Around Town

The two officials are the hotel’s managing director and beverage manager. The case will come up for resumed hearing on January 2011. The health department had collected the samples of curd and dhaniya chutney in September,which later failed the tests,following which it filed an application in a local court. The summons have been issued for January 25 and January 12,respectively.

ATM card cloning: Man loses Rs 40,000

Panchkula: Another Panchkula resident lost his money after miscreants withdrew cash from his bank account using a cloned ATM card. M M Soni,a resident of Sector 4,Panchkula,has his account with the State Bank of India’s Sector 10 branch. He was shocked to find on Monday that Rs 43,000 had been missing from his account. Soni found that Rs 40,000 was fraudulently withdrawn in two transactions from a State Bank of Patiala ATM in Sector 4 on November 13 and 14. Another Rs 3,000 was withdrawn in another transaction. He has lodged a complained with the bank.

Prof Sobti honours two eminent scientists

Chandigarh: Eminent scientist,Dr Krishan Lal,former director,National Physical Laboratory and Prof S V Kesar,Professor Emeritus (Chemistry) of the Panjab University were today honoured by the Panjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof R C Sobti for their distinguished services in their respective fields.

Dr Krishan Lal who has a long string of national and international awards,memberships and publications to his credit was here today to deliver lecture under “Distinguished Lecture Series” organised by the Panjab University.The scientist spoke on the topic “Fascinating World of Crystals: New Challenges” and thoroughly explained the physical and chemical characteristics of crystals — including precious stones and diamonds — tracing the importance of diamonds to 5,000 years ago at the time of Mahabharata. Dr Krishan Lal explained the scientific understanding of diamond and structure of other crystals. He said crystals played an important role in the discovery of X-ray diffraction,a major landmark in modern science. There was a wide application of man made crystals in chips and other components used in mobile phones and microprocessors of computers. Solid state devices and silicon industry also used crystals,he said. The crystals have high resolution X-ray diffraction as well as reflection properties enabling the development of many advanced scientific equipments. The lecture was organised by Prof A S Ahluwalia,dean faculty of science and was attended by a large number of students and faculty members.

Shot at on Nov 1,Zirakpur chemist succumbs to injuries

Zirakpur: Ravinder Singh Pandher (40),a Zirakpur-based chemist,who was shot by a stranger on the evening of November 1 at his shop,succumbed to his injuries on Monday.

It was on November 1 at around 8 pm when an unidentified miscreant reached the chemist shop situated near AKS colony on Zirakpur-Patiala highway and asked the owner Ravinder Singh for medicine. As the shop owner turned to pick the medicine,the accused shot him at his abdomen and fled away from the spot. A nearby shopkeeper had immediately rushed the injured to GMCH-32,from where he was referred to PGIMER,Chandigarh,where he succumbed to his injuries on Monday.

Police were suspecting old rivalry to be the reason behind the crime and had booked a property dealer and some of his accomplices,whom the victim had apprehended to be behind the bid on his life.

The initial case of attempt to murder was today converted into that of murder but no arrests were made as yet. Pandher was a resident of AKS Colony in Zirakpur.

PU to hold workshop on quantitative data analysis

A week-long specialised training workshop on “Quantitative Data Analysis in Social Science Research” will be held from December 13-18 at the ICSSR Complex in Panjab University.

Professor Bhupinder Brar,Honorary Director,said that the Regional Centre is holding this specialized training workshop for those participants who have already attended one of our previous basic workshops on quantitative research methods. It focuses more sharply on the analysis of quantitative data. The course revolves around the use of numbers in social science research and introduces techniques of using numbers to describe,understand and analyze the social world. P K Saini,Deputy Director,said that the Regional Centre has been conducting such training workshops every year. The positive feedback received from the participants over the past several years has encouraged us to conduct the workshop this year second time. The participants will be young teachers and research scholars working in University Departments,Research Institutions and affiliated Colleges located in the state of Punjab,Haryana,Himachal Pradesh,Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Dr Pampa Mukherjee and Dr Kailash K K from the Department of Political Science,Panjab University,are the Programme Coordinators.