He was operated upon and nine pellets were removed from his belly.

The right side of victim’s belly was severely injured by the shot. The doctors treating him termed his condition “critical”, but said he would recover.

The police said the .12 bore double-barrelled gun used in the firing was registered in Vinod Kumar’s name.

He was earlier working as a security guard at an ATM before he began working as a disc jockey.

The police also seized 24 live cartridges from him.

The accused had made an attempt to load another cartridge in the gun after firing the first shot but it fell from his hand. He then fled the spot.

Vijay reportedly tried to speed away on his Enfield motor cycle, but being heavily drunk lost balance and fell.

He then boarded an auto-rickshaw and was arrested from Sector 25 later.

The police said the firing was a result of a heated argument between the two, under the influence of liquor, that took a violent turn.

The police had earlier booked Vinod for creating disturbance in a custodial death case in which sub-inspector Narinder Singh was an accused.

The police said Vinod was one of the accused who had instigated mob to throw stones and was wanted in the case.

Chandigarh, December 23
“The inspired life is virtue absolute,” feels Melbourne-based maestro Dya Singh. A chartered accountant by profession and one of the best known Punjabi proponent of traditional and spiritual music has carved a niche for himself in alien lands.

In the city to perform devotional Gurbani recital, Dya Singh, along with vocalist daughter, Parvyn Kaur, shared his views and experiences as a devotional music practitioner.

“Blending tradition with modernity is my forte even in pious Gurbani sangeet but some term it fusion, which is wrong. I have kept the sanctity and spiritual fervor of the Gurbani,” he said.

Credited with 17 albums on devotional music in Punjabi Dya Singh, supported by three daughters all trained in Indian classical music, has performed all over the world with few programmes in India because of certain constrains.

Born and raised at Raub city in Malaysia, Dya Singh was groomed by his father, a granthi and Punjabi teacher from the tender age of four. He accompanied his father in singing Gurbani at religious congregations and since the age of 12, he performed on the Malaysia radio station in five languages, including Punjabi, Hindi, Tamil, Malay and English. He learnt classical music for 15 years before taking a degree in chartered accountancy from the UK and also practiced there for 10 years.

“Shifting to Australia in 1981 was a blessing in disguise, as my passion for divine music got patronage from the Australian government and other associations, which encouraged me to form my group,” Dya Singh said.

Later in the evening, Dya Singh and his disciple-daughter gave mellifluous renditions of the divine utterances of the Sikh Gurus and saints enshrined in the Guru Granth Sahib at Hotel Aroma Complex. The audience was entranced as the maestros created a serene ambience. Dya Singh attempted to render devotional compositions in a spiritual spirit as immortalised by his mentor Jagjit Singh. Music composer Balraj Singh and his team provided musical accompaniment.

Chandigarh, December 23
The Suchetak Rangmanch presented their comedy play ‘Kujh Taan Karo Yaro’ on the second day of the ongoing Gursharan Singh Naat Utsav at the auditorium of the Punjab Arts Council here today. The play, written by prolific playwright Bhupinder Pali, offers a witty yet satirical evaluation of the globalisation and dependence on foreign medical technology where it is least required.

Noted actor director Anita Shabdeesh carefully handled the element of pseudo classic tragedy of protagonist by sick father and continued comedy of manners by his three sons amidst rapidly changing circumstances. Each of married elder bothers and also the youngest one is engaged in outsmarting the other and shifting the blames. All individuals want their sick father to be treated by the doctor of their choice. The playwright brought a number of political, social and administrative problems being faced by the country, suggesting certain measures to check those.

Musical renditions by Salim Akhtar augmented the performances. Versatile actors Harish Verma, Sunny Gill, Raman Mittal, Baljinder Kaur, Malkit Rauni, Jarnail Singh, Iqattar Sahota and Shanti Saini formed the cast.