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Nari Niketan Rape Case
Chandigarh, July 1 However, this will depend on the findings of the expert panel of doctors formed by the High Court earlier. The report of the expert group was also submitted in the High Court today and was handed over to UT senior standing counsel Anupam Gupta in a sealed cover. A senior police official told The Tribune on condition of anonymity that in case the psychiatrist on the expert panel had opined that the girl was capable enough to understand things, they would go in for getting her statement recorded before a magistrate to make a “fool proof case”. The officer, however, added that they had collected enough evidence against the four accused - Bhupinder Singh, Jamuna Kumar, Kamla and Maya - to file a chargesheet and a final decision on its timing will be taken in the coming week, after the next date of hearing of the case in the High Court. Police sources also revealed that the investigations had “zeroed in” on the involvement of both Bhupinder and Jamuna Kumar in the rape, even though the DNA samples of 20 employees from the two institutes had been collected. While it’s now more or less confirmed that the rape was committed at the Nari Niketan a couple of days before the victim was shifted to Aashray, police officials do not rule out the possibility of her being sexually exploited even after it. “There are enough indications that the suspects were raping her even after she was shifted out of Nari Niketan,” said the officer, while refusing to confirm whether this happened at Aashray or the school, GMIRC, where she was attending classes. Sources also confirmed that investigations had also established the dubious role that Kamla, a sweeper, played in abetting the crime on the basis of inquires made from the staff of the Nari Niketan and her other close associates.
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Fate sealed in cover
Chandigarh, July 1 Bedi has been asserting that the rape victim deserves a chance for motherhood. Though the contents of the reports are not known, it is believed there is enough material in it for arguing in favour of motherhood status for
the victim. As the matter came up for hearing this afternoon, the reports by the subject specialists, including a separate psychiatric report, were placed before the Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Augustine George Masih. Appearing before the Bench, Gupta said the pregnancy was of 15 weeks and two days. The abortion could be performed up to 20 weeks. He also informed the Bench of the directions on ensuring facilities for the inmates and the smooth functioning of the Nari Niketan and other such institutions had been complied with. He said a medical board for examining each and every inmate in all the “homes” had been notified. The Bench had previously directed the constitution of a medical board for fortnightly examination. Gupta said monitoring committee for the welfare institutes too was in place and the “visitors” too had been notified. This was in compliance with the direction that a list of NGOs, social workers, human right activists, volunteers, including lawyers inclined to provide free legal aid services, would be duly notified by the Home Secretary. The high court had ruled: “Any report submitted by such a visitor regarding poor/malfunctioning or on improvement thereof, shall be considered and acted upon by the competent authority of the Chandigarh administration within one month from the date of its receipt and if found not feasible, to communicate its reasoned decision to the visitor concerned within the above stipulated period.” Gupta also told the court he was satisfied with the investigations, and the investigating agency had made up for the lapses. The matter will now come up for further hearing on Monday.
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Mad rush at petrol stations
Panicky residents wanted to cushion themselves for the price hike for sometime by getting their fuel tanks filled to the top. Petrol station owners said the daily sale was up by 40-50 per cent in anticipation of the rise in prices. Col S.S. Pathania, proprietor of Pathania Service Station in Sector 34, said most customers, aware that the prices had been hiked, were getting the fuel tanks filled to capacity. “As compared to average footfalls, we are expecting to serve double the customers today,” he said. In some parts of the city, residents also complained that after the fuel price hike was announced, some retail outlets started claiming that they had run out of supplies after 8 pm. Residents alleged that the dealers had got their regular supplies but wanted to sell these at enhanced rates tomorrow in order to make some profit. As city residents queued up outside petrol stations since evening, they were not amused at the steep price hike of Rs 4 per litre on petrol and Rs 2 per litre on diesel. Amarjit Singh, a government employee, said the hike would lead to hike in prices of essential commodities and food items. The daily sale of petrol in Chandigarh is 2.7 lakh litres and that of diesel is 1.8 lakh litres. In Punjab, the daily sale of petrol and diesel is 20 lakh and 78 lakh litres, respectively. With today’s hike in fuel prices, petrol will be costliest in Mohali and cheapest in Chandigarh. Diesel would be costliest in Chandigarh and cheapest in Panchkula.
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Monsoon’s here
Chandigarh, July 1 The urbanites heaved a sigh of relief as the mercury dipped to a considerable low after the rain. The weather remained pleasant throughout the day following drizzle. For the past many days, there had been no relief from the hot and humid weather prevailing in the city. Power cuts and erratic water supply had aggravated the problems of people in some areas. The residents had to switch over to ACs as air coolers had been rendered ineffective by the humid weather. Moving out in the sun also proved costly for some who suffered dehydration, as such cases had increased in the city manifold. The mercury had crossed the 43 °C mark, forcing people to look for shelter. According to director, meteorological department, Chattar Singh, the monsoon had entered the city
on Tuesday. For the next 24 hours, he said, cloudy sky with intermittent showers would be experienced.
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PGI doc charged with assaulting attendant
Chandigarh, July 1 Though the day aims at reminding the patients and the doctors about their crucial relationship, allegations and counter allegations were hurled in the PGI with |Ram Gopal, a resident of Kalka, accusing a junior resident, Dr Vinod, of assaulting him and his son.
The doctor, however, refuted the charge and accused the patient’s family of manhandling him.Talking to The Tribune, Ram Gopal said he had come to the hospital with his one-year-old grandchild at 11 pm but nobody attended him till 5 am. “When I wanted to know the reason, Dr Vinod lost his temper and shouted at us and said don’t try to teach me,” he said. “This led to an exchange of heated words and he punched me,” alleged Ram Gopal. He also accused the doctor of hitting his son, Vikramjeet, who, he claimed, made an unsuccessful bid to intervene. When contacted, Dr Vinod refuted the allegations and claimed that the child was given the requisite treatment. He said the patient’s attendants lost their temper and manhandled him. He, however, admitted that he had pushed Ram Gopal as he had tried to hit him. Meanwhile, the police has started proceedings under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC against Ram Gopal and his son.
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Missing P’kula realtor
Panchkula, July 1 The police had conducted a lie-detector test on Vinay, a printer at Maheshpur, and Rajesh Thapar, a Delhi-based property dealer last week.
Saggar disappeared on June 1 evening after he went to meet one of his acquaintances at Maheshpur village in Panchkula. Samir Saggar, son of the realtor, along with his mother, held a press conference at the Chandigarh Press Club and alleged that there was a delay on the part of the Panchkula police in solving the case. “We had met Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today and urged him to direct the police to speed up the investigation. We are also planning to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 5,” said Samir. The police was allegedly not taking the case seriously since the very beginning due to suspected involvement of rich and influential persons in the matter, alleged Samir. It took police two days to reach Maheshpur village in Sector 21, the spot where his father was seen last, he said. Thereafter, the report of the lie detector test was also delayed, he added. “The police did not question Vinay properly, even as the documents of properties and deals lying at our old office in Maheshpur were found missing following the incident,” alleged Sameer. The keys of the office were handed over to him by Vinay when he contacted him to inquire about the whereabouts of his father, said Samir. Panchkula SP Amitabh Dhillon said though there was nothing substantial against the suspects in the lie-detector test report, the police had not given any clean chit to them.
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Zira’s house a ‘den of criminals’
Ex-MLA’s son gets police remand ASP (Central) Madur Verma told TNS that a local court on Wednesday remanded Prabjot Singh Zira to one-day police custody, while Amandeep Singh Multani, arrested under preventive measures, had been sent to jail for a week. The ASP added that teams had been dispatched to the native places of Amandeep Singh, the owner of the black BMW car, and of Sunny Brar. A local court had granted anticipatory bail to Amandeep Singh today. A police officer said it was surprising that Amandeep’s name was not mentioned in the FIR.
Chandigarh, July 1 If preliminary investigations of the police are an indication, an organised racket and an unholy nexus of politicians-grabbers-musclemen, indulging in forcible evictions and land grabbing, could well be thriving in the city. The palatial six-kanal Sector 9 house worth several crores, where the suspects were allegedly residing “forcibly”, is one such property that was in the eye of the land sharks, said
the police. Cops are even contemplating to seal a part of the house, which was in the possession these 15-20 youngsters, who moved around in fancy cars with VVIP numbers. The officials have sought legal opinion to invoke Section 133 of the CrPC to seal the portion of the premises, where the suspects were “illegally” running a
guesthouse.
Sources revealed that the police had prepared a report about the nefarious activities going in the house. It was found that a portion of the six-kanal house had become a hub for the anti-social elements, who take shelter there after committing crimes. Talking to TNS, Inderjit Singh Zira denied involvement of his son in the assault and also in property grabbing. He added he would quit politics if his son’s involvement was proved in the case. About the house, he said his son’s friend had obtained stay orders following the dispute with the owner. With police swooping down on the place, the area residents have also started coming forward with the details about the activities of the suspects. They alleged that some of the youth frequenting the house used to carry weapons too. A concerned resident of the locality said an elderly couple, whose son is settled in the USA, is the owner of the house. While four kanal of the house had been given on rent to an advocate, the rest of the two kanal had been illegally occupied by these notorious persons.
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43 mm rain bares MC claims
Chandigarh, July 1 Most roads where the drainage system had been upgraded last year witnessed the problem of waterlogging. In some sectors, roads that had recently been dug for laying pipes or cables caved in due to rainwater. The authorities today deputed workers near water inlets to remove the water from the road with brooms. A senior official said the chief engineer, public health department, had recently widened most of the water inlets in the city but waterlogging still persisted. The reason behind this was that most of the drainage system constructed was on the higher side of the road slope, whereas it should have been on the lower side of the slope.
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Sec-38 (W) Squatters
Chandigarh, July 1 A whole battery of UT officials has been pressed into service to establish over 600 “biometric qualified” inhabitants from Sector 38 (West) colony. The officials claimed that these new guests would share the place for at least six months adjoining the open space originally earmarked for a school, adjoining group housing societies, and the plan would be to shift them to prefabricated structures before giving them accommodation under the rehabilitation
project. This new addition from Sector-38 colony will ultimately occupy a place in the UT Administrator’s dream project to rehabilitate slum-dwellers. Home Secretary Ram Niwas said: “Our aim is to remove unauthorised jhuggis from Sector 38 (West) which are not covered under the biometric survey. All those who are covered in the biometric survey have already been issued relevant slips based on which they should be asked to move to the new site, which has been earmarked for them near Colony No. 5. However, this will only be a temporary arrangement as ultimately all the persons in the biometric survey will be settled in rehabilitation complex in Maloya,” he said. The administration’s move has not gone down well with residents of the nearby group housing societies, as it has put their safety and hygiene under question mark. “Earlier, we were pleased to see the government staff marking the land adjoining Colony No. 5 thinking that our long-pending demand of shifting this eyesore to some other place had been fulfilled. However, we have discovered that there’s going to be an enhancement in the list of unwelcome guests in our sector,” said Sector-50 residents of nearby housing societies, who had paid lakhs of rupees to own flats in the locality. Sources in the administration said the decision came in the wake of administration’s move to get free the government land from any encumbrance, under the provisions of the Capital of Punjab (development and regulation) Act, 1952 and the Punjab New Capital (periphery) Control Act, 1952. However, the move seems to be a futile exercise. According to investigations, as per the biometric survey conducted by the administration, there are around 6,800 people residing at Colony No. 5 only, whereas in reality the unaccounted populace figure here has touched the 18,000 mark.
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Health Infrastructure
Chandigarh, July 1 UT Administrator S.F. Rodrigues has again shot off a communiqué, urging the minister to intervene in the sanction of several posts for the two premier hospitals with a view to upgrade the health infrastructure in the city. “The GMSH-16 provides specialised treatment to the patients from Chandigarh and neighbouring states in the specialities of ICU, CCU, trauma, ortho, medicine, surgery, gynae, eye, ENT and psychiatry. Due to ban on the creation of posts, no post of medical/paramedical staff has been created for the past 20 years, whereas the population of the city has increased to about 12 lakh against 4 lakh when the posts were sanctioned," the representation stated. Despite constraints, certain specialised services have been started and the UT Health Department is facing difficulty in providing primary, secondary and specialised treatment to the patients in the absence of adequate staff as the proposals for the creation of the medical/paramedical staff are pending with the Union Health Ministry for many years. The public health delivery system is already stretched and more delay will result in chaos, it added. Besides, the GMCH-32 has been requesting for the creation of 42 posts of super-specialists in cardiology, neurology and urology. The ministry had also given technical approval for a trauma centre as an extension of the GMCH in
Sector 53. Official sources said Azad, who had been the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, would be in a better position to appreciate the health needs of the UT, which also got a large number of patients from the hilly state.
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Rly station to get a facelift
Chandigarh, July 1 Now, the frequent travellers will not complain about lack of space at the station, as the plan to improving the circulating area is in the pipeline. The Railway Ministry will probably give a green signal for renovating the railway station in the Railway budget likely to be announced on Friday. At present, the station has 1-ft over bridge, which gets crowded in the peak hours, making it difficult for the passengers to boarding trains. The divisional railway manager, HP Jaggi said: “The present over bridge connects platforms No. 2, 3, 4, and 5 is very narrow. When the trains reach, the passengers face problems crossing the bridge. Thus, another foot over bridge is likely to be constructed on the right side of the station for which around Rs 80 lakh will be invested.” The parking lot of the station had been revamped recently, he added. Meanwhile, the railway station will soon have packed meals available for the commuters. Sources said the authorities concerned had approved a vendor who would be selling the packed meals in the circulating area.
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Nod to creation of 780 posts in GMCH-32
Chandigarh, July 1 The posts will be filled through outsourcing. Out of 750 posts, 657 were sanctioned for staff nurse and, after adding this, the nursing staff will be increased almost thrice and this will smooth the functioning of the hospital. Other contractual posts, which were approved by health ministry, includes attendants, X-ray technician, ECG technician, dialysis technician, junior radiographic technician and dark room assistant. Dr Rajbhadur, director principal of GMCH-32, said it would improve the efficiency in order to provide the extra facilities to the patients. Earlier, the health ministry had also sanctioned 36 ministerial posts for strengthening of the administrative branches and medical record department of the institute. Health officials said these posts were being filled up through outsourcing. It would help in maintaining the proper patient record of OPD and IPD files concerning their treatment, as well as the office record in a smoother
manner.
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Fatal Leap
Chandigarh, July 1 Levelling these allegations outside the mortuary at the PGI today, the family members accused the Chandigarh police of killing Raja. They also alleged that the Delhi police had falsely implicated Raja in a case and
tortured him for two days before handing him over to the Chandigarh police. They claimed that Raja had never come to the city, let alone commit a theft here. Raja’s wife Santoshi, who had come to the city along with her three minor daughters, relatives and neighbours from Delhi, alleged that the police had prevented them from meeting Sunny, nephew of Raja. She claimed that Raja had had an altercation with two constables — Premjit and Rajesh — of the Delhi police on Holi. The two had then threatened to implicate him in some case. Apprehending the worst, her husband took up the issue with the home ministry and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Delhi. As a result, the policemen had been facing inquiry in
this regard. Suraj, a relative of Raja, alleged that after the Delhi police, the Chandigarh police took Raja and Sunny on remand. As they had not committed any crime, the policemen, in an attempt to hush up the matter, pushed them from the third
floor of the courts complex, he alleged. Refuting the allegations, police station-17 SHO Ramesh Chander said there was no point of policemen pushing the accused from a height. He said the body of the victim had been handed over to the family after a post-mortem examination. As the death had occurred in police custody, a judicial
inquiry was in progress and statements of the co-accused and independent witnesses like advocates present on the scene were being recorded. DSP (east) Jasbir Singh Cheema said the accused had been active in the region and had been stealing laptops, valuables and cash from cars by distracting the attention of the occupants. They used to go back to Delhi after committing the crime. They were well-versed in the topography of the cities of the region, the police added.
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UT staff stage protest; 6 held
Chandigarh, July 1 They were protesting against the failure of the Chandigarh administration in fulfilling their outstanding demands. The police said those arrested were produced before the SDM later in
the day. It was alleged that some of the protesters were in an inebriated state. Liquor bottles were also recovered by
the police. The protesters alleged that the administration had promised regularisation of 2,366 employees working on daily basis but was now dragging its feet on the issue. They also alleged that the administration had assured of giving Rs 5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh to the families of those employees who had died before retirement, but nothing had been done in this regard so far. Besides, they demanded stoppage of buses of other states on the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking’s local routes. Committee convener Rakesh Kumar said they had been called by Home Secretary Ram Niwas for a meeting in the evening but if their demands remained fulfilled, they would intensify their protest and
block roads.
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Santoor spell charms audience
Chandigarh, July 1 It was a blissful delight for music lovers to have relished the maestro’s exposition of raga Megh, synonymous with the rainy season. After being welcomed by Ajay Swaroop, chief general manger, SBI, Chandigarh, the maestro commenced the recital with an elaborate alaap of the raga. Displaying precision of swaras and adroit mastery, he created the effects delineating harmony of the murmur of waves, plaintive notes of the wind, whispering of leaves and warbling of birds much to the delight of the audience who reciprocated with applause. The acclaimed Tabla maestro, Ramkumar Mishra of Benaras gharana, joined Pandit ji in the main composition (vilambat gat) in teen taal that melted into fast tempo (Drut lya). The maestro explained the genres of Indian music before presenting dhuns based on raga Pahadi, one structured in double dadra taal and another in
teen taal. The Tabla accompaniment by Ramkumar Mishra and Dr Kanwar Mohan on Tapura was commendable for the tihais. The performance displayed versatility of Pandit Shiv Kumar and six decades of his excellence in music at an international level. Ashok Gupta and Sudipan Bhaduri, general mangers of SBI, joined the chief guest, Ajay Swaroop, to honour the artistes.
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Training programme for CITCO staff begins
Chandigarh, July 1 The training modules have been framed under the “capacity building for service providers” scheme of the ministry of tourism, Government of India. During the inaugural training session, Ram Niwas said: “This training session will also assist CITCO to be abreast of the cutting-edge developments in the competitive tourism sector.” CITCO managing director DK Tiwari said the training modules had been formulated for all categories of staff, including operational level, middle level and top level officers/officials. “More than 1,100 employees of CITCO will benefit from this training,” he said.
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GMADA to speed up work at rehri market
Mohali, July 1 The decision was taken at during a meeting of the GMADA officials with the representatives of the rehri markets, led by the Mohali municipal council senior vice-president, HS Prince. It was decided that while work of construction of site began at the existing site, the shopkeepers would be given alternative sites in Sector 70, adjoining Matour village in the next 15 days. The rehabilitation of rehri markets had been hanging fire for long after one or the other affected persons went to court against the draw of lots held by the GMADA. After the case was represented to the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, the Housing Secretary, Arun Goel, convened a meeting of GMADA officials. Sources said it was decided to take possession of land occupied by public health department so that it could be developed in to a parking. While 130 already built-up sites would be handed over to the beneficiaries, the remaining would be temporarily shifted to the Sector 70 site. A senior GMADA official said the clarification was being sought from the Election Commission so that construction work could begin soon.
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Committee to decide on dress code
Chandigarh, July 1 When the students objected to the ‘no jeans’ dress code a few days ago, a representation was submitted, in written, to the Vice-Chancellor of Panjab
University, RC Sobti, by SOPU, a students’ organisation. Sources said the members of the organisation had demanded justification of the code in this college while no such code existed in any of the university-affiliated colleges. Brinder Dhillon, president of the organisation, said: “The women students are barred from wearing western outfits and are asked to come in salwar kameez. Due to internal assessments and practicals, they cannot protest in open, thus, they sought our help and we have submitted the representation against the code. “There is no such dress code for doctors in other hospitals like PGI and GMCH-32, hence, such a ban is not justified in just one college,” he added. Confirming the constitution of the committee, dean, Students’ Welfare, Naval Kishore, said the committee would evaluate the reasons provided by the authorities concerned for enforcing the code and would then take a final decision.
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Counselling begins today
In continuance of the past years’ trends, some schools continue to remain the top choice of the students this year as well for the admission in the stream of their choice. Some of the schools, which still top the charts, include Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, Sector 35, Sector 37, Sector 33 and Sector 19 and Government Girls’ Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 18. For one, the results of class XII boards this year in science, commerce and arts streams have been cited as the primary reason for their preference. In addition to this, quality of infrastructure and faculty in these schools continue to have an edge over the others. Vocational courses offered in some schools continue to draw a decent crowd, even as the students do not have much choice other than applying in specifically those schools, which offer these courses, said educationists. “For instance, the course in air-conditioning and refrigeration technology is offered in Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 27 and Sector 23 and Government Senior Secondary School, Mani Majra, and the students who wish to enroll for the course have no option but to take the admission in these schools, though the infrastructure is not up to the mark,” said a principal on the condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, the education department is preparing for the counselling day at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10. LCD’s have been put up to display notifications and arrangements made so that rain does not cause hindrance in the process. Tips for
students
Students seeking admission to class XI must carry all original documents along at the time of counselling that begins tomorrow. In addition to this, they must carry the acknowledgement slip issued to them. The venue for the centralised admission for all government schools is Govt Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, and time is 8.30 am.
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Promotion panel meeting today
Chandigarh, July 1 Sources revealed that the meeting was reportedly caught up in an objection raised by a member and certain cases whose records were yet to be completed and would be taken up again tomorrow. Department staff has been directed to resubmit the records, which need more clarification in the next meeting. The DPC, which decides the issue of employees’ promotion at various levels, has not taken place since two years due to which a number of employees have retired while acting as the principals or heads in the schools of the city.
— TNS
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Eye institute to start course in optometry
Chandigarh, July 1 Dr SPS Grewal, CEO of the institute, said: “Optometry is an independent, self-sufficient, primary eye care profession. Though it is a developing field in India, it is well-developed and advanced in west.”
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NRI Fee Hike
Chandigarh, July 1 Stating that the proposed increase would prove to be a burden on students who had taken admission as NRI-sponsored candidates, the party met the VC, who according to them assured to look into the demands.
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Chandigarh, July 1
Chandigarh, July 1